"Art is an explosion, hm!"
The night in Iwagakure was peaceful and quiet, with all sounds hushed. In this silence, a young but firm voice suddenly shouted, and then...
Explosions and white light shocked the entire Iwagakure. The villagers, still sound asleep that night, saw the sun!
The Third Tsuchikage—Ōnoki—was suddenly jolted awake and looked out the window, following the sound.
He saw that a section of the natural defensive mountain range to the northwest was now billowing with thick smoke and blazing with fire!
Countless ninja and special assassination unit members darted between buildings, all heading toward Ōnoki's residence.
Ōnoki calmly put on his clothes, then activated the Light-Weight Rock Technique to float into the air, leading many ninja toward the explosion site in the northwest.
At the same time, Ōnoki's furious voice echoed through Iwagakure: "Deidara! You traitorous brat, this old man will clean house and deal with you, you scoundrel!"
The villagers poked their heads out of their windows, watching as Ōnoki flew toward the explosion.
They were already used to this. Every time that explosion maniac Deidara caused destruction, they'd complain to the Tsuchikage.
And each time Ōnoki lectured him, Deidara still did things his own way. Eventually, the Tsuchikage even forced him to live on the edge of the village, but that couldn't change his obsession with explosions!
"As expected of Deidara-bro. He does things we'd never dare do—it's truly admirable, makes your blood boil!"
A beautiful girl with short black hair leaned by the window, her heart surging as she looked at the distant flames.
And at that moment, the instigator who made this beautiful girl's heart flutter—a young boy with golden hair—was sweating profusely, spinning in place.
"It's over, it's over, what do I do? The Chakra of C3 is too unstable. It heats up and explodes just from slight movement. Now that old man Ōnoki's going to chew me out again!"
The golden-haired youth was Iwagakure's genius ninja, Deidara, though his soul was no longer the same as in the original story.
While still in the womb, he was possessed by an otherworldly soul, and after many years of fusion, his own personality and that soul merged into a completely new self.
Facing Ōnoki flying over with an intimidating aura, even if Deidara was a genius, he couldn't act tough. That old man was stronger than him and also his master—how could he resist?
Two minutes later, Ōnoki arrived at the explosion site.
He saw scorched earth everywhere, and even the soil at the center had turned molten from the heat, emitting terrifying energy.
Deidara squeezed out a "friendly" smile: "Yo! Old man, still awake this late? Out for a stroll?"
Ōnoki's face was grim as he stared silently at Deidara.
The latter broke out in a cold sweat and nervously chuckled: "What's wrong, old man—uh, I mean, master? Angry about this mess? Honestly, I'm not sure either. It was like this when I got here. Probably some Explosion Squad idiot messed up a landmine, and boom! It just went off!"
Ōnoki still said nothing. He just glared, a cold glint in his eyes, while his right fist became coated in dense hardened rock.
Earth Release: Stone Fist Technique!
Deidara's eyes widened. He frantically waved his hands: "Wait! Wait! Old man, calm down! No need for violence!"
"I'll calm down your great-uncle! Deidara, you brat—WAKE UP!!" Ōnoki roared in fury, slamming his Stone Fist straight into Deidara's chin.
With his vagus nerve impacted, Deidara rolled his eyes and instantly passed out.
"Seriously... a once-in-a-century genius, yet completely obsessed with explosions," Ōnoki muttered with a sigh.
Deidara's genius was known throughout Iwagakure. At only nine years old, he had already completed many difficult missions!
Records showed: 2 D-rank, 30 C-rank, 41 B-rank, 10 A-rank, and 1 S-rank mission.
He had become a Jōnin at age 7, and was now an Elite Jōnin. A few months ago, he even asked Ōnoki to teach him the method for training a Kekkei Genkai, but since his body hadn't developed enough and his Chakra was still too weak, he had to give up on it.
Instead, he turned to training in Explosion Release!
Unexpectedly, Explosion Release was highly compatible with Deidara. He mastered it in just two months, successfully awakening the Explosion Release Kekkei Genkai!
That event only made his artistic obsession with explosions even stronger. He combined Explosion Release Chakra with Exploding Clay to create a new type: Chimera Exploding Clay!
To explain: against Lightning Release users, ordinary Exploding Clay would be neutralized and misfire.
But Chimera Exploding Clay solved that problem. The outer layer of Earth Release Chakra-based clay would misfire, but the inner Explosion Release Chakra layer would immediately detonate, reigniting the outer layer and triggering a full explosion.
In short, even a misfired outer shell would still blow up thanks to the inner core.
From then on, Lightning Release users were no longer a threat to Deidara. In fact, he targeted them specifically with his special [Double Bang] attack!
Even Ōnoki couldn't bear to punish such a genius too harshly. He still hoped to make Deidara the next Tsuchikage of Iwagakure.
Unfortunately, Deidara had no interest in politics. His head was filled with nothing but explosions. Every mission ended with his targets being blown to pieces.
"In short, he still needs more tempering," Ōnoki sighed again, then picked up Deidara to leave.
As he moved Deidara's body, a small white object beneath him caught his eye. It was an Exploding Clay spider.
"Hehe, art is an explosion, hm!!"
Deidara had already regained consciousness—much quicker than usual—proving he was getting stronger.
Unfortunately, the first thing he did after waking was… set off a trap against Ōnoki!
It was practically a suicide attack.
He really was a rebellious disciple, acting like they were mortal enemies…
Ōnoki's pupils shrank in shock. With the fastest movement of his life, he lightened his body and shot into the sky—just as the explosion erupted beneath him.
In the dark night sky, a massive mushroom cloud rose high.
The Iwagakure ninja who had been rushing over halted mid-stride, stunned.
"As expected of Deidara the explosion maniac… this must be his latest masterpiece, X-Chimera Type 1—High-Explosive Spider Queen…"
Smoke, fire, and shockwaves turned the northwest corner into a lifeless forbidden zone. Ten minutes later, the heat finally faded enough to step on.
Ōnoki, followed by dozens of ninja, returned to the blast zone with a thoroughly disheveled appearance.
This time, he was truly furious. The explosion had completely engulfed him, leaving him covered in soot.
"Deidara…!" Ōnoki growled.
"Hehe, how was it, old man? Isn't my latest masterpiece amazing?" Deidara poked his head out from the ground.
At the moment of the explosion, he had used Earth Release: Hiding Like a Mole Technique to burrow more than ten meters underground, escaping the blast.
Seeing Deidara still acting smug, Ōnoki couldn't take it anymore. He used the Stone Fist Technique again, this time with both fists, delivering a barrage of close-combat blows until Deidara was black and blue, lying motionless.
Ōnoki, however, managed to twist his back in the process due to the excessive motion.
Hunched over, wincing in pain, Ōnoki still forced himself to speak: "Lock him up in Iron Rock Mountain. Seal him for two days—he needs to reflect!"
"Yes, Tsuchikage-sama!"
His subordinates promptly obeyed, dragging away the bruised and battered Deidara.
End of the Chapter.