Deidara suddenly sprang to his feet, ripped off his tattered clothes, and burst into manic laughter.
"Ha! You Sharingan bastard! Bet you're regretting not killing me when you had the chance."
"Now let me show you what true ultimate art looks like! I'm about to blow myself up! After I die, I will become art."
"An explosion unlike anything ever seen will leave an unforgettable mark on this land, and my art will receive praise unlike ever before!"
Everyone: What the hell is wrong with this guy?
Deidara's performance continued.
"The blast will have a radius of ten kilometers! None of you can escape! Not even the Allied Shinobi Forces outside!"
"Now tremble, marvel, and despair as you ascend together with my art!"
"My art is... Katsu! Explosion!"
Everyone: "..."
Nothing happened.
The silence was painfully awkward.
Deidara suddenly realized his ragged clothes were somehow back on his body. He tore them open again and found that the stitches on the mouth embedded in the left side of his chest were completely intact.
He shoved both hands into his ninja pouch.
Empty.
The special clay he had saved as his final trump card had vanished without him noticing.
Glowering at Sasuke, he shouted angrily, "You bastard! This was you, wasn't it?! Genjutsu! When did you cast a genjutsu on me?!"
Sasuke replied calmly, "When did you ever get the impression that I hadn't?"
Deidara: "..."
So I'd just been acting like a complete lunatic this whole time?
And none of you bothered to tell me?
Were you all just sitting there watching a stage play?!
Damn that Sharingan...
Damn genjutsu...
If he ever got another chance, he was definitely going to train specifically to resist genjutsu.
The Deidara of this world had never been utterly humiliated by Itachi's genjutsu, so he'd never developed any countermeasures.
Even if he had, they wouldn't have helped.
Those methods were useless against Mangekyō Sharingan genjutsu.
Kurotsuchi looked as though her good intentions had been completely wasted.
"You just said the blast radius was ten kilometers, right? Did you forget I was standing here too? Were you planning to blow me up along with everyone else?"
Deidara: "..."
How could you possibly be as interesting as art?
If I didn't blow you up too, how could the old man truly appreciate my art?
"You jerk!"
This time, Kurotsuchi was genuinely disappointed.
She walked over and slammed her fist into Deidara's head, granting him the sleep of a baby.
Naruto stepped forward, formed several hand seals, and pressed his palm against Deidara's body.
"I've sealed his chakra. Unless someone from Konoha removes the seal, he'll never use another jutsu again."
Sakura sighed in relief.
"He's seriously dangerous. If he'd actually managed to blow himself up, we'd all have been in trouble."
Sasuke pulled a huge lump of clay from his bag. Lightning crackled across his hand before he casually tossed the clay away.
"Do you really think he would've had the chance?"
Sakura glanced at the heartbroken Kurotsuchi.
"Thank goodness my Sasuke is a normal person, unlike that lunatic."
Sasuke: "..."
You already know he's insane, so why are you comparing me to him?
And I'm not your Sasuke!
Could you stop saying things like that in front of everyone?
I have my reputation to think about.
...
The facts proved one thing:
Akatsuki's corporate management had serious cohesion issues.
Obito and Zetsu looked like ordinary employees on the surface, but in reality they were representatives sent by the holding company to supervise the project's progress.
Kakuzu was basically a specialist whose only concern was making money.
Hidan simply used the company's platform to meet his religion's KPIs.
Kisame also belonged to the holding company, so its interests always came first.
Orochimaru had joined solely to research the company's most advanced weapon. He was also running his own startup on the side and maintained an ambiguous relationship with one of the world's five largest corporate groups.
By the end of it all, only Sasori and Deidara were actually devoted to the company.
One was a homeless yet recognition-starved artist.
The other was an obsessive artist whose personal passion happened to align perfectly with the company's early business direction.
They were model employees by shinobi world standards.
Compared to them, the other teams had absolutely no loyalty to the company whatsoever.
To the northeast, Kisame and Orochimaru briefly showed themselves before the Allied Shinobi Forces, threw out a few jutsu, and immediately disappeared.
They quietly hid in the distance, observing how the situation unfolded.
Neither had any intention of fighting the Allied Forces to the bitter end, and they simply watched as the White Zetsu surrogate army—the company's rank-and-file employees—was wiped out.
Kisame scratched his head.
"My, my... Looks like the organization's army is finished. So... are we really just going to ignore it?"
Orochimaru smiled faintly.
"You're welcome to help them."
"I look forward to your performance."
"Maybe we should at least put in a little effort. Otherwise, if the Leader actually succeeds, it'll be hard to explain ourselves afterward."
"He never truly understood what Konohagakure is like today. He won't succeed."
"Oh? Orochimaru-kun, you seem awfully confident in Konoha. Have you secretly been on their side all along?"
"What about you, Kisame? The Madara you pledged your loyalty to was actually Obito. The real Madara doesn't seem to need you anymore. So... what will you choose now?"
