This series of brilliant tactics and the battle of wits between the two sides could be said to display Uchiha Sasuke's tactical skill during this period to the fullest.
Although Uchiha Sasuke had been teased by Kaede Kitahara as Sunny Sasuke, that was only because he tended to swell up for a short time after suddenly obtaining new power. As long as it was not that kind of situation, Uchiha Sasuke's battle IQ had always been very much online.
"Then if the Landmine hadn't failed and had exploded instead, what were you planning to do?"
Deidara was unwilling to admit defeat.
"That was only my second option. If that had happened, I had another plan prepared. Looks like I won't get the chance to show it." Uchiha Sasuke answered honestly as ever.
"This guy still has other jutsu hidden," Deidara thought.
At this moment, however, Uchiha Sasuke kept walking closer and said, "Where is Uchiha Itachi?"
By now, both Uchiha Sasuke and Deidara had already reached their limits. Both sides had pushed their Chakra to the extreme.
"In this kind of situation, can't you at least look a little nervous?" Deidara stared at Uchiha Sasuke and said, "This time, you really will die beneath my art."
But when he looked at Uchiha Sasuke with expectation, all he saw was Uchiha Sasuke's expressionless face. Deidara flew into a rage and roared, "That's exactly what pisses me off the most! You brothers are both like this. Acting cool for what? It's that look, that look like you're above everything. It's absolutely infuriating. That gaze that feels like it's denying my art. Those eyes are unforgivable.
"Those eyes that show not a trace of surprise after seeing my art. Those eyes that completely ignore the existence of my art. I will never forgive them."
After Deidara finished roaring and venting, Uchiha Sasuke said, "I've never cared about that kind of thing. More importantly, hurry up and tell me Itachi's location."
When Deidara heard that, his entire body stiffened as if he had taken a critical hit. Then he saw that Uchiha Sasuke had even deactivated the Sharingan altogether, and he grew even more furious. "You won't even use the Sharingan anymore? You're looking down on me that much?"
As he spoke, Deidara finally snapped. He tore off his clothes and undid the seal on his chest. It turned out there was another mouth growing there. After he fed clay into it, black lines immediately spread across his whole body as if he had been poisoned.
"Heh-heh. This is my ultimate art. Next, I'm going to self-destruct. After death, I'll become art. An unprecedented explosion will leave an unprecedented mark on this place. Then my art will receive unprecedented praise. Tobi, sorry."
"In the course of my growth, you will surely die."
At this moment, Deidara's body had even begun turning transparent.
"The blast radius reaches ten kilometers. There's no way you can escape. Now then, tremble, marvel, despair. My art…"
By this point, Deidara had become completely transparent, leaving only the small sphere in his chest. Then the sphere began to explode directly. A terrifying explosion swept over everything, swallowing absolutely everything within a ten-kilometer radius.
"Is an explosion!"
The ground shook violently. The explosion swallowed everything. Within that range, whether plants or animals, everything was blown to pieces, wiped clean.
"Lunatic. He's a lunatic."
Seeing this, how could Tsunade still fail to understand what kind of madness had seized Deidara?
It was actually because of so-called art. His art had not been taken seriously by the Uchiha brothers, and he had viewed their calm gazes as provocation. Everyone had to look directly at his art.
"No wonder. No wonder."
At this moment, Tsunade seemed to understand some of the information she had previously found about Deidara in Iwagakure. Although Iwagakure was far away and there was not much information, she had still managed to find some.
Because Deidara had single-handedly captured Sunagakure's Kazekage before, Tsunade had begun paying attention to matters concerning him. Deidara was also a very famous figure in Iwagakure.
At a young age, he had used clay explosives to create many terrorist incidents inside Iwagakure. Moreover, he was also Third Tsuchikage Onoki's disciple.
Originally, he had also been greatly valued and had a high chance of becoming the next successor to the Tsuchikage position. But because he liked placing explosives everywhere, he had enormous conflicts with the people in the village, and he left the village as a Missing-nin while still very young.
The intelligence reports even mentioned that information about Deidara in Iwagakure showed he might possess a Kekkei Genkai called Explosion Release, and the form it took should be his Clay Bombs.
Whether in power, scale, or form, they were clearly not an existing type of related Ninjutsu.
After he defected from Iwagakure, he had not caused any major destruction to Iwagakure itself. He had basically gone around nearby neighboring countries and villages, helping people carry out terrorist activities to earn money.
He was simply a brat obsessed with so-called explosive art. Or rather, he was a lunatic.
Originally, she had not understood why he hated Uchiha Itachi so much. After all, Uchiha Itachi did not seem to have humiliated him. He had only forced him to join them.
