The moment Deidara swaggered into the diner, every ninja in the place turned to him, grins spreading like wildfire.
"Yo, Deidara!" one called out. "Heard you and Sasori got into it again!"
He didn't bite, just sauntered up to the counter.
"Gimme a kanto dango and a fried egg," he said, slapping a few bills down.
The crowd wasn't done. "Bet Sasori whooped your ass last night!" another shouted, sparking laughter.
Deidara's eyes bulged, veins popping on his forehead.
"What's that? You're just makin' stuff up, tarnishin' my good name!"
"Good name? I saw you dangling from his puppet strings, getting your butt spanked!"
His face flushed crimson, and he slammed a fist on the counter.
"That was… sparring! Art! You think a friendly duel between best buds is a beatdown? Hmph!"
His voice rose, spewing jargon.
"You philistines wouldn't know art if it blew up in your face! It's the thrill of comradeship, you ignorant—!"
The diner erupted in laughter, the air buzzing with merriment, inside and out.
...
Sasori didn't need to eat, so Deidara was out grabbing food for himself. Life in the Land of Earth was… awkward. Onoki had taken him back into Iwagakure, but the old man's favor had cooled considerably.
His attitude trickled down. Deidara, a former deserter, wasn't exactly welcomed with open arms. No surprise there.
He might be a bit of a loose cannon, but Deidara wasn't dumb. Back when Akatsuki strong-armed him into joining, he adapted. Now, in Iwagakure, he was playing the good little soldier.
Onoki had carved out a patch of land for him—a playground where he could detonate his bombs to his heart's content. But there were rules: no crossing the boundaries, no late-night explosions disturbing the peace. Sasori, tagged as Deidara's sidekick, was under the same leash.
Both of them chafed under the restrictions. They weren't fans of rules and red tape. Akatsuki's loose, chaotic structure had suited them far better.
Word of a war breaking out beyond the borders got their blood pumping. Deidara dreamed of lobbing bombs across battlefields; Sasori itched to collect corpses for his puppets.
Onoki had no clue his prized pupil was plotting an escape. Not that he'd care if he found out. Back in the day, the old man was on his last legs, desperate for a successor, so he'd coddled Deidara.
But now? Onoki was practically immortal, brimming with vigor. A successor? Who needs one?
...
Meanwhile, in Onoki's office, the discussion was heating up. Tsunade brought up Uchiha Sasuke and Hyuga Neji, laying out their intel like a battle plan.
"Sasuke's body can turn to mist—some eerie, shapeshifting fog with insane corrosive power. It eats through almost anything. Sealing jutsu probably won't work. It shrugs off most physical and ninjutsu attacks, too. This isn't any known kekkei genkai, and there's no chakra signature."
"On top of that, he's got a pair of Mangekyo Sharingan. From what we've seen, those eyes can bind and manipulate souls."
"And one more thing," Tsunade continued, her voice grim. "Sasuke and Neji stole the Hyuga main branch's Byakugan and a stash of Sharingan from Konoha's reserves. He can use the forbidden jutsu Izanagi…"
She trailed off, avoiding the ugly truth about where those Sharingan came from—a scandal best left buried. But she spilled the Sharingan's secrets without hesitation.
Izanagi was top-secret, but as Hokage, Tsunade had access to the remnants of Root's files. She reasoned Sasuke's stockpile of Sharingan let him cheat death repeatedly, ignoring fatal wounds.
Sasuke's crimes were unforgivable. Konoha would never welcome the Uchiha back. Tsunade felt no guilt exposing every detail of the Sharingan.
"This means Sasuke has more than one life!"
Immune to physical attacks, sealing's useless, and he's got extra lives? No wonder Konoha got crushed, the Raikage thought, sizing up his odds against Sasuke. His face darkened with each passing second.
Tsunade wasn't done.
"Neji's quieter, so we've got less on him. He can transform into some other form and manipulate extreme emotions."
"Neji's less dangerous than Sasuke and can be reasoned with to an extent. But my advice? Don't engage him lightly. The ninja world hasn't developed jutsu to counter emotional manipulation."
Onoki mulled it over, his voice low.
"If Tsunade's right, and Sasuke, Neji, and this legion leaders are in cahoots, these unknowns have been plotting to invade the ninja world for a while. Things might be worse than we think. Who knows how many powerhouses are still hiding?"
"I suspect what we're seeing is just the tip of the iceberg. Their full strength hasn't been revealed."
His words hit like a bomb, ripples of shock spreading. The Mizukage and Raikage sucked in sharp breaths. Their nations' disasters had crippled their intel networks, and they hadn't realized the situation had rotted this badly.
Since the Sage of the Six Paths founded ninjutsu, the world had shifted into the chakra era. Chakra training was accessible, spreading far and wide. Other powers—samurai, shrine maidens—had faded into obscurity. Only the Land of Iron still trained samurai, and the Land of Demons clung to a single shrine maiden lineage.
Now, a new, unknown power was rising, and a reshuffling of the world's order was inevitable.
Tsunade's mind drifted to that haunting scene: a sky choked with mist, a tidal wave of sinister, feral energy, like the gates of the apocalypse had swung open.
The events of that day lingered in her heart, a nightmare she couldn't shake. Deadly fog everywhere, blood-red eyes, a mocking sneer, a black-haired boy gazing down like an evil god over the land.
The room grew heavier, the air thick with dread.
...
"What about Akatsuki?" the Raikage asked, breaking the silence.
Onoki shook his head. He'd tried to ally with Akatsuki, but talks fell through. They refused to join forces, still obsessed with capturing the tailed beasts.
"Recently, we caught Akatsuki members near the Land of Earth, snapping photos and stealing intel. I leaked info about the legion leaders and those monstrous freaks to them on purpose. They should know how serious this is by now. They'll make a move, but what exactly? No idea."
"Akatsuki's a blight on the ninja world. I wouldn't trust them as partners," the Raikage said, a cold smirk crossing his face. Lightning crackled faintly on his brow as he recalled the humiliation of Kumogakure's Two-Tails being stolen.
"Good thing they said no. Let's use Akatsuki as cannon fodder to probe the legion leaders. We'll hang back and strike when the time's right!"
----------------
Pls Drop some Power Stones
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