"Deidara, do you have a death wish?"
Sasori — calm since childhood, never one to panic or fly into a rage — couldn't keep his composure this time.
To him, Deidara was practically trying to get him killed on purpose.
It wasn't the fall that scared him; with his own methods, a drop like that wouldn't take his life. What enraged him was being toyed with midair by his junior — where was his dignity as the senior partner?
As he plummeted, he snapped open a scroll and released the puppet sealed within: the Third Kazekage.
The Third Kazekage — his true name long unknown — had once mastered Magnet Release and commanded iron sand. Because Magnet Release could affect any magnetic material, even an enemy's iron weapons could be turned useless on the battlefield.
That was why he'd been praised as the strongest Kazekage in Sunagakure's history.
Unfortunately, he'd been killed by Sasori of the Red Sand and remade into a human puppet.
That "strongest" title was bitterly ironic. So-called Magnet Release… at times it felt more like "Sluggish Release".
Now, as Sasori summoned the Third Kazekage, iron sand poured out in a dark tide.
Satetsu: Kurogane no Tsubasa ▻ Iron Sand: Black Iron Wings
Under Sasori's control, the Third Kazekage formed a pair of iron-sand wings behind both himself and Sasori.
The wings beat once, and the terrifying downward momentum was forcibly reversed. Sasori steadied himself in midair and shot forward, free as a bird.
Crisis resolved.
Not gonna lie — those Kage from Sunagakure are seriously unrestrained. One after another, they can all fly!
"Damn Deidara… daring to mess with me. Today I'll kill him and turn him into my next puppet. I'll make him understand: eternity is the true art."
Sasori's gaze swept the sky. By moonlight, he quickly found Deidara's white clay bird.
He didn't have the Sharingan, let alone the Rinnegan — his eyesight wasn't freakish like Mizuki's — so he couldn't make out what was happening on the bird's back.
"Huh? Sasori-senpai, why're you using a Transformation Jutsu to look like someone else? Or is that your real face under the puppet shell?"
"Hm!"
Backlit by the moon, Mizuki hovered with the full disk behind him, his features swallowed by shadow.
With that glare, Deidara couldn't recognize him at first. He even thought it was Sasori playing a prank.
Deidara was only fifteen, yet already possessed Kage-level strength. It had to be said — he was a super genius.
Mizuki's heart stirred.
"Deidara, I truly admire your pursuit of art! A flash in an instant, followed by a pleasing explosion — what imagination."
Deidara sized him up, "So you're not Sasori-senpai. Still, you've got taste. Since you praise my art, I've decided to let you experience its true charm. You'll die beneath my art, hmm!"
Before the last syllable fell, a clay centipede burst through the bird's back and wrapped around Mizuki in an instant.
"Now you can't run, hmm!"
Deidara raised his hand, ready to detonate it.
Mizuki smiled, "Not so fast. You'd better look at yourself."
Deidara's heart lurched. A massive three-tomoe Sharingan pattern drifted behind his head, and his expression changed on the spot.
He looked down — and saw the clay centipede coiled around his own body. If he'd detonated just now, he would've blown himself apart.
"Genjutsu? No… how could this happen? Impossible… My resistance was supposed to have improved. Why did I still get caught? And this scene — no. I refuse to believe it."
Ever since being humiliated by Itachi's genjutsu, Deidara had trained obsessively to resist and dispel illusions.
He thought he feared no genjutsu anymore… yet today he'd fallen for it again.
"Deidara. Your art is ineffective before me."
Deidara had only just shaken off the illusion when the voice reached him. Instinctively he looked over — and saw someone floating quietly in the air, the full moon behind them. Moonlight cascaded down like holy radiance, making the figure seem like a god descended.
Mizuki did it on purpose: a flamboyant pose, chakra subtly stirring the light around him, creating a dazzling, almost Tyndall-like halo.
As expected, Deidara froze.
"No… no… no…"
Old humiliation flooded back. He nearly collapsed.
"Itachi Uchiha — is that you?" Deidara shouted. The scene was too similar to the one that had once broken him.
Mizuki laughed inwardly.
Kid… still so inexperienced.
"I'm not Itachi Uchiha. I'm Mizuki — the First Fushikage of Fushigakure in the Land of Birds, the dual-Kage slayer of the Wind and Fire Nations, the strongest in the shinobi world."
After Mizuki killed the Third Hokage and the Fourth Kazekage, his name had spread through the shinobi world like wildfire.
So had the nickname "Dual-Kage Slayer". In all of shinobi history, he was the only one to have killed two Kage.
Even in the underground bounty exchanges, his head was now worth 120,000,000 ryō. Konoha and Sunagakure were offering absurd sums — spare no expense — to see him dead.
"How are you here? Where's Sasori-senpai?"
Mizuki said calmly, "Sasori of the Red Sand is over there — flying this way. As for why I'm here… coincidence. Deidara, I really do admire your pursuit of art. The explosive art you invented has enormous potential. Unfortunately, to my eyes, your explosions are still far too weak."
