Ch.130 Invitations from All Sides

Boom! Boom! Boom!

One explosion after another rippled through the sky like blooming fireworks!

Whoosh!

Suddenly, a large white bird shot out from the clouds of smoke created by the explosions.

Without a doubt, this white bird was Deidara's massive clay creation.

Standing on the giant clay bird, Deidara spat in frustration, "Tch, that guy doesn't understand art at all. Such lame explosions, hmph!"

Sasori, also standing on the bird, spoke in a deep voice, "If you can't handle it, let me take over. You've wasted enough time."

Hearing Sasori's impatience, Deidara responded, "Relax, Sasori! That guy is just fast. Now, I'll show him what real art is!"

With that, Deidara's gaze locked onto the shadow flying through the mist ahead.

Earlier in the Land of Birds, the two had cornered Hiruko, but to their surprise, Hiruko had a giant flying fusion beast. The fusion beast wasn't just fast in the air; its feathers also exploded like paper bombs as they fell.

Thus began a sky battle, chasing Hiruko from the Land of Birds to the Land of Rain, and now, into the Land of Grass.

Knowing that his giant clay bird couldn't outpace Hiruko's fusion beast, Deidara reached into the clay pouch at his waist and said to Sasori, "Sasori, just sit back and watch, hmph!"

He then leaped off the giant clay bird, spreading his hands wide as he shaped the clay.

Poof.

A puff of white smoke appeared, and a smaller, sleeker clay bird with extended wings emerged from the smoke.

Landing smoothly on the new clay bird, Deidara smirked.

His explosive clay, when shaped by his artistic hand, could take on countless forms, especially birds, which he could craft in infinite varieties.

This particular sleek clay bird was modeled after a species of fast-flying bird from the Land of Earth.

With rapid wing beats, the clay bird accelerated in an instant, leaving Sasori and the larger clay bird far behind.

From Sasori's perspective, both Hiruko's giant fusion beast and Deidara's clay bird entered a dark cloud ahead, one after the other.

Suddenly, flashes of light lit up inside the cloud, followed by explosions. The roaring sound that followed was deafening, accompanied by a shockwave that shook the earth below.

...

On the ground.

"What's going on? Is it thunder?"

"Why does that cloud keep flashing?"

"This is strange. The air doesn't feel humid at all. It doesn't seem like rain is coming."

The delegation from the Land of Grass looked up at the sky in confusion.

This team was dispatched by the Hidden Grass Village after receiving a personal letter from the Third Hokage of the Hidden Leaf, requesting their participation in a summit to discuss strategies against the Akatsuki.

In truth, the Hidden Grass Village had little interest in the Akatsuki or in aiding its eradication. However, given that the Hidden Leaf, the strongest of the Five Great Shinobi Villages, had made a formal request, and with a personal letter from the Third Hokage, they couldn't refuse. Small shinobi villages like theirs, stuck between larger powers, had no choice but to comply.

Thus, the Hidden Grass had sent this delegation, led by one of their village elders.

Inside a carriage, the Hidden Grass elder noticed the team had stopped. Curious, he asked, "What's going on?"

Still within the borders of the Land of Grass, the elder wasn't particularly worried about an ambush and wasn't on high alert.

A servant quickly rushed to the side of the carriage and reported, "Sir, there's some unusual activity in the sky!"

"Unusual?"

The Hidden Grass elder furrowed his brows, stepping out of the carriage to look up at the sky like the others.

At that moment, he spotted a small black dot appearing in the clouds above.

"Is that a bird?"

He was confused, but the distance made it hard to discern.

Soon, another black dot emerged from the clouds, entering his view.

Before he could make sense of it, the two black dots collided, triggering a series of explosions in the sky!

"Enemy attack!"

"They're in the sky!"

"Everyone, be on guard!"

With thunderous booms overhead, the Grass delegation quickly became alert.

In moments, a dark figure emerged from the clouds of smoke, casting a massive shadow on the ground below.

"That's... way too big!"

"What kind of bird is that?!"

As the Grass shinobi stood in confusion, they noticed feathers gently floating down from the sky.

One shinobi from the Hidden Grass casually caught a feather drifting towards him. Upon closer inspection, he noticed that the tip of the feather was burning.

Instinctively, he blew on it, but instead of extinguishing the flame, the feather suddenly flashed.

Boom!

In an instant, the feather exploded, taking the shinobi with it.

This explosion triggered a chain reaction, causing all the other falling feathers to explode as well, enveloping the entire Hidden Grass delegation in a fiery blast.

...

In the sky.

Standing atop the massive fusion beast, Hiruko didn't even bother to glance down at the devastated Grass shinobi below.

His focus was entirely on Deidara, who was relentlessly pursuing him. "Damn it, why is the Akatsuki targeting me?"

Hiruko had been closely watching the developments in the shinobi world, and he was well aware of the rising threat posed by the Akatsuki. His original plan was to sit back and let the Akatsuki clash with the shinobi villages, never expecting that the Akatsuki would come after him, throwing his plans into disarray.

Suddenly, two small white clay birds, no larger than a palm, shot out like arrows, flanking him from both sides.

His expression stiffened, eyes filled with surprise. "When did they…?!"

Boom! Boom!

Before he could react, the two clay birds exploded at point-blank range!

The blast threw the massive fusion beast off balance. Smoking and smoldering, it spiraled out of control and plummeted towards the ground.

Boom!

With a deafening crash, the fusion beast smashed into the ground, creating a large crater.

The Grass delegation, already shaken by the explosions, were sent sprawling again, some barely back on their feet before being thrown down once more by the shockwave.

Deidara's clay bird descended to the ground.

Cough, cough!

Covered in dust, Hiruko crawled out of the crater, coughing violently.

