Chapter 148
The battlefield had reached a boiling point. With the annihilation of the Kumo-nin (Cloud Ninja), all the other factions began to realize that they could no longer underestimate the shinobi from Uzumaki no Kuni (Land of Whirlpool).
Though they were reluctant to admit it, those guns—primitive as they seemed—still posed a considerable threat. Since this was only the preliminary round, most of the factions avoided fighting to the death, with the exception of the Cloud ninjas.
The other participants clashed over the scrolls, but none of the conflicts escalated to the scale of the earlier battle between the Kumo-nin and Hyuga Chinano.
This was the natural course of things. Everyone had come here to divide the spoils—no one wanted to recklessly provoke the Land of Whirlpool. After all, doing so would only give the opposing faction an excuse to assert their dominance.
"The Cloud-nin really pulled that stunt, huh?" Some of the observers muttered bitterly. "Serves them right."
However, this relative calm was the last thing Sasori and Deidara, hidden among the crowd, wanted. They longed for chaos. With the arena packed with participants, the preliminaries were the perfect stage to sow destruction. Once the competition advanced to the more regulated finals, it would be harder to act freely.
Gaara was also among the contestants, making this the ideal opportunity. If they failed to strike now, they might as well abandon their ambitions. What kind of warmongers would they be if they let this chance slip by?
Sasori intended to remain in hiding, but Deidara had no such patience. Knowing they wouldn't be able to stay concealed for long, he discarded all pretense and launched his attack.
A massive clay bird soared into the sky, circling above the arena. This time, Deidara was more cautious. Rather than making himself an easy target, he flew into the thick clouds, masking his position.
Hidden by the clouds, he repeatedly spat out white clay spiders from his hands. The miniature arachnids didn't cling to the clay bird but instead fell freely through the air.
Though small in size, the power packed into each spider was anything but small.