Chapter 7
"How many more times do I have to tell you? Feel it- no, no- you have to feel it, hm!" To answer his question, this would probably make the thirty-first time Deidara had uttered those words.
Apparently Sasuke had been keeping count. "None. I heard you perfectly the very first time." His words were stiff as if he were trying to will them to come out with a patient tone, failing miserably. That was becoming the norm.
Deidara threw Sasuke's arms into the air so hard, they could've popped out of socket, and Sasuke cast him a signature narrow eyed look which went ignored. "Then why in the hell are you acting deaf?"
"Look, idiot. Don't you think I'm trying?" Sasuke glowered at Deidara behind the curtain of blond bangs. He glanced back down at the small chunk of clay Deidara had instructed he'd need in order to mold his very first creation. Deidara had insisted they start off with the basics: Sculpting a simple leaf. As easy as it had sounded to Sasuke, he had never underestimated the difficulty of something that had initially sounded so simple in his life. There he stood near the center of the grassy clearing with the clay blob in hand, his own form looking over his shoulder. When he scrutinized it, Sasuke didn't think it looked that bad but not surprisingly, Deidara thought otherwise one hundred percent.
"Yes, I think you're trying pretty hard if your goal is to create a nice piece of crap," the artist retorted. Though the bomber wouldn't think of sculpting something as amateur as a leaf nowadays, he remembered it being one of the first things he sculpted years back before he had even found his signature fighting style, back when he just molded simple clay. Never in his life had he seen anyone struggle so hard to sculpt a leaf, for the love of Art. Hadn't this brat come from the Leaf village? Although he'd never tried to teach anyone his art before in the first place, Deidara was certain it wouldn't be nearly as hard a feat for anyone else. At this rate, things were truly hopeless.
Deidara watched his own retreating form as Sasuke walked with slow, heavy steps towards a large tree trunk, taking a seat quietly in its shade, squishing the small flexible dirt in his hands. He could practically feel the frustration rolling off of the brat, coming in cold waves. After a moment, with an exasperated sigh, Deidara followed, leaning up against the tree trunk.
Deidara had only begun his teaching about a half an hour ago, but already Sasuke was beginning to feel the frustration clawing mercilessly at him. They had no time to waste, and though he knew rushing wouldn't help anything if he couldn't grasp the information thoroughly, Sasuke still struggled to keep his temper in check. Who would've known that despite how good he was able to pick up many other jutsu and skill in his past, he would suck so badly at sculpting? It occurred to him that if it hadn't been for this ridiculous situation, he would have remained oblivious to this infuriating weakness of his.
Silence passed between the two foes as Sasuke tried to put his focus on the birds that soared through the sky, chirping happily, but his thoughts kept drifting. "Look. at the end of the day, I highly doubt that the actual appearance of your creations matter," he started, keeping the blue eyes trained to the sky. "So, Instead of wasting time focusing on how the sculptures look, you could start off by teaching me how to detonate the clay properly instead." The less time he'd have to invest into the bomber's stupid jutsu, the better.
"Wouldn't we all like that?" Deidara replied sarcastically, focusing on the tiny grass blades. "But since you've obviously forgotten, I'll remind you that t the old bag said that in order for this accursed spell to be broken, we have to master each others jutsu. Ring a bell, hm?"
"No, it doesn't. Maybe if I wasn't stuck with your pea-brain, I would've had some space to remember," Sasuke glared back, further annoyed. How stupid did Deidara think he was? Of course he had remembered that obvious fact.
Deidara gave Sasuke a look as if he were a complete fool, eye twitching. "So, my point is that mastering my jutsu includes getting the form of a sculpture right. And I swear, Uchiha, at this point I'm willing to bet money that Tobi can do better than what you're pulling off, hm," Deidara said crossing his arms.
Though he would never admit it out loud, Sasuke actually had no doubts about that statement. He looked down once more at the white stuff in his hands. Tobi was so full of surprises, secrets, there was no telling what else he was capable of, and he couldn't argue with the fact that in all it's bizarreness, the masked man would somehow manage to wipe the floor with him when it came to the useless art of sculpting. His mood darkened all the more as he realized that he really would have to practice more on the clay's form. What a waste of valuable time.
