Chapter 124: Onoki's Fear
***
"Kirigakure took the southern coast. Their shinobi are reinforcing the Land of Whirlpools. They have turned Uzushiogakure ruins into a stronghold. SORA's reinforcement requested for Kiri's front."
Tengu appeared without any notice from the enemy, sending down aerial bombardment from the sky into the ruins of the Village of Whirlpool. With aerial supremacy, Konoha managed to make Kirigakure retreat within two days of continuous bombardments.
Zabuza and his companion Haku retreated helplessly, seeing the incoming flying Shinobi units.
"What a coward." Zabuza complained as those flying units were just hard to reach. The speed when they descend and their maneuver, it was a first in the Shinobi world.
"Haku, we are getting out of here. Yagura's tyranny is getting out of hand."
Yagura had sent them orders for war. And those who refuse were executed. No one in Kiri understood why they were even warring against Konoha after years of isolation policy. But most never cared, thinking Konoha was weak and was fighting 4 Hidden Villages. They thought it would be easy, however, it was far from it.
Yagura ordered them to defend Uzushiogakure stronghold even when hundreds died from the bombardment. And those who leave and run away were executed for insubordination.
It's as if he was just trying to have them all killed.
Zabuza and Haku naturally retreated earlier even if they never had permission.
It's time to rebel. Yagura, your tyranny will end here…!
Zabuza sent a message to Mei Terumi, one of the members of a rebel group he managed to gather.
The recent cruel orders of Yagura, sending them on suicide missions deep within Land of Fire territory also gathered many dissatisfaction.
***
"300 units of Weightless corp were sent to Konoha's forward base east of Yamahana province and were bombarded. Deidara the Mad Bomber was sent. 350 of our shinobi fell. Requesting for reinforcement."
Deidara, the artist who finally made a moniker for himself was about to bomb another Konoha's camp, and just then out of nowhere 12 units of flying shinobi appeared in the sky.
"Hn!." Deidara smiled playfully, seeing 12 people appearing in the sky in multiple V shaped formations.
Sensei, you are right they would come~
Onoki was extremely cautious against her, even asking for intel on her from other nations directly. Other hidden villages actually gave the Intel about her away for free because at this moment…
Her existence was a nightmare for all of them. In 2 more days, Iwa too would launch a full scale attack. This time Onoki was testing the water, and made a surprise appearance to assassinate her. If he succeeded, there would be no trouble. Konoha Shinobi shouldn't expect him to be here now.
Onoki had brought out all his Weightless Corp members to draw out Tsuyu. He wanted to end her once and for all.
Tsuyu would never expect the Tsuchikage himself to be waiting for her this time.
Tsuyu's exploits as she appeared on different battlefields shocked the Shinobi world. How much chakra does she have to teleport across nations? In fact this question has been one of the shinobi world's most asked questions. And the answers were attributed to Reibi, Nue and use of chakra cattle.
Tsuyu had creatively used Nue and Reibi as the 'converter' to mask 9 tails chakra. Feeding 9 tails chakra into them, and they fed their converted chakra back to her.
No one knew she was a jinchuriki of 9 tails except those in Akatsuki and Konoha.
Rumor has it she was the jinchuriki of two beasts she summoned each time she appeared - called Zero Tail and Nue respectively, along with the appearance of black-purple chakra limbs and constructs she could make.
Those two along with her Uzumaki lineage had been the consensus of all the hidden villages to explain her bijuu chakra level. How could there be two 9 tails? That was illogical in normal people's perception.
"Hn! I will show her my new explosives!"
Iwa's Weightless Corp met with Tengu. But they all retreated to leave the battlefield to Deidara and Tsuyu, as both of them received the same order.
Just as the rest of Weightless Corp could be killed easily by Tsuyu, the rest of Tengu can be killed by Deidara.
Colourful explosions painted the sky as the two once more fought. Hinata and others with Byakugan constantly monitor the battle.
Tsuyu looked at Deidara coldly as the two fought. He was too dangerous to be left alive. Intel or not, she couldn't afford the luxury. Full scale war in 2 days. If she took him out now, her burden would be lessened. After extracting the jutsu out of a Jonin of Weightless Corp a month ago, she already made her own version.
