Rumble...
The entire forest seemed to come alive beneath the cover of night, restless and violent, unleashing one deafening rumble after another!
Even ordinary people would have felt their scalps tingle at the sight. Even an average Jonin would have been horrified.
Caught in the middle of it all, Scorpion could only suffer in silence.
When he was a child, he had heard stories about Wood Release and learned that it was a special Kekkei Genkai belonging to Konoha.
As he grew older, his strength increased and his horizons broadened. He began to resent the Wood Release of those childhood stories, which had seemed almost omnipotent.
So when the organization decided to investigate Wood Release's reappearance in Konoha, he had volunteered for the mission.
He wanted to see with his own eyes whether Wood Release really could inspire the despair described in those childhood stories.
Now, at last, he understood!
Clang!
Just then, the blade on the tail of Hiruko Puppet, the puppet Scorpion was hiding inside, snapped after slicing through far too many trees.
His expression darkened.
The puppets he crafted were made from the finest materials. Their blades in particular were forged from repeatedly tempered steel. He hadn't expected one to be ruined in such a short time.
"This is bad!"
Without the blade on its tail, Hiruko Puppet couldn't fight while retreating through the sea of trees. Countless vines quickly wrapped around it, binding it tight.
In the sky.
Watching Scorpion get swallowed by the sea of trees, Deidara sat cross-legged and leisurely atop his Clay Bird, looking surprised. "No way. Was Brother Scorpion really taken out just like that?"
In the distance.
Shizune, hidden in the crown of a large tree, stared at everything from afar, disbelief written all over her face.
She could hardly believe