The Final Outburst

"Oh no! We're doomed!"

"It's over, even faster than I expected. I didn't expect Sasori of the Red Sands to escape so decisively. It's a real pity. If it were someone else... they might have actually managed to escape."

Minato sighed regretfully.

"Haha, Minato, what are you talking about? You're making it sound like you'd just watch that guy get away. Even if Katsuki didn't chase after him, wouldn't you still catch him?"

Orochimaru chuckled and patted Minato on the shoulder.

"Let's go! We've had enough of the show. It's time to get back to work. Let your deputy handle things here. We shouldn't stand here and be a nuisance, making it hard for others to get their work done."

Minato's lips curled up into a smile.

That's true. With those two standing here, one is the Hokage, the biggest boss in the whole village, and the other is the Chief of Staff of the Legion, Itachi's direct superior. Itachi can't even give orders anymore; he has to look over at them first before he can do anything.

"Let's go, let's go. We still have the Sand Village delegation to deal with! Sigh, Minato, how come I never realized before that the Hokage's job was so exhausting?"

"This only shows that you have fulfilled your responsibilities."

The sounds of laughter and conversation faded into the distance on the wind.

With the two troublesome bigwigs gone, Itachi finally felt free to direct his subordinates to clean up the battlefield. He found members of his clan from the Police Force and asked them to send Sasuke home. Suzuran, having received the news from the awakened Sasuke, also sent her to the Minato family with her trusted subordinates. He personally led a team to follow Katsuki's trail.

"Deputy Chief, are these pits... footprints?"

The group ran and leaped through the trees, needing no Sensory Ninjutsu, and simply followed the trail of deep pits left on the ground.

Looking at the pit on the ground, which was about thirty centimeters deep, one could vaguely see the shape of footprints.

"I guess so!"

Itachi gave a vague answer, wondering to himself if humans could actually do such a thing. Just traveling had caused so much destruction...

"Whoosh!!"

A gust of strong wind blew in, bending the lush canopy of the tree and shaking the weasel and his group off the tree.

An unlucky fellow got his neck caught in a vine and was nearly strangled, but Shuriken reacted quickly, slicing the vine with a shuriken and saving his subordinate from fainting.

Are you alright?

"Cough... cough... it's nothing, it was just too sudden." The rescued subordinate was so ashamed he wished he could disappear into an ant hole at his feet. It was just too humiliating. As an elite member of the Root, to be strangled to death by a vine was just too shameful.

"It's alright." Itachi waved his hand, shifting his gaze forward, towards the direction from which the wind was blowing.

"Bang bang!!"

Another series of violent explosions followed.

"... This is... so strong!!"

Braving the occasional strong winds, the group approached the battlefield.

"Crack!!"

A fist crackling with blinding silver-white lightning shattered the massive fireball, and the dazzling lightning continued unabated, turning the flying puppet into a cloud of ashes that drifted down.

"Again! Again! These puppets of yours feel really good to fight with!"

Addicted to fighting the puppets, Katsuki, with a bright smile, transformed into lightning, weaving through Sasori's puppet army. Wherever she passed, the puppets exploded like fireworks, bursting into brilliant light.

"Damn it, you damned bastard!"

Scorpion felt like his lungs were about to explode with anger, even though he no longer had lungs.

He only needed to rush to his side and finish him off with one punch, but those damned natural disasters kept destroying his puppets one after another. After losing his parents, his grandmother also took on heavy responsibilities in the village, spending most of her time with the puppets in the workshop.

These puppets, which he made himself, were the embodiment of his life; apart from hatred, he had only puppets.

"You bastard, die! If a hundred Explosive Tags don't kill you, then try a thousand, ten thousand... Let's all go to hell together!"

The Puppet Master relies heavily on external objects in combat, such as poison, Explosive Tags, Flash Bomb, and even the puppet itself is an external object, unlike ordinary ninjas who use Ninjutsu in combat.

Therefore, every top Puppet Master has ample supplies.

Scorpion pulled out about a dozen more scrolls from the puppet's body, all of which contained Shurikens, Explosive Tags, and Flash Bomb.

"Slap! Slap!"

A series of soft thuds followed, then an endless stream of bright light filled the space.

The blinding light can rob people of their sight, even making it impossible for them to open their eyes. This is even worse than the dust that is kicked up. Excessively bright light can even cause temporary blindness. For people in combat, this is nothing short of an invitation to death.

"Ah! My eyes, my eyes."

"Damn it, Flash Bomb in succession, that's vicious."

The continuous explosions of Flash Bomb created a persistent, intense light that blinded everyone.

"Next up is this."

Manipulating one puppet to continuously unleash flashes, while three other puppets, each adorned with countless Explosive Tags, charged forward towards the unkillable monster, Konoha's calamity.

Layer upon layer of Explosive Tags were wrapped around the puppets' heads, arms, torsos, and legs. As they flew through the air, a string of Explosive Tags behind them fluttered in the wind like carp streamers. Just as Scorpion had said, there were tens of thousands of Explosive Tags, the exact number of which even he himself had not counted. This was all the stock he had accumulated over the decades.

This time, I'm giving it my all.

"Tsk tsk! As expected of one of the top ninjas in the Shinobi World, he struggled until the very end... So many Explosive Tags, although they're useless against me... but I can't let him run wild."

What is a strong light to an ordinary person is just the difference between an electric light and a candle flame to the Katsuki, whose enhanced eyesight is already extraordinary.

He saw every move the scorpion made clearly.

No matter how Explosive Tags they had, they wouldn't be of any use to him. However, they were still in Konoha, albeit in a remote northern forest. The explosion of that many Explosive Tags would have a huge impact, and the aftershocks would also be a major problem.

"Tch, did they go too far? They're just asking for trouble! Really..."

Katsuki spat, took a deep breath, and bright red Chakra, filled with a violent aura, overflowed from her body, transforming into a crimson cloak that covered her.

"Shadow Clone Technique"

Hundreds of clones clad in crimson Tailed Beast Cloak appeared from all directions, completely occupying the surrounding space.

"Ninja Technique, Adamantine Barrier"

"Earth Release, Earth Flow Rampart."

"Ninja Technique, Four Violet Flames Formation."

"Earth Release, Earth Moving Core."

Amidst endless flashes of light, the Shadow Clones swiftly deployed an impenetrable wall to suppress the massive number of Explosive Tags about to detonate. (To be continued)