But when Deidara saw himself beneath a sky full of dazzling fireworks, kneeling on one knee as he slipped the carefully crafted Clay Ring onto Kurotsuchi's ring finger...
And when the grown-up Kurotsuchi, cheeks flushed and eyes shining with happiness, kissed him amid a chorus of cheers...
Deidara froze. The horror had yet to leave his face when panic—and a suspicious blush—rushed in to replace it.
"Kurotsuchi?"
She was different from everyone else to him. She had been his little shadow since childhood, the girl who watched him show off his "art" with sparkling eyes. Sometimes he even thought she was... well, kind of cute.
But he had never imagined marrying her?!
My future self proposed to her?! Yeah?!
His heart felt as though Explosive Clay had plugged it up, then suddenly detonated.
An indescribable rush of embarrassment and secret delight swept over him. He could feel his ears burning.
Two utterly different shocks collided wildly in his mind:
His fierce resistance to becoming Tsuchikage, and the flutter in his heart at the thought of marrying Kurotsuchi.
"My art! My freedom! Yeah!" He clutched his head and crouched down, nearly beside himself. "But Kurotsuchi..."
He pictured her smile as she wore the ring, and his face grew even hotter.
Then he remembered he would have to become Tsuchikage for that future to come true, and everything ahead of him suddenly looked bleak.
Kisame rested Samehada on his shoulder and bared his mouthful of sharp teeth in a low chuckle. "Heh heh heh. Tsuchikage Deidara? Now that's interesting."
He glanced at the silent Itachi Uchiha beside him. "Mr. Itachi, looks like what you put him through back then really got to him. Enough to turn him into a Kage?"
Kakuzu's voice, cold enough to freeze the air, suddenly rang out. "The