The Death of Deidara

Deidara first saw his back.

Then, very quickly, as his body and head were turned over, a headless corpse came into view.

He saw the fresh blood gushing from the corpse's carotid artery, blooming into a beautiful yet cruel red flower in mid-air as the body spun.

At that moment, Deidara finally realized that it was his body.

His head spun in the air, first seeing the scorpion on the ground. He gathered the puppet and stared at it with icy eyes.

"I already warned you, you idiot..." Scorpion said coldly, "... and you just die like that!"

He still had a wealth of Ninjutsu and Chakra, as well as many life-saving techniques, and yet he died just like that! Sakura Haruno's combo attacks were unbelievably difficult to deal with!

Deidara then saw a thin, silvery-white line.

He struggled to turn his eyes, looking up along the thin line. He saw a slender, pale finger pointing straight at him, its tip connected to the thin line.

"I was killed by that silver thread, um..." Deidara opened his mouth, wanting to speak, but his throat only made a hissing sound, and before he could utter a word, everything went darker and darker.

Further up, he saw the girl with icy, cold eyes standing on his bird, a trickle of blood flowing from her mouth.

Those sharp, murderous eyes were the last thing he saw.

Sakura Haruno watched Deidara plummet from the sky without a shred of pity.

In the Chakra sensing, a massive Chakra source deflated in the blink of an eye, like a punctured balloon.

All his vitality was completely drained away by the wound on his neck, like a fire that had been extinguished after the fuel was removed.

"It seems he really is dead..." Sakura Haruno said calmly.

He wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth.

The Demonic Mirroring Ice Crystals Stage Three combined with Wind Blade Torrent is almost unbeatable. Deidara's response was already quite good; the moment Sasori warned him, he used his Clay Clone to set a trap. Most enemies would probably be dead the moment they hit his clone.

However, he certainly didn't expect that Sakura Haruno could unleash such a powerful and swift Ninjutsu the instant her Body Flicker Technique ended, without needing to Hand Seals. The Wind Blade Torrent ended his life the moment he jumped out of his hiding place.

He was not given any time to react.

He was caught by the girl in her Cherry Blossom Impact state the instant he jumped out, and in less than a fraction of a second, the water line caught up with his body and swept across his neck.

Deidara's expression at the last moment was one of wide-eyed astonishment.

Sakura Haruno's anger quickly subsided as her enemy's life came to an end.

When the anger that even the Ice Release couldn't contain subsided, Sakura finally regained her composure. Only then did she realize how risky she had just done—using the Demonic Mirroring Ice Crystals Stage Three ability again after her meridians had already been damaged once!

This is practically playing with her future life; the slightest mistake could damage her meridians... or even cause serious injury.

Well, at that point, all she could do was pray that cloning technology would be developed quickly.

Fortunately, even under these emotional circumstances, she did not act carelessly when using this technique. On the contrary, she displayed 120% composure and precision, even performing it more perfectly than before.

The only problem is that the giant white bird beneath their feet, along with Deidara's death, lost its ability to fly, turned into clay, and is slowly crashing down.

As for Sakura Haruno, her meridians were hurting even more than before...

"Hey, will I be able to recover enough to use Body Flicker Technique before I hit the ground?" she muttered to herself with a wry smile. "If I die from the fall, I'll be so embarrassed!"

A Quasi-Kage Level expert who instantly killed a member of Akatsuki in two moves, fell to his death from a height while still possessing considerable Chakra, a clear mind, and no restraints...

That's a complete disgrace to ninjas!

As the giant bird descended faster and faster, and everything on the ground seemed to grow larger and larger, Sakura Haruno began to jokingly remark to herself.

Of course... she won't die from the fall.

"Ice Release: Demonic Mirroring Ice Crystals."

Chakra within her body to avoid causing further tremors and damage to her meridians; she had that much control.

She landed beside the Ice Clone. Naruto, who was lying on the ground, had almost fully recovered from his wounds. The Ice Clone's Medical Ninjutsu was secondary; the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki's regenerative abilities were the primary factor.

Then Naruto woke up with a hiss, propped himself up with his hand, and stood up. "Ouch!"

He reached out to touch the wounds on his back, and right under Sakura's eyelids, the bloody scars had miraculously healed as if nothing had happened. Naruto touched was a smooth patch of skin.

"Huh? Where's the wound?" He touched himself left and right, but couldn't find the wound, and was a little confused.

Seeing Naruto so lively and energetic, Sakura suddenly felt... like she had been angry for nothing.

"Idiot, stop looking! We're still fighting!" Sakura Haruno's lips twitched as she said helplessly.

Naruto then calmed down and assumed a defensive posture.

Sakura sighed and looked at Scorpion's puppet, which had already withdrawn its defenses, not far away.

He seemed to have lost the will to fight.

We are considering retreating.

Out of the corner of her eye, Sakura Haruno saw a furtive figure emerge from the ground where Deidara had landed, silently carrying away his body.

She wanted to ejaculate on that guy, but her badly injured meridians told Sakura that she'd better not ejaculate at all...

As for letting Naruto deal with him? Forget it, that guy hasn't even figured out the situation yet!

Moreover, Sakura needs Naruto to stay by her side to protect her! Her meridians don't seem to be healing anytime soon, and now is not the time to recklessly use Ninjutsu. Fortunately, Sasori was intimidated by her cleanly and efficiently taking down the person who threw the bomb; otherwise, if he had really attacked, Sakura would have been fighting for her life.

In short, it's best to avoid unnecessary complications.

Sakura Haruno watched silently as the strange man disappeared into the ground, secretly memorizing everything about him.

Naruto, however, was puzzled to find that the puppets that had been surrounding them were retreating. He was unconscious for a while and didn't know what had happened during that time.

"Sakura, what happened? Did we win?" he asked, scratching his head.

"Not yet." Sakura shook her head, then gestured with her lips, pointing in the direction where Deidara's body had fallen. "But I took care of the guy who used the bomb."

Sakura knew that Sasori was merely tightening his defenses and weighing the pros and cons. As long as Sakura exposed her vulnerable side, Sasori would immediately attack!

We must pretend that nothing is wrong.

Sakura had a bit of a headache, and then it suddenly occurred to her. "Where's Uncle Jiraiya?"

"Huh?" Naruto's eyes widened. "He's been following me the whole time!"

Just as Naruto was beginning to suspect that Jiraiya had fallen too far behind and couldn't get there in time,

On the other side of the valley, beyond Sakura's perception range.

Jiraiya, who had been closely following Naruto, suddenly stopped!

He turned around and looked at the empty ground.

With a grim expression, he coldly asked, "Orochimaru, what are you doing here?"

Orochimaru's figure emerged from the earth, with Kabuto following closely behind.

"Jiraiya, how can you still be so stupid..." Orochimaru chuckled coldly, sticking out his long tongue, "Don't you know how the people of Konoha found Akatsuki?"

"I'm asking you why you're here, Orochimaru!" Jiraiya slowly placed his hand on his chest, his voice deep and powerful.

His eyes narrowed dangerously as he looked at Orochimaru.

It seemed that if Orochimaru gave even one inappropriate answer, he would attack without hesitation!

(Bonus chapter completed for 1/400 monthly votes. Bonus chapter for 500 monthly votes is being written and will be released this afternoon!)

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