Chapter 176: Kankuro's Death
Just like in the original storyline, the enormous C3 descended from the sky. However, Gaara's sand rose like the heavens themselves, blocking all the explosive flames outside the village.
"That power is really outrageous."
Li Jiexuan shook his head helplessly. In terms of destructive force, Deidara's C3 bomb might not be quite on the level of a Tailed Beast Bomb, but it probably wasn't far off either.
Every single member of the Akatsuki possessed terrifying strength equal to—or even surpassing—the Five Kage!
But Gaara was no slouch either. Not only did he destroy one of Deidara's arms, he also managed to protect the entire Sand Village intact.
However…
"Alright, within range!"
While Gaara was focused on protecting the Sand Village, Deidara hadn't been idle either. A tiny white clay bird quietly flew up beside Gaara's sand sphere.
"Katsu!"
The white bird exploded violently, colliding with Gaara's sand sphere and kicking up a massive cloud of dust.
Seeing this, Baki, standing nearby, curled his lips confidently.
"Gaara's absolute defense isn't something that easy to break through!"
And indeed, just as Baki said, once the dust settled, Gaara's absolute defense remained perfectly intact.
Unfortunately…
"No matter how perfect a defense is, it can't resist corrosion from the inside."
Li Jiexuan shook his head and sighed. Although Gaara had crushed Deidara's arm and appeared to hold the advantage, the moment he used that sand for defense, his luck had already run out!
"Art is—explosion!"
Several clay spiders suddenly crawled out from within Gaara's supposedly impenetrable sand defense and detonated from the inside!
"This battle is already over."
Li Jiexuan curled his lips disdainfully and turned to walk toward the outside of the village.
If he wasn't mistaken, Sasori had already slaughtered all the Sand Village guards by now.
Five minutes later, Deidara reunited with Sasori. Carrying the Kazekage of the Sand Village with them, they swaggered away…
The storyline of rescuing the Kazekage had officially begun!
"Damn it—we absolutely can't let them escape!"
Kankuro gritted his teeth and chased after them alone.
"What a death wish."
Watching everything unfold, Li Jiexuan shook his head helplessly. Kankuro actually hoped to defeat Sasori with puppet techniques. Even if Sasori wasn't the strongest person in the ninja world, he was at least the number one puppet master…
With Kankuro's strength, he was only setting himself up for humiliation.
"Within three days, the poison will take your life."
"Gaara…"
After the puppet masters' battle ended and Sasori slowly walked away, Li Jiexuan descended from the sky and landed beside Kankuro.
"What a classic scene. I almost can't bear to kill you."
"Pfft!"
The Kusanagi Sword pierced straight through Kankuro. Bright red blood mixed with violent purple poison spilled out.
"Fire Release—Great Fireball Technique!"
The raging flames burned Kankuro's corpse into ashes. As for the puppets, Li Jiexuan gathered them all up—after all, he believed in not wasting good materials.
"Kankuro is already dead."
Li Jiexuan smiled faintly and shook his head.
"In that case, let's see whether Chiyo will still come out."
In the original storyline, the reason Sasori died was entirely because of Chiyo's emotional persuasion. Otherwise, with Sasori's ability, Sakura and Chiyo together wouldn't have stood a chance.
But now, Kankuro was dead. Baki wouldn't receive any information about Sasori, and naturally, he wouldn't be able to invite Chiyo either…
After setting up the first hidden move, Li Jiexuan followed behind Sasori and Deidara, heading toward the sealing site within the river valley.
At this time, Naruto and the others had only just departed from Konoha.
As Deidara and Sasori approached the river valley, Li Jiexuan stepped forward with a smile.
"Gentlemen, please wait."
"Who are you?"
Sasori frowned. The entire time along the way, he hadn't sensed Li Jiexuan's presence at all.
That alone proved something from another angle—
This newcomer was definitely not simple.