"What… what the hell is this thing?!"
Deidara stared at the crimson world around him again and again.
Then suddenly froze.
A chill crept up from the depths of his heart.
It felt as if something terrible was about to happen.
Especially when he saw the clay centipede wrapped around Kai—
The feeling grew even stronger.
As if…
As if the moment he detonated that centipede, something extremely bad would happen.
But what exactly?
Deidara tried to calm himself and observe carefully.
Yet he found nothing.
What he didn't realize was that, from the perspective of everyone else present—
He looked like a clown.
Muttering nonsense while beating himself up.
Explosive clay stuck all over his own body.
Like a… walking suicide bomb.
"Um… Brother Kitsuchi…"
Within the Iwagakure formation, a handsome young shinobi leaned over and whispered,
"Deidara… doesn't seem quite right, does he?"
Kitsuchi hesitated.
Of course he could see something was wrong with Deidara.
The guy looked possessed, flailing around like a madman—
Wait… possessed?
Suddenly, a thought flashed through Kitsuchi's not-so-brilliant mind.
Isn't this… genjutsu?
That was the only explanation for Deidara's bizarre behavior.
"Genjutsu?"
Ōnoki stood on tiptoe and shook his head slightly.
"Looks like the boy forgot what I taught him—never look an Uchiha in the eyes."
After all, the Uchiha clan's greatest specialty was genjutsu.
"Genjutsu, huh? I almost forgot."
Hashirama scratched his head while squatting on the ground, his face full of excitement.
"This kid is different from Madara…"
"If it were Madara, he probably wouldn't even bother with genjutsu."
Thinking about their old battles—every strike filled with raw power—Hashirama's lips curled upward uncontrollably.
Like an AK with no recoil.
But when his gaze fell on Kai again, he instinctively shook his head.
Was Kai weak?
Based on what he had seen today, Kai was at least as strong as he and Madara had been in their prime.
Against someone like Deidara—
One punch should be enough.
At worst, two punches.
There was no need to drag things out like this with genjutsu.
So…
Hashirama couldn't quite understand Kai's intentions.
Teasing?
Or playing with his opponent?
If Kai knew what Hashirama was thinking, he might have been tempted to hit the man with Kotoamatsukami just for that.
Genjutsu might not always be the strongest—
But it worked extremely well on hot-headed idiots.
"If I remember correctly… Itachi beat Deidara once with genjutsu and he became a lot more obedient afterward."
After watching for a moment, Kai released the illusion.
His Sharingan's ocular power far surpassed Itachi and Shisui.
Even a simple genjutsu from him could easily overturn the perception of an elite jōnin.
Let alone someone like Deidara at this stage.
"Hah… hah…"
"What… what is this?!"
As the genjutsu dissolved, the crimson world disappeared.
Deidara finally realized something terrifying.
The clay centipede was wrapped around his own body.
And the hand seal he was forming—
Was seconds away from triggering the explosion.
Crackle—!
The white centipede suddenly began swelling.
Seeing this, Deidara's face turned pitch black.
"AAAAAA!"
"I—I—I! HELP!"
Puff!
In the next instant, the centipede suddenly shrank into two lumps of clay and fell to the ground at Deidara's feet.
The sight scared the delinquent blond teenager so badly that his legs gave out.
He collapsed onto the ground, trembling.
His whole body weak.
After a long while, he looked toward Kai with lingering fear.
"Th-th-thank… thanks…"
Just now—
He had nearly died by his own clay.
That was a humiliation beyond measure.
Seeing this, Kai merely shook his head without speaking.
Look at that.
You drain his chakra and he still thanks you.
He then looked at the prompt appearing before his eyes.
[Defeated Deidara. Attempting to copy traits.]
[Copyable Traits: Demolition Expert (Black), Art Is an Explosion (Black), Explosion Release Mastery (Purple), Rebellious Phase MAX (Purple), C4 — Garuda (Purple), Clay Clone (Purple), Clay C2 — Dragon (Purple), C1 — Clay Spider (Blue)… ]
[Congratulations. Host obtained Epic Trait: Clay Clone (Purple). After activation, a clay clone can replace the main body and explode.]
"Oh? Clay clone?"
Kai clicked his tongue.
"If I remember correctly… I still have some Six-Sixes upgrade points."
After thinking briefly, he upgraded the trait.
[Upgrade successful. Clay Clone → Legendary Trait: Cultivation Body (Gold).]
[Effect: After activation, chakra can be consumed to create a cultivation body. Each cultivation body can be granted three of the host's traits (excluding special and god-tier traits).]
"Cultivation body… copying traits?"
Kai froze slightly as his brain processed the information.
"So basically… I make a clay body, shape it like a person, then copy three traits from myself onto it?"
"Well damn… I've become a walking loot chest."
He chuckled.
In the past, he had seen many kinds of clone techniques.
Most clones simply consumed chakra or split chakra evenly.
Even if they could use some techniques, they were still ordinary.
Since most of Kai's power came from traits rather than ninjutsu—
Clones had little value to him.
At best they could relay information.
But now—
He could create clones and grant them traits.
That changed everything.
For example—
Limitless Chains + Flying Thunder God + Dual Kamui.
Those were his main combat abilities.
Any clone with those three legendary traits would likely reach Kage+ level strength.
In the ninja world—
Space-time abilities were always among the most powerful.
After thinking about it, Kai casually created a small clone.
In his palm, a tiny human figure appeared.
He granted it three traits:
Instant Tailed Beast Bomb (Gold)
Nine-Tails Power V (Gold)
Phase Rush (Gold)
Unlimited rapid-fire artillery.
Infinite chakra.
God-speed.
Perfect test subject.
He closed his hand and looked toward Deidara.
"Deidara, right?"
"Uh… huh?" The blond delinquent was still shaken.
"Want to consider joining Konoha?"
"WHAT? Join Konoha?!"
Deidara's voice shot up instantly.
"You're trying to recruit me… right in front of my master?!"
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