A/N: So, here you have it, after all this time waiting. For starters, I would like to thank anyone who reads this fic, and if you do read this, please leave a review, so I can see what you think, and become a better writer. Without further ado, I give you the first, but certainly not last proper chapter of this fic.

This type of writing is used for thoughts!

Just to clear up the timeline here, I put Deidara in as being a couple of years younger then Kakashi, and when Kakashi was 13, (Or whatever he is in Kakashi Gaiden) there was a war going on between the Leaf village, and the Rock. I put this setting to the time just after the war is finished, three years before the Kyuubi attacks Konoha. That would make Deidara twenty-four in part one, and twenty-six in part two, which sounds about right to me!

-( Yes, just yesterday I bought the copyright for Naruto, just so I would not put in this stupid disclaimer. What's that? The canceled the deal? Oh crap... Ok ok, fine. This stuff is mostly the idea of a cool dude name Masashi Kishimoto. I DO however own most of the characters displayed in this fic! )-

Chapter one

The world was completely black. There was no direction, or flow one way or the other, and the only thing that seemed to exist, were himself, and his thoughts, all alone in the darkness. Confused, he tried to lift one of his arms. He didn't have arms. Confused, he tried to feel something, but his thoughts felt like they were made of lead, and were being pushed down a small pipe. He tried desperately to communicate something, anything.

A small moan escaped his dried and cracked lips. The sound itself made him feel more alert, although he still had no idea what was going on. Where am I? He tried to ask, but he couldn't. He just lay there, making some weird moaning noises, and feeling utterly helpless. Suddenly, he remembered something, although it seemed to take forever. In his slow, confused mind, he drew out his notebook, and made a mental note: Chakra infused clay: Obviously holds great potential, Further experimenting required.

He then gave in to the darkness that instantly took hold of his mind.

When Deidara finally awoke, he felt much more awake then last time. He even had a vague memory of what had happened. After a few minutes, he realized that he must be in the hospital, although he had absolutely no memory of being found. A chill ran down his spine. The last thing he remembered… The clay. The explosion. Blood…

Suddenly horrified, he tried to wrench his eyes open, but only succeeded in slightly opening one. The other one refused to open for some reason. A various assortment of lights and shadow met his eye. By the side of the bed he was in, he could make out a dark figure, who was sitting immobile in a chair. Must be my mom, he thought. Because my dad would sure as hell never come. Slowly lifting his arms slightly, he managed, with great effort, to push himself into a sitting position. His other eye still refused to open, but his mind was getting clearer by the second now. "Mom?" he whispered, as loud as he could.

His mother, who always had been a light sleeper, jerked from her sleep with a small start at the noise, but smiled when she saw that he was awake. "Your awake, thank goodness," she said, drawing him carefully into a hug. Deidara let his eye close, and lost himself in the warmth of her embrace. For the first time in a while, he felt truly safe.

"What happened to me?" he asked weakly, after she had drawn away. His mother bit her lip a bit, looking concerned at him. "Well," she started. "After you didn't come to dinner, I called together a search party. They looked around the village, and eventually, they found you near a small hill. The first message I got, was that my soon had been attacked." She laughed bitterly, and nervously, glancing at Deidara, whose eye was wide. He bit his lip, and lowered his head.

"I wasn't attacked, mom," he said quietly. A look of surprise spread across his mother's face. "You weren't?" she asked. He nodded sadly. "Well what happened then?" she asked. Deidara thought for a minute how to put it. But before he could say a word, the door was opened, and a ninja stepped in.

Deidara's breath caught in his throat. He recognized the black and yellow uniform the ninja was wearing, from a description he had heard once, by accident.

It was one of the YTR. A special squad of elite ninja dedicated to protecting the Kage, among other things. Officially, the YTR did not exist, and that was usually the case. But now, the Rock village was at war, and the YTR unit had been revived. Rumors about their deeds were usually flying around, although 99 of them were likely false. The remaining 1 however, could only be legitimate. Deidara just sat their, staring.

"The Kage has requested your presence. I am instructed to take you to him the moment you wake up," he said, in an unnaturally deep voice. Deidara was stunned, his eye wide. "Wha… Now?" he managed to stutter.

"Yes!"

He glanced over at his mother, who was looking fearful, but she ushered him to go. The man was waiting impatiently by the door. Slowly, but steadily, Deidara managed to force himself off the bed. His feet landed on the ground, and he swayed for a second or two, before finally getting his balance. The man motioned for him to follow. Deidara did, walking slowly. As he left the room, he glanced back at his mother, not wanting to leave her. Then the door closed, and he was all alone again. He followed the man quietly, still in shock. He barely noticed where they were going, and did not even care when the man lead him straight through what appeared to be a wall. He glanced down at his hand, and realized that he was shaking, head to foot.

As they were walking down the hallway, Deidara glanced up to his right. His eye fell on a mirror, fastened onto the wall. What he saw made him stop dead in his tracks. His mouth opened slightly in horror, as he began to tremble violently.

He had not been able to open his left eye, but now it was painfully obvious why. His eyelids on that eye were stretched out, over an eye socket that was obviously empty, and they had been sewn shut. Blue thread looped up and down through the skin, and a faint outline of blood drops streaming from the socket were visible.

It was all he could do to keep himself from screaming out loud. His remaining eye stung a bit, as tears began in it.

The man noticed Deidara had stopped moving, and jerked his head around, while waving impatiently for him to get a move on. He stopped after looking at the horrified look on his face, and the stream of tears that had sprung from his remaining eye. The guard chuckled softly.

"Just noticed, did you?" he said, sounding darkly amused. Deidara just kept on staring, biting his lip. The guard smiled grimly, and then he walked over to Deidara.

"Hey, don't worry about it, kid," he said, suddenly sounding kind. He kneeled down to where Deidara was, and, to his surprise, brushed away a bit of his long black hair, to reveal a black patch, covering the whole left eye of the guard.

"It's really not that bad," he said, pointing up at the patch, before smiling a bit. Deidara was surprised by this sudden show of kindness. The YTR laughed slightly at the look on Deidara's face.

"Come on, kid. Let's get going," he said quietly, getting up impatiently, and motioning along the corridor. He began to walk. Deidara tore his eye away from the mirror, and turned his head. He nodded shortly, and started off after the man down the corridor. As he walked, he brushed his long hair out of his face, trying to clear his head. "Just calm down," he whispered to himself.

About then, he heard the guard say his name, and he snapped his head around, realizing that he had walked right past where the guard had stopped. He turned around, feeling slightly lost for some reason.

