Deidara tossed his last Clay Bomb and sat panting on the Clay Dragon.
The chakra expenditure had nearly drained him dry.
He glanced down. In the scattered firelight, it looked as though he had blown up half of the ten installations, but it was too dark to make out the exact damage.
Meanwhile, the Hidden Sand Village's backup plan was underway.
The teams were rapidly dismantling the installations, removing crystal panels half a meter wide and quickly carrying them away.
"Sasori, looks like they're taking those dome frames apart. I think they're trying to get the stuff inside out."
It was too dark for Deidara to see clearly either.
Sasori replied calmly, "Leave them. Our objective is destruction, not stealing materials."
"Ōnoki has already banned sales of that ore. The Hidden Sand Village only has a limited supply."
"If you're out of Clay Bombs, let's leave."
Deidara answered, "Used them all up! I've already found an even better mixture for C3!"
He had to prepare each clay mixture in advance, so he never carried very much.
His chakra was limited. Even if he packed more, he wouldn't be able to use it all.
As he spoke, he sent the Clay Dragon climbing higher and flew west. The white dragon soon merged into the night sky and vanished.
Below them, the Hidden Sand Village's base had been reduced to a shambles.
Six of the ten installations had been destroyed, their domes collapsed and their pipes broken.
Rubble and twisted metal littered the ground, along with many villagers caught in the blasts.
Some were wailing. Others had stopped moving altogether.
The Hidden Sand Village's handful of medical ninja hurried among the wounded, prioritizing those with grave, life-threatening injuries.
Two Hidden Sand ninja helped the old man kneeling on the ground to his