Binas: And the darkness of last chapter has passed. I am now going to bring in a nice history lesson to you, my fellow readers and reviewers as a treat. I didn't plan to do this so soon, but here it is. Enjoy mon amies.

I also decided to disregard the extreme OoC chapter (Walls That Lie and Hide the Truth) because what I had put for the exam just doesn't fit with me anymore. I am not sure if I can even go back and rewrite it now and I am too far ahead to go do a reboot. So I decided to disregard some pieces.

So let's get going.

Review time!

MusinAIR: I am glad it turned out the way it needed to (which is dark). My friend, here is your answer... ;) This takes place before Nightmares and Daydreams, which I will be skipping. You all can guess why... *Cough*Don't see Deidara making things better for Aang at all, just worse!*cough*

Cyber Orteck and ultima-owner: Indeed. He would want to be on his toes a little more. And I agree, it (both episode and Bloodbending) was creepy, but with the recent Korra episodes (that aired back in August), it doesn't seem as creepy anymore... I mean, Metalbending Mercury into someone's body via the pores in someone's skin is just freaky. But at the same time, it does prove that Avatarverse characters have some thick skin. Naturally, Mercury would just seep in on it's own. So, yeah... We got a major plus on their end in durability verses mercury like substances.

Warmachine375: Sokka does deserve it. XD But Sokka's Sokka. He will never learn.

Guest 1; Chapter 12; 9/13: Thanks. It wasn't easy as it looks. I had a few bumps in the road, but hey, it all works out in the end. They did over time, but I didn't want to over exaggerate them being surprised and getting flamed. But no worries. I tend to be not as sharp when I am tired myself.

Trivia/Did you know:

* French II seems to be one of my best subjects this year. So as some proof with Passé Composé:
French: Nous avons mangé le petit-déjeuner.
English Translation: We ate breakfast. (Literally: We ate the small lunch.)

.

Team Avatar sat around their campfire near the shore. It was calm, cool, and crisp air that danced with the early night breeze that came a shore, sending in fresh salty sea air in. Nocturnal critters began to rush into the miniature sandy dunes, looking for their nighttime breakfast. Night played it's starting melody as the sun began to disappear from the horizon.

Aang and the others laughed as Sokka shared one of his 'amazing' warrior stories from when he was ten to thirteen years old. Sokka was surprised at how many laughs he got out of that one story. One oft he stories involved some otter penguins and a ton of blubbered seal jerky. Sadly to Sokka, he lost the latter that day.

"Who would have ever guessed you lost to an otter penguin!", Toph snarked as she laughed.

"I may have lost it, but I brought back my greatest treasure that day!", Sokka said as he tried to be dramatic.

"Let me guess, the news that you lost your dignity, hm.", Deidara said with a grin.

"Shut up!", Sokka said as his furious blushing brought more laughter, "I don't see you sharing your past!"

"I have always been curious, Deidara. How was your home life?", Aang said, "I mean, you must have gone through a lot."

"Why should I share with you what happened in the past?", Deidara asked.

"Maybe it would help us understand why you tend to be... Well, a bit touchy...", Katara said, trying to be polite.

"I think what Katara means, is that you tend to act like a drunk boy version of me that has had a bad day.", Toph said blatantly.

"Besides, we're friends. Even if we don't approve of things that you do, like indiscriminately blowing up people left and right. We just want to understand your reasons behind what you do.", Aang said.

"Even though it's wrong to blow up people up, it's kinda fun to have Sokka react to being nearly blown up.", Toph said with a smirk.

Sokka took that comment with offense. He practically began to stomp around like a five year old, grumbling incoherent gibberish as he yelled at Toph. Toph's smile grew at each attempt Sokka tried to speak with words, but failed to due to how angry he was. Before Sokka could accidentally hurt himself, and possibly others, Katara grabbed his shoulder.

"Sokka, that's enough. We know what Toph said wasn't the nicest thing, but please stop it.", Katara said.

With a huff, Sokka went to go sit down. He continued to grumble to himself in gibberish, making some of the more sadistic members snicker a bit.

