This would have been out a few hours earlier, but I slept in and barely had time to change before going to college. Still, I had my English exam yesterday so that class is no longer running. Heh, my working week just shortened to 2 days. On another note, nat19th on deviantArt has finally finished her drawing of Neji, so for all those of you lacking the imagination to picture him yourself, or those who are just curious, check out what she's done. And comment damn you, she did a fantastic job!
Disclaimer: WOO! I was worried that because of Golden Week, the next manga chapter would be late too, but it's here!
The art of death and destruction
Deidara kept his distance as Kirai drew near, watching like a hawk as his centipedes bore down on his opponent. His old partner took his nodachi in his left hand and ran the tongue of his right hand across it, releasing a fair amount of bloodlust in the process. Deidara had to hand it him; this guy had done more than fall over the edge.
"Now!" he thought, seeing the exact moment his pieces of artwork would burst from the ground. His thoughts were proven correct as the clay models erupted from the ground and threw themselves at Kirai. The man saw them in time to react however, and with one hand he slashed them both, cutting them in half. But they were close enough to do what Deidara intended, he raised his hand in a single seal and called out, "KATSU!"
Kirai darted for him, getting out of range just seconds before the centipedes exploded. This gave Deidara an even angrier look, his Jutsu shouldn't have taken seconds to explode in the first place. He leapt back as Kirai drew upon him, throwing a small spherical insect bomb at his opponent as he drew back to get out of range. In that time Deidara managed to procure a bird smaller than his eagle, but just enough to support his weight. He flew away at a speed Kirai matched, but was unable to gain height as it was.
"Is it that sword?" he thought, as his little bird beat its thin wings frantically. Kirai swiped at the bird with his blade, but he was just out of reach. Deciding to take this opportunity to learn a thing or two, Deidara spoke up. "So how's it been buddy?" he asked, with a casual smirk. Kirai glared at Deidara before coming to a sudden stop; he was just wasting his energy running needlessly. Deidara stopped too, but his bird continued to flap his wings, resulting in him hovering just a few feet above the ground.
Kirai gripped his blade to his side, his blade slow as he stood suspicious of any possible trickery brought on by his former comrade. "I've been screwed over time and time again, and it's all thanks to your betrayal!" he growled, his narrow eyes glaring at Deidara with a vengeance. "You ran off with the Kinjutsu and left me to take the heat, then she turned on me soon after!"
"That would be little Rei-chan I take it?" Deidara asked, smiling as he folded his arms and looked down at Kirai. His reply came as a curt nod, one that made his smile widen. "Ah I see… I think I get it now." He said, letting out an inward chuckle. "So then that would be the reason you took her, yeah?"
"Among other things." Kirai replied, before readying his blade again. Deidara tensed, but was taken off guard when instead of swinging, Kirai dropped his nodachi and began forming hand seals. The blond man rapidly took off, crouching down as his bird flew erratically to avoid the oncoming attack. Kirai ran after him, abandoning his nodachi for the moment as he continued his flurry of seals. He finally finished them, before once more raising his right hand, but this time throwing it into the ground. "Katon: Magma Dragon Jutsu!" he cried, fixing his eyes on Deidara.
"Shit!" Deidara thought, as he spotted the ground beneath him glow faintly orange. Moments later the earth erupted as a long plume of fire shot out of the ground. It quickly took on the form of a long snake like dragon, before chasing Deidara in and out of the ground. "Damn it, can hardly get a shot at him like this."
It wouldn't have been so much of a problem, if his opponent didn't already know what kind of fighter he was. Instead of going straight for him, Kirai was using his dragon to herd him in, forcing him to stay in proximity. The Jutsu was gradually weakening, but by the time it was over he would be in a tight spot.
"Time to abandon ship I guess." Deidara thought, looking over his shoulder at Kirai. He waited for the right moment, before leaping off the clay bird. As soon as the flaming dragon struck it, the bird exploded and forced the Jutsu to end. Deidara however paid this no heed as he flew over Kirai, tossing another insect bomb down. "Now lets see if he does that again."
Kirai looked up as Deidara passed overhead, but his focus quickly moved to the bomb descending upon him. With a quick swipe his hands flew to the two wakizashi at his sides and whipped them out, slicing the insect bomb in two places. Deidara tested his theory again and made the single seal to ignite the clay bomb, making the call in his head as he landed on the ground. Just like he thought, nothing happened. But he was far from pleased by this.
