As a former disciple of Both Scales Onoki, Deidara is well aware of the terrifying power of Onoki's Dust Release. If truth be told, Third Tsuchikage Onoki might be the strongest among the current Five Kage.
"Let's talk about it later!"
Uehara Naraku sat atop the Ancient Giant Dragon, overlooking the village ravaged by the fierce winds and flames, and gently patted the dragon's scales, "Alright, there's nothing more worth seeing here, let's go!"
The rewards for this raid on The Hidden Mist Village have already been acquired.
Unfortunately, the number of Ninja defeated or injured by his final move inside The Hidden Mist Village was not that many, only around three to four thousand.
The situation in The Hidden Sand Village was a unique opportunity.
After all, at that time, The Hidden Sand Village was still reorganizing and expanding their Ninja forces, so most of the Ninja were gathered in the village.
The ninja inside The Hidden Mist Village were divided into several groups, and many were out on missions, as the oceans of the Ninja World are primarily dominated by The Hidden Mist Village.
Uehara Naraku glanced at the gains from Dark Harvest. If it doesn't work, he'll wait until the Ninja World War to do it again!
Dark Harvest: After defeating a Ninja, gain a portion of the enemy's power, increasing Life Energy by 10 points, Chakra Energy by 10 points, and Natural Energy by 10 points each time. Currently, Life Energy has increased by 189,750 points, Chakra Energy by 189,750 points, and Natural Energy by 189,750 points.
This battle has also increased Uehara Naraku's three-dimensional attributes by about one-fourth, reaching directly to 250,000 points.
In addition to this, there are several other gains.
Side Mission: Defeat Ao (1/1), mission completed, reward: Sharp Perception skill.
Sharp Perception: When you activate Sharp Perception, everything within 1 kilometer will appear in your field of vision, with no skill cooldown time and no skill consumption.
This skill isn't too bad.
Although Uehara Naraku can always use destiny to peek, this skill doesn't require any Chakra consumption, and it can be permanently activated. The only uncomfortable part might be that it can be a bit overwhelming visually.
Side Mission: Defeat Terumi Mei (1/1), mission completed, reward: 100 gold coins.
It appeared again.
Does this woman have no Achilles' heel?
Doesn't anyone want to defeat her?
Luckily, there was another reward that Uehara Naraku wanted the most.
Side Mission: Successfully breach The Hidden Mist Village (1/1), mission completed, reward: Passive Talent Skill Water Power.
Water Power: Allows free manipulation of Water Attribute Chakra, enabling the creation of Water Release Ninjutsu at will, and is one of the components of the Truth-Seeking Ball.
Well, from today on, Uehara can claim to be the strongest Water Release Ninja!
Even if Senju Tobirama were alive, he could not surpass his Water Release Ninjutsu. The Water Power is the ultimate water attribute chakra nature transformation.
The most important thing is, as long as Uehara Naraku can figure out how to obtain Yin Power and Yang Power, he should be able to acquire the Truth-Seeking Ball skill!
Unexpectedly, the system panel displayed a new talent skill the next moment.
Ice Power (activated): Allows free manipulation of Ice Release Chakra composed of Wind Power + Water Power, enabling the creation of Ice Release Ninjutsu at will.
"..."
Uehara Naraku began to fiddle with his chin.
If he can freely create and use Ice Release Ninjutsu, he suddenly remembered a whole slew of random techniques, which seemed kind of interesting!
"Thank you for your rewards, then let me bring some snow to put out the fire for you!"
Uehara Naraku snapped his fingers and guided the Ancient Giant Dragon, along with Deidara and Sasori of the Red Sand, towards the location of the Three-tailed Isobu.
Once they had left, the temperature in The Hidden Mist Village rapidly dropped, and the initially clear sky started to gather some clouds.
Soon the temperature became colder and colder, and before long it began to rain, then snow, and finally hail.
Clearly, Uehara Naraku was not yet accustomed to using it.
This adverse weather of rain, snow, and hail, which might have caused tremendous damage, unexpectedly became the lifesaver of The Hidden Mist Village at this moment.
When Terumi Mei, lying in the ruins, was awakened by the cold, she looked in amazement at the hail falling from the sky and walked again to the widest place in the village.
A group of civilians was kneeling on one knee, bowing to the grace of the gods. It was the power of the gods that extinguished the fire and allowed them to survive from the hands of those Akatsuki guys.
This was a miracle from the gods.
The gods did not want to see The Hidden Mist Village burned to a wasteland, so they sent down a heavy rain and snow to save their village; even though the sky was hailing, it didn't prevent them from kneeling down and thanking the gods for their grace.
Of course, this was because the gods didn't want to see the destruction of the Hidden Mist, and in their haste, the excessive power turned the rain into snow and then into hail.
"What is going on?"
Terumi Mei coughed lightly and looked at a few Anbu who gathered around her, including the little guy she always favored, Chojuro.
"Lady Terumi Mei!"
Chojuro looked at Terumi Mei excitedly and said softly, "Everyone is saying that it's the gods above who are protecting our village, allowing us to escape this fire..."
"..."
Terumi Mei was silent for a long while, not responding to Chojuro's words, and instead left with her injured body.
Is it really divine protection?
Terumi Mei wasn't feeling good; if the village's ninja were stronger, how could they resort to putting their faith in gods in such a situation!
Terumi Mei slowly moved to a place avoiding the hail, crouched down, and hugged her body, like an ordinary woman, wanting a bit of warmth.
At this moment, she was far from her usual self.
This woman, who had been supporting The Hidden Mist Village to move forward, felt her fatigue today. She had tried hard, yet failed to protect her village.
In the end, it was a weather change that saved this Ninja Village.
After a while, Terumi Mei suddenly turned her head to look at the Anbu surrounding her and softly instructed, "You guys go and oversee the village's rebuilding. Chojuro, stay, I have something to entrust to him."
"Yes, Lady Terumi Mei."
A few Anbu leapt away from the spot.
Terumi Mei glanced at the one remaining Hidden Mist Anbu, lowered her head again, and said, "Chojuro, go to Konoha immediately, and report our situation to our allies..."
"Yes."
Chojuro nodded lightly, then suddenly asked, "Lady Terumi Mei, the troops stationed near the Three-tails have returned. Should we send them back to continue monitoring the Three-tails?"
Terumi Mei raised her head to look at Chojuro, as if gazing at a naive child, her face showing a slight smile.
But at this moment, her smile was a bit wistful: "There is no longer any Three-tails. The purpose of Akatsuki attacking us was simply to show us their terror... They did not hide their objective; they just wanted to capture the Three-tailed Isobu."
After Terumi Mei finished speaking, as if she thought of something, she slowly clenched her fists and stood back up, becoming that dignified and solemn woman once again.
Terumi Mei looked at Chojuro and softly instructed, "Also, go to the Anbu and pull out the intelligence on the Six-tailed Jinchuriki, Utakata, and invite Konoha to ambush Akatsuki once at Utakata's hiding place!"
Since the aim of the Akatsuki organization is to capture the Tailed Beasts and Jinchuriki, then the Six-tailed Utakata is also highly likely to fall victim.
Take this opportunity to ambush Akatsuki!
"Also, tell Konoha."
Terumi Mei regained her strong aura, looked at Chojuro beside her, and said in a deep voice, "In this ambush against Akatsuki, involve The Hidden Rain Village as well; aren't they the villages most familiar with Akatsuki?"
The most important thing is...
Terumi Mei very much wants to meet Uehara Naraku again.
Because only through Uehara Naraku is there a chance to contact Hozuki Mangetsu.