"Why would the Kage want to speak to me?" he asked the guard carefully. "I don't know," the guard said, before literally pushing Deidara into the room, taking him by surprise. Suddenly, he was in the office of the Tsuchikage. Deidara took a quick glance at the room.

It was a fairly small room, much smaller then Deidara had imagined it. The only things in the room were a bookshelf the right, and portraits of the past five Tsuchikage's on the left. Square centre in the room, there was a massive desk, made out of what was seemingly polished marble. "Minimalist décor," Deidara thought to himself quickly. Behind the desk, the Yondaime Tsuchikage was sitting. Deidara looked at him nervously. Everything he knew about the man in front of him flashed quickly through his brain.

When the Great War broke out, he had just retired himself from the Kage position. But just weeks after he retired, his successor was killed in battle, by the infamous "Yellow flash of Konoha" Without much time to pick a proper successor, the best of the Jounins was chosen. But he shared exactly the same fate as the Godaime Tsuchikage.Desperate for a leader; Yondaime was forced to come out of retirement, to head his country in the Great War. Incidentally, he was the only one to have ever survived a direct fight with the "Yellow flash."

All of these facts flashed through Deidara's head in a matter of seconds. For a second, there was silence between the two of them. Then, the Kage motioned noiselessly for Deidara to sit down in the chair in front of him. Deidara did this, as fast as he could.

The Tsuchikage leaned foreword a bit, and rested his elbows on his desk. His long, flowing silver hair seemed to catch the light in a way a mirror could not, spreading the light along the length of his hair. It seemed to be dancing in a weak breeze, even though the only window in the room was shut tight. He can't be more then forty, Deidara thought.

For a second he just stared at Deidara, who was fidgeting nervously.

"Now, I'm sure that you are wondering why you are here," he began slowly. Deidara nodded quickly. The Kage smiled weakly, seemingly taking his time in everything he did. He fixed Deidara with a intent stare.

"How did you lose your eye, Deidara?" he said finally. Deidara was not surprised by the question; he had expected it. He was surprised that the man knew his name, however. He already had his whole explanation ready in his head, so launched right into his explanation. When he was finished talking, he reluctantly gave the Kage his prized notebook, with all of his research data. The Tsuchikage examined it with great interest.

Then, without saying a word, he got up, and went over to his bookshelf. He rummaged in one of the drawers for a while, before pulling out a lump of clay. Deidara's breath caught in his throat, and his eyes widened. That clay was unmistakable from the very vein he himself had discovered. The Kage brought the clay back to his desk, before sitting down again.

"I was watching you, you know," he said quietly. Deidara looked at him, slightly shocked. "W-what do you mean?" he managed to say.

"All that time while you were researching. All that time you sat alone, researching new techniques and ways to manipulate chakra, while the other kid's were fighting around. You know, those other kid's have a lot of talent. They'll all be good shinobi. You, on the other hand, have no talent at all." The Tsuchikage laughed shortly, while Deidara's eye widened a bit. No.. Talent at all…? He looked down at the table, biting his lip slightly.

"Deidara?" he said. Deidara looked up, a slightly desperate look on his face. Where the hell is this going?

The Tsuchikage pushed the piece of clay across the desk to Deidara. He recoiled, as if he was afraid that it was about to explode. The Kage laughed slightly.

"I assure you, it's perfectly safe," he laughed. "What I want you to do is exactly what you did to the clay that blew your eye out. He must have been watching that to, Deidara realized.

Without saying a word, he nervously picked up the clay, and grasped it firmly in between his hands. Concentrating as hard as he could, he focused whatever he had of power into the lump of clay. For two full minutes, he just sat there, in complete silence, forcing his power out of him. After two minutes, he could not take it any more. He fell foreword onto the desk, dizzy, and exhausted. With his hand, he desperately pushed the lump of clay away from him, afraid it would explode. The Tsuchikage picked it up, and held it up to his bright green eyes.

As he examined it, it was as if his green eyes lit up. Deidara watched him, fascinated. The Kage was thorough with his work, examining the lump from every angle, holding it up to the light every so often. A few times, he poked it, or tried to pick off a piece. After about a minute, he put the lump of clay back down on the middle of the table, and sat down again, facing Deidara, but not looking at him, averting his gaze elsewhere, seemingly lost in thought. Deidara waited nervously, constantly throwing glances to the chakra-infused clay on the middle of the desk, increasingly wary of it.

After a long and complete silence, the Tsuchikage finally fixed his gaze back at Deidara. With his eyes, he seemed almost to be sizing the little boy up, considering something.

"Deidara," he began calmly. Deidara looked up, saying nothing, but still looking nervous. Was he in trouble somehow?

"Do you remember if you did, or said anything to make the clay explode? Anything at all."

He made it sound like a very serious question. Deidara found it a strange question.

What is he talking about? This should be simple really. According to my conclusion, the clay was overloaded with chakra, and spontaneously repelled the clay, creating an explosion as a result from the friction within the clay. All of this passed through his mind in the matter of seconds, while he was trying to remember. Then, it occurred to him that he had done something.

"I did say something, yeah;" he said nervously. "Just to try, I said Release." He nervously looked the Tsuchikage in the eye, wondering if this was a problem somehow. The Tsuchikage, however, seemed to be amused, almost. A smile played around his lips, while he looked down at the ten-year old, with something that looked like laughter, and pride. In any case, he smiled widely.

"Deidara, have you ever heard the story about the first Tsuchikage, and how he became just that?" Deidara nodded that, no, he had never heard this story. He was wondering were all of this was leading. The Tsuchikage smiled smartly.

"You may know that this village was founded mere hundred and twenty years ago, by the country itself. Before this time, ninja had trained mostly for themselves, secluded in mountains, or other places, training alone. But that changed. The country of fire was the first to realize the awesome potential Shinobi held, from a military standpoint. They sent out envoys to every single ninja in the land, asking them to unite, to help serve their country. They were offered a village of there own, and granted almost full sovereignty. Most of the ninja accepted, and the first of the hidden villages was born. The original point of this village was to establish the country of fire as the worlds only super-power. They meant to stop all war, and be almost a leader of all the other countries. The village was supposed to remain a secret." The Tsuchikage smiled grimly, looking slightly malevolent.

"But that's not how it went! One day , a ninja from the hidden village of the leaf deflected, and went missing. They presumed him dead, but in reality, he had gone to a different country. The one of the wind."

By now, Deidara was hanging on to his every word, transfixed. The Kage sighed a bit, before continuing.

