Naruto had left the Land of Water behind, leaving Itachi Uchiha sealed and conscious—a living message of terror. News of Kisame Hoshigaki's death, confirmed later by Konoha ANBU who found a broken Itachi and the sealed Kisame corpse, sent shockwaves through the shinobi world. The whispers were no longer about the Nine-Tails Jinchūriki; they were about a new, terrifying, and utterly merciless ghost.
The Uzumaki Collective in Naruto's mind was calculating, cross-referencing Itachi's past movements and Gakure's desperate testimony. Their next targets were identified: Deidara (the explosive artist) and Sasori (the puppet master).
"They are currently operating on the border of the Land of Wind, seeking the knowledge of the ancient Puppet Masters," the Collective informed him. "Their styles are long-range, area-of-effect, and deceptive. Direct confrontation will lead to overwhelming damage."
Naruto moved quickly across the continent, utilizing basic Fūinjutsu to enhance his speed and stamina. The key to defeating the Akatsuki's artists was not superior strength, but superior anti-jutsu sealing.
...
To counter the sheer scale of the artists' techniques, the Collective forced Naruto to rapidly integrate two more crucial Forbidden Uzumaki Jutsus.
Genshi Fūin (Primal Seal),A passive, skin-deep sealing matrix that absorbs and neutralizes inorganic chakra constructs upon contact. This was the perfect defense against Sasori's poison-laced puppets and Deidara's exploding clay creations.
Chakra Hōkai no Jutsu (Chakra Collapse Technique, A precise, targeted Fūinjutsu applied via touch or short-range projectile (like a shuriken). It momentarily seals the target's ability to manipulate the elemental nature of their chakra, causing their Ninjutsu to fizzle.
Naruto spent a day in the empty plains near the Land of Wind border, practicing the Genshi Fūin. He coated his skin with the microscopic seals, feeling the strange, tingling sensation of his life force being used as a shield. Then, he practiced deflecting wind-infused kunai, watching them crumble into inert metal upon touching his skin.
He knew their artistic arrogance was their biggest weakness.
He found them in a canyon carved by wind and sand, the perfect canvas for both men's work. Deidara was perched on a giant clay bird, hands busy kneading explosive clay. Sasori was directing the Third Kazekage puppet, preparing a wide sweep of iron sand.
Naruto approached openly, walking into the canyon's mouth, his silver eyes fixed on them.
Deidara was the first to notice. "Look, Sasori-danna! An audience! And such a beautifully loud orange outfit! Perfect for a bang!"
"Silence, Deidara," Sasori's voice hissed from his puppet. "This chakra… it's the one who destroyed the Shark."
Naruto stopped fifty yards away. "You kill in the name of art, and you kill in the name of eternity. I am here to prove both concepts are temporary."
Deidara sneered. "Such a childish threat. Let me show you true art!"
The Deidara Threat.
Deidara snapped his fingers. A swarm of C2-level clay birds shot toward Naruto in a tight formation.
"Katsu!"
The explosions were deafening, a massive chain reaction designed to level the canyon.
Naruto didn't use Sōzō no Fūin to absorb the blast. Instead, he relied on the newly mastered Genshi Fūin.
As the clay bird explosions engulfed his position, the sealing matrix on his skin flared, consuming the inorganic chakra of the clay instantaneously. The fire and concussive force vanished upon contact, leaving only smoke and harmless, inert dust. Naruto walked out of the smoke, utterly unscathed.
Deidara's eyes went wide with pure shock. "What the hell?! My art… it was swallowed!"
The Sasori Threat.
Sasori, cold and calculating, reacted instantly. "A counter-sealing technique. Deidara, keep him busy! Satetsu Kaihō! (Iron Sand Release!)"
The Third Kazekage puppet unleashed a devastating wave of Iron Sand, forming massive, poisonous spikes and shapes designed to impale and paralyze.
Naruto activated the Genshi Fūin again. The iron sand, though physically metallic, was manipulated entirely by Sasori's specialized chakra. When the spikes touched Naruto's barrier, the metallic chakra was neutralized. The iron sand lost its cohesion and fell around him harmlessly, turning into normal, inert metal dust.
Sasori was furious. "He neutralizes my jits! That's an Uzumaki seal of the highest grade!"
Deidara, recovering quickly, began kneading his ultimate creation: the massive C4 Garuda. "No problem! This one is huge! It can't all be sealed!"
The Counter-Attack.
Naruto knew he couldn't let the C4 fly. He focused on Sasori, the root of the puppet threat. He blurred into motion, covering the ground between them in a flash.
Sasori quickly used his tail, tipped with potent poison, to strike at Naruto.
Naruto countered with a simple, chakra-infused kunai. He didn't aim to cut the tail, but to nick the chakra conduit linking the tail to the puppet's core.
Flick.
The kunai made a tiny scrape on the conduit. Naruto activated the Chakra Hōkai no Jutsu (Chakra Collapse Technique) through the projectile.
The effect was instantaneous: the elemental manipulation of Sasori's chakra flowing through the puppet stopped. The Third Kazekage puppet went limp, the Iron Sand that was about to form a shield falling inertly to the ground.
"My puppet!" Sasori shrieked from inside his hidden container body.
Now the puppet master was exposed. Naruto aimed another chakra-infused kunai at the puppet's chest, where Sasori's core was housed.
"Ryū-jin no Tsume!"
The small, precise kunai struck the puppet's heart, detonating a concentrated Fūinjutsu burst. The explosion didn't damage the puppet physically, but it shocked the core inside, forcing Sasori to eject from the collapsing husk of the Kazekage.
Sasori, revealing his own grotesque, puppet body, landed hard on the canyon floor, his true puppet shell revealed.
"You've ruined my masterpiece!" Sasori raged, unleashing the hundred-puppet collection scroll.
Up above, Deidara saw his partner cornered and his C4 ready. He wouldn't lose his artistic moment to a mere seal master.
He focused all his chakra into the massive clay creation. "True art is a single brilliant moment! C4 Karura!"
The gargantuan clay figure expanded into thousands of microscopic, explosive figures that blanketed the entire canyon area—a massive, unavoidable microscopic bombing run.
This was the height of Deidara's power, designed to kill everyone in the area by inhaling the nano-bombs.
Naruto immediately activated a desperate, wide-area defensive Fūinjutsu he learned from the Collective: Kekkai Fūin: Seimei no Kabe (Barrier Seal: Wall of Life).
A massive, dome-shaped sealing barrier, pale silver-blue, erupted around Naruto, fueled by his own massive life force. It was the absolute opposite of the Genshi Fūin: it didn't neutralize the nano-bombs, but sealed the air itself inside the dome, preventing the bombs from entering Naruto's breathing space.
The explosion outside the dome was biblical—a world-ending flash of light and force that vaporized rock, sand, and the entire canyon top.
When the dust cleared, the Seimei no Kabe faded. Naruto was alive, protected, but exhausted from the sheer life-force drain.
The landscape was flat. Deidara, who had initiated the explosion, was gone—obliterated by his own 'ultimate art'.
Naruto looked at the crater. "One down."
Sasori, who had been focused on summoning his hundred puppets, watched his partner disappear and his final, desperate gambit ruined. He was now alone, trapped, and exposed in his true body.
Naruto approached the terrified puppet master. He didn't need any complex jutsu now. He held out his hand.
"Your core is already exposed, Sasori. You chose immortality through mechanism. I will show you the eternal seal of the Uzumaki."