"Yeah!"
As Deidara's passionate artistic cry echoed across the battlefield, the explosive device he had hurled into the densest concentration of the White Zetsu Army suddenly burst into brilliant flames that seemed to capture and amplify the desert sunlight itself.
"BOOM!"
The tremendous explosion that followed created a spectacular fireball that spread outward in all directions, directly consuming hundreds of White Zetsu creatures in its devastating embrace. The flames continued to expand beyond the initial impact zone, creating a chain reaction that affected an even larger area of the artificial army.
This sudden and overwhelming explosion caused members of the Ninja Alliance throughout the battlefield to pause in their individual confrontations, their attention drawn by the sheer scale of destruction that had just been unleashed against their enemies.
Among the coalition forces, Kurotsuchi of Iwagakure felt her expression shift dramatically as recognition dawned. Her experienced eyes swept upward toward the sky, searching for the source of the distinctive technique she had just witnessed.
"Was that explosion just now caused by exploding clay techniques?" she murmured with growing certainty and disbelief.
"Brother Deidara!" she called out with excitement and amazement, her voice carrying both joy and confusion.
She blinked repeatedly as if trying to clear her vision, but finally managed to spot the distinctive large white bird hovering above the White Zetsu Army and the unmistakable figure mounted upon its back.
"He actually showed up here?!" she exclaimed with genuine shock at seeing her former village friend participating in the battle.
Throughout the Second Division, many of the older Iwagakure ninja began recalling memories of the blonde-haired disciple who had once been personally accepted for training by the Third Tsuchikage himself. They remembered the yellow-haired boy who had frequently caused spectacular terrorist explosions along the edges of their village during his artistic experimentation.
A slight but genuine smile appeared on Kitsuchi's weathered face as he continued his intense elemental duel with the First Kazekage, his earth-style techniques clashing against legendary wind mastery.
In their current desperate situation, even though Deidara was technically classified as a missing-nin and traitor to his home village, having him assist the coalition forces in eliminating enemies that outnumbered them several times over was naturally a tremendously beneficial development.
Kitsuchi then shifted his attention toward Chiyo's position and observed the figure who appeared to be a young boy standing protectively in front of the legendary puppet master.
"He's here as well," Kitsuchi noted with tactical satisfaction.
Few people on this sprawling battlefield possessed the knowledge necessary to immediately identify Sasori's true nature and significance, but Kitsuchi's experience and intelligence briefings had given him crucial insights into the puppet master's capabilities.
Sasori of the Red Sand was widely recognized as the most naturally gifted puppeteer in the entire recorded history of Sunagakure. Before the emergence of the Fifth Kazekage Gaara, Sasori had been an absolute legend among the Sand ninja, his name spoken with a mixture of awe and reverence.
Although he had chosen the path of a missing-nin and abandoned his village loyalty, no objective observer could possibly deny his amazing talent and revolutionary contributions to the puppet arts.
Seeing that Deidara had already begun his explosive assault on the enemy forces, a confident smile appeared on Sasori's handsome and eternally youthful face. His gaze paused momentarily on his grandmother Chiyo before settling with deadly focus on the Third Kazekage.
Although the legendary village leader had completely lost his original consciousness and free will due to the Edo Tensei resurrection technique, Sasori could somehow sense what seemed like anger radiating from the reanimated figure's dark eyes.
As the former shadow of an entire village, the Third Kazekage had been murdered by the very junior he had valued and mentored most highly. Anyone in such a position would naturally feel profound shame and burning anger at such a betrayal.
"Although in this global war, absolutely no one from the five major ninja nations can afford to remain uninvolved or neutral," Sasori began with the casual confidence that had always characterized his speech.
"But now that you have decided to step back from active combat, you shouldn't try to act tough or maintain your pride in this situation."
Sasori slowly unfolded a carefully prepared scroll in his hand, his movements deliberate and theatrical as he smiled with the kind of anticipation that came from facing a long-awaited rematch.
In Chiyo's ancient eyes, that particular smile was exactly as confident and self-assured as she remembered from his younger years, bringing back a flood of bittersweet memories.
"Leave the remainder of this battle entirely to me, Grandma," Sasori declared with absolute certainty in his own abilities.
As his voice finished echoing across the battlefield, the scroll in his hand unfurled completely, and a sophisticated puppet materialized beside his position with the fluid grace characteristic of master-level puppetry.
The moment the puppet's articulated mouth opened, streams of distinctive black iron sand began flowing outward and surrounding its mechanical body like a living substance responding to its master's will.
At this moment, Chiyo's weathered face couldn't help but display visible emotion, her eyes filling with waves of complex feelings that spoke to decades of hope, loss, and conflicted loyalty.
From the perspective of village duty and responsibility, even if Sasori was helping her survive this encounter, she should still rightfully consider him an enemy of Sunagakure due to his past actions and criminal activities.
Because the crimes that Sasori had committed during his years as a missing-nin were almost completely beyond redemption or forgiveness, involving the deaths of countless innocent people in pursuit of his twisted artistic vision.
But as a woman in her seventies who had devoted her entire life to serving others, she had been hoping to witness this moment of redemption for far too long to let political considerations override her personal emotions.
Chiyo had dedicated every aspect of her existence to protecting and serving the Sand Village. At this critical point in her life, why shouldn't she allow her own deeply personal desires to take precedence over official policy?
She nodded with acceptance and understanding, then carefully gathered her legendary Chikamatsu Collection of Ten puppets and began gradually withdrawing from the immediate combat zone to allow her grandson to face his former victim.
"Whoosh!"
