Shisui looked at Sasuke's eyes, filled with intense unwillingness, and shook his head. He did not answer Sasuke's question—or rather, he could not answer it either.
"Damn it!"
Sasuke forced himself up from the ground, then raised a hand to cover his head.
During the earlier interception battle, he had already expended a tremendous amount of ocular power, and his eyesight had begun to deteriorate severely. Just now, disregarding the consumption of ocular power, he had consecutively used three Mangekyō Sharingan-level ocular techniques—"Susanoo," "Amaterasu," and "Kagutsuchi"—making his blurred vision even worse.
Kimimaro and Haku exchanged a glance, both seeing astonishment and shock in each other's eyes.
Although they felt Sasuke's attack had been somewhat rash, they had also believed his ambush had a high chance of success. It had even been launched from long range, so there should have been little risk.
Yet Sasuke's ambush had not achieved anything. He had nearly gotten himself killed instead. Had Shisui not acted in time, Sasuke would likely have been hammered into pulp by now.
Deidara, who had been smirking and egging Sasuke on, lost his smile as well. His expression complicated, he looked toward Nagato and Otsutsuki Toneri in the arena.
He had always believed that explosive art was the art worth pursuing for his entire life.
But the Akatsuki leader and God Organization leader battling before him made him realize that the art he took such pride in was utterly insignificant before them.
The gap left him deeply dejected.
In the arena.
That brief interruption had not only made the observing ninjas at the edge of the battlefield aware of Nagato's Limbo Clones, but had also made Otsutsuki Toneri, who was competing with Nagato in chakra absorption, aware of them.
Startled, Otsutsuki Toneri—who had originally held a slight advantage in this