Art is-Getting Beaten Up
Land of Rivers.
Thirty kilometers north of Red Sand Canyon.
Gobi.
The last darkness before dawn enveloped the earth, and a dry wind swept sand through the low bushes.
Deidara rode on the back of the C2 Clay Bird, his long hair fluttering in the wind, the lens of his left eye reflecting the light of the approaching dawn.
Beside his legs, One-Tail Jinchuriki Gaara, lay face down, unconscious, his face ashen.
On the ground below the giant bird, Hiruko —the enormous puppet Tailed Beast —was following at a leisurely pace.
Sasori of the Red Sands remained hidden inside, saying nothing.
"Um--"
Deidara tilted his head back, took a deep breath, and opened his arms.
"Art is an Explosion!"
He laughed wildly, and the mouth on his palm stuck out its tongue to lick the remaining clay fragments from his hand.
"Lord Sasori, do you think Hidden Leaf knows that the One-Tail Beast has been captured?"
A hoarse and impatient voice came from inside Hiruko: "Shut up. Speed up."
Don't be such a spoilsport.
Deidara crossed his legs, rested one hand behind his head, and lay sprawled on the giant bird's back, tapping Gaara's head with his toe. "I took down Kazekage of an entire country all by myself. You wouldn't understand the sense of accomplishment. Even if Hidden Leaf receives the news and sends a pursuit team, it'll take at least three days to get here—"
He stopped talking.
He didn't stop it on his own.
His body—instinctively—stopped.
An extremely primal survival instinct, written in his DNA, caused all of Deidara's pores to burst open at the same instant.
South.
The edge of the skyline.
A star has lit up.
No.
It's not a star.
The light was magnifying at a speed visible to the naked eye.
Accompanied by an increasingly clear, piercing shriek that seemed to tear through the air.
Deidara sprang off the giant bird's back.
His left eye suddenly contracted, and the telescope lens brought the distant point of light closer—
Gold.
Green.
The two beams of light intertwined, forming a meteor trail that stretched across the sky.
Speed...
It happened so fast that he didn't even have time to complete a full thought process.
"Lord Scorpion--!"
His voice had barely left his mouth.
The golden-green light had already moved from the horizon to right before our eyes.
Sonic boom.
Not one.
It is a continuous, superimposed sonic boom that tears the air itself apart.
The shockwave travels faster than light.
Deidara's long hair was whipped up by the strong wind and smeared all over his face.
A golden figure was reflected in his pupils—
The figure was falling from directly above.
"Boom------!"
A loud bang.
It wasn't an explosion.
It was a purely physical impact.
Naruto's right foot stomped straight through the spine of the C2 Clay Bird.
The explosive leg power of the Sage Body, combined with the speed boost from the Fourth Gate of the Eight Gates.
This kick.
There's nothing fancy about it.
There are no Ninjutsu.
It's just simple--
Step on.
"Snap--!"
The body of the giant clay bird broke in half.
It's not broken.
It's a structural collapse.
Wings, tail, head—like clay sculptures crushed by an invisible giant hand, they shattered into pieces in mid-air.
Deidara's body lost its footing.
His expression remained frozen in that moment of utter shock—his facial muscles were completely stiff.
Gravity.
Wind
Broken clay blocks.
And a... One-Tail Jinchuriki who is in freefall.
Naruto reached out his left hand in mid-air and grabbed Gaara by the back of his collar.
The movement was so casual, like picking up a piece of takeout that had fallen on the roadside.
His right foot was still on the largest piece of clay.
Her short, golden hair billowed upwards in the falling air, her blue eyes looked down—
Look at Deidara.
Look at the scorpion.
The corners of her mouth curved into a smile.
That curve.
Lazy.
Scattered.
It carried an air of superior nonchalance that made you want to punch it.
"Oh."
There is only one word.
Then, we reached the ground.
Naruto landed on one foot.
The sand and dust exploded several meters high.
A shallow pit appeared in the ground.
He casually tossed Gaara onto the sand behind him, brushed the clay crumbs off his hands, put one hand in his pocket, and turned his head away.
Deidara and Sasori rolled to their feet from the pile of shards on the other side.
Deidara bumped his forehead.
Blood trickled down the bridge of his nose, half of it staining the glasses.
A large piece of his red-and-black robe was torn off.
His hands were shaking.
It's not anger.
It is fear.
But he denies it.
He absolutely denies it.
"You..." Deidara's voice was forced out through clenched teeth, "You fucking... ruined my C2..."
Naruto tilted his head.
"That lump of mud?"
Four words.
Deidara's left eye blood vessel burst.
"That's my art!"
He simultaneously reached his hands into the clay bag at his waist.
The mouth on the palm of the hand is chewing frantically.
One second.
Two seconds.
Dozens of tiny clay birds flew out from between his fingers.
"Explosive Clay - Flock of Two-Winged Birds!"
A dense swarm of white birds obscured Naruto's vision, surrounding him from all sides.
Naruto didn't move.
He didn't even take his hand out of his pocket.
He simply watched the clay birds fly by, the expression in his eyes—
Like looking at a swarm of mosquitoes.
"Drink!"
Deidara forms a hand Hand Seals with one hand.
"Burst!"
"Boom boom boom boom--!"
A series of explosions.
The orange flames expanded outwards from the point where Naruto was standing.
The shockwave lifted the surrounding sand three meters high.
Gravel flew everywhere.
Kakkō shot into the sky.
Hiruko's scorpion tail blocked Sasori's path, shielding him from the shockwave.
Deidara took three steps back, put his hands on his hips, and tilted his head back.
The Kakkō reflected in his pupils.
He smiled.
"Ha... haha... hahahaha!"
The laughter rose from low to high, from suppressed to frenzied.
"Do you see that, Lord Sasori? This is—"
"--Art."
The smoke and dust from the explosion were still billowing.
The flames are still burning.
The ground within a 50-meter radius was blasted into a charred crater.
Deidara's laughter echoed across the Gobi Desert.
Until--
The very center of the smoke and dust.
Something is moving.
Deidara's laughter stopped abruptly.
Inside the Hiruko, Scorpion's cloudy eyes suddenly contracted.
Within the still churning gray smoke, a silhouette was gradually Earth Flow.
Her short, golden hair was speckled with dust.
Besides.
Unharmed.
Naruto emerged from the smoke of battle.
He looked down at his cuffs and patted the dust off them.
Then he raised his head.
The remaining Kakkō was reflected in the blue eyes.
The corners of her mouth still had that same curve.
He spoke.
The sound wasn't loud.
But in the silent Gobi Desert, every word was crystal clear.
That's it?
He paused.
"I thought it was a mosquito bite."
Deidara's pupils trembled violently.
His hand... reached back into the clay bag.
But this time, the thing he pulled out was more than ten times larger.
Scorpion's hoarse voice came from Hiruko, carrying a hint of... unprecedented urgency.
"Deidara, stop playing around. Use C4."
Deidara didn't reply.
In his palm, a huge lump of clay was taking shape.
Naruto stared at the expanding white object.
His eyes narrowed slightly.
Then.
He smiled.
This is not sarcasm.
It's the anticipation a hunter feels when they see their prey finally bare its fangs.
"OK."
He took his other hand out of his pocket as well.
"Let me see—just how many punches are your 'art' worth?"