"I think it wouldn't hurt to share a bit...", Deidara mused as he looked out of the far right corner of his eyes.

Everyone drew closer, eager to hear what Deidara had to say next.

"But Sokka has to do something, hm...", Deidara said with a smirk.

"What do I have to do?", Sokka asked.

Deidara's smirk only brought shivers down everyone's spines. Whatever the terrorist had planned, Sokka wasn't gonna like it...

After a few moments, Sokka was covered in raw honey with a few bee stings and was half naked. He stood before Appa, who slept. Sokka gulped and sat next to Appa. Appa woke up and began licking the honey off of Sokka. Sokka frowned as Appa's saliva got all over him, ruining his top knot and nearly flashing him to his friends.

Aang and Katara gave Deidara annoyed looks as the blonde bomber smirked. Toph, while seeming emotionless on the outside, couldn't help but snicker on the inside at Sokka's lose of dignity.

"Well, are you going to tell us your story now or are you just going to strip me of my dignity further?", Sokka asked as he crossed his arms and pouted.

Before Deidara could say a word, he was cut off by Katara.

"Deidara, that's enough picking on Sokka for awhile.", Katara said.

"I would love a good joke any day, but this is just mean.", Aang said.

"Fine. I will, hm.", Deidara said, returning the annoyed looks with a frown.

Everyone gathered around, hoping the story that was going to be told was true. Sokka quickly removed the remaining honey and dressed himself so he could join in too.

In the past; Hidden Stone Village:

Team assignment day was here. All of the students who graduated were in the room and averaged around eight, nine, and ten years old. This year had some of the youngest ninjas in a long time. Many older generations saw it as a sign of good fortune that a good crop of ninjas were made. It was rare to see this, so the older generations hoped that the newer would live to their fullest potential.

Some of the students spat spit wads at their peers, others talked about rumors that floated about, and some kids actually fell out the window due to failed attempts to spar in the classroom. Very few kids actually 'behaved' in a sense. Those kids were either sleeping, eating, popping zits, and in one case, fiddling with clay.

Deidara had his head propped up with his left hand as he twisted a few edges here and there with his right. No matter how many times he tried remaking the figurine he was making, it just had something missing. It wasn't that it was bad, in fact he was the best artist in the village. Everyone praised him for making his works. He even got paid to make one sculpture a month ago. He didn't do it for the money though. It was just something about his art that kept calling to him. Like it was telling him it needed something but had no idea what that something was.

At that moment, a crowd of students formed, seeing his work sit on the desk. It was a graceful looking crane with one long and elegant leg was bent and the other stood straight and tall.

"Wow! I never seen you make a bird like that before!"

"It's so realistic!"

He got frustrated and smashed the latest remake into a flat, grayish white, wet, slimy, pancake. The students who loved to watch Deidara make his figurines and sculptures gave sad looks at the figurine. Others just complained at the sight of the most beautiful thing they have ever seen get smashed.

"Why did you smash it?"

"It looked really fantastic too!"

"Whatever.", Deidara said.

Many students frowned at the blonde. While his works were appealing, his attitude wasn't most of the time. As of late, it was worse. He had been mulling over what one critic said a month ago. The critic had said that Deidara's artwork was almost perfect. Almost wasn't good enough in Deidara's mind. In fact, it was almost an insult. It was all or nothing.

The door was opened loudly as the hinges squeaked for oil. Hiromaru Sensei entered the room with a stern look on his was obviously not pleased by the ruckus that raged on in his absence.

Hiromaru's sea foam green hair put in a short and a skinny braid that hung loose from the nape of his neck with brown beads threaded into the think strands. His eyes were a bright honey amber color with a small diagonal gash scar above his right eye. He wore the standard Hidden Stone Flak Jacket with black capris and high top sandals. Underneath the jacket was a mesh tank top with a few fringes dangling off them.

"Settle down class!", Hiromaru shouted.

"Yes sensei!", The class said.