After a few seconds, silence was drifting between the two once again, Deidara leaning his weight against the tree, Sasuke continuing to sit against the trunk, the dirt speckled grass waved slightly in the cool wind. He watched his teammates from afar who were training lightly amongst themselves a good distance away across the grounds they occupied. It had taken almost ten minutes for the Hebi leader to make his teammates leave he and Deidara alone to concentrate on their training. Despite his teams stubbornness and outright refusal at first to leave him with the enemy, they finally relented after a compromise, settling with only being about a football field away. That didn't stop the occasional suspicious death glances directed at Deidara coming from Suigetsu and Karin in particular. Part of Sasuke was grateful for his team's cooperation; now they wouldn't get to witness his failure so up close in detail. Tobi on the other hand had gone off somewhere to be to himself for a while.
Blocking them out of his mind as well as every other mental distraction, Sasuke's focus drifted back to his task at hand. He'd remembered Deidara's consistent demands to feel the art, but he realized that perhaps he was continuing to fail because he wasn't certain what it was exactly he was searching for. What was it about these dull sculptures that he was supposed to try and feel anyway?
There was a sigh. "I almost forgot to mention this. When creating my art," Deidara suddenly spoke as if he could hear Sasuke's inner thoughts, "I keep in mind that it's not exactly what you're feeling for that you should be focusing on." Deidara paused for a moment, letting that sink in. "The main goal is to feel with something. And you're supposed to feel with passion, that's how you'll make progress. do it all the time, hm." Something clicked within Sasuke, and perhaps it was the strange and almost quieter tone he heard while listening to his own voice, but something told him that the bomber had never spoken those words out loud to anyone before. The Uchiha didn't know why that thought made an odd feeling of discomfort settled over him then.
He had to feel the art. With passion.
Sasuke couldn't remember the last time he had been truly passionate about anything.
However, after a few moments of thinking on it further, Sasuke remembered the passion he had held not even a day ago. The passionate hatred he carried for his brother. But now, things had occurred, secrets had been revealed, and that cold, hate filled passion for Itachi… he wasn't completely sure where exactly it stood, but he knew for certain that it was no longer strong, and that passion was growing all the more frail the more he pondered on Itachi, on what Madara had told him last night. Sasuke knew he would still needed time to think further on that subject when the time was right.
But he reminded himself that there was now a new passion that burned within him. And it was stronger than the bitterly cold one he had held onto so tightly just yesterday and for so, so long.
Now, the majority of his passion had moved to a different place, reached a different stage. The elders of the Leaf, the Leaf village itself. If Madara wasn't lying to him, this would remain Sasuke's new drive. By being in this body that was not his own, Sasuke had almost forgotten himself. This was the new reason he had to fight, this was what he now lived for. This is why he had to get his body back. He would surely be damned if he didn't.
'The main goal is to feel with something. And you're supposed to feel with passion, that's how you'll make progress. I do it all the time, hm.'
This passion. Now Sasuke knew he understood.
He looked down at the clay again with a new fire. The fingers began to work as if they had a mind of their own as his own mind reeled. Yes, it was true Madara was not telling him everything. But right now, maybe it was just enough.
The fingers he now controlled slowed to a halt and Sasuke took the moment to let the thing that he'd created below him sink in. He blinked once. Then twice. Had he created this? What lay in his grasp was not perfect, but for once, could be recognized as something that actually resembled a leaf. It was pure white and took on a narrow frame. Though the detail still needed a painful amount of work, the leaf's stubby stem wasn't terrible. He heard his own voice make a sound above him.
"Not bad. Of course, it's far from any masterpiece," Slight arrogance seeping into the voice. "But I'll admit, Uchiha. It looks a little less like a piece of crap now." Deidara sighed inwardly. The brat did have a ways to go.
Sasuke couldn't care less.
