The target dipped low to evade. The clay bird beneath his feet spread its wings and fled at high speed. At the same time, the mouth in Deidara's palm had already chewed out a clay flying dragon and sent it charging at Shigeo.
The giant clay dragon opened its maw. Wide enough to swallow five or six Shigeos at once. Shigeo shifted to dodge, but it was as if the enemy knew he would retreat. The tail swept, batting the retreating Shigeo forward, and the clay dragon's jaws snapped shut, swallowing him whole.
A heartbeat later, a colossal blast boomed from within the dragon's belly. Wave after wave. One layered over another. The rolling thunder shook the skies.
"Hahaha! I thought you had something. So that's all…" Deidara, who had fled ahead, crowed with delight at the sight.
Right then, a black rod pierced his heart. He stared at his chest in horror and turned slowly. Shigeo stood behind him. "I used so many clones earlier. Did you forget?"
"Y-you…" Deidara clutched his chest, face twisted in pain. He thought he was about to die.
Shigeo grabbed his collar, flipped, and dropped to an open patch of ground below. Deidara tried to shape more clay bombs, but Shigeo's Jiton (Magnet Release) bound his hands. No room left to struggle.
"What do you want?" Deidara yelled. "I'm telling you, I've got plenty of trump cards. My C4 Karura isn't even out yet. Let me go and we'll fight fair—"
Vwooom. Terror flooded him before he could finish. It rose from hell itself. An all-drowning horror. If the appearance of the Gedō Mazō (Demonic Statue of the Outer Path) had rewritten his sense of fear before, then the dread coursing through his body now—transmitted via the black rod thrust through his heart—defied description.
Bloodshot veins crept across his eyes. "What… is that?"
An existence like a world-blanketing monster. Every tooth a snarl. Eyes so vast and cold they seemed to steal the last speck of light from a person's heart.
Cold. No warmth. Boundless. No direction.
What art? What explosions? Faced with that terror, he was an ant. He shrank from it, as if terrified those eyes would land on him.
"Jūbi (Ten-Tails)," Shigeo said without concealment. Nothing worked better to cow a man than the Ten-Tails.
Deidara's face froze in shock. Akatsuki had schemed for years and had only just obtained Shukaku's chakra. And Shigeo had already fused the Ten-Tails?
He'd heard the man contained nine bijū. But even with nine, without the Gedō Mazō, how could you possibly form the Ten-Tails?
"You… you're the Jinchūriki of the Jūbi (Ten-Tails)?" Deidara asked, voice shaking.
The man before him drifted in the air. Long black hair streaming. Eyes that almost smiled. Like a god.
Shigeo didn't answer that. He asked again, "Will you join my Nanmo Ninja Village? If not, you die now."
He meant it. The black rod through Deidara's heart wasn't only for control. It could end a life at will.
"I… agree." He had joined Akatsuki because Itachi had forced him. Betraying Akatsuki now to enter Nanmo was within reason. The capable rise to the top. If Akatsuki could defeat Shigeo one day, he could always defect again. But right now, that seemed unlikely.
"Good. You know what's smart."
Shigeo smiled, reached into a different space, and released Cheng Meier.
The girl landed, lifted her face to Deidara—and he froze. He never expected her to be here.
For a second, his mind went blank. "Why are you here?"
Cheng Meier brushed a lock of hair aside. "My shujin brought me."
Hearing that, Deidara glanced at Shigeo. Shigeo had already risen into the sky. "I'll be waiting for you in Nanmo Ninja Village," he said.
He tossed down a pass token and vanished.
Deidara caught it. Only when Shigeo's presence was gone did he turn back to Cheng Meier. She still wore a princess dress. Ink-black hair spilled over her shoulders. Her eyes were bright and clear as water as she stared at him without speaking.
A chatterbox like him always felt a tug when faced with a porcelain-doll girl like her. He couldn't help but tease.
"What? Not leaving with your idol? Why stay here? Aren't you afraid I'll bully you?"
At that, the warm ache in Cheng Meier's heart—she had wanted to see him so much—went cold. But she was no delicate princess by nature. She might dress fine, but her core was iron. She retorted, "Move it. Take me back to Nanmo Ninja Village. I've got plenty to do at home. I've already delayed days because of you."
"Oi, you talk to your 'idol' like that too?" Deidara glared.
"Of course not. He's my shujin. It's good enough if I don't kneel."
"You—"
"What?"
"You go back yourself. I'm not going to Nanmo."
"A man who breaks his word isn't much of a man."
With that, Cheng Meier turned and started forward. After two steps, she looked around at the sky and the land. "Which way is south?"
Deidara laughed, reached out, and caught her wrist. "Call me onii-san and I'll take you to Nanmo."
Cheng Meier had planned to push back to the end. But thinking of their future, her voice softened. "Onii-san, I can't find the way and I don't have a token. Please take me to Nanmo Ninja Village."
"That's better."
So Deidara gave himself a step down: under the pretext of escorting Cheng Meier to Nanmo Ninja Village, he pledged himself to Shigeo.
Elsewhere, the other three Suna shinobi finally defeated their copies. Then, together with Chiyo-baasama, they brought Gaara's corpse back to Sunagakure. To save him, Chiyo used Tenshō no Jutsu (Reincarnation Technique), trading her life for Gaara's.
It somewhat made up for her grandson's sins.
Akatsuki lost two top fighters, yet their march did not slow. Across the world they continued hunting Jinchūriki, racing to gather the bijū and begin Mugen Tsukuyomi (Infinite Tsukuyomi).
…
In Nanmo Ninja Village, Deidara's recruitment was classified. Other than Shigeo, Jinshi, Wumang, and Hongyan, no one knew that the Akatsuki member Deidara had joined Nanmo.
After entering the village, Deidara mostly undertook ANBU-style missions.
Of course, he loved the limelight and achievements. Sometimes he acted rashly and ignored consequences. He was assigned to stabilize a small village. In order to show off, he blew up everyone in it.
(End of Chapter)
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