Chapter 278: Art Is an Explosion!
Sasori's gaze turned noticeably colder.
"I still cannot understand your idea of art."
His eyes rested on Deidara.
"True art is perfection that survives the passage of time."
"Something that never fades, never decays, and can be preserved forever."
His voice carried absolute conviction.
"Only eternal beauty deserves to be called art."
Deidara merely smiled.
"I respect you, Sasori danna, but you'll never understand."
He raised his remaining hand.
"Art isn't something that sits unchanged forever."
"True beauty exists in a single brilliant instant."
His grin widened.
"To me..."
"Art is an explosion!"
The two Akatsuki members argued as though no one else existed.
Naruto barely heard them.
His eyes were fixed on Gaara.
Motionless.
Cold.
Dead.
For one terrible moment, everything else in the cavern disappeared from Naruto's awareness.
Three years ago, he had reached out to Gaara.
He had promised him friendship.
He had watched Gaara change.
Watched him become Kazekage.
Watched someone who had once believed his existence meant nothing find people willing to acknowledge him.
And now Gaara lay dead beneath the feet of the very people who had ripped Shukaku from his body.
Naruto's fists clenched.
Rage surged through him.
Inside Ryūjin Jakka, the system immediately responded.
[Ding! Intense negative emotions detected from Uzumaki Naruto.]
[Gained 50000 emotion points.]
Asuramaru barely reacted to the notification.
Instead, his crimson gaze shifted toward Kurama.
The Nine Tails had noticed Naruto's emotional instability as well.
Red chakra was already beginning to seep from him.
Kurama was carefully releasing his power through the seal, allowing his chakra to influence Naruto's emotions while searching for an opportunity to loosen his restraints.
Then Kurama felt Asuramaru looking at him.
His entire body stiffened.
The flow of chakra slowed immediately.
Kurama stared back cautiously.
Asuramaru merely watched him for a moment.
Then turned away.
Kurama blinked.
What?
That demon had seen him.
And done nothing.
Suspicion immediately replaced relief.
What is he planning?
Kurama remained wary, but Asuramaru still did not intervene.
Gradually, the Nine Tails grew bolder.
His chakra began flowing again.
Still, his eyes repeatedly shifted toward Asuramaru.
He fully expected the sword spirit to turn around and beat him senseless at any moment.
Outside, the change in Naruto became visible.
His blue eyes darkened into a deep crimson.
His pupils narrowed into vertical slits.
A faint pressure filled the cavern.
Naruto stared at Gaara.
Then spoke inwardly.
"Asuramaru..."
He did not even need to finish.
Asuramaru already knew what he wanted to ask.
"I cannot save someone who is already dead."
Naruto froze.
The answer crushed the final restraint holding back his rage.
Killing intent burst from him.
Kakashi noticed immediately.
His expression changed.
Nine Tails chakra.
And Naruto's emotions were slipping.
"Naruto!"
Naruto looked toward him.
Kakashi's voice became firm.
"I know you're angry."
"I know what Gaara meant to you."
"But control yourself."
"If you lose yourself now, you won't help him."
Those words finally reached Naruto.
He closed his eyes briefly.
The killing intent did not disappear, but he forced it back under control.
When he opened his eyes again, they were still crimson.
The slit pupils remained.
But his mind was clear.
"I understand, Kakashi sensei."
Kakashi released a quiet breath.
At least Naruto was still himself.
Across the cavern, Deidara and Sasori had finally stopped arguing about art.
Deidara examined Naruto with obvious amusement.
"So he really cared about this dead Jinchūriki, hm?"
Sasori glanced at Naruto.
"Apparently."
But his attention soon moved elsewhere.
Toward Lady Chiyo.
For Sasori, the reunion before him had suddenly become far more interesting than the Nine Tails Jinchūriki.
Deidara looked down at Gaara.
Then back toward Naruto.
"Want the body?"
Naruto's crimson eyes sharpened.
Deidara raised his remaining right hand.
The mouth embedded in his palm opened.
It began chewing Explosive Clay.
A moment later, Deidara spat out a small clay eagle.
He tossed it onto the ground.
Poof!
The tiny figure expanded dozens of times.
A massive white clay bird appeared.
Its beak opened.
Before Naruto could move, it swallowed Gaara's corpse.
Deidara leapt onto its back.
He grinned down at Naruto.
"If you want him..."
"Come and get him."
The giant clay eagle beat its wings.
A violent gust swept through the cavern.
Then it shot toward the cave entrance.
Naruto moved immediately.
Several three pronged kunai flashed between his fingers.
He threw them upward.
Whoosh!
The weapons spread ahead of Deidara's flight path.
Flash!
Golden light erupted.
Naruto vanished.
Deidara's expression changed.
Flying Thunder God.
He had heard the reports.
Seeing it himself was something else entirely.
"So this is the Fourth Hokage's technique..."
Naruto appeared beside one of the kunai.
He was already closing in.
Too fast.
Sasori reacted from behind.
The mouth of Hiruko opened.
A storm of senbon erupted.
The needles tore through the air toward Naruto.
Naruto's eyes flickered.
Flash!
He disappeared before they could strike.
The barrage passed through empty space.
But the interruption had been enough.
