Hearing Deidara say he had already gone to the Land of Waves to find him left Naruto even more puzzled.
"Didn't you see my clone when you went to the Land of Waves?"
"Your clone? No. I left when I saw you weren't at the Daimyo's Residence." As Deidara spoke, his spirits sank again.
"I see." Naruto smiled at him. "So, what are you planning to do next?"
"Plans... I don't have any right now."
After a moment's thought, Naruto looked at Deidara seriously. "You left the Land of Earth because its people treated you as a terrorist, and your teacher restricted your use of explosive clay. And you joined the Akatsuki entirely because they let you use your abilities freely."
Deidara looked up at Naruto and nodded.
"But once you woke up and realized that explosions left nothing but ugliness and pain behind, you naturally lost your way. You started hating your own abilities more and more, didn't you?"
"Yes, exactly. After leaving the Land of Waves, I carried out quite a few missions. On one of them, I openly unleashed bombs in Sunagakure. In the end, I used my aerial advantage to capture the Kazekage. The Akatsuki extracted Shukaku, the One-Tail, but apparently the Kazekage survived."
Deidara had still been the main force behind the attack on Sunagakure. He only knew that Gaara had survived, not that the beautiful Chiyo had paid for it with her life.
"No. Gaara survived at the cost of Chiyo's life."
"What?"
Hearing that, Deidara was instantly overcome with guilt. "I only beat Gaara, the Kazekage, by exploiting my aerial and psychological advantages. I never really wanted to destroy Sunagakure."
"All right. It's already happened. No amount of guilt or remorse will change it."
"Beiming, I feel completely worthless now. Really. All I