Annihilation Rebirth

The figure in the image was tall and well-proportioned, with a steady stride. He looked nothing like the unstable clones they had seen before, their bodies wrapped in bandages.

He wore a dark brown, high-collared cloak embroidered with Iwagakure's emblem. It snapped in the turbulent air behind him.

As the dust thinned and his face came into view, Deidara's breath caught. Shock, disbelief, and even a trace of fear crossed his face.

It was someone none of them had ever expected to see here!

A seemingly gentle smile rested on the man's face, but deep in his eyes lurked boundless madness and a hunger for destruction.

He raised a hand in casual greeting. His voice carried clearly through the silent valley:

"Hey, long time no see, Grandpa Ōnoki."

Ōnoki looked as though he had been struck by lightning. He swayed, nearly falling from the sky.

Kurotsuchi clapped a hand over her mouth and drew a sharp breath, horror filling her eyes.

Deidara stared at the face, almost identical to that of the hero who had saved the Shinobi World. His mind went blank, and he cried out in shock:

"Naruto Uzumaki?! That's impossible! What are you doing here?!"

"No!!!" Ōnoki roared in anguish and regret, cutting Deidara off. "He isn't Naruto Uzumaki!"

"He's a clone I created from Naruto Uzumaki's cells, which I collected during the Fourth Shinobi World War! I call him Land of Earth Person!"

"A clone?!" Deidara seized on the crucial point and asked urgently, "How strong is he?!"

Near despair showed on Ōnoki's face. "I don't know exactly how strong he is now."

"But when I created him, my ultimate goal was to make him every bit as powerful as the real Naruto Uzumaki!"

"What?! As powerful as him?!" Deidara's pupils shrank to pinpoints. A chill