Chiyo wanted her grandson back

The Fourth Raikage said, "The Third Tsuchikage, Ōnoki, is 79 years old; he's long since aged beyond recognition."

"Ōnoki is currently preoccupied with finding a disciple and training him to become the Fourth Tsuchikage, so Deidara's status missing-nin is beyond doubt."

If Dodai and the others put themselves in Ōnoki, they would immediately understand that the Raikage was right.

The Tsuchikage had no reason to send his successor away when he was old and nearing death.

After all, the 79-year-old Tsuchikage has limited deterrent power, while Deidara is all alone. If anything happens to either of them, Iwagakure will face internal strife over the succession of the Tsuchikage.

The Fourth Raikage continued, "Aside from wanting a disciple, Ōnoki's current only thought is to maintain the status quo. At most, he'll sabotage us from the shadows, but he'll never attack us openly."

"After all, our strength surpasses that of Iwagakure. Even though we are currently severely injured, I am absolutely confident that we can win the war against Iwagakure."

Killer B asked, "Big Brother, if the Third Tsuchikage isn't behind Amegakure, then who is?"

"It can't just be the Akatsuki, can it?"

The Fourth Raikage smiled wryly, "I don't know about that. The Ninja World is so vast; who knows what monster might be lurking somewhere."

Darui asked, "Lord Raikage, what should we do next?"

The Fourth Raikage closed his eyes and ordered, "Rescue everyone first, then send people to gather intelligence."

"The attack on us by Amegakure is unlikely to be an isolated incident. Send people to check on other ninja villages that possess Tailed Beast and Jinchuriki, and confirm the status of all the Tailed Beast."

"All Cloud Ninja assemble, and all non-combat Ninja and Kumogakure villagers disperse to various parts of the Land of Lightning, settling them as dispersedly as possible."

The Fourth Raikage stood up, opened his eyes, and said firmly, "If all the Tailed Beast in all the ninja villages are in danger, then we must prepare to participate in the war."

The Cloud Ninja stood up and responded in unison, "Yes!"

Just as Kumogakure was being attacked by Nagato, Deidara and Sasori of the Red Sands also joined forces and were surrounded by Konoha Ninja and Sunagakure Ninja.

Sasori of the Red Sands complained expressionlessly, "It's all your fault. If you hadn't insisted on doing that low-altitude bombing and getting shot down by Jiraiya, we would have been far away by now."

Deidara knew he had gone too far this time, but the immature teenager never apologized. Like a sulking child, he stubbornly insisted, "It's not my fault. I didn't know Jiraiya this strong."

--

Scorpion ignored him, looking at the Konoha Ninja and Chiyo who were surrounding them, and said, "Because of your recklessness, we're now surrounded by so many powerful Ninja, and we might really die."

Deidara said nonchalantly, "No way, as long as we seize the opportunity, give me three seconds to take off, and we can shake them all off."

"Deidara!" Sasori suddenly interrupted him.

Deidara noticed the unusual tone in Sasori's voice, raised his eyes, and asked curiously, "Uncle Sasori, what's wrong?"

Scorpion calmly said, "I'll hold the enemy back. You try to take off first, then leave this place."

"Uncle Scorpion, did I hear that right? According to the most logical tactics, I should take off, return at high speed, fly over the battlefield, and pick you up so we can go together, right?"

Deidara was completely puzzled by Sasori's words.

Sasori of the Red Sands said, "Jiraiya of Konoha and Chiyo of Sunagakure are both top-tier Kage-level Ninja. They won't give you a chance to slip through the battlefield. If you come back, it's tantamount to suicide."

"Huh?" Deidara was even more confused; "But if I leave, won't you be dead?"

Sasori of the Red Sands said nonchalantly, "It's alright. I'll tell them the location of the cave so they can find the body of the One-Tail Jinchuriki. The Konoha Ninja are just here to complete a mission; they won't hunt me down."

"As for Chiyo from Sunagakure, it would be even better if she came after me. I happen to have some grudges to settle with her."

"Okay, then let's do it the way Uncle Scorpion suggested. I'll be waiting for you at Shelter Android 17!"

Deidara, who had no mouth, smiled and approved of Sasori of the Red Sands's tactics, then took out a large amount of Explosive Clay and began to chew it.

Jiraiya and the other Konoha Ninja frowned. They had just been bombarded from above by this kid, leaving them nowhere to hide, and they had suffered greatly.

Jiraiya even recalled the feeling of frustration that Konoha felt when it was Sneak Attack the Hidden Sky Village at the end of the Second Shinobi World War, and the entire village looked up at the sky and sighed.

Fortunately, Tenten threw out a large number of Kunai, which "accidentally" hit a critical point on the clay giant bird, pulling Deidara's flight altitude down.

