Not all wars started with a bang, Deidara came to realize when Akatsuki was on the verge of entering the cold season. Some wars crept up on you like the shadow of a cloud, but the consequences were just as ravaging.
And there was nothing beautiful about it—no, there was nothing beautiful about hell.
Damnation was not a burst of flames hot enough to melt your skin like wax. It came with fire at first, but it was followed by ice and murk, and controlled not by demons but by man.
On September 7th, the Second Tsuki-Ame War began, and Amegakure was invaded by enemy forces from Tsukigakure.
Akatsuki was overrun by Tsukigakure military forces. When met with resistance, the invaders slaughtered indiscriminately, and burned entire sections of the city to the ground. Those who tried to flee the city were immediately caught and killed on sight with bullets to the brain. If they were taijutsu users, they were hauled back and executed via firing squad.
The chakra-enhanced bullets were saved for the strongest.
Deidara had been sleeping when the city was overrun, and she'd awoken to the smell of burning smoke and death.
Her and Gai's apartment had been among the first buildings to be burned down. Gai had stayed over at Kakashi's that night, and it'd been up to Deidara to save the civilians.
She couldn't.
In fact, she barely saved her own skin.
It was hell on earth. Nobody knew where their friends and family had gone, and those who had been lucky enough to stick together through the burning and the shooting did their best to stay together.
Deidara was one of those nobodies.
And in the span of a month, Akatsuki's population had been reduced from 300,000 to just over 70,000, with only a few dozen factories in the whole city remained in operation.
The city burned and crumbled, much like Deidara's clay when it was left under the sun for too long.
A/N: I realize that this is short, and that is because it's an interlude. Also, Tsukigakure is a bit different than in the anime. For one, Kaguya leads it (I thought it'd be fitting, haha).
And, holy cow, over 100 views? I didn't realize that this got any attention at all.
Part II starts the next chapter.