"Hahaha! I was being too arrogant just now. At this distance—die!"
Seeing Uchiha Itachi bound by the clay centipede, Deidara laughed excitedly, his hands already forming the detonation seal.
"Kid, you'd better take a look at yourself first."
Just as Deidara was about to trigger the explosion, Ash's calm voice rang out, causing his fingers to freeze mid-seal.
"…What?"
Deidara subconsciously glanced down at his own body.
In the next instant, his pupils shrank violently.
Behind him, a pair of three-tomoe Sharingan loomed, endlessly expanding—while he himself was tightly bound by the clay centipede.
Meanwhile, the Itachi standing in front of him remained completely unharmed.
"That was close. Almost blew myself up."
"Figures," Sasori said coldly. "He's exactly the type to die young."
"Yeah," Kisame added with a grin. "Reckless to the core."
From their perspective, they had only seen Deidara throw out the clay spider—and then stand there doing nothing. Everything that followed had occurred entirely within Itachi's genjutsu.
"Genjutsu…? When did that happen?"
Deidara finally realized the truth, his voice filled with disbelief.
"From the very beginning," Kisame explained casually. "The moment you looked into Itachi's Sharingan, you were already caught."
"Sharingan… the Uchiha's dōjutsu?"
Although Deidara had little understanding of kekkei genkai, he had at least heard of the Sharingan's fearsome reputation. Staring at Itachi's eyes, he felt himself sinking again without realizing it.
"Tch—damn it!"
Deidara suddenly snapped out of it, biting his tongue and shaking his head violently.
"I actually got mesmerized by someone else's ability? What a joke," he muttered darkly.
"I refuse to accept that. Only a fleeting explosion is true art!"
In the end, Deidara joined the Akatsuki as expected, becoming Sasori's partner. With his arrival, all core members of the Akatsuki were finally assembled.
"This mission is finally over. Honestly, this kind of work is boring,"
Ash muttered to himself after returning to the Akatsuki base, flopping onto the bed.
"Really?" Konan said lightly as she organized the room. "I think Deidara is quite interesting."
Ash shook his head. "His personality isn't bad—but he talks too much. Sasori's going to suffer."
He paused, then frowned slightly.
"…Where's White Zetsu?"
Normally, White Zetsu would be lurking around the base, but he was nowhere to be seen today.
"He went to train," Konan replied calmly. "What, missing him already?"
"One less chatterbox around is a blessing," Ash said, closing his eyes.
One month later
"It's about time."
Inside a different space, Ash opened his eyes slowly.
"With my current strength, I shouldn't need to keep those three sealed anymore."
He recalled the three super ancient Pokémon he had previously sealed using the Totsuka Blade.
"System," Ash said silently, rolling his shoulders. "Analyze the exact strength of the sealed Pokémon."
Ding!
"The sealed super ancient Pokémon are:
Alakazam, Jigglypuff, and Gengar.
All three are currently at the early stage of Second-Tier Beast level."
"Second-Tier Beast…"
Ash's lips curled into a smile.
"So they're slightly weaker than Dragonite—roughly comparable to Kurama's level. Not bad at all."
After confirming their strength, Ash raised his chakra.
"Then let's begin."
A colossal Susanoo manifested behind him, its spectral arm lifting the ethereal blade.
"Totsuka Blade—Release."
With a decisive motion, Ash activated the seal.
"Ha."
As the seal unraveled, a massive black phantom emerged before Ash, its body covered in dense, glowing runes. The surrounding space trembled faintly as its presence stabilized.
"Gengar…" Ash smiled faintly.
"Compared to Jigglypuff and Alakazam, your abilities are far more useful in this world."
Floating freely in the darkened space, Gengar surveyed its surroundings. Its crimson eyes locked onto the towering Susanoo behind Ash, and in the next instant, a strange, distorted beam shot forward.
"Tch—starting a fight the moment you're released?" Ash scoffed.
With a thought, he guided Susanoo, raising the Yata Mirror in front of him.
BOOM!
The eerie attack slammed into the mirror and was instantly reflected away, dispersing harmlessly into the void. With Ash's current Sharingan and immense chakra reserves, maintaining Susanoo's divine artifacts no longer placed any strain on him.
"Wake up already," Ash said coldly.
Susanoo's massive arm swung forward, its fist crashing toward Gengar—
only to pass straight through its body.
Ash paused for a moment.
"…Right. I've been in this world too long," he muttered.
"I actually forgot about a Ghost-type Pokémon's intangibility. Careless."
Gengar's form faded completely from sight, vanishing into the shadows.
"But invisibility won't help you," Ash continued calmly.
"With Aura and the Sharingan, your position is perfectly clear."
His Sharingan contracted sharply.
In the next instant, Ash adjusted Susanoo's stance and hurled three spinning projectiles of condensed chakra.
"Yasaka Magatama."
The glowing magatama tore through the darkness, aimed precisely at the point where Gengar was hiding.
...
TN:
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