New Technique, Izayoi's Meeting Gift

"Brother Sasori, we've been searching for three days already, but we still haven't found the mining village. Could your intel be fake?"

At this moment, the Art Duo had no idea they were being watched.

After circling in the sky several times and still finding nothing, Deidara finally descended and complained.

"Zetsu provided the intel, so it shouldn't be wrong. A Kurosuki Clan has recently emerged in the Land of Rivers, specializing in selling various minerals on the Black Market." Sasori of the Red Sand's voice was somewhat heavy and hoarse. "That clan must have an enormous mineral source. As long as we find them, we won't have to put up with Kakuzu's attitude anymore, and we won't need to keep carrying out missions everywhere."

"Fine, then I'll keep looking with you for a few more days," Deidara said helplessly.

With that, Deidara carried Sasori of the Red Sand into the air, preparing to search another area.

As they flew through the sky, a small patch of shadow suddenly enveloped them, shielding them from the sunlight above.

Looking up, they saw a figure with dazzling golden light flashing behind him, his features completely obscured.

"A Flying Ninja?!"

Deidara cried out, "Did the old man send someone to take me back?"

Among flying ninjutsu, the most famous was Hidden Stone Village's Earth Style: Light-Weight Rock Technique.

As if he had noticed something, Sasori of the Red Sand hurriedly urged, "He's not a Stone Ninja, Deidara. Land quickly."

At the same time, his mouth opened into a rectangular shape, firing a barrage of extremely dense poison needles at the figure in the sky.

The poison needles were incredibly fast. Before Deidara could react, they were already about to engulf the figure from below.

But the next second, the hundreds upon thousands of poison needles seemed to strike an invisible wall of air and were all reflected back.

The rain of needles poured down below.

Seeing this, Deidara hurriedly controlled the white bird to descend. At the same time, he flicked several paper-sized white birds from his sleeve, and they flapped their wings as they flew into the sky.

"Explode!"

Deidara formed a Hand Seal with his other hand and shouted softly.

Boom—

Several overlapping explosions rang out, and dazzling flames blossomed in the sky like fireworks.

Unfortunately, it was still daytime, so the fireworks lost some of their beauty.

A gust scattered the smoke in the sky. Having left the shadow's coverage, Deidara and Sasori of the Red Sand finally saw the figure clearly.

He was a man around six feet tall, dressed in a black one-piece robe. He wore a pure white mask matching his hair color, without even eyeholes, and his entire body exuded an air of mystery.

This person was naturally Izayoi, using the Transformation Technique.

Looking down at Deidara and Sasori of the Red Sand below, Izayoi murmured, "Let's start with a meeting gift."

After saying that, he raised his right hand, palm facing the sky.

A wisp of Chakra aura condensed into existence, then vanished.

"Forget it. This technique isn't complete yet. It'd be too unimpressive as a meeting gift."

"Let's try the new move instead! With my current amount of Chakra, I should be able to pull it off..."

Izayoi formed a Hand Seal with both hands, and blue Chakra aura immediately surged from his body.

An invisible current of air rose upward, sending his long white hair fluttering continuously.

Izayoi held that hand seal for over half a minute, and the Chakra aura never disappeared during that time.

Seeing this, Deidara, who had already landed on a slope, asked, "What is he doing?"

"He should be performing a technique. Be careful—no ninja capable of flying on their own is a simple opponent."

As Sasori of the Red Sand spoke in a deep voice, he took a scroll from his body, preparing to release his puppet army.

But his movements soon stopped.

Beside him, Deidara stared upward with his mouth wide open, utterly dumbfounded.

Izayoi, high in the sky, waved at them and called out as if greeting them from afar, "If you survive, let's be friends."

After saying that, he flew away.

It was now noon, and the sun hung high in the sky like a gigantic fireball.

Whether it was an illusion or not, that fireball seemed to be descending, drawing closer to Deidara and Sasori of the Red Sand.

"Th-That's... what is that?"

The scene shifted to Eighth Squad and the caravan, who were taking a detour up a high slope. They all stopped in unison.

They looked toward the sky above the Art Duo, their faces frozen in shock.

Some of the more timid civilians were so frightened that they collapsed onto the ground.

"A... a shooting star?!"

"No, that's... a meteorite!!"

That was right. The gigantic fireball was a meteorite falling at high speed, its friction with the atmosphere igniting it into a blazing sphere of fire.

Looking toward the direction where the meteor had descended, Red Yuhi muttered, "Was it a coincidence? It had to be a coincidence, right?"

After all, how could there possibly be a jutsu in this world that summoned meteors?

But she failed to notice that behind her, Hinata was gazing at the meteor in the sky with admiration in her eyes.

"Deidara, run!"

The scene returned to the Art Duo. Sasori of the Red Sand shouted urgently.

"So... so cool..."

Yet Deidara stood rooted to the spot, blankly staring at the meteor overhead as though he could already see the spectacular sight of it striking the ground. "Now this is art!"

"Idiot!"

Sasori of the Red Sand cursed. A massive iron tail extended from behind him, wrapping around Deidara as he leaped down the slope.

At the same time, he pulled out a scroll and released the trump card stored within.

With a bang, white mist dispersed.

A Human Puppet appeared beside Sasori of the Red Sand. It wore a black full-body robe; its skin was human skin, but its skeleton and internal organs had been modified with puppet materials.

That Human Puppet was none other than the Third Kazekage.

Chakra threads connected to the Human Puppet. The Third Kazekage spread his arms, and countless grains of black Iron Sand immediately poured from his sleeves, forming a gigantic triangular pyramid in the air below.

Sasori of the Red Sand landed atop the pyramid with Deidara, then controlled the Third Kazekage to use Magnet Release and fire the pyramid toward another mountain. He pulled the Third Kazekage over with Chakra threads, flying around the mountainside as he prepared to reach the far side of the next mountain.

But the meteor was falling too quickly. There simply was not enough time.

So Sasori of the Red Sand could only change plans, having the Third Kazekage drive the pyramid diagonally downward and blast an artificial cave into the mountainside.

Sasori of the Red Sand brought Deidara and the Third Kazekage into it, first controlling the Iron Sand to form a sturdy wall that sealed the entrance.

Then he created even more Iron Sand, wrapping them layer upon layer and forming a huge black sphere.

BOOM—

Almost the instant the black sphere took shape, an earth-shattering explosion rang through the mountain range.

The blast of the meteor striking the earth was amplified by the overlapping echoes in the valleys. In an instant, it pierced through the walls of Iron Sand, robbing Sasori of the Red Sand and Deidara—and every animal in the region—of their hearing.

The terrifying high-temperature shockwave also killed vast numbers of animals and plants, instantly destroying the mountain at the impact site. The shockwave slammed wildly into the surrounding peaks, shattering their rocky faces.

More than a dozen kilometers away, the Eighth Squad and the convoy on the slope could both hear the explosion and see an enormous Mushroom Cloud rising in the distance.

Even with mountain after mountain blocking the way, they could still feel the ground beneath their feet trembling slightly.

They were standing on a mountain path, which meant that the mountain itself was shaking.

That alone showed just how devastatingly powerful that enormous fireball had been.