"Gaara-senpai!" A girl with short brown hair barged into the Kazekage's room.

"Matsuri, how many times have I asked you not to enter in here like that?" The young Kazekage said calmly while he stared out his window. "There's no reason as to why you cannot knock."

"I know senpai, I know, but this is really, really important!" Matsuri stressed.

"What is it?"

"There was, like, an explosion, and then like, people were all running, and then-!" She yelled.

"Calm down." Gaara sighed and looked at his pupil. She was a great person, but she really did have a knack of being quite impatient and over-reactive. "Explain to me what's going o."

"We can explain." Two members of the Sand Village's ANBU –One a woman with long, dark hair and a hare mask, and a man, with long, brown hair tied into a small pony-tail at the back and a lion mask over his face- waltzed in without even making the slightest noise.

"Right. Matsuri, please wait outside." Gaara instructed. As impatient as Matsuri may have been, she knew how to take orders and never questioned Gaara. After all, she admired him more than any other person in the world; in her eyes, Gaara was the definition of perfect.

"An explosion has occurred up at the market. As of now, we are not sure who or what caused this explosion." The man explained.

"But that isn't all." The woman continued. "We also found Haki dead in some bushes."

At the latter statement, Gaara's eyes widened.

"We believe that his murder could be linked to the explosion." The man finished.

XxXxXxXxXxX

Matsuri stood outside the Kazekage's room, looking at the sky through a window. Caught in deep thought, she wondered how the Kazekage would take the news.

Suddenly, the door opened. Gaara walked out with the two ANBU members, a grim expression on his face. It only took his expression for Matsuri to know that she wasn't going to be able to go with her senpai. Not this time.

"Tell Kankuro and Temari to meet up with me. Inform them of the situation." The young Kazekage said to the two ANBU members walking beside him. "After that, evacuate the people out of the area."

XxXxXxXxXxX

Naruto hid behind a crater filled with vegetables as he saw Deidara take down his clone.

"He's stronger than I had thought." Naruto curled his fists. "And it doesn't seem like these are his full abilities. He's hiding something."

It didn't take very long for Deidara to figure out that he had simply taken down a clone, as it soon disappeared in a puff of smoke.

"Come out, you coward!" He yelled out.

Naruto came out of hiding, throwing three kunais while he did so, but Deidara swiftly dodged them with no problem.

Naruto ran at Deidara once more sending a barrage of kicks and punches. Deidara's face puckered as he attempted to block them all, but the kicks and punches were too fast. Deidara landed in the dirt as Naruto's right leg connected with his head.

"I've got to get some distance between us." Deidara thought, spitting at the ground.

Deidara jumped back a few meters, measuring his distance between Naruto carefully. He put his hand behind his back, letting his hand eat some clay.

"Now, you shall see and feel true art! Behold, C1!" Deidara yelled.

XxXxXxXxXxX

Hinata jumped from roof to roof, clearing distance between her and whatever was going on. She activated her Byakugan once more and tried to see what was happening, but even then her Byakugan proved inefficient enough. All she was able to see were two blurry figures. Although one of them did have a familiar chakra flow from what she could see…

She once again kept on the move, keen on seeing what was going on.

XxXxXxXxXxX

Deidara threw countless bug-like clay creations into the air.

"What in Kami's name is that?" Naruto looked at the tiny creations, trying to discern what exactly they were; never in his life had he seen something like that.

"Wait for it… Wait for it… Now!" Deidara lifted his hand.

"Katsu!"

The bugs ripped through the air, exploding. Naruto's eyes widened as he tried to dodge them all.

"W-What exactly is this release?" Naruto thought. Clay creations fused with explosions? Never would he have imagined seeing such a mixture.

Deidara smiled as he took out 3 shuriken; the clay bombs were never intended to actually maim Naruto. They were simply a diversion.

He threw each shuriken one by one, but Naruto's ears were sharp; he had already heard the familiar whirring sound. He quickly took out his ninjato, swiftly parrying the shurikens one by one. He ran towards Deidara while blocking more of the shuriken being thrown by him.

Deidara didn't move an inch while Naruto charged at him until he was only a meter away from him.

"Katsu!" Deidara smiled.

"It can't be, all of his bombs exploded!" Naruto thought. "Unless if…Crap!"

He quickly halted, putting his arms in front of him.

"Too late boy!" Deidara finished as he himself exploded.

XxXxXxXxXxX

Gaara was running through the streets towards the pillar of smoke when he heard another explosion set itself loose.

"Two explosions in the same place… Just what exactly is going on?" Gaara calmly whispered.