"After that, the idea of rounding up ninja's into a village spread like wildfire, and before long, every country that could afford it had their own secret village up and running. Ninja's being the main weapons of war; all countries that had a village were competing for dominance. Even so, it was never a full out war. More like a fine balance, witch could be tipped at any time. It was into the middle of this turmoil that the hidden village of the rock came to be. Now, they were faced with the problem of finding their first leader. It's here that our story actually begins," the Tsuchikage laughed, before continuing. Outside, the afternoon sun had begun to creep in the window, making the room glow strangely read, almost like a gigantic furnace.

"The first Tsuchikage was not particularly talented, yet he managed to beat every single ninja who challenged him for the position." The Tsuchikage fixed his eyes on Deidara.

"Do you know what a genius is?"

The question took Deidara by surprise, and he sat there, blinking, not knowing what to say. "Well it's- I guess… Someone who is extremely talented?" he suggested. The Tsuchikage smiled slyly.

"You see, that's where you are wrong, Deidara." He fixed him with another stare, except this time, he was smiling.

"A true genius is someone who does things that just can not be done with talent."

For a second Deidara stared at him, trying to decipher what he had just said. Well, of course the fact itself made perfect sense, when he thought about it. That's exactly what a genius really is. But what was the point? What is the context? Deidara had the sinking feeling that something fairly obvious was passing straight over his head. But what was it?

Deidara looked back up at him. "Are you going to finish the story?" he asked.

The Tsuchikage smiled. "No!" he said.

"Oh…" Deidara looked back down at the table, trying to understand what the hell was going on.

The Tsuchikage watched the little ten year old think, smiling to himself. "Exactly as I thought," he muttered quietly, looking down at the little, long haired boy. Theory proven. He sighed slightly to himself. I've really got to stop being right all the time! He glanced down at the boy again, and saw a new look on his face. One of mild disbelief. He grinned again.

"You, on the other hand, have no talent at all!"

The words echoed repeatedly through Deidara's head, and his look of deep thought was replaced with disbelief. He can't possible be implying…"

His eye darted upwards, only to see the Tsuchikage smiling at him. He was pointing down at the lump of clay in the middle of the table.

"If a normal ninja tried to do that, it wouldn't work."

If Deidara had been a little less shocked, he would have managed to grasp the full implications of this sentence. But in his confused, a shocked state, all he could do was ask: "What? What are you- I mean…"

"If I tried to make clay like this, you know what would happen? It would turn into solid rock. That's just the way my chakra is. If the guard who accompanied you here tried, it would melt, and turn into glass."

"What are you talking about?" Deidara asked quietly. Suddenly, he felt very lost, and he did not like being lost. It always made him feel powerless. The Tsuchikage raised an eyebrow at him.

"What am I talking about? Oh come on, surely they've taught you about Chakra types at the training centre."

Deidara merely shook his head.

"Oh dear, what are they teaching these kids," the Tsuchikage said, sounding amused. In truth, he had always wanted to say that some day.

"Well, I don't have time to teach you all now." He sighed. "Basically, there are four types of chakra, and every ninja uses one, or two of these types. Rock, fire, wind, and water," he said, ticking them off on his fingers. "I specialize only in earth, or rock type, myself," he added, before turning his attention back to Deidara.

"You're chakra, however, is completely unique. I've never seen anything like it, and I can tell you already, there is great potential in it. You, my little friend, are an un-intentional genius!"

For an almost infinitely long time, there was complete silence in the room, broken only by the distant sounds of children playing in the street below, and a few sounds from the hallways outside. The sun was setting distantly on the horizon, shining its dieing rays directly into the office window, and straight into Deidara's eye. He did not care much, though. He was completely shocked by this one.

Me? A genius? I mean- But what does he mean by "un-intentional? How can you un-intentionally be a genius? I mean…

What the hell?

But really though, all he could feel, was happy. He was extremely happy, because whatever it was that had just happened in the last couple of hours, the Tsuchikage had just called him a genius, intentional or not. He had even said that he had great potential. All the time he had been alone, researching by himself, creating his own art, when he could have been playing, innocently. But now… Now he could show his mother that she had been worried about his anti-social-ness for no reason. Inside, he laughed a little. They'll really have to remove the "Un-intentional" part soon!

But in the end, all he could say was: "Wh-What?"

The silver haired Kage looked at Deidara, amused by his reaction. It was priceless, really, since how many twelve-year olds are there that are told by the Kage himself that they are geniuses, without even knowing it themselves. He smiled.

"As I said, your chakra is completely unique. What's so special about you is that you can for example control chakra that is outside your own body, as if it was within you. If I tried to load that clay with chakra, the clay would absorb it, and, since I use earth type chakra, turn into solid rock. I have no control over it. You, however, still have full control of this clay, even though the chakra is not in you."

He pointed down at the clay, and Deidara fixed his eyes on it. "Try to shape it," the Tsuchikage said. "You control the chakra, so turn it into a square." Deidara looked up at him, looking pretty doubtful that it would work.

He doubted it would work. In fact, he even started to doubt that this was really happening. It's probably more likely that I'm just lying in a hospital bed, in some sort of coma, with my eye blown out, dreaming that I'm being called special by the Tsuchikage. But still, he could not deny that it seemed very real, whatever was happening. He fixed the lump of clay with a melting stare, and began to concentrate. Not really knowing what to do, he thought squares. He closed his eye for a second, and imagined the clay changing its form.

He opened his one eye. Nothing had happened at all. It was still the same, unshaped lump of clay that it had always been. He let out a bit of a sigh, before trying again.

"Feel it," he could hear the Kage say. "This is your own chakra. It's a part of you. Don't think about it, feel it."

Deidara breathed out, and tried to relax. In his mind, he tried to be calm, and not think. Mentally, he cast out his mind, trying to feel the clay. At first he felt nothing, and his mind was constantly bothered by random thoughts, like: This is stupid, or I'm hungry. He bit his lip, and opened his eye. The Kage was gazing down at him, expectantly. He grimaced a bit.

He decided to try one more time. Stripping his mind of all defenses, he cast out of his mental barriers, and believed that this would really work. For the first ten seconds, it did not. But then, he finally felt something. Something nagging at the edge of his mind, like something you were about to say, but managed to forget. Squeezing his eye shut tighter, he immersed himself in the feeling, and was astounded to find that he could change it. He could feel it. Biting his lip again, he concentrated as hard as he could on manipulating it into a square shape. At the same time, he opened his eye. It widened in amazement.

Right before his eyes, the before unshaped piece of clay was changing. Writhing on the table, and flattening out the bumps. He stared at it, transfixed, as it began to take on an almost square shape. Although it still had tons of dents, it was no longer a random, twisted piece of clay. He laughed out loud at his accomplishment, clapping his hands together. Doing that made him lose concentration, and the clay stopped moving.

