On the back of a bird streaking through the sky, Deidara looked down at his prey racing through the forest and thrust both hands into the Ninja Tool Pouches at his waist!
Smack! Smack!
The mouths in his palms swallowed clay, their chewing deft and precise... but what they spat out was not pure white. It was clay spiders with dark gray surfaces!
"Art never stops evolving, Sasuke Uchiha! Thanks to you, my explosive art no longer has any weaknesses!!!"
Whoosh!
He flung out both hands, raining down a swarm of clay spiders!
Sasuke glanced back.
"The civilians in the fishing village could still get caught up in this. I can't use a killing move yet. First, I'll turn those bombs into duds!"
His White Cloak swirled around his arm as he flicked it lightly!
Chidori Senbon!
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh...!
Fine needles of Lightning shot into the sky in parallel ranks!
Clang, clang, clang...!!
Amid the crisp clinks of impact, the clay spiders closed in!
"They didn't pierce them...!?"
Sasuke was startled, but a moment later, his hands formed the Shadow Clone Seal. The clone leaped out of White Smoke, caught a clay spider barehanded, and examined it with his Sharingan!
"This is..."
Deidara raised two fingers. "Detonate...!!!"
BOOM, BOOM, BOOM...!!
The Shadow Clone vanished in the fiery explosions of the clay spiders, transmitting its findings as it disappeared.
Sasuke's gaze darkened slightly as he ran. "I see. He added a hard Ceramic layer to the surface of his explosives to insulate them against Lightning Release, overcoming explosive clay's weakness of being turned into duds."
Sasuke looked at the ceramic shards driven into his White Cloak by the explosion, pulled them out, and clenched them in his hand.
"At the same time... when they explode, the Ceramic coating becomes