Deidara the Brat? Time to Fix That Temper!

Hidden Stone Village Ninja Academy, rear mountain training ground.

This had once been a lush little forest.

Now, all that remained was a scorched wasteland belching black smoke, covered in shattered rocks and splintered wood.

"Boom—!!!"

Another violent explosion rang out, blasting the remaining half of an artificial hill into the sky.

Dust filled the air, choking everyone and making them cough.

"Ha ha ha ha! Did you see that?!"

A boyish yet fanatical and arrogant voice echoed over the ruins.

"That flash of fire blooming in an instant, that impact sweeping everything away!"

"This is true art! Hm!"

The smoke and dust gradually dispersed.

A boy around ten years old, with a golden ponytail sticking straight upward, stood with his hands on his hips in the center of a massive crater, laughing loudly.

His left eye was hidden beneath his bangs, and a defiant curve hung at the corner of his mouth.

It was the young Deidara.

At this point, he was still just a troublesome kid obsessed with Explosive Clay, who would feel restless all over if he went three days without blowing something up.

"Hey, Deidara! You brat wrecked the training ground again!"

Several chunin responsible for overseeing the grounds shouted furiously from afar.

"Lord Tsuchikage said that if you dare use C2-grade Explosive Clay recklessly again, he'll dock all your allowance!"

"Tch, a bunch of mortals who don't understand art."

Deidara curled his lip, his face full of disdain.

The strange mouths in his palms were smugly chewing white clay, making him look like a fearless, unruly troublemaker.

Just then.

A figure dressed in black stepped over the rubble and approached unhurriedly from the other end of the ruins.

His hands were tucked into his pockets, his posture relaxed, as though he were taking a stroll through his own backyard.

A faintly amused smile rested on his handsome face.

"So you're the little brat who keeps shouting that explosions are art?"

Yoru stopped, studying the blond boy before him with interest.

Well, he looked lively enough, but that embarrassing chuunibyou aura was a bit hard on the eyes.

Deidara had been interrupted in the middle of showing off, and he was already annoyed.

But when he saw the black jade plaque at the man's waist, engraved with the words "Supreme Elder," his arrogance immediately subsided somewhat.

Who in Hidden Stone Village didn't know what that plaque represented now?

Seeing the plaque was like seeing the Tsuchikage himself—perhaps even more effective than seeing the Tsuchikage.

"You're Uchiha Yoru?"

Deidara tilted his head and met Yoru's gaze without the slightest fear, his eyes full of scrutiny and provocation.

"I heard you're strong? You cured Lord Tsuchikage's chronic back pain in a single move?"

"Not bad. I know a little medicine." Yoru shrugged.

"Tch."

Deidara sneered disdainfully, his tone turning arrogant again.

"Don't think becoming a Supreme Elder makes you all that impressive."

He held out both hands. The mouths in his palms spat out two nimble little clay snakes, which swayed provocatively.

"In our Demolition Corps, status doesn't matter. Art does!"

Deidara raised his chin and stared at Yoru with near-fanatical eyes.

"That Uchiha genjutsu of yours, where you just glare at people with your eyes, is all soft and weak. It has no punch at all."

"You don't understand what true art is!"

"Only my Explosive Clay, which sublimates in an instant and blooms with the ultimate light and heat, is the greatest momentary art in this world! Hm!"

Watching this chuunibyou boy deliver his impassioned speech, spittle flying everywhere, Yoru was not angered in the slightest. Instead, he found it amusing.

The little brat had plenty of passion.

His horizons were just a little too narrow.

"Finished?"

Yoru waited until he was done before speaking lazily.

"Finished." Deidara craned his neck stubbornly.

"Good."

Yoru nodded, then did something no one had expected.

He raised his right hand toward Deidara and lightly crooked a finger.

"Since you're so confident in your 'art.'"

A devilish smile appeared on Yoru's face.

"Come."

Deidara froze, his face filled with bewilderment.

"What do you mean?"

"It means you attack me."

Yoru's tone was calm, yet it carried an unquestionable arrogance.

"Right here. Right now."

Yoru raised one finger, pointing first to the ground beneath his feet and then at Deidara.

"Use your strongest bomb. Attack me with every bit of strength you have."

"As long as you can make me take even half a step back, you win."

The moment those words fell, the entire area erupted in uproar.

The Hidden Stone jonin who had rushed over after hearing the news turned pale with fright.

"Lord Yoru! You mustn't!"

"Deidara has no sense of restraint. His C2 Clay Dragon is as powerful as an A-rank ninjutsu!"

However, Yoru merely waved a hand, signaling them to be quiet.

His eyes never left Deidara's face, filled with teasing amusement.

Deidara's face instantly turned liver-red.

This was contempt!

Naked, blatant contempt!

The ultimate insult to the explosion art he took such pride in!

"You bastard... don't look down on me too much!"

Deidara trembled with rage, his golden hair nearly standing on end.

The mouths in his palms began chewing Explosive Clay madly at an unprecedented speed.

Seeing how thoroughly enraged he was, Yoru's smile only deepened.

He slowly lowered his crooked finger and spoke in an unhurried tone, almost as though delivering a verdict.

"Of course, if you lose..."

Yoru paused. A playful glint flashed through his dark eyes.

"From now on, you'll obediently follow behind me."

"And call me Big Brother."