Deidara Dropped to His Knees and Clung to His Big Brother on the Spot

The wind swept across the flattened mountaintop.

The air was thick with the scorched stench left by high concentrations of burning chakra, so pungent it made their scalps tingle.

Several Stone Village jonin who had rushed over stood at the edge of the crater, their eyes nearly popping out of their sockets.

What kind of monstrous destructive power was this?

Half the entire back mountain had been forcibly wiped flat!

In midair, Deidara's clay bird, condensed from chakra, turned into a puff of white smoke with a poof as its master lost focus.

Deidara fell straight out of the sky.

Thud!

His knees slammed heavily onto the only intact patch of ground at the center of the crater.

He landed right at Uchiha Yoru's feet.

Deidara did not cry out in pain.

His face, usually wearing that arrogant sneer, was now covered in dust and blank disbelief.

He raised his head and looked up at Yoru. The pride and defiance in his eyes had been completely shattered.

In their place was an unprecedented, almost pathological fervor!

"Th-this is..."

Deidara's lips trembled, his voice so hoarse it barely sounded human.

"Is this... true art?"

Yoru stood with his hands in his pockets, looking down at him.

"What? Where did all that arrogance about being unrivaled under heaven and earth go?"

Yoru curled his lip, his tone full of undisguised disdain.

"You call those little firecrackers that only make noise art? My attack just now did not even make a sound."

If Yoru had said that ten minutes ago, Deidara would have leaped up and fought him to the death.

But now—

"Boss!!!"

A shriek so miserable that his voice cracked suddenly erupted from the bottom of the crater.

Like an octopus, Deidara lunged forward and tightly wrapped himself around Yoru's leg.

"I get it! I get it now, yeah!"

The sudden turn of events even left Yoru dumbfounded.

Deidara was covered in tears and snot, babbling incoherently in his excitement.

"Instantaneous sublimation is not just the thunderous roar of explosions!"

"That ultimate destruction that silently erases all matter, that pure white light that can swallow even sound..."

Even the mouths in Deidara's palms trembled with excitement.

"This is the highest form of art! So beautiful! So breathtaking! Yeah!"

Yoru's eye twitched.

This kid was not just an explosives maniac. He was a hopeless masochist too, wasn't he?

He had nearly been blasted into ash, and now he was already calling his enemy father?

"Let go."

Yoru disgustedly shook his leg, trying to fling off the clingy snotball.

"I won't let go! Not even if you beat me to death!"

Deidara hugged tighter, practically hanging from Yoru's leg.

"Boss Yoru! From today onward, you're my real big brother, my one and only art mentor!"

"Please take me as your disciple! Teach me that silent ultimate explosion!"

"As long as I can learn that move, I'll even blow up the Tsuchikage Building for you, yeah!"

The Stone Village jonin in the distance were terrified out of their wits when they heard that.

This little brat really dared to say it!

"Get lost. Who wants you as a disciple?"

Yoru kicked him away without mercy, then dusted off the marks on his pant leg.

"I don't have time to babysit, especially not some brat who plays with mud all day."

Deidara was not angered by the kick. He rolled over, sprang to his feet, and immediately crowded back over.

"I won't play with mud anymore! I'll change! I'll listen to anything you say!"

He pressed his palms together and looked at Yoru eagerly, as though he were staring at an invaluable treasure.

"As long as you let me follow you, I'll serve tea, pour water, wash clothes, and cook meals. I'll handle all of it!"

Yoru raised an eyebrow.

Wash clothes and cook? With those claws that had mouths in their palms, who would dare eat what he made?

Still, Yoru had other plans.

Deidara's talent was beyond question, and his obsession with explosions ran deep.

If his crude Explosive Clay could be combined with Orochimaru's research technology and Yoru's modern physics knowledge...

Creating a miniature nuclear bomb or a precision-guided missile would not be impossible.

This was an excellent prospect for military-industrial talent.

Yoru rubbed his chin and put on a reluctant expression.

"You want to work under me? Fine."

Yoru looked at Deidara and raised one finger.

"But I have three conditions."

The moment Deidara heard there was hope, his eyes lit up like lightbulbs.

"Say it, Boss! Forget three, I'll agree to three hundred, yeah!"

"First, don't casually shout 'art is explosion' in front of me anymore. It's too tacky."

Yoru mocked him without mercy.

"True art is nuclear peace. Understand?"

"Nuclear peace?" Deidara froze for a moment. Though he did not understand it, it sounded incredibly profound, so he nodded desperately. "Understood! Nuclear peace! Yeah!"

"Second, report to Orochimaru in the research department. Whatever he tells you to learn, you learn."

Yoru instructed.

"Your clay is too low-end. You need to add chakra compression techniques and chemical reaction ratios."

Hearing that he had to study under that creepy Leaf Village traitor, Deidara was somewhat unwilling. But for the sake of ultimate art, he gritted his teeth and accepted it.

"Third..."

Yoru looked at Deidara's golden ponytail.

"Go back and cut that ridiculous hair of yours. It's an eyesore."

"Huh? But my hair is—"

"Hm?" Yoru's gaze turned cold.

"I'll cut it! I'll cut it right away! Yeah!" Deidara shuddered in fright and quickly covered his mouth.

Yoru nodded in satisfaction.

"All right, go back and pack your things. Tomorrow morning, report to the Supreme Elder's office."

"Got it! Boss, just wait, I'm going now!"

As though injected with adrenaline, Deidara vanished in a flash, not even taking the remaining Explosive Clay on the ground.

Watching his jubilant retreating figure, Yoru sighed helplessly.

The Stone Village's plan to cultivate its new generation of monsters had taken its first step.

Just then.

Half of a small figure slowly rose from behind a huge boulder at the edge of the crater.

Ōnoki lay behind the rock, staring at the empty ruins with his jaw hanging wide open, unable to close it for a long time.

He had come secretly today to watch Deidara make a fool of himself.

That little fiend did not even give the Tsuchikage any face. He blew things up around the village every day, leaving everyone miserable.

Ōnoki had thought Yoru would be angered by the brat and beat him senseless.

But what happened?

One move!

With just one move, he had not only flattened half the back mountain, but also subdued that thorn in the side so thoroughly!

The brat had even shamelessly clung to his leg and called him big brother?

Ōnoki wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and secretly congratulated himself.

Luckily, he had treated the Uchiha Clan like ancestors from the very beginning.

This Uchiha Yoru was simply an unreasonable monster!

"Tsuchikage-sama, what are you doing here?"

A patrolling Anbu happened to pass by and looked curiously at Ōnoki crouching behind the boulder.

Ōnoki's old face reddened. He quickly coughed twice and straightened up.

"Cough, cough... I was inspecting the village's terrain redevelopment work."

With his hands behind his back, he put on an act and pointed at the enormous crater.

"Look, how flat it is. Later, we can build an open-air plaza here for the Uchiha Clan to dance in."

The Anbu looked utterly bewildered, but who would dare contradict the Tsuchikage?

Ōnoki ignored him. Looking in the direction Yoru had left, a sharp glint flashed through his cloudy old eyes.

"That kid Deidara is settled. But he isn't the only thorn in the village."

Stroking his beard, Ōnoki suddenly smiled like an old fox.

"I hear my girl has been clamoring every day lately about challenging the Uchiha genin?"