He looked up at the Tsuchikage, grinning eagerly.

"I did it, I did it! Did you see that? You were right." He laughed again. The Tsuchikage just continued to shake his head in amazement. Yes, he had been right, although he always was of course. But this was just amazing, as far as he could tell. He had never heard of chakra that was completely neutral before. If any one else did it, the clay would just change accordingly to the type of chakra the user had. But this kid could store chakra outside of his body, and control it on top of that. He was the only person who could control chakra that was not connected to his body in any way. He shook his head again. No one else in the world had the ability to do what Deidara could. He considered the potential, thinking of everything you could do with this kind of chakra. He smiled. It was definitely an advantage, that was for sure.

He nodded, chuckling a bit. "Yeah, that was very good, Deidara. With some training in chakra control, you'll have that down in no time."

But then again, who the hell was there to teach him this kind of chakra control? Ill just have to hope that he's an actual genius as well, because he will have to think of all kinds of new techniques for this.

He looked down at Deidara, who was again looking down at the piece of clay, trying to make it change shape. The Tsuchikage watched the clay curiously, wondering what he was trying to make it this time. After almost a full minute of silence, the Tsuchikage could tell exactly what it was supposed to be.

A little clay bird, with its wings tucked into its sides. Its beak looked sharp, despite its small size, and its eyes were alive, somehow. He looked a little closer, and saw that the little eye-sockets were filled with drops of blue, shimmering chakra. The Tsuchikage could only shake his head in amazement again.

"Bravo, excellent work!" he said, clapping eagerly. "A real work of art!"

Deidara looked down at his little bird, and stroked it with one hand. "It really is, isn't it though," he said quietly. The Tsuchikage smiled, before looking up at the clock in the corner of the room. It gave him a nasty little surprise.

"Well, I think I've said all I can say, and frankly, I have to get a ton of papers done today! So you can go," he said quickly. He had just wasted over an hour of working time, and that was no joke! Deidara merely nodded, picked up his little bird, and left, still petting it with one hand. ¨

"Ill see you tomorrow, when the teams are chosen," he called after him. Deidara did not even turn around. He merely nodded, and kept on walking. The door closed. For a while, the Tsuchikage just sat there, shaking his head slightly. He looked out the window, into the dark hills, illuminated now by the silvery glow of moonlight, witch made the hills glow, somehow. He smiled once more, before sitting down again, and pulling out a paper from the pile, labeled: "New Genin Teams." He quickly glanced over the paper, finally finding Deidara's name, listed under "Team Eight." He hesitated for a second, before talking out a small bottle of white paint, and whiting out Deidara's name from that team. He picked up his quill, and reassigned him to Team Seven. He smiled slyly as he picked up the paper, and looked at his handiwork. Yes, that team should work out quite nicely…

Even though it was an important day tomorrow, with the new teams and all, Deidara did not sleep at all that night.

-- -- --

Yuki Shihiro was not having a good day so far! The one day of the year where being on time to school is actually important, and I manage to sleep in! The fact that this was a bad day had already been seconded by her tripping over a big rock in the middle of the road, and wiping out into the dust, so now her whole outfit was covered in dust. Just perfect!

Today, they were being put into their new, three man teams. Not that Shihiro did not already know exactly what team she would be on. Her father had told her last night. In truth, she blamed her father for letting her sleep in, but then again, that did not really count as an excuse to Ichiro-sensei. There was no such thing as excuses with him. As he constantly reminded her, he did not care in the slightest who her daddy was.

"As if I'd ever try to remind him," she growled quietly to herself, as she practically ran down the dusty street.

She did not try to remind anyone who her father was. She hated being reminded of it herself, because she was already tired of hearing how her father was the fourth Tsuchikage. If she had a choice in it, he would just be a regular guy, because somehow, because her father was the village genius, every seemed to be sure that she was just a spoiled brat who wanted special treatment because of her daddy. Why they would ever think that, was completely beyond her, but it still annoyed the hell out of her.

An owner of a bookstore she knew, called out: "Good morning, Yuki," as she passed. She merely scowled back at the man, not really caring how rude she was being to this poor man, who had just tried to be nice. But she just really hated being called by her last name.

Just about two years after she was born, her father, being the arrogant bastard he was, decided that he should change the family name to Yuki. "It means snow, or luck. The perfect name really," he would say, while brushing his flowing white hair back. Always while pushing his silvery white hair back. "Light, like snow," he would then comment.

Arrogant bastard!

She sighed, slightly exasperatedly, because even as she thought it, she knew that she did not really mean it. But still . . .

She was so distracted as she ran, that it was a big surprise to her when she realized that she was right outside the academy already. She stopped, and gazed at it.

The academy itself was a huge building, although you couldn't really call it a building. The whole facility was cut out into the cliff that towered over the west side of town. Within the cliff, their were caves, for training grounds, classrooms, and multiple staircases, some going all the way up to the battle arena at the top of the cliff, almost one hundred meters above her. Shihiro craned her neck, looking all the way to the top, where the stands of the arena sat. From the stands, a single bright red flag was flying. Graduation flag, since the graduation, and team-splitting ceremony was in the arena. She sighed slightly. Up all those steps!

By the time she was on the top of the cliff, she was late. About five minutes late, a number witch seemed unforgivable, at least to Ichiro-sensei. The old bat spent a good two minutes telling her off, and sometimes yelling at her, even threatening at one point to hold her back from graduating, claiming that: "If a ninja is late, his team mates die!" Shihiro responded by shouting back at him, perhaps not the best idea in the world, but a serious relief on her frustrations.

"You can't do that! We were discharged from the academy yesterday, and this is just a traditional ceremony! You can't do anything anymore you old bat!" she shouted at him. In the moment she left him speechless, fumbling for words, she spun around, and walked back to the stands, taking a random seat. A few guys whistled after her, cheering her on. She just raised her eyes as she walked; acting like she did not notice the looks she was getting from a few of the boys.

Shihiro would never think so her herself, but the fact was that a lot of the boys found her very attractive. Unfortunately, she had taken after her father, so her hair was naturally silvery white. She had fixed that, much to her father's outrage, by permanently dieing it red; a dark, earthy red color. But her hair still had the long, and flowing form of her fathers, and even she was standing still, her hair seemed to be shimmering, and moving. Her face was thin, but kind, with a sort of warmth. The rest of her was, according to most of the boys: "Well developed."