He was making progress. He was that much closer to his new goal. Stronger than he was ten seconds ago. Without much further thought, he focused on the feel of the foreign chakra pulsing through him. He grasped for the power, and when he grabbed a hold of it with his fingertips, he tried to feel it. With one last glance down, he tossed the clay leaf into the air, watching as it flew from his palm, going for the sky. It mounted higher and higher from his previous momentum. Sasuke's eyes never left it as it twirled in the air, pure and free. His insides clenched and all he wanted to see was the high leaf dissolve into flame. A spike of heat overtook him, and he clenched a fist, the tiny leaf was gone in the blink of an eye. In a flash, a miniature popping noise the sound of the explosion. Glittering specs of ash fluttered to the ground. Sasuke stared, and Deidara laughed.
"Well, once again, that was pathetic, yeah."
Nonetheless, Sasuke smirked coldly. "To my new destiny."
…
Even though he was no longer in his own body, in this very point in time, Deidara was absolutely certain he was about to explode. Seeing that he and Sasuke had unofficially decided to take a small break after Sasuke's small move in progress and a few more goes with the clay. Yes, they'd both decided a little rest would be best before jumping into Deidara's turn of practice with Sasuke's techniques. They had been still for a while, sitting and standing stiffly in each others' silent presences. That was until the Uchiha's nuisance-of-a-team had apparently noticed their little break, and had made themselves welcome under the wide shade of the tree the two had been training under. They had made a little circle around the sitting Sasuke and had began a rather obnoxious conversation that the artist was finding harder than he would ever admit to ignore.
"Sasuke, I still can't believe you fell into this crap!" Karin went on which would make this her tenth minute of non-stop jabber. "Just tell me where that old man is and I'll totally kick his ass for you," she said.
"No, Karin. I've told you. That won't be necessary. You'll just get in the way," Sasuke said disinterestedly. His thoughts seemed to be elsewhere.
"Pfft- yeah right. And what's an old man gonna do to a kunoichi?" The redhead put her hands on her hips. "There has to be another way for you to get out of this. Anything but what you're putting up with now. I mean, I know this is you and everything, it's just that I can barley stand to look at his hideous face whenever I talk to you. I'm already getting nauseas!" Karin sniffed.
"Alright, that's it!" Deidara growled, finally giving up trying to ignore her. "Keep talking, and I'll see just how bold you really are once I'm back in my 'hideous' body and I show you a face full of my art, hm!"
"Wha- you sure do have a lot of nerve!" Karin snapped back, turning away from the others to focus her attention on the offender completely. "If you and your stupid partner wouldn't have butted in and just gotten out of Sasuke's way, none of this nonsense would've ever happened!" she cried. Deidara clenched his fists, opening his mouth to retaliate.
"Guys, please," Jugo said as he turned to look at Deidara. "I know that you and Sasuke have your differences, all of you, Karin too. Just try to tolerate each other for the time being."
"Tch! Look buddy," Deidara sneered. Who was this guy, anyway? "This is the most we've tolerated each other yet, so get used to it!"
"Who do you think you're talking to that way, idiot?!" Karin jumped to Jugo's defense. "You're really asking for a death wish talking to Jugo like that-"
"Ha! You're kidding me, right?" Deidara said. This girl didn't know when to shut up, did she? He glanced at all of them, disgusted. "You're all just a bunch of pathetic kids; completely ignorant." He didn't get it. Sasuke was as annoyingly big-headed, cold and as arrogant as they come. Why his three teammates desired to continue to stick by his side like leeches and deal with a person as unbearable as the Uchiha was beyond him.
"Hey, now. Watch what you're saying," Suigetsu drawled as he hauled himself from his leaning stance against the tree, dragging his sword with him to look at Deidara. "Your partner isn't exactly here right now. And I'm not really afraid to get Sasuke's pretty little face a bit bloody. You're really startin' to get on my nerves," he said with a deceivingly friendly grin.
"Go ahead and try it. I'm not afraid of any of you punks," Deidara glared, feet still planted before Suigetsu.
"Punk, eh?" He tightened his grip on the blade.