Collapse Release: Weight Drift!
Tsuyu's own weight was reduced to a point even without her Wing Unit she would float. Combined with it, her speed doubled directly, catching Deidara off guard.
"Hold on! Too fast!" Deidara frantically took his trump card to face Tsuyu specifically. A new variant of bird clay based on the fastest bird on the planet, the gold falcon.
He threw them towards Tsuyu, but to his shock, she outspeed them easily and looped in the air. She turned to face him and really sped up towards him!
"Crap crap! I am out!"
Deidara sent out mini explosive bats like a swarm like air mines. But to Deidara's dismay a black-purple chakra armor coated her as she just passed through and ignored the mini explosions on her.
From the smoke, Tsuyu's ferocious glare locked onto Deidara.
He felt his scalp tingling. In a matter of a month, suddenly she became someone he could no longer fight in the air anymore.
"I can't…! Sensei! Help!"
Deidara jumped down from his bird to barely dodge Tsuyu's incoming attack. The clay bird was cut in half as she slashed with the bayonet of Ashura.
Seeing Deidara falling, she dived down and sped up and quickly caught up with him. But just as she reached close, her expression turned to surprise.
"He's exploding…!?" His body was swelling up as if he's about to-
Bang!
The purple chakra shield covered her from the blast. That can't be his real body…
"Captain! The real body was inside the clay bird just now!" Ino passed on the message as observed by Hinata.
Tsuyu realised the bird she cut in half before didn't explode. Looking back, Deidara was already running away and protected by 300 units of Weightless Corp.
Tch. How many times had I been tricked?
In fact Deidara was really almost cut in half. He was lucky Tsuyu missed an inch when she cut the bird earlier.
She wasn't suicidal yet and can only retreat seeing Iwa retreating. They only have 12 people to fight 300 flying units. And Deidara could kill the rest of Tengu like flies so she didn't want to waste her hard trained units.
…
Oh. Tsuyu grinned slightly, suddenly gaining inspiration.
Kagebunshin no Jutsu! Ten shadow clones appeared in the air, at the same time purple chakra limbs extended from her back and caught them all. Multiple explosive tags were swimming from the chakra limbs and wrapped around the shadow clones entirely.
Collapse Release: Weight Drift!
"Kill them!" Tsuyu shouted as she threw her shadow clones like living torpedoes, each armed with explosives. Taking inspiration from Deidara live-like explosives, she used live-like explosives too!
Deidara turned around and looked in horror. He sent more swarms of clay bats acting as air mines.
While the Weightless Corp behind him used the giant mass of earth they carried to create a huge wall of earth in the sky.
The first 3 shadow clones exploded midair from the clay bats. But the rest of the 7 passed through.
Deidara quickly ran away and stood behind the Weightless Corp and helped them.
Earth Release: Great Earth Wall!
The mass of land they carried turned into a wall, with tens of them sacrificed in the explosions as they carried the giant wall in their retreat.
"Haha! Where are you going, you Iwa flies!" Tsuyu revel in her new technique, summoning suicidal shadow clones and sending them off like living missiles with her chakra limbs.
Deidara tried so hard to block the shadow clones from reaching them. His hands were constantly eating clays and sending birds after birds.
"Sensei… how long are you waiting!" Deidara was panicking seeing Tsuyu getting closer and closer. Her focus was locked onto them.
Just then…
"Captain! Incoming sneak attack!" Ino quickly shouted through mind transfer technique after Hinata shouted in panic.
Onoki appeared from behind the rock wall, white cube of a dismantling field already in his hands. Dust Release: Particle Dismantling technique!
In a split second, Onoki launched a straight beam of particle dismantling light towards her, hoping he would kill her in this sneaky move.
The moment Tsuyu heard Ino's reminded she already rolled and dodge the beam of light, almost hitting her if she's late only by a second.
Sweat broke out from her forehead.
Damned Tsuchikage…! I almost died!
Onoki looked solemn, his old face felt wary. She had such a fast reaction even when it was a sneak attack.
She was too fast for him to hit normally, and her maneuver in the air made it difficult for him to track. He lost his chance to kill her decisively.