She scowled as she walked to the stands, and took a seat. Why the hell can't those under-developed monkeys keep their stupid, primal instincts to themselves?

So far, she had yet to find a single boy of her own age that she actually liked. Most of them were weak. In fact, she was the best ninja for her age, even rivaling those a few years older then her. She kept on scowling as she sat and watched their former sensei give a bullshit speech on how very proud he was of them all, and how having this job was the greatest gift he could have. "Yeah right," she heard a boy beside her whisper under his breath.

This is boring!

She gazed skywards, at the flowing clouds that were passing rapidly over her head, sped on by a strong, northerly breeze that ruffled her hair as she sat there. She shivered slightly, even though the sun was shining strong. She put her head in her hands, and sighed, just wanting this whole thing to be over.

Finally, the teams were announced. The only time she bothered to pay attention, was when the announcer finally announced: "Team seven will be consisting of…" He glanced down at his list for a second. "Deidara…" he paused. "Just Deidara, I guess," he said quizzically. A few people around the arena laughed.

"Yuki Shihiro, and Katon Deimon."

Shihiro laughed quietly, before getting up, and walking up to the front, where her other team mates were already standing. That last boys name was just as weird as it had been last night, when her father had told her about her new team. Back then, she had first asked whether he was joking. He replied that, no, he was completely serious (and right) about everything, and that he really had no time for this, because he had to work. She stopped, and turned around to face her new team mates.

For this ceremony, it was customary for the new team to stand in a circle facing each other, as to get to know them better. Then, they would each state their names, and say hello.

Stupid ritual, since we were all in the same class.

Even so, Shihiro had not talked to any of her new team mates a single time, even though she had seen them plenty of times. Well, ok then, maybe she had not seen them that many times either. Mostly, she kept to herself.

On her left, there was a fairly small boy, with sandy blond hair, that went down to his shoulders. His long hair was brushed all the way to the side, so that it covered the whole left part of his face, hiding his left eye from view. He was wearing a brown T-shirt, and regular jogging pants, hardly fitting to wear for your graduation.

"Hello, I'm Deidara," he said timidly, looking around at his two team mates. Katon said hello, while Shihiro just nodded affirmatively. Deidara looked nervously around at the other two. Shihiro figured that it was probably her turn, seeing as how no one was saying anything. Silence, except for the flags whipping in the wind.

"Yuki Shihiro, but you guys just call me Shihiro!" It was not optional! She nodded at Deimon, who seemed to be suddenly snapped out of another world. He looked around quickly, confused, before realizing that it was, in fact, his turn.

"Oh, hey guys. I'm Katon Deimon. Nice to meet you," he said quickly. Shihiro merely nodded, noticing that he had said his own name with a certain kind of hidden malevolence.

No wonder, really. I'd sure as hell be pissed if my parents had named ME Deimon. She smiled to herself, holding back the urge to laugh. No, that would just be mean. The three of them looked around at each other, waiting for something to happen. At last, the announcer started to speak again.

"You guys will meet tomorrow at eight, in classroom twenty." He looked down at them very seriously. "And I was told that you are to bring nothing but your clothes!" He laughed slightly, before turning back to the crowd, and announcing the next team. Deidara looked at Deimon, obviously mystified by the instructions. Deimon just shrugged, before turning around, and walking away. Shihiro took his cue, and did the same, leaving Deidara, who was still standing there for some weird reason. Shihiro smirked, as she was walking back up to the stands.

What a very merry team this will be.

As she sat down, one of the girls from her class leaned over, and whispered: "Do you think Deidara will cry after being beat by a girl in whatever test you got tomorrow." Shihiro merely shrugged, not really paying any attention. She was busy thinking about whatever test they had tomorrow.

It was common knowledge among the academy students that the new teacher almost always gave his new students a test on their very first day. Test's usually varied, according to which teacher you had. There were people in Shihiro's class who were two years older then her, having been held back twice, all by the same bastard teacher. Shihiro scowled, annoyed that neither her father, nor her former teacher had bothered to tell her witch teacher they would be getting.

Actually, screw the teacher; she just hoped that they would not be put through the infamous "Desert test." She did not actually know what you had to do for the Desert Test; she just knew that she did not want to do it. All six of the people who had been held back twice, had gone through it twice, not passing it either time. According to them, they had been strictly forbidden to tell anybody anything about the test.

For a moment, Shihiro felt nervous. But she shrugged it off, thinking that whatever they put her through, it couldn't be that bad. And why should she be worried? She had trained loads, and was the best ninja in her class. The only thing that could mess up whatever test was coming were her two team mates.

But why in the world were we asked to bring absolutely nothing?

No matter how she thought about it, she could come up with no plausible answer, and by the time she had given up, the ceremony was over. She was caught by surprise when everyone suddenly got up. She cursed silently, knowing full well that a ninja should never be surprised by anything, just because she was thinking. As she left the arena, she silently vowed to do better in the future. She had to!

She waved at her father as she passed him, but he did not seem to notice her at all. He just kept on walking, greeting various other, probably important people along the way.

Shihiro had been planning to go home, but instead, she decided to go to the training ground instead. At school yesterday, she had missed a target by five centimeters. Enough for a full miss, meaning the target may escape, jeopardizing the mission, her father had told her. It was the only thing that had kept her from getting a completely perfect score at her graduation.

-- -- --

Yuki Shihiro was one out of three people who did not go home, or to wherever their parents were to celebrate after the graduation ceremony. Katon Deimon had considered it, but decided against it, reasoning that he really had to practice for tomorrows test, whatever it may be. He grinned to himself, as he walked along the crowded streets. Whatever test came tomorrow, he was sure he could handle it. He just wanted to make sure. And anyway, his father had always insisted that he do some sort of work, before play.

He was heading towards the old training ground near the outskirts of town. It was his favorite place to train in the whole town, even though it had not been used officially in over five years. Back then, it had been called "The Lair." These days people called it the haunted house.

The old house was a huge villa, even before it became a training ground. It was one of the oldest houses in town, its construction starting only a year after the hidden village itself had been founded. Originally, it had been used by the first Tsuchikage, as a base of operations, but also as living quarters. Back then the mansion had been nicknamed Rose Red, because of the red color of the clay bricks, and also because of his wife's love of imported roses. However, the story went that somehow, while doing all sorts of various experiments with earth based Ninjutsu, he had managed to weaken the foundation the house stood on so severely, that if more then four people at a time entered, the whole thing would sink right into the ground. The damage was irreparable.

In the training ground days, they had been extremely strict about booking, since if two three man teams got mixed up, and entered the house at the same time, well… Luckily, it had never happened.