Deidara snorted a bit as he rolled his eyes. He didn't care what his teacher said and that was that. He only joined in the chorused 'yes sensei' to mock Hiromaru.

"Deidara, watch yourself or you will be cleaning all the tables in this classroom. On top and on bottom this time.", Hiromaru said.

Deidara looked underneath his desk and found chewed gum and a bunch of snot stuck to the bottom of it. His face greened at the sickening sight of what appeared to be a half eaten centipede stuck in earwax.

"Now class. Today I am going to call off who's squad you are going to be on. Please listen carefully because I will not repeat myself.", Hiromaru said, "Team One will have..."

As Hiromaru droned on who was on what team, Deidara filtered the majority of it out, waiting for his name to be called. He began to let him mind wander back to the splattered remains of his crane.

'What could be missing? I am sure I added every possible detail without making it look distorted. I need something to make it exciting! More beautiful.', Deidara thought.

"Deidara..."

Deidara didn't respond. He just kept on thinking.

"DEIDARA!"

Deidara came back from his mind and into reality. Hiromaru gave an angry look at his pupil. Deidara rubbed the back of his head sheepishly.

"I guess your boring and dull lectures caused me to drift away again, sensei, hm.", Deidara said.

"I have been calling your name for five minutes, the least you could do is not day dream.", Hiromaru said, "Now, do you know why you are here by yourself?"

Deidara looked around the classroom. It was deserted except for Deidara himself and Hiromaru.

"No. Enlighten me, hm.", Deidara said.

"I would lose that tone of voice right now. I don't care how grumpy you are, and an attitude like your's is bound to get you into trouble one day.", Hiromaru said, "You are here by yourself because someone is here to see you and only you."

"Really?", Deidara asked with his eyes widening in mock surprise.

"Really."

A very short old man entered the room. It was none other than Onoki, the Third Tsuchikage. The famed big, round, red nose stood as the most prominent feature on his face. Deidara swore he could see right up it with no trouble.

"My eyes are not up my nose, brat.", Onoki said.

"Hm.", Deidara grunted, "So why's he here?"

"Show the Tsuchikage some respect. You know better.", Hiromaru said sternly as his eyes narrowed at the blonde.

"Let me deal with this little brat, you're getting too old for it, Hiromaru.", Onoki said.

"I am about half your age, and you're calling me old?", Hiromaru asked, slightly annoyed.

"I'm not a brat, hm.", Deidara huffed and turned up his nose, not wanting to deal with any of this.

"Do you know why I am here?", Onoki asked, narrowing his eyes at Deidara's disrespect.

"I honestly don't give a Ryo for why you are here, hm.", Deidara said.

"Under the current circumstances, a more well mannered snot nosed child would be thrilled to hear what I have in store for them.", Onoki said.

"Maybe it's because they are so dimwitted they need an old man to take care of them.", Deidara said.

Onoki's eyes narrowed further in irritation. Hiromaru walked up to Deidara and Gibbs Slapped him.

"Ow! What was that for, hm?", Deidara asked.

"At least try to hear what he has to say. You don't want to make him change his mind.", Hiromaru whispered into Deidara's ear.

"Fine.", Deidara said, "I'll listen, hm. Don't blame me if I fall asleep."

Onoki resisted the urge to face palm. Deidara was just like how the profile described him as of recently. He did his best to not fume at Deidara's cheeky/rude comments. After massaging his hip a bit, much to Deidara's slight disgust, Onoki was ready to get what he wanted to say out.

"I looked at your current records. While you could use a major attitude adjustment and some more common sense, I see a lot of potential in you. It's similar to the potential the First Tsuchikage saw in me.", Onoki said, "I specifically requested that you weren't put on a squad, so I could mentor you and enhance your studies."

Deidara blinked in surprise. He was expecting another lecture on paying more attention and showing more respect. Worst case scenario that crawled into his head? Being dropped from the program because of his cruel, rash, crude, malicious behavior. In a way, he was feeling recognition for his prodigious talent. Little did he know, he was selected due to his high ranking in the class and not his artwork. He was too caught up in the inner thrill of recognition that he didn't even care to process what Onoki really meant by potential.

