Chapter 134: Art… This Is True Art!
The moment Ōnoki turned his head, disaster arrived.
Perhaps when he reaches the end of his life, he might regret the choice he made today.
If he hadn’t turned back—would the catastrophe never have happened?
That was only an “if.”
He no longer had the luxury to regret anything.
The radiant bloom of the Tailed Beast Ball was the final sight that marked Iwagakure’s horizon.
The Nine-Tails.
Undisputedly the strongest of all tailed beasts.
Anyone who earned its trust and activated the Nine-Tails Chakra Mode could even manifest the Golden Cloak.
That alone placed it leagues above the others.
Even the Eight-Tails couldn’t compare.
And according to Kurama, even Tailed Beast Balls differed in grade.
If it felt annoyed and spent ten or twenty minutes brewing chakra before firing, the resulting blast would be beyond imagination.
Of course, Kurama would weaken afterward. A tailed beast’s chakra wasn’t infinite.
Almost infinite and truly infinite were worlds apart.
Which was why tailed beasts normally didn’t do such things. They released a Tailed Beast Ball proportional to the chakra they held at the moment.
As the shockwave rolled out, Hakken swung his blade through the air, sending out a streak of crimson-black energy.
That was the signal to retreat.
Everything done today was more than enough to make Iwagakure choke.
Ōnoki remained frozen in midair, but Hakken didn’t try to finish him off or force a direct confrontation.
A single Tailed Beast Ball wasn’t enough to destroy Iwagakure. The village lacked many things, but in sheer manpower, it was absurdly well-stocked.
The Third Raikage had died under the assault of tens of thousands of Land of Earth ninja.
The Tailed Beast Ball had been launched. Retreating now was the correct move.
As for Ōnoki—
Even the Nine-Tails’ Tailed Beast Ball, when not fully charged, had limited range of destruction. Iwagakure needed someone to remain standing.
And before him stood the Third Tsuchikage.
Anyone acknowledged as a Kage was never weak.
Dust Release was still a real threat to Hakken, who hadn’t yet unlocked ultra-regeneration. Its power to disintegrate anything made it deadly.
And now that Ōnoki instinctively guarded himself against Hakken’s blade, killing him quickly would be difficult.
Better to let him live—let him sink into despair, let him fully understand why Hakken had come. When he finally dropped that patronizing “elder teaching a junior” tone, Hakken would choose to speak with him calmly.
“Enjoy the view. I’ll be heading out first.”
Hakken nodded to the stunned Ōnoki, even giving a casual farewell as though greeting an old acquaintance.
“Wait! Aren’t you afraid I’ll send our two Jinchūriki to infiltrate Konoha and fire a Tailed Beast Ball?!”
“A tailed beast is a village’s ultimate weapon!”
“Aren’t you afraid Konoha will be attacked?!”
Ōnoki’s torn, hoarse voice erupted as he whipped around, shouting hysterically.
Under normal circumstances, even rival villages rarely used tailed beasts with full force. And if they did, it was only within controlled limits.
Because they all understood—if a tailed beast went wild, retaliation would immediately follow.
This was the very reason Hashirama Senju distributed the tailed beasts among the villages.
With ultimate weapons in each village’s hands, every nation possessed its own trump card. So no matter how brutal the wars became, a tailed beast ball fired directly inside an enemy village had never happened.
Now, that unspoken rule had been broken.
This brat, wielding the Nine-Tails, had fired a Tailed Beast Ball straight at Iwagakure.
That was something Iwagakure could not withstand.
If Ōnoki had been present, he could have rallied every ninja to use Earth Release to block it. But with him absent, even his son Kitsuchi might fail to respond in time.
Moments ago, he had been relieved that Kitsuchi hadn’t followed him to inspect the bodies outside the village.
Now he realized Iwagakure itself was far more dangerous than the lands beyond.
“Sorry, but I could slice that thing clean in two with a single stroke.”
“Even if I’m not in the village, my master Minato Namikaze can use the Flying Thunder God Technique. Redirecting a Tailed Beast Ball isn’t difficult at all.”
“And I promise you—if you dare try that, I’ll personally behead every single person in the Land of Earth right before your eyes. I’ll let their blood splash across your face and pool into a warm sea beneath you, so you can bathe in it.”
Hakken rubbed his chin, smiling in a way that made one’s heart clench.
“The temperature of that blood… you couldn’t withstand it.”
The killing intent behind the boy’s words drained all color from Ōnoki’s face.
Could a child really say something like this?
“Devil!”
“Madman! Are you insane?! You’re trying to spark the Fourth Shinobi World War!”
“You’re a devil! Why does someone like you exist in the ninja world?!”
Devil.
At that moment, no word fit Hakken Yoru more perfectly.
It was a title countless enemies had called him.
A title even louder than Konoha’s Kenpachi.
The Devil of Konoha?
It actually had a nice ring to it.
Hakken nodded politely at Ōnoki. “Thanks for the compliment. Go check on Iwagakure. Maybe your son’s still alive.”
“Goodbye.”
In the next instant, Hakken vanished, leaving Ōnoki behind, stricken with pain and confusion.
That brat…
Konoha…
What do they want?
Revenge? Killing so many of his men should’ve been enough!
Why destroy Iwagakure too?!
He didn’t know.
Perhaps he’d never understand where today’s bitter retribution came from.
Kage—always hypocrites.
Inflicting suffering on others is fine, but when it happens to them, suddenly it’s a cosmic injustice.
No wonder Nagato went around making everyone eat rice.
Ōnoki was simply someone who hadn’t eaten enough rice.
...
Above a mountain peak outside Iwagakure, Hakken headed toward the designated meeting point.
Sensing something, he frowned and dropped straight down.
Blond hair. Blue eyes.
A small figure knelt on the mountain, staring intensely at the distant explosion of the Tailed Beast Ball, his lips moving in a whisper.
Curious, Hakken approached until he finally heard what the boy was muttering.
“Art…”
“This is true art…”
His body trembled, as if completely overwhelmed by the visual impact of the blast.
Hakken glanced down the mountainside—and realization struck.
This was Deidara.
The boy who, in the original story, constantly used explosive art and eventually left Iwagakure after damaging the village.
The terrain below matched the exact scene from the anime when Deidara was taken.
He was simply younger now—only seven or eight.
According to Hakken’s memory, Deidara left the village at nine and joined Akatsuki at twelve.
“What are you doing here?”
Stopping beside him, Hakken asked, genuinely curious. If going by the timeline, Deidara shouldn’t be here yet.
“Hey, you’re blocking my view of the art! Hmph.”
His line of sight interrupted, Deidara snapped in irritation.
“Art, huh? Then let me ask you—want to meet the artist who created that explosion?”
It was easy to hook an artist’s curiosity.
Especially when you knew exactly what he craved.
Patting the excited Deidara on the shoulder, Hakken showed a mysterious smile.
“Come with me. I’ll take you.”
“He’s a veteran artist.”