But now, the house was completely deserted, standing there by the outskirts of town, while it slowly fell apart. It stood alone across a street, with the back yards of various houses on the other side of the street. It towered up into the mid day sun, casting a long shadow over Deimon. Along the sides of the house, long, thick creepers, with thorns almost a quarter meter long were climbing up the building, looping around the window, and at points going right through the walls. There were places in the house, that if you tripped there, you would be impaled on one of the spikes. It did not help that very little sunlight seemed to make it through the windows, even if there was no glass in them. It was almost always dark in the house.

Yeah, this place is really the best place to train in peace.

Ignoring, as he always did, the big "Out of Order DO NOT ENTERS!" sign that crowned the gate into the front yard of the house, he walked straight in the door. It creaked, flaking rust off the hinges as it opened, and slammed shut. Deimon walked in slowly, his footsteps muffled by the carpet of sand, and dust that covered the floor. For a second he froze, not making a sound, as if hiding from something. The only sound in the house was the wind, blowing through the open windows.

Then, suddenly, he lunged foreword, moving with amazing speed and precision, and scooped something up from the floor, into his hands. He drew himself up, smiling triumphantly. This was always the worst part of this training.

The captured mouse squealed shrilly between his hands, pawing and biting desperately to get out. Deimon brought the captured mouse up to eye level, and stared at it, concentrating. For a split second in the darkness, his eyes flashed poisonous green. But a second later again, his eyes were back to being normal blue. He smiled in the darkness. The house was completely silent, except again, for the soft whistle of wind, flying right through the house.

-- -- --

By the time it was four o clock, Shihiro was sweaty, and exhausted. She had been there since the graduation had finished at twelve, and had only taken two breaks since then. She stood alone in the clearing, now in only a tank-top, with her red hair tied back in a ponytail, breathing heavily. Her clothes were completely damp, and her face burned slightly, in the red afternoon sun, that made the dirt around her glow. Far to her left, there was a human target imbedded with enough Kunais to kill an elephant. Around her were various holes in the ground that she had popped out of, digging each tunnel faster then the last.

At the academy battles, that had been her greatest strength; her ace. She was pretty much almost as quick and agile under the ground, as she was above it. Her opponents always had a good time trying to figure out witch fire Jutsu they could use that could get her underground, or wondering where she was going to pop up, probably with a giant rock, or an explosive. The one time someone had flooded her tunnel with water, she had merely gotten the hell out of it, and kicked his ass. Simple! But digging tunnels was very hard work. She would have to work on her stamina…

She was tired, but still very happy. She always felt happy after a good training session, as if she had accomplished something important. She smiled, as she walked slowly around the clearing, catching her breath. She went over to a tree, and sat down in the shade, the lack of sun a relief to her burning skin. Thank god for sun lotion…

After a while of recovering in the shade, she got up again, and looked around the empty training field.

The only tree in the whole training field was the one she was standing beneath now; an ancient-looking old tree, that gnarled its way about six meters in to the sky, with dry, but not brittle branches, and large, prickly leaves. To the north, there was a giant pile of rocks and boulders, and to the right of that, was a large field of random boulders that had in time rolled off the hill, creating a sort of maze there. To the south, a river flowed, cracking the landscape in half. It was strange; the river seemed to be an actual crack. The ground just suddenly dropped off 90 degrees, and kept on going down. Even though the river was only about four meters wide, Shihiro had never managed to make it to the bottom. The walls of the river were just as smooth and flat as far down as she could go. It was almost like a natural bathtub, carved out of marble. She drew her gaze away from the river, gazing to the east, shielding her eyes from the sun. To the east was were most of the actual training things were, including targets, a projectile and shuriken cupboard, and high, arching stands for complex and multiple shuriken shots.

She walked over to the gigantic target stand, and stood beneath the arching wood, peering up. She felt proud, because today she had managed a deflection shot for the first time. She jumped up to the top arch, and began to take down the targets. She'd better get home soon, since her father always got so irritated, and annoyed with her if she was even slightly late for dinner. Not angry, but just annoyed, even though he did not express it much. Shihiro wished he would be just angry with her, instead, some times.

The streets were almost completely empty as she walked back home, her shadow double her size because of the now setting sun. On either side of the dusty street, giant apartment buildings made out of flaky rock towered towards the sky, giving her the feeling of walking through a mountain pass.

People always ate dinner so early here, including her own family. It annoyed her, since she was almost always doing something around four, that she had to finish by then, just because her parents wanted to eat. She sighed. Sometimes traditions can be so stupid.

"Hey, Yuki!?" a voice shouted behind her. She froze, and turned around, scowling, because she hated when people called her that. The shouter was a boy, about her own age. He had short, black hair, and a heavy, but agile looking build, with a devious smile, and a kind of spark in his eye. He came running up to her, smiling broadly. Shihiro did notice one of his friends, standing in the background watching. He was quite cute, on closer inspection. Shihiro tried to smile back, in a friendly sort of way.

"Yeah, I was wondering. Wanna do… Something?" He grinned at her, as if suggesting something. Shihiro crossed her arms, and glared at him.

"No," she said pointedly. She could see that the guy had to be at least two or three years older then her from here. But as she turned to go, she felt him grab her arm, stopping her in her tracks.

"Come on, don't be so cold," he said playfully, pulling her back. Shihiro turned her head around, and tossed her hair back, giving the boy a patronizing smile.

And then she was gone!

The boy was not smiling any more, but staring in disbelief at the hole in front of him. He moved back nervously, looking back at his friend for support. He began to move backwards, away from the hole, stumbling around, and breaking into a run. But he was not fast enough, of course, because just as he began to run, the ground beneath his feet began to heat up.

He screamed loudly as the burning ground began to melt his sandals, and he ran as fast as he could back to the house where his buddy was, ripping off his sandals as fast as he could. Shihiro popped up on the other side of the field. She smiled again at the shocked boys, before running off. Behind her, she heard one of them say: "Wow, her dad must have taught her that."

She scowled. No, in fact that technique was her own invention. Her ace! Why can't I ever resist doing shit like this?

She managed to get around the corner, were she finally collapsed, her stores of chakra run down to a dangerously low level. She managed to roll over, and got a glimpse of the sky, before she could keep her eyes open no longer.

She really should try to expand her chakra limit.

