Chapter 510: An Artist's Inspiration
"So, you want to fight? Great! Great!"
Naruto happily accepted Deidara's challenge.
His strength had increased far too quickly recently.
Not long ago, he had only just graduated from the Ninja Academy, become a genin, and participated in the Chūnin Exams.
But then what happened?
He reconciled with the Nine-Tails and became a Perfect Jinchūriki.
He discovered a shortcut and mastered Perfect Sage Mode.
His power instantly jumped by countless levels.
The problem was that he had barely fought opponents at that level.
As a result, he had almost no experience in high-level battles.
Just like Kaguya in the original era.
Kaguya had never fought an evenly matched opponent.
Every battle she fought had been a complete stomp.
After all, chakra hadn't even spread throughout the world during her time.
The only battle that looked like a high-level fight was the one in which she was sealed by the Sage of Six Paths.
The problem was that ninjutsu had been invented by the Sage of Six Paths' son, Indra.
That battle looked intense and dragged on for a long time, but in reality, both sides were simply throwing overwhelming amounts of power at each other without much technique—a straightforward contest of brute force.
That was one of the reasons Kaguya lost after being revived during the Fourth Great Ninja War in the original story.
—
Deidara and Naruto arrived atop the rocky cliffs outside Iwagakure and prepared to fight.
"That brat Deidara... I wonder if he's kept up with his training after leaving the village..."
"...What am I even thinking?"
"No matter how talented he is, he can't possibly be a match for the Perfect Nine-Tails Jinchūriki."
"Not to mention Naruto isn't just a Perfect Jinchūriki—he's also mastered Sage Art."
Ōnoki wasn't particularly interested in the match.
He didn't think Deidara stood any chance against Naruto.
Naruto's technique might not be refined, but his raw stats were simply too overwhelming.
His sheer power made up for every other weakness.
Based on Ōnoki's experience, the only way to defeat Naruto was to catch him completely off guard and finish him before he could react.
Unfortunately, that wasn't an option for Deidara.
First, this was only a spar, not a fight to the death.
Second, both Deidara and Naruto wanted to test their own techniques, not simply defeat the other.
Third, given Deidara's personality, he wasn't the type to coldly end a fight as quickly as possible.
So in Ōnoki's eyes, no matter how things played out, Deidara was destined to lose.
At best, they would stop halfway through and call it a draw.
However...
Ōnoki had overlooked one thing.
For an artist...
Inspiration was everything.
Without inspiration, someone might spend their entire life going nowhere.
But a single flash of inspiration could send their achievements soaring overnight.
That had been true for Sasori.
And now it was true for Deidara as well.
"Sorry about this, Uzumaki Naruto... but I'm one step ahead of you!"
Deidara made the first move.
Naruto narrowed his eyes.
He noticed strange markings had appeared on Deidara's face.
"That's... Sage Mode?!"
Naruto looked surprised.
When did he learn it?
Still, Naruto didn't dwell on it.
After all, his mission during this journey was to spread Sage Mode throughout the ninja world.
Someone else learning it was a good thing.
What truly puzzled Naruto was...
When did Deidara start preparing Sage Mode?
How had he entered it immediately at the start of the battle?
Naruto looked over Deidara's outfit.
His loose Akatsuki cloak fluttered in the wind.
One sleeve hung empty.
Then Naruto realized.
One of Deidara's hands had been hidden inside his cloak the entire time!
And Deidara's hands had mouths.
That meant he didn't need to prepare ninja tools the way Naruto did.
"So that's how it is... Impressive."
Naruto raised his hands to form seals.
As always, he opened with the Multi Shadow Clone Jutsu.
Since Deidara had activated Sage Mode, Naruto intended to respond with Sage Mode of his own.
However...
The moment Naruto created a large number of shadow clones and prepared to begin gathering natural energy, a triumphant grin appeared on Deidara's face.
One hand slammed onto the ground while the other formed a seal.
"Detonate!"
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
Every one of Naruto's shadow clones was wiped out in a chain of explosions.
Even Naruto's real body came under attack.
Fortunately, he quickly covered himself with the Nine-Tails' Chakra Cloak and blocked the blasts.
"What just happened?"
After entering Nine-Tails Chakra Mode, Naruto's sensory abilities were no weaker than those of Sage Mode.
Before transforming, he had assumed Deidara must have secretly buried a huge number of explosives beforehand and ambushed him.
But after sensing the area...
He found nothing.
Had all the bombs already exploded?
No.
Because while he was thinking about it, more explosions suddenly erupted.
It didn't take long before Naruto realized the truth.
Deidara had actually detonated the natural energy Naruto had gathered, but hadn't yet absorbed, while he was preparing to enter Sage Mode.
"So, Uzumaki Naruto... what do you think?"
"Marvel before my art!"
Deidara grinned proudly.
While awkwardly training Sage Mode through his rather ridiculous method, he had discovered something.
Whenever natural energy gathered during Sage Mode cultivation, it temporarily pulled certain gases together with it.
Once the concentration became high enough, that mass of ownerless natural energy became highly flammable and explosive.
At that point, all Deidara had to do was make contact with it using his chakra—either directly or indirectly.
Then it would explode.
At first, however, Deidara had almost abandoned the idea.
When Kurotsuchi demonstrated her own unique "Sage Mode" to Ōnoki, Deidara had secretly observed from hiding.
He noticed that when Kurotsuchi entered her state, only pure natural energy gathered.
It didn't draw those gases together.
Fortunately, using Naruto as a test subject proved his theory was still valid.
The conditions required for the explosion were:
High-density natural energy.
The accompanying gases.
And contact with Deidara's chakra.
All three were indispensable.
If Naruto entered Sage Mode quickly enough and converted the natural energy into Senjutsu Chakra inside his body, or transformed it into controlled natural energy with an owner, the explosions would no longer occur.
Of course...
Naruto wasn't Namikaze Minato.
He couldn't deduce all of that after such a brief exchange.
At the moment, all Naruto knew was that Deidara could somehow detonate natural energy.
Everything else was a complete mystery.
Watching from the sidelines, Kakashi noticed that something was wrong with Naruto's condition.
He quietly began making preparations, just in case.
Deidara launched another attack, throwing a large amount of white Explosive Clay.
Yet Naruto simply remained standing there in Nine-Tails Chakra Mode, glowing like a giant light bulb without moving.
Seriously...
Who was the real scarecrow here?
Kakashi couldn't help complaining inwardly.
He opened with Kamui, tearing a gap through the incoming Explosive Clay.
Then, with Purple Lightning crackling in his hand, he rushed in front of Naruto.
"That's enough! Stop the fight!"
Kakashi swung the Purple Lightning, its flexible streams spreading through the entire mass of Explosive Clay.
Lightning Release countered Earth Release.
In the past, Purple Lightning had been even more effective against Deidara than Chidori Current.
Its flexible nature allowed Kakashi to neutralize any amount of Explosive Clay and turn it into harmless duds.
But things were different now.
"Perfect! I've been waiting for Lightning Release! Hmm!"
Instead of panicking, Deidara became even more excited the moment he saw Kakashi use Purple Lightning.
(End of this chapter)