"Water Release: Water Prison Technique."
As the words fell, one of Kisa's water clones had already grabbed Guy by the leg, enclosing his entire body within a water prison and rapidly dragging him down toward the depths.
On the other side, before Ayuri could even close the distance to Kakashi, Naruto and Sasuke had already charged in.
Lightning flared brilliantly around Sasuke's Chidori, and the three-tomoe Sharingan in his eyes locked firmly onto Ayuri.
Naruto, anwhile, did not use the Rasengan. Instead, a layer of red chakra suddenly cloaked his body. Wrapped in this chakra shroud, his speed more than doubled, and he shot toward Ayuri like a crimson cot.
Ayuri was startled by the speed of Naruto and Sasuke. If this had been her real body, she would have had confidence in facing them head-on. But this was rely a clone created by the Shapeshifting Technique, possessing only thirty to forty percent of her original strength and chakra.
Under such circumstances, how could she possibly withstand their combined assault?
Seeing that the situation was turning bad, Ayuri hurriedly attempted to dive into the water, planning to evade Sasuke's Chidori and regroup afterward.
But just as she entered the water, a red chakra tail suddenly wrapped around her waist. Bound by the tail, she was forcibly dragged straight out of the water.
The mont she surfaced, Sasuke's Chidori arrived. Faced with the oncoming attack, Ayuri had no choice but to block it with the lightning-infused kunai in her hand.
The kunai, coated with dense Lightning Release chakra, lasted less than half a second before being cut clean in two by the Chidori. Sasuke's Chidori pierced straight into Ayuri's shoulder without losing montum.
Even though Ayuri herself was a Lightning Release shinobi and possessed so resistance to lightning, she was still paralyzed instantly and unable to move. The Kakashi who arrived imdiately afterward drove a kunai precisely into her heart.
Ayuri's Shapeshifting Technique clone was eliminated in a single exchange by the combined efforts of the three mbers of Team Seven. Although carelessness played a role, this battle clearly demonstrated just how far Team Seven's strength had grown.
...
"Damn it, getting taken out by a bunch of brats like that is seriously annoying!"
Inside the cave where Gaara was being sealed, Ayuri's projection spat angrily. Hearing this, Deidara chid in mockingly:
"No way—how long were you even out there? Not even ten minutes, right? You couldn't even hold off two Konoha jōnin for ten minutes? Is that really all your team can do?"
Deidara's string of questions made veins bulge on Ayuri's forehead. If she weren't busy with the One-Tail's sealing, she would have torn his mouth apart on the spot.
Fortunately, Nagato still had a sense of the bigger picture. He silenced Deidara with a single remark before turning to Ayuri.
"Ayuri, what exactly happened?"
After glaring at Deidara, Ayuri shifted her dangerous gaze to Black Zetsu.
"The intelligence he provided was wrong. What ca wasn't an ordinary Konoha squad. I won't even ntion the Hyūga with the Byakugan on that so-called 'Blue Beast's' team.
"The team led by Kakashi—one of the black-haired brats was a Uchiha prodigy. At such a young age, he already had the three-tomoe Sharingan. And the blond brat beside him was a jinchūriki.
"I thought they were just ordinary chūnin, so I underestimated them and tried close combat…"
She didn't need to say more—everyone present understood. A three-tomoe Uchiha, the Nine-Tails jinchūriki, and an elite jōnin who might even be approaching Kage level.
Against a clone with only thirty percent strength, the outco was inevitable.
Nagato fell silent for a mont before finally speaking:
"In that case, it's understandable. All we can hope for now is that Kisa delays them a bit longer. Everyone, speed up the sealing process. And Sasori—send out more of your puppets. Stall them as much as possible. They must not reach this place before the sealing is complete."
Sasori, hidden within Hiruko, nodded. Without another word, he silently activated the Shapeshifting Technique and went out to deploy his puppets.
The others present all increased their chakra output. As their chakra surged, the absorption power of the Sealing Technique: Phantom Dragons Nine Consuming Seals rose to another level.
The nine chakra dragons extracting the One-Tail's chakra from Gaara's body grew significantly thicker, streams of red chakra pouring endlessly into the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path.
After absorbing this One-Tail chakra, the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path finally began to change. Of its nine originally closed eyes, one slowly opened to about halfway.
...
After defeating Ayuri's clone, the four mbers of Team Seven did not linger. After briefly informing Neji, they accelerated toward Gaara's rescue. However, before reaching their destination, they encountered the puppet army released by Sasori, making another fierce battle unavoidable.
As the fight dragged on, Chiyo's expression grew darker and darker. Finally, she could no longer hold back and personally entered the battle against the puppets. With Chiyo's help, they were eventually able to locate Sasori's hidden clone.
Facing Chiyo, who clearly had sothing she wanted to say but couldn't bring herself to, Sasori said nothing. He simply dispelled the Shapeshifting Technique, leaving behind only an unfamiliar corpse.
On the other side, Kisa's clone beca even more cautious after sensing Ayuri's clone had been destroyed. Fully aware of how difficult his delaying mission was, he abandoned any attempt to confront Team Guy head-on. Instead, he relied on his superior underwater speed to wage a guerrilla battle against the Konoha shinobi.
But in the end, two fists could not match four hands. Facing a Neji far stronger than in the original tiline and a Might Guy who had opened the Sixth Gate, Kisa's clone was eventually drained of chakra and lost its ability to move.
...
Inside the cave, seeing both Kisa and Sasori return, Nagato's expression turned grim. The speed of the Konoha forces had exceeded his expectations—but fortunately, he still had one final arrangent.
Glancing at Gaara, whose chakra had begun to flicker in and out, Nagato spoke:
"Focus. It's almost over."
Hearing this, the Akatsuki mbers present all steeled themselves and concentrated fully on the sealing once more.
Shukaku's remaining chakra was already nearly depleted, and under the renewed acceleration of the group's absorption, it was finally drained completely.
The flickering light around Gaara vanished entirely. With no chakra left to sustain him, his body imdiately fell from the air, hitting the ground with a dull thud. The nine chakra dragons coiled back and returned to the mouth of the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path.
Seeing this, Nagato let out a long breath.
"The sealing is finally complete. The other teams must also speed things up. All right—withdraw."
At that mont, a rumbling sound echoed from outside the cave—Nagato's final Five-Seal Barrier had been breached.
Hearing the noise, Nagato turned to Deidara and Sasori and asked:
"No problems leaving this to you?"
Having already encountered Chiyo, Sasori remained strangely silent. Instead, Deidara patted his chest confidently.
"Leave it to us. We're not like Ayuri and the others. This ti, we'll even take care of the Nine-Tails if necessary."
Hearing Deidara's assurance, Nagato nodded and disappeared from the cave along with the others. The Demonic Statue of the Outer Path vanished as well.
...
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