Now she finally understood. For Deidara, that indifferent expression itself was humiliation.
Ignoring his art meant ignoring him as a person. That was the greatest insult.
"So that's how it was."
Uchiha Itachi finally understood the reason. Thinking back on how Deidara and Sasori often rambled on about art like they were possessed, perhaps this was simply an area he did not understand at all.
But he really did not understand art. He was only an executioner with hands covered in blood. He did not know art, and he had no right to talk about art either.
Even so, his expression still did not change much. Aside from matters involving Uchiha Sasuke, which could make his control over his expression slip, very few things could cause even the slightest ripple in his already calm heart.
Unlike Deidara's comparatively smooth life, Uchiha Itachi carried the lives of his entire clan, the mission of the village, and the responsibility of restoring the Uchiha Clan's glory. Because of that, he had long since cut himself off from such emotions.
However, the paper and pen in his hand had already recorded a great deal of information, especially information about Deidara.
"If this is all he has, then he has no chance of winning."
Uchiha Itachi spoke faintly.
Deidara's explosions looked terrifying and almost unsolvable, especially that C4 Karura bomb. Ordinary people could not see it with the naked eye at all, but it could not fool his Sharingan. Even though his eyesight had declined severely now, judging the general situation would not be a problem.
On top of that, he also had Susanoo. He could withstand the explosions from those bombs head-on. The only thing he could not be completely certain of was exactly how intense the explosions were and whether they could directly blast apart his Susanoo.
However, if he made some other preparations in advance, then Deidara's explosions, including his final self-destruction, were only that.
For ninja, especially ninja like Deidara whose combat methods were so single-minded, the most important thing was that their information could not be known by others.
Without any preparation, if someone suddenly hit you with an attack like that, there was a very high chance you would be blown to death.
For example, wasn't Gaara's battle with Deidara essentially lost because he had not known enough about Deidara's information, allowing Deidara to succeed in the end?
For Itachi, who possessed Susanoo, Deidara was a major threat, but not one he could not deal with.
Even the training Deidara believed targeted Genjutsu, now that Itachi knew about it in advance, could be turned against him. He could set a psychological suggestion in reverse, making Deidara believe he had already broken Itachi's Genjutsu.
A Genjutsu within a Genjutsu.
Many things were completely different depending on whether one knew the intelligence or not.
Immediately afterward, his heart clenched. Even though he knew Sasuke should not fall here, the explosion's range was so terrifying that even he did not know how Sasuke was supposed to survive it.
At this moment, the scene showed Hozuki Suigetsu on a riverbank. Following Sasuke's earlier instructions, he had arranged a summoning formation and directly summoned an enormous snake.
It was Orochimaru's Summoned Beast, Manda.
Only at this moment, Manda's whole body was covered in wounds. In his enormous eyes, the shape of the Sharingan appeared. Clearly, he had been controlled by the Sharingan.
"So this is Orochimaru's Summoned Beast, Manda." Hozuki Suigetsu looked at Manda before him, his expression full of disbelief.
Even he had heard of Manda's foul temper.
"They say even Orochimaru had trouble controlling him. How did he get…"
When he saw the Sharingan shape in Manda's eyes disappear and return to normal, Suigetsu finally realized the truth. So he had been controlled by the Sharingan through Genjutsu.
Not long after, Uchiha Sasuke crawled out from Manda's body, having truly exhausted the last bit of his stamina.
"How did it end up like this? Aren't you completely covered in wounds?"
Hozuki Suigetsu was greatly shocked by Uchiha Sasuke's current condition.
"Who did you fight?"
"You little brat, how dare you use me? Those eyes. Did you control me with those eyes? I actually…"
Manda struggled to speak his final words. He had never imagined that with his strength, even Orochimaru could do nothing to him. Every time Orochimaru summoned him, he had to pay a considerable price.
Yet he had actually been tricked by Uchiha Sasuke, a brat he had never taken seriously.
After saying this, Manda died directly.
"He died. Manda was Orochimaru's favorite pet, right? You should care for animals. But you forcibly cast Genjutsu on him." Hozuki Suigetsu roasted him.
"My life was hanging by a thread back then. Who had time to think about that?" Uchiha Sasuke said, perfectly justified.
"You entered Manda's body and used Space-Time Ninjutsu to jump into another space and escape. Pretty creative. But why are you still covered in wounds?" Hozuki Suigetsu said.
"Before the jump, Manda and I were swept up by the blast. The opponent was Akatsuki. He was stronger than I imagined."
Uchiha Sasuke spoke.
Only then did the video finally end.
At last, everyone came to a realization. So that was how it happened.