Deidara's eagle escaped through the cavern entrance.
"Thanks, Sasori danna!"
Sasori did not bother looking at him.
"You know I hate waiting."
His voice was flat.
"Finish off the Jinchūriki quickly."
Deidara laughed.
"Don't worry."
"I won't keep you waiting long."
The eagle accelerated.
Naruto turned toward Kakashi and Sakura.
"I'll leave this place to you."
Sakura looked at him.
"Naruto..."
"I'm going after Deidara."
Naruto threw another marked kunai toward the exit.
Flash!
He vanished.
Sakura stared at the empty space.
Concern immediately appeared on her face.
"Will he really be alright alone?"
Lady Chiyo answered before Kakashi could.
"That boy knows the Flying Thunder God Technique."
Sakura looked toward her.
Chiyo's expression was serious.
"If he chooses to escape, very few people in the entire Shinobi World could stop him."
Her memories returned to the Third Great Ninja War.
The previous master of that technique had been Minato Namikaze.
The Yellow Flash.
A man whose name alone had terrified entire enemy units.
Konoha had once changed the course of the war because of him.
And now another blond Shinobi carried the same technique.
Lady Chiyo looked toward the cave entrance.
"You should worry about the enemy standing in front of us."
"Not Naruto."
Kakashi nodded.
"She's right."
Sakura turned toward him.
Kakashi's visible eye narrowed slightly.
"The Naruto of today..."
A faint smile appeared beneath his mask.
"May already be stronger than me."
Sakura's tension eased.
She looked toward Sasori.
Then clenched her fists.
"Alright."
Her focus shifted completely to the battle ahead.
Far outside the cave, Deidara's clay eagle soared above the forest.
Wind tore through his blond hair.
He looked back.
Golden flashes repeatedly appeared below and behind him.
Naruto was gaining ground.
Deidara clicked his tongue.
"Persistent."
He raised his remaining hand.
The mouth in his palm chewed another piece of clay.
Several small spiders formed.
Deidara dropped them.
The clay spiders fell through the air.
Then they crawled and leapt toward Naruto's path.
Deidara raised one finger.
"Katsu!"
Boom!
The spiders exploded.
Fire and smoke erupted between the trees.
But a golden flash escaped the blast.
Naruto appeared ahead of the explosion, completely unharmed.
Deidara frowned.
"As expected."
"Landing a direct hit on someone with Flying Thunder God is going to be a pain."
He checked the clay he had left.
Not much.
His supply was already running low after the battle in Sunagakure and the events that followed.
"This guy really is troublesome."
His eyes shifted briefly in the direction of the cave.
"I wonder how Sasori danna is doing."
For now, Deidara's only real advantage was altitude.
He kept the clay eagle high enough that Naruto could not simply reach him with ordinary movement.
Whenever marked kunai came close, he used Explosive Clay to disrupt their trajectories or force Naruto to retreat.
But the strategy could not last forever.
Naruto continued scattering Flying Thunder God marks through the battlefield.
Every passing second gave him more positions to attack from.
Every kunai became another threat Deidara had to watch.
After another brief exchange, Deidara stopped throwing explosives entirely.
Naruto noticed.
No more clay spiders.
No birds.
No explosive attacks.
Nothing.
Had he finally run out?
Naruto tested the possibility.
Three marked kunai flew upward.
Deidara did not react.
Another two followed.
Still nothing.
Naruto's crimson eyes narrowed.
Then he moved.
Flash!
Golden light appeared beside the first kunai.
Flash!
The second.
He rapidly closed the distance.
Deidara watched him approach.
Then smiled.
So faintly that Naruto did not notice it in time.
"I don't have much clay left..."
His right hand formed a one handed seal.
"But I still have enough for one C3."
Deidara's grin widened.
"I've been waiting for this."
Something enormous dropped from beneath the clay eagle.
Naruto appeared beside another Flying Thunder God mark.
His eyes widened.
A massive clay bomb was already falling beside him.
Deidara raised his hand.
"Katsu!"
The world turned white.
Boom!
The C3 exploded.
A violent sphere of fire expanded through the sky.
The blast consumed everything around it.
Flames swallowed the air.
The shockwave tore through the forest below.
Trees bent and snapped.
Thick smoke surged outward and completely obscured the battlefield.
Even Deidara's giant clay eagle was caught by the edge of the explosion.
Its body twisted violently.
One wing folded.
The eagle began falling.
Deidara held on with his remaining arm while staring into the smoke.
"Did I get him?"
No answer.
No golden flash appeared.
No figure emerged.
The clay eagle continued plunging.
Deidara finally lost his footing.
He dropped into the forest.
Branches snapped beneath him.
He hit the ground and rolled several times before stopping.
Deidara immediately pushed himself up.
There was no time to celebrate.
His Explosive Clay was essentially gone.
If Naruto had survived C3, continuing a direct battle would be extremely dangerous.
His task was only to delay pursuit long enough for Sasori to finish his own fight.
Nothing more.
Deidara formed another one handed seal.
The damaged clay eagle stirred.
Its body expanded again.
Its wings opened.
Then it launched back into the sky.
Deidara leapt aboard.
Without wasting another second, the giant eagle flew away from the smoking battlefield.
....