Dr. Zomboss congratulates you on winning the grand prize! Please deposit your brain to claim it!
"My head hurts. Where am I...?"
But soon, memories surged into his mind like a tide, letting him understand everything!
He had been born in Year 26 of Konoha, a native of Iwagakure named Didaze. It was now Year 42 of Konoha, and he was at Iwagakure's border. Kumogakure was attacking Iwagakure!
The reason for Kumogakure's surprise attack on Iwagakure was simple. Ōnoki had taken the Jinchūriki to the battlefield and could not provide timely support, so the Third Raikage had immediately dispatched men to launch a surprise attack on Iwagakure!
However, to prevent his own village from being attacked just like Iwagakure, the Third Raikage had not taken the field himself.
That was good news for Didaze.
"Captain Didaze, what should we do?"
A ninja ran over in a sorry state.
"How's the situation?"
Didaze asked.
"Terrible! Kumogakure is about to break through our border defenses!"
Hearing Didaze's question, the ninja immediately answered.
Even though the Third Raikage had not come to the battlefield, his son Yotsuki A alone was still leading the many Kumogakure ninja in a one-sided slaughter of Iwagakure's border ninja!
Didaze glanced around but did not see Killer B.
Maybe Killer B is still training. After all, he seems to be only ten right now.
"I seem to be able to combine earth and fire?"
Didaze suddenly discovered, to his shock, that he could combine earth and fire attributes!
In the original owner's memories, he had tried combining them countless times, but every attempt had ended in failure. He had even once wondered whether he was simply incapable of producing Explosion Release!
"But why are there only close-combat skills like Explosion Release Fist in these memories?"
Didaze had not expected the original owner's memories to contain no long-range skills at all. Every one of them was a close-combat skill.
But on closer thought, it made sense. After all, Iwagakure's Explosion Release user Gari fought at close quarters and was also a member of the Explosion Corps.
As for why nobody used clay and everyone fought at close quarters, it was most likely because of how difficult it was to control.
Didaze could already clearly sense that the Explosion Release produced by combining earth and fire carried an inherently unstable quality.
Although Deidara's Clay Bombs were technically a secret Earth Release technique, their actual effects looked more like Explosion Release. Nobody knew anyway, so Didaze would just treat this as Explosion Release.
After all, Explosion Release sounded better than a secret Earth Release technique, and Didaze was the first to invent it in this world. He might as well rename it Explosion Release. It sounded more pleasing.
"Do we have clay? Bring me some clay!"
Didaze made up his mind to use clay to make bombs and resolve this crisis.
He could also clearly feel that his control over chakra had improved a level. That was the conclusion he had drawn from the original owner's memories.
He did not understand whether it was because of their merging or something else. He only knew that controlling Clay Bombs now should not pose much of a problem.
In his previous life, he had specialized in making clay toys for other people.
Making things out of clay posed no difficulty for him. In other words, he could fully imitate Deidara's fighting style.
Besides, there was absolutely no way he could beat Yotsuki A in close combat. He knew his own limits.
Even if I use Explosion Release Fist, there's still no way I can beat Yotsuki A. My only chance of winning is to use Clay Bombs to attack Kumogakure over a wide area, make them feel their losses, and get them to withdraw on their own!
Although everyone outside called Kumogakure a bunch of muscle-headed brutes, Didaze believed they would not fight them to the bitter end.
"Yes, Lord Didaze!"
Although the ninja was puzzled about what Didaze intended to do, he could not disobey his captain's orders.
Despite his many questions, he still went back as quickly as possible, collected a large basket of clay, and put it in a sealing scroll.
"You did well..."
After praising the ninja, Didaze took out the clay!
"Explosive Clay: Giant Bird!"
Under the ninja's shocked gaze, Didaze molded a huge bird. The bird then rapidly grew larger, and Didaze climbed straight onto it and took to the air!
"Lord Didaze, what is this...?"
The ninja was still in shock. He had never seen Ninjutsu like this.
Meanwhile, Didaze had already flown high into the sky!
"Explosive Clay: Spider!"
Unlike the C1 spiders, ordinary Explosive Clay spiders did not have such powerful explosions, but they conserved more chakra.
Didaze molded a dense swarm of spiders, then threw them toward Kumogakure!
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Once the Explosive Clay entered the area occupied by the Kumogakure ninja, it instantly exploded!
"What is this?!"
The Kumogakure ninja were horrified. They could not understand how a tiny spider could instantly blow up a whole group of ninja!
Didaze had just molded dozens of spiders, and those dozens of spiders had killed or wounded over a hundred of Kumogakure's men!
This was only Didaze's first wave of attacks!
"Is this... Explosion Release?"
An Iwagakure ninja spoke with some uncertainty.
In his understanding, Explosion Release was for close-range attacks. He had never heard of Explosion Release being used to attack from a distance!
"This has to be Explosion Release! These explosions look about the same as the ones Lord Gari's fists produce!"
One ninja spoke with certainty.
"But isn't Explosion Release only for close combat?"
Another ninja raised an objection.
They were all so stunned by the sight that they temporarily forgot to fight.
And it seemed there was no need to fight anymore. Kumogakure's side had already fallen into disarray, their attention drawn entirely to Didaze in the sky.
"That I don't know. Let's ask Lord Didaze when he comes down!"
One ninja said.
"Everyone, watch out and dodge these exploding spiders! These spiders don't move fast!"
A ninja immediately discovered the spiders' weakness and shouted for the others to watch out and evade them.
With a ninja's speed, they could avoid these spiders if they put everything into dodging, unless their luck was truly awful and a spider was thrown straight onto their head.
"Explosive Clay: Bird!"
Didaze saw the Kumogakure ninja's strategy for dealing with Explosive Clay: Spider and immediately molded extremely fast birds!
Dozens of birds swooped down from the sky, charging straight toward Kumogakure's army!
"Watch out, dod-"
Before the man giving orders could finish, a bird had already flown right in front of him. The powerful explosion left him severely wounded!
The other birds also plunged into the ranks of Kumogakure's army, another wave leaving nearly a hundred of their men dead or wounded!
"How could this happen?!"
Yotsuki A looked back and discovered that, while he was charging ahead and cutting down enemies at the front, the ninja behind him were almost being slaughtered to the last man by Didaze!
With his Clay Bombs, Didaze was practically killing his way through all the ordinary ninja in the rear!
"Is this Explosion Release?"
Yotsuki A found it utterly absurd.
"Isn't Explosion Release all about close combat? How can there be a long-range version?!"
Like the Iwagakure ninja, Yotsuki A could not believe this was Explosion Release.
It was as ridiculous as someone telling him that Lightning Release Armor was not meant to be used that way, then whipping up a Lightning Release bomb to blow people up.
This surely had to be part of the reason Ōnoki favored Deidara in the original story.
Deidara had actually created a completely new way to use Explosion Release, and he had done it while still a youth!
It would have been strange if Ōnoki had not favored him!
Although Didaze's clay was up against Kumogakure this time, where almost everyone could use Lightning Release, Kumogakure did not know that Lightning Release could render his clay inert. All Didaze was doing now was releasing birds from the sky, and he already had Kumogakure crying out in misery.