Deidara grinned smugly, "You've witnessed my art now, haven't you?"

Hiruko, his face dark with anger, snarled, "I haven't done anything to you! Why? Why are you attacking me?"

At that moment, Sasori arrived, descending on the large clay bird from earlier.

Leaping down from the bird, Sasori said in a deep voice, "We're here to invite you to join the Akatsuki."

Hiruko's face filled with shock. "What? Invite me to join the Akatsuki?"

Deidara nodded. "That's right."

Sasori continued, "You can choose to accept or refuse, but before you make your decision, you should think carefully."

Hiruko sneered, "Does it even matter?"

"Of course it matters," Sasori replied coolly. "The difference is whether you join us as an ally or as my next puppet."

Hiruko's face darkened.

He had already witnessed the power of these two Akatsuki members. Without completing his ritual, he wasn't confident in defeating them.

Moreover, he knew that the Akatsuki was filled with elite shinobi. Even if he somehow defeated these two, more, stronger Akatsuki members would inevitably come after him.

After a moment of silence, Hiruko finally asked the question burning in his mind, "Why... Why me?"

Sasori didn't hide anything, answering directly, "We need your power."

Hiruko immediately sensed the Akatsuki's ambition.

Despite already being so powerful, the Akatsuki was still actively recruiting, which could only mean one thing: their ultimate goal was enormous.

...

Not far away.

The surviving members of the Hidden Grass delegation, still shaken and disoriented, finally recognized their attackers.

"The Akatsuki?!"

"Are we their target?"

"How did they know our route? Could there be a spy in the village?"

Seeing the red cloud cloaks worn by Sasori and Deidara, the Grass shinobi were terrified.

Their mission was to attend the summit to discuss strategies against the Akatsuki, and yet here they were, ambushed by the very group they were meant to fight. The fear and disbelief in their hearts were unimaginable.

However, neither Sasori, Deidara, nor Hiruko paid any attention to the Grass delegation. They didn't even glance their way.

Sasori urged, "I don't like wasting time. So, what's your answer?"

"The Akatsuki wants to use me, but I can also use them! With their help, my ritual preparations might go even more smoothly!"

Thinking this, Hiruko said, "Fine, I'll join you. But you'll need to agree to one condition."

Before Hiruko could state his condition, Sasori interrupted impatiently, "I'm not interested in your conditions. You can tell the leader yourself."

He then turned to Deidara, "Let's go."

Deidara shrugged. "That's it?"

Watching as Sasori and Deidara leaped onto the giant clay bird, showing no interest in negotiating with him, Hiruko's face turned livid.

But he knew that fighting them now would be pointless, and he found himself increasingly curious about the Akatsuki's leader. He placed his hand on the fusion beast in the crater, channeling chakra into it.

In an instant, the fusion beast, which had been gravely wounded with broken wings, healed and began flapping its wings again, carrying Hiruko as it followed after Sasori and Deidara.

...

Not far away.

The surviving members of the Hidden Grass delegation exchanged uneasy glances.

After believing they were doomed, they now felt a strange sense of relief, like they had narrowly escaped death.

Just then, a voice called out, "Oh no, the elder was killed by the explosion!"

The Grass shinobi rushed over to find their village elder lying lifeless beside the carriage, his face frozen in terror.

Clearly, the elder had been unlucky, caught near several of the exploding feathers. The explosions had been so sudden that he hadn't even had time to activate any defensive jutsu before perishing in the blast.

"What do we do now?"

"How will we explain this to the village?"

Panic set in among the survivors.

From their vantage point, they had gathered that Sasori, Deidara, and Hiruko hadn't targeted their delegation specifically.

The battle had erupted because the Akatsuki was trying to recruit Hiruko, and the Grass delegation had simply been caught in the crossfire.

However, returning to the village with news that their elder had died so early into the mission would be a disgrace.

A shinobi from the delegation stepped forward, looking at the others and said, "We'll report that we were ambushed by the Akatsuki and that the elder died heroically fighting them!"

"But…"

"No buts!" the shinobi interrupted, glaring at his comrades. "The Akatsuki openly attacked our delegation! We must tell the other villages about this!"

"Yeah!"

"That's right! We were ambushed by the Akatsuki!"

"They're so despicable!"

The others quickly caught on, nodding in agreement.

If they reported the truth, the village would only face ridicule. But if they framed the incident as an Akatsuki ambush, it would be seen as a grave offense, one that demanded action from the other villages.

And with the Hidden Leaf organizing a summit to discuss the Akatsuki, they would be helping the cause by framing the incident as an attack by the organization.

...

Hidden Leaf Village, Hokage's Office.

Koharu Utatane spoke, "The Hidden Mist, Hidden Cloud, Hidden Sand, and Hidden Stone have all agreed to participate in the summit."

Homura Mitokado added, "The Hidden Grass, Hidden Rain, Hidden Waterfall, and even the newly formed Hidden Sound Village have also confirmed their attendance."

The Third Hokage nodded.

It was clear that none of the villages were oblivious. The Akatsuki's recent actions had caught everyone's attention. With his personal letters serving as an invitation, the summit's success was now inevitable.

Danzo spoke coldly, "The Akatsuki is harboring multiple Uchiha with the Mangekyō Sharingan. They are dangerous, and we must seize this opportunity to wipe them out!"

Koharu and Homura both nodded in agreement.

On this matter, they supported Danzo fully.

The Uchiha with Mangekyō Sharingan were too dangerous. If they couldn't be controlled, they had to be eliminated, just as they had supported Danzo's hardline approach against the Uchiha clan in the past.

The Third Hokage sighed.

He had thought that the issue with the Uchiha had ended with the clan's massacre. But now, another organization closely tied to the Uchiha had emerged, and it filled him with a sense of foreboding.