How dare you look down on my art? Deidara's temper flared. Who do you think you are, huh?
He snapped back, "You don't understand art. What right do you have to belittle my art, hmm?"
Mizuki murmured, "A true explosion is world-destroying — so vast it could erase the entire Land of Fire in an instant. That is art. Your explosions are child's play."
He wasn't joking.
The former Soviet Tsar Bomba (RDS-220) had a damage radius that reached up to a thousand kilometers. Wiping out a Land of Fire would be effortless.
Deidara's eyes widened, "Instantly destroy the Land of Fire? What are you even saying? How could there be art with power like that?"
Even his ultimate art only had a blast radius of around ten kilometers. To destroy the Land of Fire, he'd have to self-detonate hundreds of times… and that still wouldn't be enough.
Yet despite the disbelief in his voice, his eyes burned with curiosity. He wanted to know what kind of art Mizuki meant — an art that could annihilate a nation in the blink of an eye.
Mizuki looked at him and smiled, "If you become my disciple, I'll teach you this ultra-high-power explosive art. By then, even the shinobi world won't be enough for you to wreak havoc — you'd need to go to outer space and let your art bloom freely. One performance could blow up a planet. Do you want that?"
To Deidara, the temptation was unbearable. Just imagining it made him tremble with excitement.
"You're really willing to teach me that art?"
Mizuki smiled, "Of course. In this shinobi world, other than you, I can't think of anyone else who could inherit my art. I have many disciples. What they learn is ninjutsu, genjutsu, taijutsu — skills that never step outside the shinobi framework. They're trapped in old paths. Only you have transcended the definition of an ordinary shinobi. Only you can inherit my true legacy."
Deidara listened to this and was practically soaring.
Transcending ordinary shinobi… walking a new path… So my pursuit is that advanced?
"Um… is your super-explosion art hard to learn?" he asked, face tense with nervous anticipation.
Mizuki frowned. If he said it was too hard, he might scare the brat off.
So he answered, "It is difficult, yes. It involves mathematics, physics, chemistry — thermodynamics, materials science, engineering, and many other fields. Ordinary people can't learn it at all. But for you? With your pursuit of art, it'll be nothing. You'll learn it easily."
Deidara burst into laughter, ecstatic, "Haha! So you really weren't lying. Hard to learn is good — the harder it is, the more artistic it is!"
Mizuki: …
"Then become my disciple. Follow me back to Fushigakure."
Deidara shook his head, "No. I'm Akatsuki now. If I go with you, they'll hunt me down. Those people are freaks. I don't want to die. You're strong, but against our leader… you probably don't stand a chance."
Mizuki raised an eyebrow.
Kid, you dare look down on me?
At that moment, Sasori of the Red Sand finally flew close. The nearer he got, the clearer it became: besides Deidara, Mizuki was there too.
Then Sasori flapped his wings once and turned tail.
"Deidara, hold on a bit. This is close to headquarters. I'll inform the leader to come save you."
He sold out his teammate without a second thought.
Deidara glanced at Mizuki, "Hey. Aren't you leaving? Once our leader arrives, you'll be in danger."
He already knew Mizuki didn't intend to kill him, so he wasn't worried about his own life.
Mizuki said, "Aren't you worried that once you join Fushigakure, Akatsuki will pursue you? If Pain comes, even better. Let you witness my strength — and put your worries to rest."
But in the next instant, Mizuki's expression tightened.
"Sunagakure… so you chose the moment I'm away to launch a large-scale night raid on Fushigakure…"
He turned back to Deidara, "Today I have urgent business and must return to the Land of Birds. Next time, I'll come for you again. If you want to learn super-explosion art, only I can teach it. Also — the Seven-Tails Jinchūriki is coming with me."
With a single Banshō Ten'in (Universal Pull), he yanked Fū into his hand, then burst forward at top speed toward the Land of Birds.
Deidara watched his retreating back and clicked his tongue, "Tch. I thought he really had something, but he got scared off the moment he heard the leader's name. So that so-called super-explosion art was just a con. Hmph. I almost believed it."
But just then, Deidara saw someone flying in from ahead — blocking Mizuki's path. A figure he knew all too well: the Deva Path… Pain.
"The leader came fast. Mizuki's dead for sure."
Mizuki looked at the Deva Path before him and frowned, "Move. I don't have time to fight you right now."
Pain's expression remained calm, "Mizuki, First Fushikage of Fushigakure — hand over the Seven-Tails Jinchūriki. Then join Akatsuki, and I'll spare your life. If you resist again, I won't merely kill you — I'll also erase the Fushigakure you built in the Land of Birds. You have no other choice."
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T/N: Comment, give me Power Stones, like and favorite, it all supports me and makes me go foward with this. Appreciate my other stories as well, I guarantee the good work!
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