Jiraiya summoned Gamabunta and used [Water Release: Giant Water Gun] to knock Deidara down.

If Sasori of the Red Sands hadn't arrived in time to rescue Deidara from Chiyo's clutches, that Golden-Haired would definitely have been killed by the ruthless old woman.

Even if Chiyo didn't kill Deidara on the spot out of consideration for Ōnoki's feelings, Chiyo would still secretly poison him, completely destroying Iwagakure's hope.

Seeing Deidara create another giant clay bird, all the Ninja couldn't sit still any longer and grabbed their weapons, ready to pounce on the two Kage-level Ninja.

Although Kage-level Ninja are very strong, the rescue team also has Kage-level Ninja, and none of the other Ninja are weak either. Even the weakest one, Rock Lee, can now open the Sixth Gate, which is enough to threaten the life of Kage-level Ninja.

Sasori of the Red Sands pulled out a huge scroll from his Cloak and unfurled it, releasing hundreds of densely packed puppets.

[Red Secret Technique: Performance of a Hundred Puppets]

The puppets were all dressed in red robes, but they were all different sizes and held different weapons; some were even weapons that were part of their bodies.

Hundreds of puppets lined up in neat rows, baring their fangs and brandishing their weapons, ready for battle.

The Konoha Ninja were taken aback by the sheer number of puppets and immediately switched from attack to defense. They were Konoha Ninja; there was no need for them to risk their lives for Sunagakure.

The situation instantly changed from besieging the Akatsuki to being besieged by the Akatsuki.

Chiyo from Sunagakure was the most terrified.

As a top-tier Puppeteer, Chiyo was renowned for her secret technique of simultaneously manipulating ten puppets, but she never imagined that she could control more puppets than the number of fingers at the same time.

As a result, his grandson not only broke through the finger limit, but also increased the number by dozens of times.

The puppets controlled by Puppeteer are usually considered to be slightly weaker in combat than the Puppeteer.

Sasori of the Red Sands definitely possesses Kage Level strength, meaning this adds hundreds of Kage Level combatants to the team at once?

This is Nature Transformation caused by quantitative change, and it is even a force capable of destroying Konoha.

Fortunately, Chiyo didn't lose her mind. She quickly remembered just how extravagant the materials would be for a puppet that could rival Kage-level Ninja, which is why she didn't tell Sasori to go home immediately.

But she had already started planning this in her mind. As long as Sasori could surrender and go home, he would be the only candidate to become the Sixth Kazekage.

Being able to control hundreds of puppets, even if these puppets are made of ordinary materials and their combat strength is equivalent to that of Chunin, is still a force capable of destroying a country.

Chiyo had to suppress her laughter as she thought about her grandson becoming the Kazekage, and how the Puppeteer finally had Kazekage.

At this point, the Fifth Kazekage was no longer important to the old woman.

Sasori of the Red Sands pointed in a direction with his stinger and shouted, "The Fifth Kazekage you're trying to save is over there. Go into the cave and you'll find him about 300 meters in."

"If you don't stop me, I won't stop you either."

Jiraiya ordered, "Ino-Shika-Cho squad, Aburame Torune, you go and rescue the Fifth Kazekage. The rest of you, retreat and stand ready!"

When Jiraiya mentioned "rescue," his tone was quite strange. He guessed from the Akatsuki's complete retreat that the Fifth Kazekage, Gaara, was beyond saving.

If the Fifth Kazekage were still alive, the Akatsuki should have taken him with them, as he would have been of immense value, both in terms of his personal worth and as a hostage.

Seeing that he had intimidated the rescue team, Sasori turned around and said impatiently, "Deidara, stick to the plan. You get out of here first."

Deidara asked one last time to confirm, "Uncle Sasori, you really do have a way to leave, right?"

"Shut up, stick to the plan!"

Sasori of the Red Sands gave an impatient command, and the puppet Hiruko raised its long tail and stabbed it at Deidara's feet. The little Golden-Haired boy yelped in fright, flipped over, jumped onto the clay bird, and took off.

Everyone glanced at Deidara, but no one intervened, letting him clumsily maneuver the giant bird into takeoff.

A few minutes later, Deidara disappeared into the sky, while the Ino-Shika-Cho trio and Aburame Torune returned with Gaara's body.

Chiyo suddenly shouted, "Surrender, Sasori! Return to the village and spend your life atoning for killing the Kazekage!"

Jiraiya and Kakashi Hatake, these seasoned veterans, understood Chiyo's meaning, but since it was a matter for Sunagakure, neither of them felt it was appropriate to interfere.

