Chapter 217 : The Giant Dragon Explodes
He threw the clay bomb that had been fully compressed in his hand.
"C2: Dragon."
As Deidara flung the clay, it transformed mid-air into a massive clay dragon, easily more than ten meters long.
The enormous dragon opened its jaws and lunged toward Riku.
Riku remained completely calm, even as the others tensed, ready to react.
Seeing their readiness, Deidara smirked. "The destructive power of C2 can easily obliterate an entire hidden village. There’s almost no way to block it."
Just as the dragon was about to make contact with Riku, Deidara raised two fingers.
"Katsu!"
At that moment, the dragon’s body lit up with a blinding glow.
This was the same jutsu Deidara had used to attack Sunagakure. If not for Gaara’s efforts to protect the village, Sunagakure would likely have been reduced to a pile of rubble.
Chiyo’s expression changed drastically. "Damn it, we’re too late. Is this guy insane? If he detonates something like that, even he won’t survive!"
Kakashi didn’t look at Deidara. His gaze was fixed on Riku, who stood there calmly, unmoving.
"Riku... what are you planning? With your strength, you wouldn’t make a mistake at a time like this."
The clay dragon detonated—an explosion powerful enough to flatten an entire Hidden Village.
Deidara, having used a clay clone, had already reappeared hundreds of meters away, far from the blast radius.
And just as the explosion surged toward them, Riku’s body erupted with violent lightning.
A massive lightning barrier formed instantly, shielding Kakashi, Chiyo, Naruto, and Sakura.
BOOM—!
The earth trembled as the explosion consumed everything within hundreds of meters. A blinding flash, followed by a deafening roar, engulfed the battlefield.
After a long moment, the smoke began to clear.
Everyone slowly opened their eyes.
Kakashi and Chiyo’s eyes widened in disbelief as they saw the crackling lightning barrier still standing, shielding them.
"This is... the Thunder King. Is this the Thunder King technique Jiraiya once mentioned?" Chiyo murmured.
Kakashi had never seen such a jutsu before.
He hadn’t expected that Riku could manifest a lightning shield of this scale without even weaving a single hand sign.
Chiyo was even more shocked. "His Lightning Style... it’s terrifying. Among all the ninjas I’ve encountered, no one has mastered it to this level—not even the old man from the Hidden Cloud. To resist such a violent explosion, and while standing at the epicenter... to shield four people at once... Unbelievable."
"I can’t even begin to imagine the extent of this kid’s mastery over Lightning Style..."
Sakura was completely stunned. She had never seen Riku unleash power like this before. He had never shown her this kind of Lightning Style.
"Is this... a Lightning Style shield?"
Naruto couldn’t believe it either. That explosion had been catastrophic, and Riku had blocked it with Lightning Style alone. He’d known Riku’s Lightning Style was strong, but this? This was on a whole other level.
As the smoke finally cleared, they surveyed their surroundings—and what they saw left them speechless.
A massive crater stretched out for hundreds of meters around them. They were standing in the center of it, shielded only by the protective lightning dome.
The explosion had been unimaginably powerful.
It drove home just how dangerous Deidara truly was. A single C2 bomb had caused this level of devastation, akin to a miniaturized Tailed Beast Bomb. And he had thrown it so casually.
It was no wonder Onoki held such high hopes for Deidara.
Even without mastering Dust Release, Deidara’s proficiency with his Explosive Style had elevated his power to elite levels.
He could easily be Tsuchikage material.
But perhaps even more terrifying... was that Riku had blocked it.
He hadn’t flinched. He hadn’t panicked. He hadn’t even moved.
No hand signs. No dramatic buildup. Just an instant reaction—and a shield that protected them all.
Next to the giant crater was a large river. The force of the explosion had redirected the water flow, and now the river’s waters were pouring into the newly formed pit.
As the last of the smoke disappeared, Riku finally dispelled the lightning net.
Countless arcs of electricity faded into the air, leaving behind a chilling aura that made even the seasoned shinobi shudder.
Even Chiyo, a battle-hardened veteran of several Great Ninja Wars, felt a chill crawl down her spine.
"No wonder this guy can suppress Tailed Beasts," she muttered. "With Lightning Style like this, even a Tailed Beast Bomb might not be able to hurt him."
She wasn’t exaggerating.
Kakashi looked at Riku, filled with admiration and awe.
"Riku... you’ve truly surpassed the Fourth Hokage," he whispered. "At first, I thought you might someday catch up to him. Now... I see you’ve already exceeded him."
Kakashi knew that Riku had mastered the Flying Thunder God Technique—and not just mastered it, but refined it beyond even what Minato Namikaze had achieved.
Riku’s instant reaction time was superior. Far superior.
What made the Flying Thunder God Technique so fearsome wasn’t just the mid-air teleportation—anyone who could use it could teleport through space at equal speed.
No, the key wasn’t the teleportation itself.
It was the timing. The moment when you reappear beside your enemy and strike.
That decisive instant—the ability to react faster than your opponent—was what made the difference between life and death.
If you couldn’t react faster than your opponent, you’d die the moment you arrived.
The Flying Thunder God solved the movement problem, but it didn’t fight your battles for you.
To truly wield it as a deadly weapon, the user needed extraordinary reflexes.
For a ninja with average reflexes, Flying Thunder God would become a liability, not an advantage.
If your opponent was faster, you’d die the instant you appeared.
A perfect example was Minato’s fight against the Fourth Raikage and Killer Bee.
Killer Bee’s instant reaction speed was even faster than the Fourth Raikage’s.
Minato had won because his reactions were faster than both. That allowed him to teleport past the Raikage and strike before anyone could respond.
But Killer Bee had still been able to predict it—because his reflexes were nearly as sharp as Minato’s.
Had Killer Bee been just a little faster... Minato might have lost.
At that time, almost no one could surpass Minato’s reaction speed.
After all, the reason he had succeeded in learning the Flying Thunder God in the first place was because of his uncanny reflexes—it suited the technique perfectly.
But now, Riku’s reaction speed was even higher than Minato’s.
Much higher.
The lightning shield he had created—instantaneously and at the precise moment of the explosion—was proof.
That detonation had happened in a split second.
And yet Riku had reacted in time, manifesting a lightning barrier that protected four people at once, from a point-blank blast equivalent to a small Tailed Beast Bomb.
That level of speed... was terrifying.
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