Bombing Sunagakure

Both Kazashiro and Pakura knew that Sunagakure was no match for Iwagakure.

In order to prevent Sunagakure from being quickly conquered by the enemy, external reinforcements are especially important at this moment.

Taking advantage of the good relationship she had just established with the daimyo, Pakura successfully obtained a sum of money for the military and then transferred it directly to an account in the Land of Fire.

This led to the scene where Kakuzu led his Genin subordinates to the border.

Of course, they certainly wouldn't openly admit that they hired the Integration Movement, which terrifies all the nobles of the Shinobi World.

After snapping the necks of two Stone Ninja, Kakuzu walked with a dark face toward the subordinate who had thrown out the Exploding Tag and kicked him.

"Foolish guy, do you really need to use Exploding Tag to deal with an opponent of this level?"

Having finally vented his anger by kicking someone, Kakuzu turned around and began looting the dead Stone Ninja.

"Team leader..."

Sakuraen, who had been kicked away earlier, struggled to get up, but with multiple fractures throughout her body, it was impossible for her to move smoothly.

"Take care of her."

Kakuzu glared at his subordinate, who was also struggling to get up. The subordinate instinctively pulled out Exploding Tag Kunai, and then Kakuzu's cold voice rang out.

"Use a cheaper method."

"Yes..."

The subordinates dared not object and hurriedly separated the Kunai from the Exploding Tag.

With the intervention of the Integration Movement, the battle, which should have ended with an overwhelming victory for Iwagakure, turned into a close contest between the two sides.

"Those despicable guys actually hired outside help!"

Upon receiving the battle report, Ōnoki slammed it angrily onto the table.

Although he said that, Ōnoki knew in his heart that, given the environment of military spending cuts, hiring armed groups to fight proxy wars was the most cost-effective approach.

"It seems the newly appointed Kazekage isn't as reckless as rumored. He deliberately let us be careless at first, then launched a surprise attack, catching us off guard."

Ōnoki crossed his arms and began to analyze Pakura's psychology on his own.

"So what should we do next?"

Kitsuchi Tu, who had just finished the search operation for Roshi, was expressionless, seemingly lost in thought.

"Of course, we'll use overwhelming victories to show Sunagakure that they are nothing compared to Iwagakure."

Ōnoki slammed his hand on the table, glanced at Akatsuchi who was playing with Kurotsuchi behind Kitsuchi, and a yellow figure appeared in his mind.

"Go and call that brat out. Tell him there's a mission."

On a fine, sunny day, the high-ranking officials of Sunagakure held their regular high-level meeting.

The small-scale conflict with Iwagakure has been going on for a month. After seeing the results of the battles on the front lines, the high-ranking officials who were originally dissatisfied with Pakura and Chiyo have had their resentment lessened to some extent.

They were very curious about where Pakura had hired this mysterious expert. Judging from the expert's record, there was clearly someone among the attackers whose strength was no less than that of a Shadow.

However, their reason told them that it was best not to ask this question.

Unlike the whispering higher-ups, Pakura her chin on her hand, watching them discuss various issues with a bored expression, and couldn't help but reminisce about the days she worked with Kakuzu.

Back then, she only needed to follow the list given by Kazashiro to kill people, unlike now, where she has to consider the consequences before killing anyone.

If it weren't for Kazashiro's plan, she would have already sent these high-ranking officials who betrayed her back to the Pure Land one by one.

Especially Chiyo, that old hag dared to yell at me! I'll make her pay when the plan is complete!

"In that case, contact with Konoha is not so important."

Chiyo and Ōnoki had known each other for many years and were very familiar with each other's ways.

In her view, Ōnoki would soon withdraw the Stone Ninja from the border after realizing he wouldn't gain any advantage in the conflict.

It's important to know that countless lives were lost in the Third Shinobi World War as the Iwagakure sacrificed itself to kill the Third Raikage.

No village in the entire Shinobi World dared to wage another full-scale war.

Aside from the somewhat extraordinary Konoha.

Chiyo suddenly recalled Konoha's head-on clashes with Kumogakure during the Fourth Hokage's era.

"Yes, we can protect Sunagakure ourselves, so why should we seek the protection of Konoha?"

Another high-ranking official chimed in, saying that Konoha's attitude was too nasty, so nasty that it was annoying.

Moreover Sunagakure, the treaty proposed by the other party is too harsh. Once signed, Sunagakure will no longer be Sand Ninja.

"But we can't afford to make enemies with them because of this. We can deal with Iwagakure, but we might not be able to deal with Konoha. In the end..."

Ebizo had barely opened his mouth when a series of explosions drowned out his voice.

"What happened?"

Everyone present was startled and hurriedly stood up to look out the window.

Through the windows, the high-ranking officials of Sunagakure could clearly see that some buildings in the village had been razed to the ground, and faint Hono could still be seen on the ruins.

"Lord Kazekage, something terrible has happened! Unidentified individuals have invaded our airspace and dropped explosive materials from above!"

A Sand Ninja hurriedly burst through the door, his voice hoarse as he reported the current situation to everyone present.

At the other party's prompting, the higher-ups raised their gaze and quickly spotted the white dragon circling in the air.

"What is that?"

Chiyo had never seen such an attack method before, and looked at her younger brother Ebizo with a questioning gaze.

In the sky, Deidara stood on the head of C2·Dragon, looking down at the Sand Ninja who wanted to attack but couldn't reach him, and felt an overwhelming sense of accomplishment.

At this height, no ninja could possibly attack him except for that despicable old man.

"The Shinobi World these days is utterly devoid of beauty, hmm."

Looking at the uninspired architecture of Sunagakure, Deidara spoke with disdain, preparing to show the Sand Ninja what true art was.

Actually, he wanted to experiment with art in Iwagakure, but before Deidara could try a few more times, he was forcibly grabbed by Ōnoki and thrown into a temple outside Iwagakure.

Deidara reached into his ninja tool pouch and began chewing on the white clay inside with his large mouth.

"Ready, hmm."

With a smirk, Deidara pulled out his hand and began to drop a continuous stream of white orbs from the air.

What is that?

Although the Sand Ninja didn't know what Deidara had thrown down, they instinctively threw their ninja tools in the direction of the white substance after witnessing the earlier building explosion.

"Hehe, this level of difficulty can't stop me, hmm."

Deidara raised the dragon several meters higher, and feeling that it was about right, began to form hand seals.

"Experience my art, drink!"

With a low growl from Deidara, the sphere began to explode.