"Deidara, do you have to go to the bathroom?"

Those words that came out of Hiromaru's mouth made Deidara stop his slight squirming. He blushed as he shook his head 'no'. That was embarrassing. Deidara really needed to get more control over himself.

The first several months of being Onoki's student was tedious. Every Monday it was the same thing; polish the Rock Monument, or what Deidara like to call it a 'dumb rock'. No matter how many times Onoki lectured what the stone represented, Deidara always tuned out of it, not caring about the history behind a simple stone. The stone was dull, boring, and inartistic. Onoki ridiculed how Deidara thought clay was more artistic.

"How many times do I have to tell you? Clay is not like a stone. It's too easy to manipulate; it is not stubborn enough to withstand its opponent. Its will is too weak to do battle with another belief.", Onoki snapped.

"Oh yeah? Maybe it's that way to you, but to me it's flexible enough to conform to its wielder! It can be made into anything that the beholder wants whether it be a kunai or something surreal enough to confuse your opponents, hm!", Deidara argued back.

"That flexibility is a weakness, you brat.", Onoki said and tossed the rag back to Deidara, "Until you get that through your thick skull, you will clean that rock until you can see yourself in it."

Deidara frowned as Onoki left the room briefly. He glared at the door that Onoki just exited out of and then the rock.

"This is so stupid!", Deidara said and crossed his arms.

'Let's see if you can handle what I think of your ideologies...', Deidara thought.

By the time Onoki returned to the room, he heard a splashing sound. He saw Deidara with his back turned and pants pulled down slightly. On the ground there was a puddle of warm yellow liquid and the stone sitting right in the middle of it. At first Onoki was shocked by it, then furious as heck.

"HOW DARE YOU DO THAT TO THE MONUMENT!", Onoki shouted in fury, making Deidara flinch a bit.

"So what? It's only a rock.", Deidara said as a large smug/devilish look grew onto his face as he turned his head around, "Besides, it's looking better already. I can really see myself in it now, hm!"

Onoki was ready to throw Deidara out the window for what he did. He stormed up to the stone, rinsed off the urine that Deidara bathed it in, and set back on the pedestal. Onoki picked up the rag that had apparently got tossed once again and thrust it into Deidara's chest.

"Pull up your pants right now and clean that stone properly! I won't teach you anymore Jutsus until I see that stone spotless! Urinating all over it is not cleaning it! It's disgraceful, disrespectful, and despicable!", Onoki shouted and began to hover around Deidara, watching him like a hawk.

Deidara grumbled as he pulled up his pants and began scrubbing the miserable stone that mocked his attempts of getting away from it. It took several hours to scrub it half way clean. Even that was not enough to please Onoki. Each hour spent on the stone made Deidara more and more irritated. He had no patience for the dumb rock.

"You got a smudge there and there! Use more elbow grease, you miserable brat!", Onoki snapped, pointing to each missed spot.

"This is so boring!", Deidara shouted.

"Then you shouldn't have urinated all over it. Maybe that will teach you to use that tiny brain of your's.", Onoki said.

Deidara groaned in frustration as he scrubbed harder and harder. Out of impulse, he began the channel Chakra into his right hand. At that moment the unexpected happened. The rock and cloth blew up. Deidara was caught completely off guard by what happen. Onoki flinched as the shrapnel of rock went flying all over the room.

"Well what do you know.", Onoki mused.

"What was that, hm?", Deidara asked as he stared at the fragments of the stone.

"I will be right back.", Onoki said and left the room again to only return with a sheet of paper.

Onoki handed the paper to Deidara. Deidara frowned at it.

"Oh you want me to polish this piece of paper too, hm?", Deidara asked.

"No. This not ordinary paper, brat. It's Chakra paper and it's used to determine your Chakra type. It is typically used to see what element you are, but it is really helpful in finding what Elemental Kekkei Genkai you could possibly have.", Onoki said.