XxXxXxXxXxX

"Is it really over?" Deidara leaned on his arm, sitting on the top of a house. "How boring…"

Suddenly a blond figure jumped out of the smoke and landed on the ground. Deidara only smiled.

"D-Damn…" Naruto thought, kneeling on the ground while he held his arm that tingled. He had saved himself at the last second by quickly using the Shunshin no Jutsu, but his left arm had received some of the blow. Luckily, he was still in one piece. "I've got to concentrate."

"You're not too bad at running away." Deidara chuckled, jumping down from his resting place. "But there's no fun in playing cat and mouse."

Naruto let out a low growl, trying to keep his calm.

"Tajuu Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" He yelled.

In swift puffs of smoke dozens of clones appeared surrounding Deidara.

"Deal with this!" The clones yelled, all of them charging at the terrorist bomber.

"Quantity doesn't substitute quality, boy!" Deidara said, taking on the clones.

Each clone came rushing only to be dissipated by a flurry of attacks from Deidara. He sent upper-cuts, jabs, and all kinds of kicks. He quickly made some C1 bombs and threw them into the incoming clones.

"Katsu!" Dozens of clones disappeared in a puffs of smoke.

Deidara swiftly kicked a clone in the head before doing a backflip, landing behind a clone. He grabbed hold of him and turned him around, using him as a shield against another clone's attack as the rest of Naruto's clone quickly piled on Deidara

Then, out of nowhere, a huge clay white bird appeared, diving into the battle-zone and picking up his creator out of the mass. Deidara held on to a wing before climbing properly on the bird.

"Right on time…" He panted, wiping some blood from his mouth. "It's time for something bigger."

His hands chewed up some clay, quickly making two huge, circle-like bombs that were as big as a basketball. He lifted them on his shoulder before dropping them.

The two explosives plummeted through the air aimed towards the very heart of the large crowd of clones.

"Katsu!" He yelled, doing his familiar hand seal.

Deidara's timing couldn't have been more perfect. The bombs let loose, causing a colossal explosion. Three quarters of the clones were caught in the explosion as it grew and grew. The shockwave made even Deidara's footing stumble. Smoke raised itself again, this time in much greater amounts.

"Did that get him?" He asked himself. "Or was he able to squeeze his way through this one also?"

Deidara looked at the smoke intently. If the young Uzumaki was still alive then the smoke would be to his favor while it still blocked any view.

"Uzumaki, don't think you can hide forever! You may think you have the scene advantage, but let me let you in on a little secret." He yelled.

The real Naruto hid behind a 3 meter high pile of debris from a house that had been caught in the explosion. He was still in one piece but his injured arm dripped blood. He quickly summoned some wrapping bandages out of a summoning scroll of his.

"As of now, there's countless bombs planted underground." He continued. "In other words, if I really wanted to, I could blow you to hell and back."

Naruto gritted his teeth.

"That's right Uzumaki. You're playing on my turf." He finished, smiling.

A/N: That's chapter 8 guys! Hope you guys enjoyed it; now, for the reviews:

Angelito Soldado says:

"Awesome story!

It's taken me a week to read all of your chapters but not because I'm a slow reader, life's just that troublesome...

Love how the story's going on so far and I see you're somewhat following some of the arcs that Kishi did...

I'm glad Sasuke's at least a decent villain... Not some hack-villain who's just crazy...

Can't wait to see how Deidara is taken care of and how Naruto or Gaara or even Hinata finishes him off...

Good luck with whatever!"

Hello, new friendo! About the arc's, I didn't actually think of it that way, but now that you mention it you're right. Go unoriginality! xD

From another good friendo, Oceanmoon:

"I am really enjoying this story!"

Then I'm glad I can say "Mission Accomplished" so far!

Another new reviewer, Rosie Thornet reviews:

"Call me crazy but I want it to be slightly Sasuhina, because I want to see some rivalry between Naruto and Sasuke. That'd be awesome. My logic is that Sasuke will take her away, and he'll fall hard for her, but remember this is Naruhina so Naruto will get her back. After a long and grueling fight. (:"

Talk about creative! See people, these are the kinds of reviews that fill my incomprehensible mind with ideas! Thanks for the review Ms. Thornet!

Chewie Cookies says:

"Damn, VERY evil cliffhanger!

Keep up the good work!"

Let's be honest C.C. (Can I call you that?); every author has to have an evil cliffhanger at some point. :D Thank you for your review!

From In Your Dreams as Well:

"Awesome story! :)"

Thank you good sir/m'aam!

That's everything for this chapter. Please give me your feedback on how this chapter was, how I should improve, and if you have an idea for this story then feel free to share it. Thanks guys!

-Sky