-- -- --

Deidara just did not feel like going home, even though he was sure his mother was anxious to see him. They had not gotten a single chance to talk about what happened in the Tsuchikage's office, not because Deidara did not want to, but because his mother had been drunk by the time he got home. Or he at least assumed that she must have been by then, since she was gone, and the dinner she had made for him had been cold. Deidara had not bothered going to sleep, because he knew he would be awoken when his mother came stumbling back into the house, being about as stealthy as a hippo opening a fridge. Deidara sighed, as he retraced his steps from yesterday near the outskirts of town.

His mother did not go out drinking that often, but he hated it when she did. She had never drunken anything in her life, before his father had died. Officially, he was Missing in Action, but it could just as well have been a synonym for dead. The only difference was weather or not they were able to retrieve the body.

After Deidara's father had died, his mother had changed. Deidara was the only one who ever noticed, because on the outside, she was still the same. Her smile had not changed, and she still made him dinner, and put him to bed, just like she always had. But still, there was a difference. It was in the way she was, and did things. These days, it seemed more automatic, like she was on autopilot the whole time. Deidara wished she could get over it, and find someone new, but it never seemed to happen. Every time she drank, Deidara was scared, always fearful that she would do something stupid, or worse, irreversible.

Deidara bit his lip a little, not paying much attention to where he was going. He brushed his long hair back, over his shoulders, and kept on walking.

Over all, it was like she did not care anymore. She had lost interest, basically. If he came home from the academy in tears because the other kids had teased him for being a loner, she would hug him, and say she was sorry, but that's all she would do. Sometimes… Deidara was not sure, but sometimes it even seemed that she resented him, somehow.

I think ill just go train until dinner…

He looked up, and was almost surprised to see that he was already at his destination. He gazed up at the same hill where he had lost his eye, not twenty-four hours ago. It was strange, since it seemed a lot longer then that. He groped down into his pocket, and pulled out the small bird that he had been taking care of. He gazed at it for a long while, stroking it with one finger.

And then, he drew back his arm, and threw it as far as he could. He closed his eye, furrowing his forehead with concentration. Just as he had in the Tsuchikage's office, he reached out, trying to feel the chakra. This time, however, it only took him about two seconds to find. No wonder really, since he had been feeling it in his pocket all day now. He concentrated as he struggled to control the chakra, trying to stop the bird from revolving, and making it fly straight, and then curving its arc to the left. He opened his eye. To his amazement, the bird had actually changed direction slightly. He grinned with satisfaction. And that was against the wind, too…

"Release," he shouted, hearing his words being carried away by the wind. Instantly, the bird exploded, just about a metre over the desert sand. Deidara just stood there, watching the smoke rising off the blackened sand in disbelief, his mouth half open. That power… I can do that?

Slowly, he walked over to the impact zone, and looked it over. He laughed in amazement. Some of the sand on the top had actually turned into glass. He stared transfixed down at the impact. Sooty, blackened glass!

Excited by this success, Deidara ran back to the clay vein, and dug up a bunch more of the brownish clay, and took a fistful of it. Even as he was channelling his chakra into the new load of clay, he was considering the possibilities; witch right now seemed pretty endless.

There are so many ways I can incorporate this explosive clay into my techniques. They work much better then those dumb exploding notes, since I control the explosion time. I can rig a whole battleground to go off at my command, given enough time. Or I could explode them one by one. But what's more, it's my chakra, so I can manipulate an explosive into looking like something completely harmless. Something an opponent would overlook in a battlefield. Then, I chase him towards the explosive: BOOM!

Deidara smiled to himself. He suddenly realized that his had was shaking violently, and he was sweating all over, despite sitting in the shade of a rock. He quickly stopped channelling chakra into the clay. He looked at it pensively.

The only problem though, is that it takes so long to make. I can't use two minutes to make clay in battle, nor can I take a humungous amount of pre-prepared clay with me. And anyway, you're prepared for the fewest of fights.

He frowned slightly. He would have to find some way to decrease manufacturing time. The problem, however, is that you could only force so much chakra out of his hand, or out of any other place in his body. The problem was that the clay was outside him, basically, and he did not really want to eat the clay. Besides, that would just take longer. Deidara shuddered slightly.

He sat down again, and leaned his back against the rock, wallowing in the cool shade. He brushed his hair back over his shoulders, and cursed himself for not bringing a hair band.

After a while, his thoughts turned to his new team. He did not really know much about either of them. Yuki Shihiro was the Tsuchikage's only daughter, he knew.

And Katon Deimon, well, he was an asshole. He had gone in the same class as Deidara for a few years, and Deidara already hated him. It had not taken long.

For some reason, Katon Deimon was just one of those people who were popular, without really making an effort at it. It just seemed that everything he touched turned to gold, and he was good at pretty much everything he did. It annoyed Deidara, because he always had to make a big show out of it. He did not say out loud that he was just the best, but that's what he seemed to be selling everyone. Deidara had actually been relieved when Deimon had not managed to get the best graduation score.

Yuki Shihiro, he now remembered, had been the person who had gotten the highest graduation score, only one fault away from being perfect. That, combined with the fact that she was the Tsuchikage's daughter was all Deidara really knew about her. He had never talked to her, although from what he picked up, he was not the only person who could say that. Even though they had been in the same class, Deidara had barely been aware of her existence. Overall, Deidara found himself a little intimidated by his new team mates. After all, he had only found out that he was a genius yesterday…

The other thing about her, was that she was very pretty, or at least Deidara thought so. It was strange; because this was actually the first time he had seen a girl like that. It was an interesting experience. The first time I've found a girl pretty…

He sighed, and smiled slightly, as he thought about her flowing red hair, and her smile, when she did smile, witch Deidara had only seen her do once. He remembered that now.

But now that he thought about it, there were a lot of girls who had been in his class that could be called cute. He thought them over for a while, smiling at times.

And then, he sat up straight, and got to his feet very suddenly. He sighed, exasperated. What's up with this, all of a sudden?

By the time three hours had gone by, Deidara had executed a number of mine-detonations, completely synchronized, and sculpted a new bird, practicing his chakra control. Even now, he felt that the bird's shaping had come to him easier; more naturally. Smiling slightly, he tried to make it move slightly. As it sat there on the palm of its hand, it suddenly jerked its wing downward. Then back up again. Deidara laughed. No matter… This is more beautiful to look at anyway. He paced around his new training grounds, and collected as much clay as he could carry in his pockets. The sweat had drenched his shirt, pretty much, and he felt kind of light headed, from channeling away all that chakra. They won't be able to notice if I just sneak a little bit of clay to tomorrows test, right? He smiled, as he started homewards.

