[Iwagakure]
[Tsuchikage Office]
The Third Tsuchikage, Onoki, who had stayed in power for an extremely long time, was already seventy-nine years old.
In the ninja world, where the average death age was under forty, that counted as extremely rare longevity.
The key point was that the Third Tsuchikage Onoki was still in good spirits. Aside from his bad back, he was still Iwagakure's strongest combat power.
But that strongest combat power was about to become "one of."
In front of a huge mountain wall, a blond young man was practicing ninjutsu.
"Dust Release: Dust Explosion Technique!"
Deidara waved both hands, throwing out large numbers of shining light spheres.
The nature of these light spheres was extremely unstable, flickering and twisting in midair.
But the moment they touched the mountain wall ahead—
Buzz!
A flash of white light instantly appeared.
The light spheres immediately spread out into cross-star shapes.
Large star-shaped holes were carved into the hard stone wall.
Clatter! Clatter! Clatter!
Large amounts of broken stone collapsed down, kicking up dust everywhere.
"Still not stable enough or hidden enough, hmm?"
Deidara was already nineteen years old. During these past years, he had entered a period of rapid growth in strength.
Since he wasn't in the Akatsuki causing trouble everywhere and had instead been carefully taught by Onoki all this time, both his ninjutsu and mindset were much more mature than the Deidara from the original timeline.
And as a genius youth, he had successfully modified Dust Release in just a few short years.
Although the current "Dust Explosion Technique" was still not very stable, the light spheres he threw out not only consumed less chakra than Dust Release, but were also more flexible than ordinary Dust Release.
But for an artist, nothing was happier than seeing his new form of art gradually take shape.
When Deidara thought about art-related matters, he was extremely serious. That was also why he had managed to successfully modify Dust Release over the years.
"Deidara-nii!"
A familiar voice sounded. Deidara turned around and saw Kurotsuchi flying over.
At Kurotsuchi's current age, she couldn't use the Ultra-Light Weight Rock Technique herself, so Onoki had obviously cast it on her before sending her here.
Deidara's current location was on a mountaintop. After all, his Dust Release experiments were too dangerous. One mistake could easily kill someone.
Kurotsuchi quickly landed. She looked at Deidara with admiration all over her face.
"Deidara-nii! How's your Dust Explosion Technique modification going?"
Kurotsuchi had liked Deidara for many years already. This was basically no secret in Iwagakure.
After Deidara easily learned Dust Release several years ago, Onoki had already decided internally that he would become the village's successor. Naturally, he was happy to let his granddaughter stay close to Deidara.
After all, a talented young man like Deidara was a perfect match for Kurotsuchi.
Since Onoki had that intention, his advisors also gave Kurotsuchi some ideas.
Deidara's personality and preferences were too obvious. They simply told Kurotsuchi to cater to his interests, and now the relationship between the two had already become fairly close.
"It's already starting to take shape. Next comes stabilization and transformation."
"Then once Deidara-nii's Dust Explosion Technique can transform shapes, you have to show me first!"
Kurotsuchi held onto Deidara's arm, sounding slightly spoiled.
Deidara had devoted everything to art, so he was somewhat slow when it came to feelings.
But a few years ago, he and Kurotsuchi had gone through hardship together. (Being captured together by the Uchiha.)
And over these years, only Kurotsuchi truly understood him.
He liked Kurotsuchi, this little sister figure, quite a lot.
So their relationship naturally became very close.
Deidara turned and gave Kurotsuchi a charming smile, casually reaching over to rub her short hair.
"Of course. Once the development succeeds, I'll definitely show you first."
They had never gone through any so-called dating process, but Deidara's looks completely matched Kurotsuchi's taste. As long as she stayed beside Deidara, she felt happy.
"What did the old man send you here for?"
Deidara asked. After all, if nothing had happened, Onoki wouldn't have put the Ultra-Light Weight Rock Technique on Kurotsuchi and sent her flying over here.
The smile and head pat just now had made Kurotsuchi blush so much that she almost forgot why she came.
"Ah…"
Kurotsuchi immediately snapped back to reality. She actually had important business here.
"Grandpa told you to go over. Konoha Village was attacked."
Deidara looked surprised.
"Someone actually attacked Konoha?"
Kurotsuchi shook her head.
"I don't know the details either. We only just received the first reports, but Konoha suffered heavy casualties."
"Then let's head back first."
Deidara was a little curious. He took out a lump of clay from his waist pouch, chewed it a few times, and started mixing it.
With a squeeze in his hand, bang, he created a clay bird.
Deidara immediately jumped onto it, while Kurotsuchi sat behind him, naturally wrapping both arms around his waist.
The clay bird flapped its wings and flew into the sky.
Deidara blocked the strong wind outside, and Kurotsuchi leaned her face against his back, her face slightly red.
Even though Onoki had placed the Ultra-Light Weight Rock Technique on her, how could Kurotsuchi refuse a chance to ride together with Deidara?
When she was younger, Kurotsuchi liked following behind Deidara the most. Back then, it had only been a vague crush.
But now Kurotsuchi had grown up. She clearly understood that she liked Deidara.
'I just don't know when Deidara-nii will finally realize it.'
'But thankfully, I am still the only person beside Deidara-nii.'
Thinking of that, a smug little smile appeared on Kurotsuchi's face.
———
"We're here, Kurotsuchi."
Deidara lowered the clay bird as he spoke.
His clay bird was very fast. Or maybe Kurotsuchi just felt the trip passed quickly because she was too happy.
Kurotsuchi blushed slightly as she jumped down from behind Deidara. Although she really treasured every chance to touch him,
she still understood that acting naturally was what kept people from getting annoyed. There would be plenty of time in the future, so there was no need to rush now.
Deidara had no idea about Kurotsuchi's little thoughts. He was more curious about what happened over in Konoha.
He brought Kurotsuchi along and headed to the Tsuchikage office.
"Old man! What happened to Konoha?"
Deidara had always been carefree and unruly.
He rarely called Onoki "master." Usually, he just called him "old man."
Onoki never minded that. Seeing Kurotsuchi following behind Deidara like a little wife made him show a slight smile instead.
He waved for Deidara to come over and pointed at the documents on the desk. These were all gathered by Iwagakure's spies in Konoha.
"Take a look."
Deidara picked them up and quickly read through them.
'Sky Ninja? Shukaku? Poisoning?'
Since these were only first-hand reports, the details were still unclear, but Deidara was still somewhat shocked.
Konoha had actually lost several thousand people.
'Oh, the outer city…'
Deidara had visited Konoha over the past few years, so he knew what the outer city was like. Those places were not Konoha's core area at all.
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