The Dispute Over Art?

Although Deidara strongly recommended Kaede, intimidated by Houka's tyranny, he ultimately compromised and took Haku, that extra baggage, around with him.

Houka, meanwhile, went to find Shizuki.

Before long, Kaede, a little girl with short blue-green hair, dark skin, and orange eyes, came bouncing over to find Deidara.

"Big Brother Deidara, I'm all ready. Let's go!" The moment Kaede entered, she noticed there was someone else. "Who's he?"

"My name is Haku. It's a pleasure to meet you." Haku introduced himself politely.

"Oh, hello, I'm Kaede." Kaede tilted her head as she looked at Haku, then walked over to Deidara, grabbed his hand, and tried to drag him outside. "Big Brother Deidara, hurry, hurry!"

Deidara snorted and shook off Kaede's hand before striding out with his head held high. "Follow if you want."

Haku went along with it and followed Deidara and Kaede toward the outskirts of the village.

Soon, they arrived beneath a cliff, where a hundred-meter stretch of charred black marks ran across its base.

If Houka had been there, he would have recognized it as the place where he had once tested Majestic Destroyer Flame infused with sage Chakra!

"Big Brother Deidara, hurry up!" Kaede loved a good show, her eyes shining as she watched Deidara.

Seeing her like that got Haku's blood pumping as well. He stared unblinkingly at Deidara.

Deidara flicked his golden ponytail and declared proudly, "Then let me show you my latest masterpiece, hmm!"

He took out a white four-winged bird the size of a fist and gently stroked it, his face full of intoxicated admiration. "This is art!"

The instant Haku saw it, he found it somewhat hard to accept. "Is that... is that the strange bird from Big Brother Houka's sketchbook?"

It was so ugly—and so crude.

Haku instinctively used Ice