Naruto: Burning Will

Since there was no immediate danger, there was no need for delay.

"Go on ahead. I'll catch up. Take care of yourself," Mizuki said to the Hyūga. He knew that any unconventional strategy was bound to have flaws—and someone like Deidara, with keen combat instincts, wouldn't give him many openings.

Without waiting for a reply, Mizuki surged forward, pouring chakra into his legs. His speed sharply increased, and those following behind began to fall out of step with his accelerated pace. He redirected all chakra to reinforce his forward defense with a chakra shield, abandoning protection from the sides and rear to conserve power.

A blur shot from the smokescreen ahead. Even Deidara's swiftest explosive clay—the twin-winged bird—couldn't match Mizuki's burst. Though he took several shallow injuries from the surrounding explosions, Mizuki successfully broke through the perimeter and appeared before Deidara in a flash, leaving the Akatsuki member visibly stunned.

With the force of his momentum, Mizuki drove a Fūma Shuriken in his left hand straight through Deidara's right shoulder, pinning him to the thick trunk of a tree. The large blade embedded deeply, impaling Deidara in place.

"Tch… that easy? No way… bad, bad…"

Despite his injury, Deidara didn't retreat. He lunged forward, trying to seize Mizuki—clearly aiming to detonate at point-blank range. Sensing the threat, Mizuki immediately released his grip on the shuriken and jumped back.

A moment later, Deidara's body detonated violently—the telltale blast of a clay clone. The resulting shockwave engulfed Mizuki before he could escape fully. He was hurled several meters back, smoke and debris concealing his fate.

"Temari! Clear the forest in front!" a voice rang out from within the smoke. He was still breathing—and commanding. That meant he was alive, at least.

Temari, though confused how Mizuki knew of her abilities, didn't hesitate. Now wasn't the time for questions. She unfurled her giant iron fan.

"Summoning Jutsu: Kamatari!"

A massive, sickle-wielding weasel barreled forward on gusts of slicing wind. Towering trees were felled instantly, chopped to bits by the whirlwind. The thick smoke was dispersed with the debris.

The first to be revealed was a panting, chakra-depleted Hyūga branch member. Then, as the mist cleared further, Mizuki came into view—protected by a crumbling barrier of sand. He had likely used pre-summoned sand shielding—either stored or borrowed—suggesting coordination with a Sand ally. Though the sand shield had absorbed most of the explosion, Mizuki's arms and shoulders were bloodied from shrapnel.

Still breathing hard, he treated his wounds quickly.

"Legs are still working. No vital points hit. Combat ability remains. Chakra reserves holding… I can go again."

This was Mizuki's first head-on clash with a member of the Akatsuki. Even with backup, he had nearly been taken down by a single oversight.

Wiping blood and sweat from his brow, Mizuki gritted his teeth, adjusted his gear, and crouched. With a burst of chakra, he launched skyward.

"There you are…"

From high above, Mizuki scanned the terrain. In the distance, behind a towering explosive clay bird, he spotted Deidara—hiding behind its wing, avoiding the storm of wind blades from Kamatari's assault.

"You won't get away again."

Mizuki unfurled another Fūma Shuriken and hurled it with immense force. Deidara, preparing to fly off on the bird, was still disoriented. Just before takeoff, he saw the spinning blade coming at him.

"Hmph, is that all? You think a big shuriken'll stop me?"

Scoffing, Deidara dodged with a casual lean as his bird began ascending.

"Typical. Another fool who doesn't understand true art. Let me show you a real explosion—!"

But as he dismissed the attack, Mizuki smirked from above.

"You talk too much…"

Mizuki subtly tugged his fingers. Nearly invisible, a razor-thin chakra thread snapped taut. The spinning Fūma Shuriken curved midair, suddenly wrapping around the bird's neck like a noose.

Deidara's eyes widened.

The chakra thread, now anchored, constricted the bird's flight path, forcing it to dip. Mizuki used the tension in the line to launch himself downward, closing the gap instantly.

Before Deidara could react, Mizuki slammed into him.

The impact knocked both of them off the bird. They spiraled midair—Mizuki above, Deidara below. Mizuki swung a kunai, which Deidara blocked with his forearm, but Mizuki had expected this. With his other hand, he delivered a brutal forehead strike.

The hit dazed Deidara, disrupting his balance. Mizuki yanked on the chakra thread still coiled around Deidara's arm, pulling him up—only to deliver a crushing blow to his jaw.

"You ever heard of Friendship-Ender Fist? It's a bonding experience."

As Deidara reeled, Mizuki prepared another strike, but Deidara, regaining composure, slipped a piece of clay into his mouth-hand and flung it at Mizuki.

It was a small bird—fast, deadly.

"Trying to trade hits?" Mizuki smirked. "Fine by me."

He didn't dodge. Instead, he closed in even faster, pressing his chakra shield forward. A pale blue orb of condensed chakra burst from his palm, slamming into Deidara just as the clay bird exploded.

The blast separated them. Mizuki was thrown back by the shockwave, tumbling through the air.

But before he could crash, a sand cushion rose beneath him—likely Temari's pre-summoned support or coordination with Gaara's remnants—softening the fall.

Deidara, however, wasn't so lucky. With his left eye damaged, body scorched, and impact wounds mounting, he crashed hard into the forest floor.

"I'm done," Mizuki wheezed. "If Deidara hadn't underestimated me… I wouldn't have landed any of that. Yūhi Kurenai and the others will have to finish him. His Sharingan countermeasures are broken—he should be vulnerable to genjutsu now."

Despite Mizuki's punishing assault, none of the hits were fatal. If Deidara could still mold clay, his threat level remained dangerously high. But his tactical edge was gone.

Elsewhere, simultaneously...

The duel between Hyūga Hiashi and Sasori of the Red Sand raged on. While the Hyūga's Gentle Fist was deadly against chakra-based lifeforms, Sasori's mechanized puppets were immune to chakra disruption. And Fei Liuhu, Sasori's personal armor puppet, offered both offense and defense while concealing his true body.

Normally, the Byakugan would trace chakra threads back to the puppeteer—but Sasori left no strings. His internal systems operated with chakra flow sealed inside the puppet.

Hiashi thought, So that's it… this puppet is different. He's not behind it—he's inside it.

The Gentle Fist might sever chakra flow in ordinary puppets, but Sasori's living puppet body was unlike anything Hiashi had fought. Even if he could strike vital points, he couldn't identify where they were—or what organs remained inside.

A single poisoned scratch would be lethal. Sasori's traps and weaponized limbs made every exchange deadly.

I have to stall. Mizuki and the others need to finish their fights. If the blond boy—Naruto—gets here… maybe we can shift the tide.

Hiashi activated his Byakugan fully, narrowing his stance.

Until then…

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