At the border of the Land of Lightning, a biting mountain wind howled past.
Deidara sat idly atop a massive Clay Bird, looking down at the winding mountain road below. His art needed an audience, but this dull reconnaissance work was practically an insult to his aesthetics.
Suddenly, his gaze froze.
A small convoy was slowly making its way along the mountain path. At its center was a familiar figure that immediately caught his attention.
The Two-Tails Jinchūriki, Yugito.
Deidara adjusted the bird's altitude and carefully observed the escort's formation. There were over a dozen Kumogakure shinobi, each with a sharp presence, but none of them showed any trace of modern equipment. The weapons in their hands were still traditional kunai and blades.
"How backward, hm." Deidara curled his lip, a hint of disdainful amusement appearing on his face.
There were none of Konoha's annoying Bolters, nor any of those bizarre armors that could inexplicably fly into the sky. This was practically a stage tailor-made for his art.
A perfect battle plan instantly took shape in his mind.
First, he would use the C2 Clay Dragon for high-altitude carpet bombing, disrupting their formation and creating chaos. Then, while they were scrambling for their lives, he would present them with his proudest work—C4 Garuda.
Against a Jinchūriki, precise and magnificent internal explosions were true art.
"Then the show begins, hm!"
Deidara formed hand seals, and countless tiny Clay Spiders fell from the sky like snowflakes.
The Kumogakure escort below immediately noticed something was wrong.
"Enemy attack!"
"Above us!"
However, before the warnings had even faded, dense explosions swept through the entire convoy.
Boom! Boom boom!
Flames and smoke surged into the sky as the mountain road was blasted to pieces. More than a dozen Kumogakure elites were instantly hurled away by