"No, Suigetsu," Sasuke practically ordered. Suigetsu stood still, still tightly clutching his weapon, not letting his eyes leave Deidara's challenging stare. There was no way he was going to back down from an Uchiha's underling, no matter how weak he may've been. Finally, without a word, Suigetsu rolled his eyes, heaving a sigh as he went to sit down, grumbling something at Sasuke.
So, apparently they really did take orders from the kid as well? It was laughable. Without any further word, Deidara whirled on Sasuke's feet, and began storming off, trying to get some fresher fresh air, air that wasn't being contaminated by these idiots' stupid presences. Let them talk amongst themselves, continue to have their usual, stupid conversation and run their obnoxious mouths, spouting off as many whines, insults, and complaints as they wanted. The bomber had no problems with going off somewhere far away until they finished. He would only tolerate Sasuke for his own benefit, and only for as long as he absolutely had to. Yes, he would get some time alone like Tobi had gone to do. Sasuke could come and find him when he was ready to continue.
"And just where in the heck do you think you're going?!" Karin screeched after Deidara's quickly descending form heading towards the wood trail. Suigetsu halted his conversation with Jugo and Sasuke.
The redhead's voice sounded like a hideously enraged vulture's and Deidara had the urge to whirl around just to shove a stick, anything down her throat to get her to shut up for good.
"You're a sensory type, right?" he muttered, "You figure it out. Hm."
"Oh no you don't. Who knows what you could do to harm Sasuke's body while you're by yourself?" The girl was practically walking on the backs of his heels now, screaming his ear off. Deidara almost kicked at her to deter her agitating antics.
"Look, just shut the hell up already, or leave me alone and go flirt with your Uchiha boyfriend or something, un. Just make sure you keep your hands to yourself. I can live without any... infections your disgusting germs have to offer plaguing my body."
"W-what did you say?! Say that to my face, you jerk!" the redhead bellowed in a loud, scratchy voice, now getting into his face. "And I've already told you! H-he's not my boyfriend!"
"Karin, Deidara," the artist heard his own voice call from the trunk of the tree. Deidara never thought he'd find his own voice so annoying. "That's enough."
"Oh sure he's not your boyfriend. Keep telling yourself that, hm. Or is that what you've finally trained yourself to say because you're so used to hearing those same words from Sasuke?" Deidara mocked, letting the cruel smirk grow on his lips the redder the girl's face grew by the second. "No worries. Maybe if you stop being such an annoying pain, I'll think about letting you grace my presence later on so you can just gawk and drool at all of his Uchiha glory, yeah," Deidara said, gesturing towards himself.
"I swear I'm going to kill you once you're back in your own body! L-like I'd actually want to do that!" Karin spat, face redder than her hair at this point. Deidara's smirk grew. That was until the girl had begun stomping on Sasuke's foot multiple times, and he was sure he had just earned Sasuke three new broken toes.
"Shove off!" He hissed as he elbowed the flailing girl violently away to falter her attack, this only seemed to be fueling her on, succeeding in fueling Deidara's short fuse right back.
"I promise, you've only managed to dig your nose into my life for two hours, and already you're just as bad as that moron, Suigetsu-"
"Ouch, Kari-"
"Suigetsu!" She bellowed before whirling back on the artist. "You make me sick. You and your damn partner just had to intervene, didn't you? Just had to get into Sasuke's way, and now look what you've done! Tried to get away with it, got yourself into this huge mess, and to top it off you're annoying as hell!"
"Now, just hold up a second," Deidara seethed now seriously fed up by this persistent four-eyed girl. "Why are you screaming at me like it's all my fault or something, hm! In case you haven't noticed, Glasses, I'm not your little friend, I'm the enemy, so what did you expect me to do? Give Uchiha a present and let him on his merry way?!"
"Deidara, close your mouth." It was Sasuke again and again he went ignored.
"It's not our fault- not my fault your precious Sasuke was too weak to defeat me. He brought it all upon himself." He was sick of it. The Uchiha always got the glory. They were the ones who always got everything handed to them on a silver platter. Good looks, praise, power, admiration, and for what? He had been the victorious one during he and Sasuke's fight. He was the one who delivered the final blow, and Sasuke was the one who'd been knocked off his feet. Defeated. The Uchiha weren't all that, so why couldn't anyone else in the world see that?! Why was the rest of the world blind to that fact? No, they were not the best. Compared to their fearsome titles, the Uchiha were nothing, and Deidara knew he had proven that yesterday. Yet both damned Uchiha he had encountered, Itachi, Sasuke, they both continued to look down on him and his precious art as if they were better than he.