On either side of him, giant houses towered skywards. Deidara had just rounded a corner, when he saw someone lying motionlessly on the street. Apart from that, the street was deserted. Fear gripped Deidara for a second, and he ran over to whoever it was lying on the ground. As he got closer, he saw the red hair that was spread across the ground from her head, like a fan. He gasped. It was Shihiro. He rushed to her side, and kneeled down beside her. Her eyes were closed, her face gazing skywards, with a look of calm serenity covered her face. Deidara paused for a second. He had never seen a look like that on her face before. So… calm, but in a different way then the calm she usually was. Calm and calculating! Right now, she looked like she was asleep. She looked pretty.

For a second, Deidara feared that she was dead. "Hey… Can you hear me?" He shook her a bit, his eye starting to tear, out of fear. But then, to his great relief, he realized that she was in fact breathing. He put a hand on her forehead, to see if she was sick, while he shook her with the other hand.

"Shihiro?!" he almost shouted, sounding more worried then he had meant to.

She stirred. Her eyelids fluttered softly, and she moved a bit. Her half open eyes caught sight of Deidara, who was kneeling down beside her. A look of confusion made its way onto her face, as her eyes flicked around, taking in her surroundings. Her eyes fixed on Deidara's face.

"Yo-… You're eye…?" she said slowly, her gaze pointing at Deidara's left eye, witch was still stitched shut. A breath caught in his throat, and he quickly looked away, hiding his empty socket from view. "I lost it a couple of years ago," he said quickly, not really knowing himself why he did not just tell the truth.

"Oh…" she said slowly, still looking confused, and then: "Where am I?"

"You fainted in the middle of the street," Deidara said, trying to sound like it was amusing, but not managing to hide the slight quiver in his voice. "I just found you here." Shihiro nodded slowly, and slowly tried to sit up. She fell backwards the first time, but Deidara caught her, and helped into a sitting position, leaning against the wall of a house. As she sat there, with her eyes only half open, Deidara offered her a drink from his water bottle. She took it, and drank deeply, although managing to spill a great deal of it. The water seemed to revitalize her, and by the time she had finished, her eyes were again darting everywhere, taking in every detail. She sighed.

"I guess I went too far out," she muttered, looking down at the ground. Deidara did not ask what she was talking about, but sat down beside her, and took the empty water bottle from her.

"What was wrong?" he asked tentatively, looking over at her.

"Chakra depletion… I went to far out against some jerks who bothered me," she muttered, leaning her head foreword into one of her hands, using the other to push away her red hair. Deidara got up, and offered her a hand. She did not see it, or rather ignored it, and struggled to her feet on her own.

"What time is it?" she asked Deidara, more clearly this time.

"Nearly five, why?"

A look of fear spread across Shihiro's face. She looked around frantically, orienting herself to where she was. If that was true, it meant that she had been out for nearly twenty minutes. Her father would never forgive her.

"Oh damn it, I'm late," she said quickly, starting to hurry off the other way. She tried to run, but stumbled a bit, and settled for a fairly quick walk, still not completely stable again. She turned around, and smiled at Deidara.

"Thank you," she said. With that she was gone.

Deidara looked after her for a while, before turning in the opposite direction, and starting home again. He smiled as well. In the last twelve years, that was the second time he had ever seen Yuki Shihiro genuinely smile.

When he got home, his mother was not there, after all. A meal was prepared for him, but it was already cold. He walked into the kitchen of their house, and put his head in one hand, tears welling up in his eye.

For god's sake mom, it's only five, and you're at it already?

-- -- --

Shihiro was right; she was late. Almost a half hour late, witch was a major sin. It was made a lot worse by the fact that her parents had postponed the start of dinner, waiting for her, so now they were both hungry, as well as disappointed in her. Even though she could tell that her father was mad, he acted more like she had severely disappointed him. With not much more mention of the matter, they sat down to eat.

The third Tsuchikage was the only Tsuchikage who had never lived at the Tsuchikage manor, a gigantic building carved out into the cliff on the other side of the cliff the academy was carved into, overlooking the city. No, Shihiro's father had to be the only Tsuchikage who decided that he wanted a simple, city life, in a pretty much regular house, in the middle of town. What made it irregular were the two squads of YTR who did not really exist guarding the house in shifts, 24/7. It drove Shihiro insane, because they had to do there best to be intimidating, and masculine, even the women in the squad.

Not much was said during dinner. The first stab at a conversation came when Shihiro's mother congratulated her with her graduation.

Shihiro had a strange relationship with her mother, in the sense that she never actually called her mother, or acknowledged that she was, in fact her mother. Day to day, she referred to her as either Raharu-san, or Haruko, her last name. She did not know why, it had just always been that way, really.

After that, nothing more was said, at least by Shihiro. Haruko-chan and her father were having some strange conversation, but Shihiro was not really listening. She could still feel the tension between her, and her dad.

After dinner, they retired to the living room, like they usually did. The Tsuchikage read, while Raharu-san watched some TV.

"Hey, come here," the Tsuchikage whispered to Shihiro. The living room had two couches, and the Tsuchikage was on the one opposite to Shihiro. The Tv was way at the other end of the room.

Out of curiosity, Shihiro scooted over to the other couch, and sat down beside him.

"I shouldn't really be telling you this, but tomorrow, your team is going through the desert test." Shihiro gulped, her worst fears having been confirmed. Her father looked at her, a look of concern on his face.

"Hey, tell you what," he said happily. "Either you pass or not, I can still teach you some awesome Jutsu. He winked at her. Shihiro felt the anger flare up inside her.

"Look, I really don't need you to do this! You can't keep on telling me stuff like this, and I definitely don't need lessons, especially from you," she said, louder then she had intended. Then, before her father could react, she stormed out of the room, and into her own room, closing the door behind her.

-

A ways away, Deidara lay in bed alone, a small stream of dried tears coming from his remaining eye. He was lying there with his little pet bird, testing various ways to make it move, whilst he stroked it with his thumb. He had got to the point where he could make both of the wings move about every three seconds.

"Yeah, this is real art, he whispered to himself. He then picked up a tiny piece of clay, and threw it out the window, detonating it about halfway down. It made the noise of a fairly large fire cracker. He lay back, and laughed quietly as he heard the neighbors anguished yells of "Shut up!" again.

A/N: And there you have it. I hope you liked it.

I hope the explanation I put in for Deidara's unique ability is believable enough for you. As far as I can tell, no one else can directly control regular chakra outside of their own body like that. It would also explain why Deidara can use his clay to fly. Basically what he is doing then is flying on a model held together by his own chakra. Thereby, he also directly controls his mount.

Btw, did anyone catch the FLCL reference? ,

I also hope you liked my Oc's for this fic. Thank you, come again!

Eureka