"Damn, there goes that idea." He thought, as he turned to fully face Kirai. His opponent turned to him and raised his wakizashi, one hand gripping a blade with a fist, and the other gripping it in the reverse direction. Deidara knew these grips well, after all, using those wakizashi had been Kirai's specialty back in the day. "The Hammer and the Murderer... heh."
"Hey, Gaara." Naruto said, his brow creased in concentration. He and the red haired boy watched from afar as the two presumably former Iwa nin squared each other off, their arms folded and wearing serious looks. "That guy over there… he was there that time, when we were sent on the mission to find the dog scroll, wasn't he?"
Gaara looked over at Naruto, his expression unchanging as he glanced over his friend's face. He slowly turned his eyes back to the battle, holding in his discontented words. "I'm surprised you remember that." He said, as Deidara threw a bomb to the ground to make distance between him and his opponent. "Yes, that appears to be the same person from that time."
Naruto fixed his gaze upon the person he spoke off, recalling the last time they had encountered. His memories of back then weren't particularly strong, he had led a busy life since. But he could vaguely recall little details, for one thing there had been another person with him back then. Though it was only a fleeting thought, Naruto felt a little curious as to where she was. As memory served him, that guy over there had been more than a little protective of her.
"So what now?" he wondered, his brow furrowing as Deidara made his next move. Using both hands, he threw two birds, one at Kirai and one behind him into the trees. Kirai was forced to dodge as the bird instantly multiplied in size, rolling across the ground to avoid it. "Looks like there're limits to the bombs he can negate."
"DAMN IT!" Deidara yelled, as he landed on the other bird and took high to the sky. Judging by both his voice and his expression, he was seriously starting to get annoyed with the way this battle was going. It was hardly a mystery why, even Naruto could work out that Deidara was a long range fighter, taking him on up close was to his disadvantage. Yet somehow Kirai persistently closed the distance.
"Running away again eh?" Kirai thought aloud, as he readied his blades again. He then hurled them up the hill on his right, before using the Shunshin no Jutsu to disappear quickly. He came back into sight halfway up the hill, throwing kunai with explosive tags high above Deidara's head. Then, without stopping, he grabbed both his wakizashi and leapt into the air, just as the explosions forced Deidara to move again. "YOU WON'T GET THE CHANCE!"
Deidara looked up just as Kirai appeared beside him, taking footing on the birds and plunging both his blades deep into Deidara's stomach. The blond nin gasped in shock, bucking over as Kirai pushed the blades in deep inside of him. He raised his head to look up at Kirai, who was shooting him an evil glare. "You're little sculptures don't stand a chance against me." Said the dark haired nin. His eyes then widened as he raised his foot and drove it into Deidara's chest, kicking him clean off the bird and out of sight. "THIS IS VENGEANCE!"
"The hell it is!"
Kirai whipped his head up high in shock, stunned to see the bird he had earlier dodged flying straight at him. What was even worse was that on top of the bird, completely unwounded, was Deidara. Kirai snarled in rage as his enemy glared back at him, but failed to see until it was too late what Deidara intended. He flipped off his own bird and sent it flying into the one Kirai occupied. "THIS IS ART! KATSU!"
The two birds collided, and in that moment exploded in a brilliant blaze of light. Kirai's silhouette disappeared in the flames that the two bombs created, the noise too loud for even a cry to escape. Deidara landed on the hillside, watching above as the person who had once been his partner was incinerated. He showed no remorse however, instead he wore a broad grin on his face as he called out at the top of his voice. "MY ART IS GREATER THAN YOURS!"
Two lone figures dressed in sweeping black cloaks stepped over the rocks of the mountain path. The red clouds on their clothing moved almost as freely as their real counterparts which drifted across the sky above them. The air was stale and warm, there were few who ever journeyed to this place without good reason and good training. Fortunately for this pair, they had both.
Hoshigake Kisame walked beside his partner, Uchiha Itachi, as they made their way across the northwest part of Tsuchi no Kuni. They had both recently finished a mission for Iwagakure of all places, to their surprise the Tsuchikage had been keen to use their assistance in bringing down a group of insurgents.