"Brat, we can't leave her alive. Come here!" Onoki went to touch Deidara and his clay bird.
Earth Release: Ultralight Weight Rock Technique!
Onoki turned him and even his clays ultralight. Deidara felt in awe feeling he could have moved twice or thrice faster like this.
"Sensei! You are awesome! Why didn't you tell me we could do this earlier! We can definitely kill her!"
Tsuyu squinted her eyes. A hit, and she's a goner. But she figured out Onoki's aim wasn't exactly the best. How could he hit a flying object moving at 400km/h at a hundreds of meters distance with top level manoeuvres without a sharingan?
Collapse Release: Extreme Weight Drift Technique!
Tsuyu's maximum speed reached close to 600km/h. It would affect her own accuracy and aim, but she couldn't afford to risk her life.
"Boy, you try to make her stay put!" Onoki ordered.
"Yes Sensei!"
Onoki and Deidara launched their assaults, intending to kill her. The battle was almost inhuman. The speed they were flying made it very difficult to see what exactly was going on. Explosions, beams of lights from both Onoki particle style and Tsuyu's Ashura chakra beams.
The battleground below was razed from stray bullets.
Tsuyu used her greater speed advantage and the same living missiles to keep her distance.
"This kid…!" Onoki's old face was sweating after minutes of fighting.
He can only use particle dismantling style to block the living missiles. Hitting her was almost impossible. He can only shoot beams of particle style in Tsuyu's predicted direction hoping it would hit. But it never did.
Deidara never managed to make Tsuyu stop in her tracks. Her skills in aerial manoeuvre and her faster speed made her almost untouchable.
"Too dangerous…!" Onoki was stressed trying to find a countermeasure.
Just then a shadow clone missile came toward him again. But just before he destroyed it with Dust Release, the shadow clone threw a kunai upward.
Onoki's eyes widened in fear. The moment his eyes looked to where the kunai went, a blonde-haired figure with red-purple slitted eyes and demonic patterns on her skin already appeared. In her hand… a half-meter radius dark dense sphere of chakra contained unstable chakra ready to go off.
Earth Release: Giant Rasenbakudan!
"Dust Release…!" Onoki sent a cube of particle dismantling jutsu, colliding with the giant Rasenbakudan before it could explode.
With a bang, a flash of light covered the whole sky. Onoki was sent flying a hundred meters back and thankfully caught by Deidara.
"A monster…" Onoki had a look of fear in his eyes. He wasn't injured, but if his Dust Release didn't counter the jutsu, he would have been dead. Just from aerial supremacy alone, Tsuyu had become the queen of the sky at this moment.
Onoki had always relied on his aerial mobility and his one hit move of Dust Release to reign supreme as the Tsuchikage. But against her… he couldn't do it! He couldn't outspeed her. He couldn't outrange her. He couldn't hit her at such a far distance either and her movements in the air were too skilled!
His only chance was luck, as long as his Dust Release hit, she's finished. But how could Tsuchikage rely on luck?
And what's worse she could use Flying Raijin. He felt he was having a stroke again.
Yellow Flash! What kind of monster child you created!
He originally thought people like Madara and Hashirama who could create giant constructs were gods. But even his dust release could cut Hashirama's golem and Madara's susanoo in half, and this was his confidence as Tsuchikage.
But facing Tsuyu, his advantages were stripped off and he had nothing to fight her! It's such an embarrassing situation as the Tsuchikage.
"Retreat quickly!" Onoki and Deidara work together to fight against Tsuyu's attacks.
***
"Ha… those two are really good." Tsuyu watched as the Tsuchikage fled with the rest of those flying away. She couldn't kill them, unless she unleashed her full strength, maybe. But she needed to conserve them for the upcoming battle in two days. She was aware her power carried a huge risk.
Once she used them all, her body might break down. So she needed to have all of them gathered to finish them all in a short period of time when she used all of her power.
Hm. Was I excited for the battle? No. It was just finding achievement in learning a new technique. That must be it.
Tsuyu tried to reason with herself over her reckless behaviour. The dark chakra she had been using and the curse mark had been influencing her in subtle ways all these times. Though, she remained herself.