"Drink!"
With Deidara's shout, C3 eighteen exploded in the sky above Sunagakure, instantly bathing the entire village in a blinding, daylight-bright light.
Gaara, to protect his village and its people, had no choice but to use a large amount of sand to shield the village from the bomb.
But Deidara's attack was not over. His main target tonight was the Jinchuriki, not the destruction of Sunagakure. Three clay birds flew towards Gaara's face.
"Drink!"
As the dust settled, a completely sealed sphere of sand floated in the air. Fortunately, Gaara's Absolute Defense had reacted swiftly, or he would surely have been injured in the explosion.
However, before Gaara could react, several clay spiders crawled out from within the sand sphere, causing Gaara to break out in a cold sweat.
Deidara chuckled, "My art is an explosion! Drink!"
Immediately, a powerful explosion occurred inside the sand sphere. This time, the explosion shattered Gaara's sand armor, inflicting actual damage on him.
"Just as I thought. When you broke my arm, I mixed clay into your sand. To protect the village, you had to use a lot of sand to block C3. You, being ambushed, would surely recall the sand of your Absolute Defense. This way, you couldn't evade my art, hmm!"
As he spoke, Gaara's sand slowly descended, clearly indicating that he could no longer control it to defend himself. Just as Deidara was about to capture the Jinchuriki, Gaara used his last ounce of strength to slowly move the sand used to block C3 outside the village, preventing it from falling and harming the villagers.
"I see. Truly worthy of being the Kage of a ninja village. But Brother Sasori has been waiting for a long time. I will capture you now." Deidara controlled an owl and swooped down, intending to quickly seize Gaara and leave.
At this moment, the Sand ninja below finally made their move. They all fired arrows at Deidara with their crossbows, attaching explosive tags to the arrowheads.
Seeing this, Li Xing decided he could no longer just watch. It was time for his work.
Then, Li Xing, feigning effort, conjured a black sphere and hurled it forcefully towards Sunagakure.
"Boom!"
In the center of Sunagakure, a magnificent firework bloomed. Every Sand ninja hit by the fireworks was instantly and severely injured.
"Wow! Xing-kun, this firework is so pretty! It's so colorful, much better than that Deidara's art."
Hearing Karin's words, Li Xing quickly covered her mouth, "Shhh, keep your voice down. Deidara hates it when people insult his art. If he hears you, he'll get angry on the spot."
Meanwhile, with Li Xing's assistance, Deidara successfully captured the Jinchuriki and then looked at the fireworks below.
"No less than my art. Li Xing is quite capable, hmm!"
While capturing the Jinchuriki, Deidara immediately flew towards the outside of the village. Kankuro, seeing Gaara being taken away, chased after them without a second thought.
"Deidara, you and Sasori take the Jinchuriki and go ahead. Konan's mission for us was to assist you. We'll handle the pursuers from behind," Li Xing shouted at Deidara in the air.
"Hmm! Then the rest is up to you! We'll meet at the agreed location after we're done." Hearing Li Xing's words, Deidara flew away from Sunagakure without any hesitation.
Li Xing and Karin then guarded the exit of Sunagakure. Kankuro, followed by a few expendable bystanders, caught up.
Li Xing had no good impression of Kankuro. He drew his Nichirin Blade and slashed at Kankuro.
Kankuro's reaction speed was indeed good; he was worthy of being one of the few remaining ninja in Sunagakure.
"As expected, there's more than one enemy? Return Gaara to me, or I'll show you the puppet techniques of Sand," Kankuro was extremely worried about Gaara and couldn't converse with Li Xing and Karin. He immediately spoke with arrogance and threat.
Li Xing would not indulge Kankuro. If Temari had come, Li Xing might have been more polite.
"Puppet techniques? Just clown tricks. If you have the guts, come and try."
Kankuro knew Li Xing was stalling for time, so he stopped wasting words and immediately took out the three scrolls he carried on his back.
"Salamander."
"Black..."
Li Xing held his Nichirin Blade horizontally across his chest, took a deep breath, and then swung it with extreme speed.
"Moon Breathing, Sixth Form: Eternal Night Solitary Moon, Infinite!"
Before Kankuro could release all his puppets, Li Xing shattered them with a single strike. Two puppets and one scroll were all destroyed by Li Xing's blade. At the same time, Kankuro was heavily injured by this blow and immediately fell unconscious.
Then, Maki, a high-ranking Sand ninja who had followed Kankuro, saw the two people in Akatsuki cloaks and immediately ordered his men to attack.
However, Li Xing no longer wished to act. These cannon fodder extras were not worth drawing his sword. He secretly called out to Karin. Karin understood immediately.
"Leave it to me, Xing-kun!"
Karin stepped forward and threw a punch. It was a simple, unadorned punch, but a powerful gust of wind sent everyone flying. Only Maki could barely hold his ground.
"Rather than wasting time fighting us, I think you'd be better off stopping the puppet user's bleeding. If you don't treat him soon, he'll die!"
After glancing at Maki, Li Xing and Karin slowly left Sunagakure. Maki could only watch as they departed. Li Xing was right; the immediate priority was to save Kankuro and the Sand ninja. With the Kazekage captured, there was no strong force capable of stopping them. The only option was to notify their ally, Konoha.
...
Soon, Li Xing caught up with Deidara and Sasori. Seeing Gaara held by the owl's tail, Li Xing hesitated about whether to extract the tailed beast on the spot. After much thought, Li Xing decided against it. After all, someone in the story would revive Gaara, so he shouldn't worry about things that weren't his concern.
"Li Xing, what was that firework you threw in Sunagakure earlier? It was quite an excellent art!" Deidara asked Li Xing about the firework, clearly very interested.
"Oh, that? It's nothing major. It's just igniting air with various chakra natures to cause an explosion. I realized it from your art. After all, you use Earth Release, which can be rendered ineffective by Lightning Release. So, I came up with a way to avoid this counter," Li Xing explained the firework quite frankly. Anyone who mastered chakra nature transformation could do it.
Deidara suddenly understood, and at that moment, he seemed to see a brand new path, a new form of art.
Sasori, however, had no interest in their conversation. Something that disappeared in an instant could not be considered art.
"Deidara, Li Xing, stop the nonsense. Speed up, don't keep the leader waiting too long."