Despite the fact that this girl was his teammate, it still ticked him off greatly that she, along with the other two nuisances continued to stick by Sasuke's side. Though she was perfectly aware that he had lost, even in Sasuke's defeat, he still had utterly stupid people like this girl who were determined to stay by his side, defend him like a loyal servant or something. She continued glaring at him, unwavering, feet firm on the ground, face twisted with fury that Deidara knew he was feeling ten times greater. Yet she still stood there stubborn and fearless. He would show them who truly to fear.
His actions spoke before his thoughts could clearly direct, but if they had been just as quick, they would've agreed just as fully with his actions when he suddenly lashed out at the redheaded girl, nearly blind with rage. No one would ever understand his uncontrollable anger, frustration, his pain. No one ever did. People were so blind, always chasing after the most popular thing, the most popular person, even when that thing or person was not worthy of that attention. But he was deserving. Unlike prodigies that just had everything handed to them, the artist knew he had worked hard to get where he was in the ranks today. And one day he would take the glory and praise and loyalty he so rightfully deserved, even if he had to take it by force. He would get what he deserved.
He barley knew what Sasuke's body was doing at this point. It was almost as if it weren't even under his control anymore. He felt power. It was overwhelming coursing through his temporary host. It burned and though it almost felt good, it only made him angrier. It was so much, he hadn't even noticed when both hands lit up with large mounds of sparking chakra, thick bolts of lightning. He could barely process the redheaded girl who was looking at him with barley noticeable fright as his arm lashed out again, a lightning bolt striking her right in the forearms as she had blocked what was originally heading straight for her chest. Nonetheless, she went flying a few feet back, skidding on the ground before landing, hipbone taking the brunt of the blow.
Deidara growled, hands burning with the dwindling sparks emitting from Sasuke's palms. He expected that slightly familiar feeling of alarm to course through him for what he had done to Sasuke's teammate, but all he felt was a very familiar rush of excitement and sick pleasure as he took in her agonized and resenting expression.
He drank in the burnt, smoking flesh of her forearms blocking out everything else, the shouts, the sudden movements. He wanted to see her surprise, he wanted to see the fear in her eyes, the previous confidence void of her stupid face. He wanted to make her suffer for her obnoxiousness, for underestimating him. He wanted to make her pay, make them all pay in his own body, with his art. Though not as satisfying, this still felt good. It was not nearly as great as the rush he got using his own, but it was still power. Fresh, sweet power that was steadily mounting and he welcomed it. Because finally it was he that was provoking fear and awe again. It wasn't an Uchiha. Though this energy was that of an Uchiha's, it wasn't an Uchiha. It was him.
No, Deidara didn't know exactly what was going on, or what he was doing to make this chakra surge through him so intensely, but it continued. Even as he felt cold hands grab his arms from behind, attempting to restrain the sudden surge. Still caught up in the power frenzy he whirled around, feeling a tightness in his chest area, he opened Sasuke's mouth and to his surprise a huge ball of flame emerged. He hadn't realized Sasuke possessed fire style. In fact, he had been positive that signs were supposed to be woven before he could even pull something like this off normally... had he even woven signs? He... couldn't remember. But yet here it was. All he could hear was the crackling roar and a drowned out curse as the figure that had grabbed him dissolved into water. His head was hot and he coughed up bits of ash, breathing harsher. Suddenly, he felt the heart in his chest begin to slow ever so slightly, and he breathed deeper forcing the body to cool.
