Chapter 289: Art
Arthur felt a whirlwind as the members of the Akatsuki vanished and reappeared with moves he had never seen before. The first was Hidan, who lunged at him. Arthur instinctively dodged, weaving until he narrowly escaped three savage slashes of the scythe.
As Hidan backed up momentarily, another threat emerged: Kakuzu aimed to punch him with a shadowy appendage.
"Earth style: iron skin!" Arthur quickly caught the punch with both hands, straining against the brute force of Kakuzu's attack. "He's tough... How annoying."
Arthur then used the moment to pivot away from Kakuzu's hold, seeking to reestablish distance and regain balance, but without warning, a dark form erupted from the earth beneath him. It was Zetsu, and the creature emerged, jaws open wide, ready to consume him whole.
Arthur leaped just in time, narrowly escaping Zetsu's teeth as he soared into the air. It was a moment of reprieve, but the Akatsuki's teamwork didn't end there.
As he hung momentarily in the air, he spotted what seemed like a cloud of white fluttering toward him—they weren't butterflies, but clay creations crafted by Deidara.
"If you didn't know!" Deidara shouted from below, "Art is an explosion!"
In that instant, Sasori opened the mouth of his puppet, unleashing a furious barrage of poisoned needles that spiraled through the air. They collided against Deidara's clay butterflies, causing a violent detonation.
A choking cloud of dust swirled into the air, masking Arthur for a brief, disorienting moment.
Kisame, positioned above the blast, seized the opportunity and sliced down with his Samehada. The sword cut through the cloud, dissipating it effortlessly only to reveal that Arthur had vanished.
"Where did he go?" Kisame said, scanning the ground.