The two men's choices were completely at odds with the Fifth Hokage's consistent domineering style, and even more so with Konoha's overbearing behavior of controlling everything and interfering in all internal affairs over the past three years.

The Ino-Shika-Cho team wasn't ranked high within the clan. Aburame Torune was from the Root, and since the two leaders didn't speak, they remained silent.

The instructor of Team 3, Might Guy, and the team member, Rock Lee, are both battle fanatics who don't care about anything outside of battle.

Only Captain Tenten and teammate Neji Hyuga sensed something was wrong, but after exchanging a glance, they also chose to give up.

They both trusted the Fifth Hokage, and since the Hokage had made such arrangements for the rescue team, he certainly wouldn't overlook the personality issues of the two people in charge.

In other words, he did it on purpose.

Tenten's eyes crinkled with laughter, and she thought to herself, "This is going to be interesting."

Neji Hyuga adjusted his Forehead Protector and tightened his ponytail, wondering: What did the Lord Hokage foresee? Does he need my help?

Unlike the historical Neji Hyuga, he not only wore Forehead Protector around his neck, but also tied his hair into a neat ponytail, with the aim of showing off his smooth forehead as much as possible.

This is the uniform style of all Hyuga Branch Family, showing off their foreheads as much as possible, as evidence that they were saved by the Lord Hokage.

Now that the Hyuga Clan's [Caged Bird Seal] has been broken, and the new protective seal has not yet been fully developed, all the branch families' eyes can be stolen.

But as long as the Fifth Hokage is alive, no one in the Ninja World dares to lay a hand on the Hyuga Clan, because that would invite utter destruction.

Influenced by Shazo, the Hyuga Branch Family Ninja all changed, transforming from timid and submissive to extremely belligerent and aggressive.

Neji Hyuga is the branch family Ninja has undergone the most changes and is the most aggressive Hyūga Ninja. That's why he disregards Jiraiya and Kakashi Hatake's identities and believes that their actions are wrong.

But to everyone's surprise, Sasori of the Red Sands suddenly flew into a rage upon hearing Chiyo's words.

"You damn bastard! You're trying to control my life again! I'm not your puppet!"

Hundreds of puppets, controlled by Sasori, launched relentless attacks on Chiyo.

Chiyo seemed to have anticipated this, and instantly released ten uniquely shaped puppets, which were the best puppets of Sunagakure — the Ten Puppets of Chikamatsu.

A battle has begun between two top-tier Puppeteer.

Surprisingly, the scorpion, which had more puppets, did not gain the upper hand.

The hundreds of red- Cloak puppets were a significant advantage in terms of numbers, but the Ten Puppets of Chikamatsu were also numerous enough to provide Chiyo with impenetrable protection.

After all, the space around a person is only so big, and six puppets are enough to block all directions. Of the remaining puppets, two are responsible for defending against the air, and the other two serve as substitutes.

The Ten Puppets of Chikamatsu of very high quality, able to fully utilize Chiyo's Puppet Technique. Through precise teamwork, the Ten Puppets of Chikamatsu displayed the combat power of Elite Jonin.

Sasori of the Red Sands's puppet coordination is equally precise; when both sides operate the puppets flawlessly, the difference in puppet quality becomes the decisive factor.

Faced with the siege of hundreds of Sasori of the Red Sands's puppets, Chiyo, controlling the Ten Puppets of Chikamatsu, easily destroyed Sasori's puppets, quickly creating a mess of trash.

Chiyo spoke up, "Scorpion, surrender."

"Although I am very old, I will definitely be able to hold out until I destroy all your puppets."

"Once you return to Sunagakure, you'll get better puppets, and then you'll be able to fully utilize your Puppet Technique."

"Shut up, you damned old woman!"

Sasori of the Red Sands roared, "My puppet is better than the one Zaemon made!"

As he spoke, he removed the Akatsuki Cloak from his body, revealing Hiruko's true form.

This thing is a modified puppet commonly known as the Scorpion, with strangely shaped blades on both hands and a huge, Inhuman face on its back.

From the gaping mouth of the human face, a steel-made spiked tail protrudes like a tongue, extending and retracting freely, manipulated at will, much like the most deadly tail of a scorpion.

The steel tail is segmented and connected, with purple Venom flowing from the gaps.

The Venom dripped from the tip of its tail onto the ground, sizzling and corroding the surface, creating pits and sending up chilling wisps of gray smoke.

Hiruko's shape is so ferocious and extremely ugly that it completely fails to meet the standard of "appearance equals fighting power".

But in Chiyo's eyes, the modification of this puppet was so amazing that it undoubtedly surpassed the Ten Puppets of Chikamatsu.

Their desire to bring Sasori back to Sunagakure grew even stronger.