It wasn't until his thoughts slowly began to collect normally again that he realized that the world around him didn't look the same. The grass around him was no longer green. He looked to the sky, and the birds that flew didn't appear the same way. Everything, even the people before him he caught sight of when he turned, Karin, Suigetsu, looked dark and grey, and he could not clearly see their faces. The only thing that was perfectly clear to him was the chakra he was now staring at present in each of their bodies. As the bomber looked over at Sasuke, he examined the chakra coming from his own form in which he yearned so badly to be reunited with. The chakra was not visible to him like it may appear to a Hyuga who can see chakra flow in finer detail, but to him, it looked like a simple mass of color. The blue mass spread in every part of his body as he continued staring at Sasuke. It was steady and vibrant.
"I never taught you my fire ball jutsu," Sasuke said slowly, almost cautiously. Deidara watched the chakra in Sasuke shift as he moved to stand. He was right, he hadn't. Sasuke hadn't taught him anything "And by injuring my teammate, you've already managed to activate my Sharingan. What the hell is going on?" All eyes were heavily trained on Deidara.
"I don't know... the hand signs for the jutsu..." The fire ball jutsu; at first the artist couldn't even remember weaving the signs, but now he remembered that the signs just popped into his head as if he were performing one of his own jutsu. They were just there almost as if he had access to Sasuke's mind, his memory...
The Sharingan. Deidara had no words as he forced the now red and bright orbs to glance down to inspect a glowing blue hand that he'd lifted. He knew he should have felt something. Disgust and contempt. He tried to feel those things. But at the moment all he could feel was power. It was still a bit of work, but this power... It had come so effortlessly.
Suddenly it dawned on him: This hate, bitter anger and the overwhelming desire for revenge he had just experienced only seconds ago. Those feelings had been the cause of such power that had taken over him just now. A larger feeling of realization washed over Deidara, and it was suddenly so obvious to him. He had known what his own passion was for the majority of his life and he knew what served as the number one thing that made him stronger growing up and even now: the love for his art, and the need to protect it. Maybe the passion Sasuke felt, the key behind his raw talent and power... Maybe it was this. Anger. Anger and the need to do something to relieve it. Perhaps that was what made the Uchiha as powerful as he was. It had to be.
"GAAAH HA HAAH! I... need... TO KILL!" Jugo boomed savagely, tearing everyone from their thoughts.
"Aww, man. Look what you two have done with all your commotion. Got Jugo goin' again," Suigetsu groaned.
Deidara peered at the man, Sharingan still activated, and took full notice of the larger guy who had been next to Sasuke. He was now raging, and Deidara could see that his chakra was growing larger than the other three figures'. It was spreading rapidly until all the bomber could see was a blue mass that had taken on the complete shape of his form.
"Everyone, get back," Sasuke demanded. Despite this, he still sounded urgent as he swept a protesting Karin up due to her slight injuries, leaping a distance away from his teammate that had tried to strike out at him. The curse mark spread rapidly over Jugo's body, his arm taking on the familiar form that looked almost like a rough tree trunk. The man laughed crazily again, turning away to swing at Suigetsu who looked a little too eager to fight his teammate, swinging his huge blade in return. He ignored Sasuke's normal protest to stop.
"Don't worry Sasuke, I won't hurt him too badly. Besides, someone's gotta put Jugo in his place when you're not able to," Suigetsu grinned, bloodthirsty as he swung again at Jugo and they clashed. Deidara watched as Sasuke stood equally as still, rigid, seemingly not knowing what to do as Karin slipped out of his grip to stand beside him. Apparently the young Uchiha would normally do something in this situation, but now was forced to stand back until the worst happened. What else could they do?
As if on cue, a certain masked figure showed up within a blink of an eye, landing in the center of the field facing the battling Suigetsu and Jugo. It seemed he had appeared out of swirly, thin air, something Deidara had never seen him do before. Before anything else could happen, Jugo was suddenly being sucked away right before everyone's eyes... And into the eye hole of Tobi. It was done within five seconds and then all was silent. Suigetsu stood there, sword raised and dumbfounded.
"Tobi," Sasuke said.
"Jeeez, looks like I can't be gone for a second before you guys wreck havoc, can I?" Tobi said with a laugh, scratching the back of his head awkwardly as if he hadn't just sucked in the crazed Jugo. All eyes stayed on him, everyone speechless. "Sooo, what'd I miss?"
