He had no choice. If he stayed in the air, sooner or later he would be shot full of holes. He could only land and fight a guerrilla battle.
Yet the instant he landed, the sight around him sent cold sweat pouring down Deidara's back.
Before he could even steady himself, five or six grim-faced ninja had already closed in around him. Each held a sharp bone blade in either hand, surrounding him completely with an imposing air of deadly menace.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
Without a word, the ninja swung their blades and charged, moving as swiftly as phantoms.
A cold sneer curled Deidara's lips. You dare take me on at close range? Then get ready to be blown to pieces!
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Explosions rang out one after another in the alley. Several white clay spiders danced between Deidara's fingertips, then instantly pounced on the enemy and detonated.
"Let's see you survive-"
But when the smoke cleared, Deidara's vicious words caught in his throat.
The explosions had indeed mangled the ninja's flesh, but... stark white bones were clearly visible in their wounds, and... they were writhing!
Deidara sucked in a sharp breath, his scalp prickling. "Could this be... the Kaguya Clan, the one that was supposedly wiped out?"
"What the hell! When did this many Kaguya Clan lunatics crawl out from under Kirigakure?"
Deidara felt as though he were having a nightmare, and he could hardly be blamed for his alarm.
In all the years since his defection, he had paid little attention to specific shifts in the Shinobi World's situation, much less heard the intelligence about the revival of Kirigakure's major Kekkei Genkai clans.
Never mind Deidara-even the other great ninja villages knew very little about Kirigakure's current reserves of strength, with the exception of Konoha and its