"How does it do that? It seems like a regular sheet of paper to me.", Deidara said.

"Just channel your Chakra into it, Deidara.", Onoki exasperated, "You will see what I mean in a second."

Deidara concentrated as he let his Chakra be put into the sheet of paper. After a few seconds, the paper burst into flaming pieces of crumbly dirt. He raised an eyebrow at the remnants that fell to the ground.

"Interesting. Earth Style and Fire Style. Normally it makes Lava Style, but from what I saw, you have a rarer Kekkei Genkai. Explosion Style.", Onoki said.

"Rarer, hm?", Deidara asked.

"Sometimes when a Kekkei Genkai share a combination with another, there is usually one that is more dominate than another. For example, Fire is more dominate in Lava Style than it is in Explosion Style. That is why Explosion Style is said to be Earth based. It's because Earth is more dominate in it.", Onoki said, "Do you understand that, or was Hiromaru lying about your intelligence?"

"I do.", Deidara said.

Deidara was mesmerized by what he had just taken in. He felt for a brief second something click inside his head and in his passionate heart.

'Was this what I was looking for?', Deidara thought.

Two years later...

At twelve years of age, Deidara was ready to do the unthinkable. Ever since he he had heard rumors of a Kinjutsu that would allow him to knead Chakra into substances like dirt and clay, he had began thinking on it. He knew he had to find something to bring his art and Explosion Style together. He felt like it would fill in the missing gap that was created by the critic long ago.

Deidara knew he would get kicked out of the village, the Explosion Corps, and shunned by everyone that ever looked up to him and/or acknowledged him. He didn't care. It was worth going rouge and everything. He could always find another village to settle in. That is if it would not do the same. If it did, well that village better say their prayers.

He crept into Onoki's studies. So many scrolls, parchments, and books filled the shelves. He tip toed quietly to one shelf. The shelf that contained the more dangerous and gruesome Kinjutsus. The ones that altered the body in ways that were irreversible. Many were irreversible due to an error made, and others were just that for some reason. But the one Deidara wanted wasn't flawed at all in his mind; it was beautiful and perfect.

'Bingo!', Deidara thought as he pulled out the small scroll.

Without another thought, Deidara silently dashed and jumped out the window. He sighed in relief as he touched the solid ground below. At that moment he was spotted.

"STOP!"

"Crap...", Deidara said and made a dash for the exit of the city.

"GET BACK HERE, YOU MANGY THIEF!"

The Chunin and Jonin chased after Deidara through out the dark and creepy night lit streets. They had a hard time catching Deidara. Deidara was just too fast and agile for them to catch him. Even throwing kunai and shuriken into his skin didn't slow the kid down. Deidara had a high pain tolerance, meaning he could endure the pain of having a kunai and a few shuriken sticking out of his left arm.

Deidara dove into an alley and formed a hand sign. He began to travel into the ground, leaving no trace of entry. By the time the Jonin and Chunin found the alley that Deidara dove into, they couldn't sense Deidara anywhere in the alley. Deidara had gotten away.

"Let's report this to the Tsuchikage and see what we need to do from here.", One of the Jonin said.

"Okay.", One of the Chunin said.

With that, the Chunin and Jonin leaped for the Tsuchikage Tower to report the recent events to Onoki.

Present Day; with Team Avatar:

"So since then, I have been working for anti-government groups, using my art to blow up things they needed to be rid of, hm.", Deidara said with a smirk, finishing his tale.

Everyone was astonished. No one knew what to say exactly in response to the story. Aang was first to break the silence.

"Wow...", Aang said.

"All of that over one guy's opinion? That's just sad.", Toph said.

"And I thought you were obnoxious from time to time, but that just took the blubber seal jerky...", Sokka said.

Katara was a bit too surprised to comment. She was not sure how to say her opinion without ticking Deidara off. All she knew was, she agreed with this Onoki guy about Deidara needing to learn some respect and manners.

"Now that your bed time story is done, now good night.", Deidara said mockingly as he crawled into his sleeping bag, going to his personal dreamland...