The next morning, Iron Rock Mountain.
In the pitch-black rock prison, only a dim torch provided faint light.
This prison was carved into the mountain, and the entire mountain's texture was as hard as steel—difficult to destroy, even with explosions.
Not to mention, Deidara's Chakra had been completely sealed, and his limbs shackled to prevent any attempt at escape.
"Deidara, someone's here to see you!"
Just as Deidara was feeling dejected, a jailer walked over and called out to him.
Deidara looked up, weakly and unhappily asking, "Who is it? Tell them to scram! Don't bother me while I'm thinking of how to blow up this rock prison next, un!"
A drop of cold sweat rolled down the jailer's temple. As expected of Deidara, the explosion maniac—only he would dare say such things even in confinement...
The jailer looked troubled, unsure how to respond to the visitors, since he couldn't afford to offend either of them.
"Honestly, Brother Deidara, you're so mean! I came to visit, and you tell me to scram?"
Just as the jailer was struggling with what to say, a clear, pleasant, and bold female voice called out.
The person who entered was the Tsuchikage's granddaughter—short black hair, beautiful black eyes, delicate features. She wore an Iwagakure forehead protector, a flak jacket over a red tight-fitting shirt with only one sleeve, and black fishnet pants that exposed long, fair thighs.
She was Kurotsuchi—also a genius ninja, and Deidara's junior.
When Deidara saw her, his eyes lit up: "Kurotsuchi! Quick, use your invincible Rock Leg Ninjutsu and break this stupid cell open, rescue me!"
Kurotsuchi wrinkled her nose and scolded, "Brother Deidara, are you stupid? After causing all that, you still want out? You better stay here and reflect! And what is Rock Leg Ninjutsu supposed to be? I'll beat you up, un!"
Still as fierce as ever. Deidara instantly deflated.
Her response showed that Ōnoki was truly angry this time. Normally, Kurotsuchi might have secretly helped him, and the old man would've turned a blind eye.
Now, with even her refusing to help, it was clear that the old man was seriously furious.
Deidara thought gloomily: Wasn't it just an explosion masterpiece? It didn't even blow up the village! Was there some other reason?
Not enough information. He couldn't guess what exactly had ticked off the old man this badly.
Shaking his head to clear the thoughts, Deidara turned to Kurotsuchi. "Then why are you here? To laugh at me?"
"Ugh! Brother Deidara, you jerk! How could you think so little of me!" Kurotsuchi growled, reaching into the prison and grabbing his face, yanking it back and forth.
"I actually brought you salted rice balls, and you think I came to mock you?!"
"What?!" Deidara looked stunned. He stared at her in shock and said,
"You really brought me salted rice balls? Wait… you wouldn't have fallen for me, would you?!"
He even leaned in with a dead-serious face to observe her reaction.
Kurotsuchi turned bright red at his words. Blushing and flustered, she yanked his face back and slapped it.
"Brother Deidara, you idiot!!" she shouted, flinging the rice balls at his face before storming out of Iron Rock Mountain without looking back.
Deidara sat on the floor, dejected.
He'd forgotten—Kurotsuchi was still just a young girl at this point, not the cool-headed kunoichi he remembered. Teasing her like that… if Ōnoki had been there, Deidara would've been flattened by Rock Fist for sure.
"Whatever, I'll apologize when I get out, un."
After consoling himself, Deidara picked up the rice balls thrown at him.
Peeling back the bamboo leaves, the fragrant aroma of salted rice filled the air.
He hadn't eaten all night, and now, after working nonstop, he wolfed down the rice balls two at a time.
If someone brought in a cow, he could probably dismantle and eat it on the spot.
Soon, all twenty-something rice balls were gone.
The jailer outside wiped a bead of sweat. As expected of a genius—even his appetite was monstrous. More than twenty rice balls? If it were him, he'd be stuffed to death. Clicking his tongue, the jailer turned away, not bothering further.
After licking the last of the rice from his fingers, Deidara was still unsatisfied.
Now full, with nothing to do, how could he sit idle? Free time like this was best spent thinking about how to make new bombs.
To avoid wasting time, he called out to the jailer.
"Hey, jailer brother! I want to discuss something. Come here for a second!" Deidara stretched his neck and called.
"What is it?" The jailer didn't want to upset the explosion maniac, so he walked over quickly.
Deidara took a deep breath, like he was making a serious decision. "Go and tell Ōnoki that I've successfully recreated the Explosive Mouth. You don't need to know what it is—just say that, and he'll understand."
"This… alright then."
Though hesitant, the jailer figured it sounded important. Better to report it. Deidara wasn't a criminal—just temporarily detained.
Soon, Ōnoki received the report.
When he heard the words Explosive Mouth, he leapt up from his desk.
But the sudden movement twisted the waist he had injured the night before.
"Hiss… ow!"
Ōnoki clutched his back in pain but ignored it, glaring at the jailer: "You didn't mishear? That brat actually said that?!"
The jailer nodded. "Yes, Tsuchikage-sama. Deidara also said to ask you to come yourself…"
"Understood. You may leave."
"Hai!" The jailer bowed and exited.
Ōnoki activated his Light-Weight Rock Technique, floating slowly away from his desk.
He was used to the feeling of weightlessness; it cleared his mind and helped him think.
Now, he was deep in thought over something truly puzzling—Deidara claimed to have recreated the Explosive Mouth…
"Is he really just nine?"
No matter how he looked at it, Deidara's talent was terrifying. Forget his unbroken mission record—at age seven, he had already refined his Earth and Lightning Chakra to a deep level and fused them into Explosion Release, awakening a Kekkei Genkai.
And now… he claimed to have recreated a legendary Ninjutsu: Explosive Mouth.
The Explosive Mouth was actually that black orb on Deidara's chest in the original series—something akin to Kakuzu's Earth Grudge Fear.
Both were special products: demon-like ninja techniques formed through unique combinations of Ninjutsu and ancient ninja refinement methods, sitting between living and non-living forms.
The Explosive Mouth had been lost since the Sengoku period. Later generations only knew of it from ancient texts. Supposedly, it required extremely pure Earth Release Chakra and an old, specific refinement method to create.
However, most of that method had been lost—restoration was considered impossible.
Iwagakure had basically given up, treating it as a legend.
Yet now Deidara—the explosion prodigy—said he had recreated it?
You had to understand: restoring something with no reference is nearly as hard as inventing it from scratch.
Ōnoki's shock was evident.
Deidara's talent wasn't just monstrous. It was terrifying.
He was already beginning to fear: this kid might be too much for Iwagakure to contain.
End of the Chapter.