- In Marvel: I Start by Marrying Scarlett Witch [Complete]
- MWM CHapter 304
“A small guy with an extremely radical personality!”
Leo watched as Deidara, who had been blasted away, clumsily scrambled back to his feet. Retracting his flying sword wings, Leo landed in front of him.
Among the members of Akatsuki, each one had a tragic past that shaped them into who they were today. In fact, most of them had once been normal people.
Nagato and Konan, for instance, originally followed their friend Yahiko, traveling from country to country, advocating for peace through dialogue and hoping to prevent further wars. They were true idealists, working for peace. However, after being ambushed by Hanzo the Salamander and Danzo, resulting in Yahiko’s death, Nagato’s beliefs became extreme.
Nagato, Konan, and Yahiko were all orphans. Nagato had once lived a happy life with his family, but his parents were killed by Konoha ninjas during the war.
As for Obito, his drastic change came after the death of Rin, the woman he loved. Once an optimistic and kind-hearted boy who would help elderly women cross the street, his greatest dream had been to become Hokage.
Sasori’s parents were killed by Konoha’s White Fang, Kakashi’s father, leaving him with an intense sense of insecurity. As a child, he created puppets of his parents and hugged them for comfort, which eventually twisted his view of life, leading him to believe that life was too fleeting.
Kakuzu, who risked his life to follow his village’s orders to assassinate the First Hokage, somehow survived and returned, expecting to be hailed as a hero. Instead, the village punished him for failing the mission, locking him up. From then on, his personality changed. He only believed in money, not people, and after escaping, he stole the village’s secret jutsu and took the hearts of its leaders.
Hidan was once a resident of the peaceful Land of Hot Water. He was captured and turned into a murderous zealot after being experimented on by the Jashin Cult.
Kisame, who loved his village, was forced to slaughter fellow ninjas for the sake of the village’s safety. Itachi, to protect the village and his brother Sasuke, killed his own parents and most of his clan, including the girl he loved.
Even Zetsu sought to free his mother, Kaguya Ĺtsutsuki, who was sealed on the moon.
But Deidara was different. He was born in Iwagakure and was a prodigy, taken in as a disciple by the Tsuchikage. His senior and junior disciples cared deeply for him. He grew up in a very loving environment, yet became a self-obsessed extremist, chasing an ideal of explosive art.
At nine years old, he began committing acts of terrorism, blowing things up in the village. At twelve, after being defeated by Itachi, he voluntarily became a rogue ninja and joined Akatsuki, caring nothing for the people who loved and supported him. He acted entirely on his own impulses.
To Leo, this type of person was incomprehensible and unworthy of respectâjust like a child born with an extremely radical personality.
“You dare to belittle my art! Letâs see how you handle this!”
Leoâs dismissive gaze seemed to pierce Deidara, enraging him. Had it not been for his quick reflexes and use of earth-style defense techniques, he might have been severely injured in the earlier explosion.
“C2 Explosive Clay: Centipede!”
A white clay centipede burst out from the ground beneath Leo, quickly coiling around and binding him tightly.
Despite his extreme self-obsession, Deidaraâs combat instincts were sharp. He had prepared this clay centipede as a trap the moment he landed, waiting for the perfect opportunity to strike.
“Boom!”
With a single hand sign, Deidara detonated his explosive clay.
A massive explosion erupted around Leo.
“Hahaha, explosive art! No one does it better than me!”
“Oh, is that so?”
Leo casually dusted off the soot from his now-exposed muscular upper body, looking completely unharmed.
In Sage Mode, this level of explosion did nothing to him except tear his clothes. It wasnât even enough to leave a scratch on his body.
“Impossible!”
Deidara stared at Leo in disbelief. Even though the clay centipede wasnât his strongest technique, a point-blank explosion like that should have blown a person to pieces, no matter how tough they were.
“Looks like Iâll have to use thisâthis technique was designed to kill Itachi!”
Deidara stuffed a large chunk of clay into his mouth and began chewing. Moments later, a giant clay figure, an exact replica of himself, appeared before Leo.
“C4 Karura!”
“If I didnât know the details of this jutsu, it would indeed be a troublesome one.”
Leo muttered to himself as he eyed the towering clay replica of Deidara, which stood more than ten meters tall.
Normally, one would assume that such a large clay figure was a massive bomb. However, that was just a decoy. When this figure exploded, it wouldnât cause direct damage. Instead, it would release countless tiny clay spiders, invisible to the naked eye, which would silently enter the enemy’s body and detonate from within.
No matter how strong oneâs external defenses were, the internal organs couldnât withstand such an explosion.
Even with Leo’s enhanced body, an internal explosion would cause significant injuries. However, with his healing abilities, he could recover quickly, so it wasnât much of a concern.
Still, for an ordinary ninja, this technique was nearly impossible to defend against.
Knowing the trick, Leo wasnât going to let those microscopic clay spiders enter his body. With his hands forming seals, he performed a jutsu unique to the Fire Temple monks.
“Sage Art: Welcoming Thousand-Armed Murder!”
A giant statue of Kannon, the Thousand-Armed Goddess of Mercy, materialized around Leo, protecting him from head to toe.
Since they were in Konoha, Leo avoided using more conspicuous techniques like the Eight Gates, Explosive Tags, or the MangekyĹ Sharingan.
But even without those, his physical prowess, combined with the jutsu and magic at his disposal, was more than enough to handle any member of Akatsuki.
The giant golden hands of the Kannon statue easily crushed Deidaraâs clay replica. Inside, countless miniature clay spiders swarmed toward Leo, only to be blocked entirely by the Kannon statue.
“Looks like your art isnât all that impressive after all,” Leo taunted, his voice dripping with sarcasm.
Deidara trembled with rage, abandoning his attempt to infiltrate the Kannon statue with his miniature spiders. He instead gathered them on the statue’s surface and detonated them all at once.
The simultaneous explosion of so many miniature clay spiders was undeniably powerful, even without entering Leoâs body. But with the golden hands of Kannon bearing down on him, Deidara had no choice but to detonate the spiders as a desperate defense.
He knew he couldnât survive a direct hit from those enormous golden palmsâafter all, they had already been strong enough to crush Kakuzu.