"Come out!"
Seeing Sasori make the first move, Deidara stopped holding back. Both hands pressed against the ground, and a chain of explosions tore the entire earth apart. Amid the rain of flying dirt and stones, Jiraiya burst out with a confident smile. Combined with his absurdly long hair, it infuriated Deidara—because that smile seemed like nothing but contempt for him.
"Don't underestimate me! C2 Dragon!"
Enraged, Deidara directly unleashed the strongest clay bomb he currently possessed. A white dragon crushed across the ground and soared into the sky before diving straight at Jiraiya under Deidara's control.
Boom...
The entire valley was flattened. Kisame Hoshigaki and Itachi escaped the blast radius in a somewhat sorry state. Looking at the barren stretch of land where not a single tree remained and seeing no sign of Jiraiya, they both relaxed slightly.
"Roar!"
The red-and-black-striped puppet tiger let out a warning roar. Its serrated tail split into several segments, lengthened, and stabbed into the ground. A man-sized toad burst from the earth, its hands clad in iron rings as it blocked the attack. Yet the serrated blade twisted as it spun, piercing into the toad's shoulder. The toad immediately dissolved into vapor, while white hair wrapped around the serrated blade and trapped it in place. Jiraiya leaped out of the pit, tossing his head back and whipping his hair to hurl the giant tiger into the air.
"Hiruko: Martial Rend Execution!"
As it was flung into the air, Sasori finally revealed himself. He instantly appeared atop Hiruko's back, pressing one hand against it. At the same time, Hiruko's underside split open, shooting countless black threads toward the ground.
Jiraiya rolled aside to evade. The instant those black threads touched the earth, they melted it into a pool of dark green liquid. Jiraiya was