At that crucial moment, the Third Kazekage suddenly manipulated an enormous quantity of iron sand, transforming the deadly particles into countless different attack formations that poured toward Sasori's position like a metallic tsunami.
Facing this intensive assault that seemed to leave no gaps or weaknesses for defensive maneuvering, Sasori's expression remained perfectly calm and composed. Only his fingers trembled slightly as they moved through the precise motions required for advanced puppet control.
"Iron Sand Assault!" Sasori announced as he deployed his signature counter-technique.
The iron sand flowing around his puppet ally directly condensed into a massive spike formation, then launched forward with tremendous velocity and devastating force.
"Ding! Ding! Ding!"
The iron projectiles proved to be absolutely unstoppable, constantly deflecting and destroying the intensive attacks launched by the Third Kazekage. The spikes moved through the metallic storm like arrows cutting through rain, and soon they were approaching the legendary Kage's position with lethal intent.
"If this is truly the full extent of your power in this reanimated state, you might as well surrender now and save everyone the trouble," Sasori said with cold indifference.
His words seemed to be directed not only at the Third Kazekage himself, but also toward whoever was manipulating and controlling the Edo Tensei fighter from behind the scenes.
The Third Kazekage's hand seal configuration changed dramatically, and he began manipulating even larger quantities of iron sand to form a gigantic black cube that possessed tremendous mass and defensive capability.
"CRASH!"
The spike formation collided with the defensive cube in a tremendous impact that created a sound like thunder rolling across the desert landscape.
"This child can actually extract and utilize the power of his human puppet to achieve the same level of capability that the deceased possessed during their original lifetime," Black Zetsu observed with genuine surprise and growing concern.
His extensive knowledge of forbidden techniques and puppet arts made him uniquely qualified to assess the sophistication of what Sasori was demonstrating, and the implications were troubling for their strategic objectives.
On the active battlefield, when the reanimated Third Kazekage successfully defended against the initial assault from Sasori's puppet, the Red Sand master finally began to display genuine seriousness and prepared to launch his true offensive capabilities.
"Iron Sand World Method!" Sasori declared as he escalated to his most powerful techniques.
Above Sasori's position, dense concentrations of iron sand that resembled a dark storm cloud began moving with purposeful coordination, systematically enveloping the Third Kazekage's area in a dome of metallic death.
The situation developing above the Third Kazekage's position was almost identical, with equally dense formations of sand iron creating various shapes and configurations that constantly collided with each other in a symphony of metallic impacts.
The confrontation between these two masters of iron sand manipulation was unprecedented in both scale and sophistication, naturally attracting the attention of combatants throughout the broader battlefield who paused to witness this legendary duel.
With Deidara's explosive intervention providing crucial support, the sounds of detonations could be heard regularly across the combat zone. Every explosion was accompanied by the systematic annihilation of large numbers of White Zetsu creatures, gradually reducing the overwhelming numerical advantage that had been threatening to overwhelm the Allied Forces.
Therefore, the pressure on the coalition ninja gradually decreased as their tactical situation improved, and the overall momentum of the battlefield began shifting in a more favorable direction.
Meanwhile, on another section of the battlefield, a different but equally significant confrontation was reaching its climax.
"BOOM!"
The sand and gold dust techniques collided once again with tremendous force, creating a dull impact sound that echoed across the desert terrain. However, this time the sand-based attack achieved victory in an almost overwhelming fashion that surprised even experienced observers.
Looking more closely at the successful technique, there was actually a faint golden luminescence visible within the sand itself, suggesting that Gaara had somehow incorporated his father's gold dust into his own sand manipulation.
"CRASH!"
The victorious sand completely covered and engulfed the defeated gold dust technique, simultaneously enveloping the figure of the Fourth Kazekage Rasa in an inescapable embrace.
"Desert Layered Imperial Funeral!" Gaara announced as he executed his most powerful sealing technique.
The sand suddenly contracted with tremendous force and then reshaped itself into a pyramid-like structure that served as both prison and tomb for its occupant.
As the Fourth Kazekage was gradually engulfed by the pyramidal construction, distinctive sealing talismans began appearing across its surface, indicating that the Edo Tensei binding was being systematically disrupted.
While the sealing process was taking effect, the Fourth Kazekage's eyes, which had originally been the dark, emotionless orbs characteristic of reanimated fighters, gradually began to regain consciousness and awareness of his surroundings.
Gaara stood watching his father's return to awareness with a complicated mixture of emotions visible in his pale green eyes.
The Fourth Kazekage's lips moved as if he wanted to speak, but he seemed unable to find appropriate words for such an extraordinary and emotionally charged situation.
"I'm sorry," he finally managed to say, the words emerging as a low and barely audible whisper.
The simple apology fell upon Gaara's ears like a stone dropped into still water, creating ripples of complex emotion. He first bit his lower lip with a visibly struggling expression, then looked directly at his father with newfound resolve.
"Father, now that I have become the Kazekage myself, I finally understand the difficult decisions and sacrifices that you were forced to make in the past," Gaara said with mature understanding.
"So I want you to know that I no longer hate you for what happened between us."
"You have actually become the Kazekage?" the Fourth Kazekage murmured with obvious shock and growing pride.
The fact that Gaara had defeated him so decisively and efficiently certainly proved that his son possessed the strength and capability necessary to shoulder such tremendous responsibility.
Gaara continued with passionate conviction, "But what I want to tell you is that your authoritarian method of governing the village is not the only possible approach to leadership."
"This is a possibility that someone very important taught me to recognize and embrace. I will fulfill all my duties as the Kazekage through love rather than fear."
"Just like my deceased mother, who never gave up her love for me even when everything seemed hopeless, I also love the Sand Village and its people deeply now!"
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