Kisame: "..."
That was the damn problem.
He didn't know the answer himself.
The one he had once sworn loyalty to was the perfect world Uchiha Madara had described. He had wanted to live in a world without betrayal, where people could give their trust sincerely.
But damn it, Madara had been a fake. He was actually Obito, who had been working for the real Madara all along. And now the real Madara had returned to the world as one of the dead, trying to seize control of everything.
Behind the Akatsuki stood Obito.
Behind Obito stood Madara.
Everything Kisame had learned as a shinobi told him there was far too much conspiracy involved. The more layers and hidden schemes there were, the less likely the ending was ever going to be a happy one.
That so-called perfect world now looked more like a beautiful illusion draped over a conspiracy.
It left him utterly lost.
...
The reinforcements consisted of Tenten's team and Kirigakure's younger generation of rising talents.
In the end, Akatsuki's core members on this front never engaged the Allied Shinobi Forces in an all-out battle.
Even so, the mission had to continue. Before long, Neji's Byakugan spotted the two spectators hiding far away.
Neither Kisame nor Orochimaru seemed surprised to find themselves surrounded. Instead, they watched with interest as the young shinobi in the reinforcement squad approached alongside Momochi Zabuza and several elite subordinates.
Zabuza was the commander of the Allied Shinobi Forces on this battlefield, and his troops included shinobi from every major village.
Seeing the Five Great Shinobi Villages fighting side by side, and apparently getting along quite well, filled Kisame with mixed emotions.
For a brief moment, three of Kirigakure's Seven Ninja Swords were gathered in one place.
Samehada was in Kisame's hands.
Chōjūrō wielded Hiramekarei.
As for the Kubikiribōchō, it now belonged to Hōzuki Suigetsu.
The boy had always idolized Zabuza, and after Zabuza returned to Kirigakure, he had passed the sword down to his junior.
Suigetsu grinned.
"Huh? Isn't that our village's resident weirdo, Kisame-senpai? Mind giving Samehada back to me?"
Kisame ignored the cocky young Hōzuki and instead looked at the other demon.
"So it's Zabuza-kun. It's been a long time. Looks like things have been treating you pretty well since you returned to the village."
Zabuza replied, "Under the Fifth Mizukage, the village has finally gotten back on the right track. If you're willing to turn back now, the Mizukage-sama and I can help you deal with the trouble hanging over your head."
"Really? That's a tempting offer," Kisame said with a faint smile. "But I've already given up on that place."
"Why waste your breath?" Suigetsu cut in. "Let's get Samehada back first."
Unable to see eye to eye, both sides immediately came to blows.
The Kirigakure shinobi fought Kisame, while Tenten's group faced Orochimaru.
Still, everyone was clearly holding back.
After seeing just how powerful Konoha had become, Zabuza wanted to bring a powerhouse like Kisame back to the village. Meanwhile, Tenten and the others knew Orochimaru had always maintained contact with their teacher.
So after a brief exchange of blows, both enemies were chopped into pieces.
Only to reveal themselves as a Water Clone and an Earth Clone.
Those two crafty old foxes had already slipped away long ago.
Compared to the loyal Sasori and Deidara, or the completely unmotivated Kisame and Orochimaru who had slipped away at the first opportunity, Kakuzu and Hidan were the only ones truly asking for trouble.
They could have escaped during the chaos.
Instead, Kakuzu's occupational habit got the better of him. He wanted to collect the heads of a few famous shinobi for bounty money and add a little more to his private stash.
Hidan's motive was even simpler.
He only wanted to offer a few more souls as sacrifices to his evil god.
As a result, he was surrounded by Shikamaru's squad, Sai's squad, and several elite members of the combat forces who had rushed over.
Curse Technique: Death Controlling Possessed Blood was an incredibly insidious assassination technique designed for one-on-one combat. Its surprise factor was devastating, but it simply wasn't suited for large-scale battles.
Hidan himself wasn't particularly strong. He was hacked to pieces under the group's assault. Even if he had managed to obtain someone's blood, his slow sacrificial ritual gave everyone more than enough time to mince him into pieces before the jutsu could activate.
Seeing the situation turn against him, Kakuzu immediately tried to flee.
But the Ino-Shika-Chō formation, together with Kurama Yakumo's control over the Five Senses, completely locked him down.
His five hearts were destroyed one after another by Sai, Shin, and Chōji, bringing the monster's life to an honorable end.
With that, the Akatsuki Dream Team became history.
Some members escaped.
Some died.
One was taken prisoner.
Even Konan had been sent away by Nagato.
He intended to face the future alone, carrying the Ten-Tails with him as he fulfilled Yahiko's dream.
…
Note:
And that's a wrap! Since the original author has stopped updating the novel, this is where our journey ends. Thanks to everyone who stuck around, left comments, and supported the translation. I really appreciate it. Hopefully we'll get to continue this story someday. Until then, take care, and see you in the next one!