It seemed that as of so far, the five nations were yet to realise Akatsuki's intentions. Although it could simply be that Iwa was one of the countries most detached from the rest of the world. On the other hand, with Yoinokuchi now working separately from Akatsuki it gave the older organisation room to meet its other ends while possibly more suitable candidates took care of their real goal.
That was the reasoning Pein had given them anyway, Kisame wasn't quite so sure. "Maybe three years in the wilderness isn't best for building charisma." He said, letting out a thin sigh as they began their descent down a shallow recline. They would now be headed towards another mission, one given to them by the Daimyo surprisingly enough. "Geez, if Naruto starts talking everything's gonna go to hell."
"Kisame, you're talking to yourself again." Itachi said, looking to his partner from the corner of his eyes. Ever since coming back officially from the training trip, Kisame had adopted a rather pensive attitude whenever it came to mention of his students. It was made worse then when he would bring the topic up on his own. Of course, far be it for him to get annoyed at solemnity, but when he could be described as the more upbeat of the two, certain lines had to be drawn. "So far they have succeeded in acquiring the Sanbi, Rokubi and Nanabi Jinchuriki. If it really was luck that got them this far, then numbers will get them the rest of the way."
Kisame glanced at his partner with a cocked brow, a curious grin appearing on his face. He wasn't sure which was stranger, the almost positive view that the nihilistic guy beside him had given, or if it was the fact he seemed to be trying to console Kisame. Whatever it was, he knew very well that when he was seen as the pessimistic one, something had to be done.
"I guess it's no matter." He said, his grin widening as he turned his attention to the path ahead again. He could feel the Samehada snoozing leisurely on his back, and was reminded of the first time Naruto had wielded the Ekokaeten. He compared that to the last time he and his little disciple sparred, how the runt had come out bruised and bloody, but still very conscious. "They're not going to die, so there's no need to worry."
"Hn." Itachi muttered, giving a small incline to his head as he quietly agreed. He himself recalled teaching those two to overcome Genjutsu, he knew neither was the sort to back off until they lost consciousness. However, whether or not that was a bad thing was yet to be seen.
Kisame made a small inward chuckle as he thought something to himself. Looking over his shoulder, he wondered if his two students had managed to make it inside the country yet. Considering who they were travelling with, they were most likely wasting no time in finding the Jinchuriki. "But even if they do find him, he won't be like the other ones." He thought, turning his eyes ahead as the hill levelled out. "And Naruto's stupid… he doesn't even know about that yet."
Gaara and Naruto both watched intently as Deidara yelled his proclamation, claiming that there was none who could stand against his art. The man who had seemed so collected looked like he had lost his mind, yelling at the smouldering a few dozen feet away from him.
However, even though he personally was so focused on the cloud, not even Gaara or Naruto had expected what happened next. Just a metre to Naruto's right, something flew by with incredible speed. It took them a moment to realise what it was, an arrow?
"Behind us?" Naruto thought, as he whipped his head back. He looked amongst the trees rapidly, but he couldn't see anyone there. Who the hell had gotten the drop on them like that? However, knowing that there was no way someone that sneaky could have missed such an easy shot, Naruto was inclined to think that they weren't the target. He whipped his head back around, but kept himself aware of his back now too. He realised something peculiar, the arrow was flaming, and seemed to have no intention of descending.
Deidara saw it, and leapt out of the way, a good decision as the ground the arrow struck shattered. His eyes scanned the place it had come from, judging from Naruto's reaction it had been somewhere behind where he and Gaara stood.
"Who's there, don't tell me he has backup?" he thought, as he squinted in that direction. But then a thought struck his mind and his eyes widened, for the first time he considered something he should have realised from the start. Whipping his head to the right, he realised his mistake. "Shit! I got so wrapped up I didn't even look for a body!"
It was true, even though the cloud had disappeared there was still no signs of Kirai anywhere. That could only mean that he'd gotten away, a fact that made Deidara curse his own foolishness. Fortunately he hadn't fully expected his attack to succeed, and had already begun moulding clay and chakra together.
"This is taking too long." Gaara said, with an incensed look on his face. Naruto had to give a smile to that, he could tell Gaara would rather not be in this situation. It didn't look like it had anything to do with them, they could just as easily leave if it weren't for the fact that they needed Deidara's help.
"Something's happening." Naruto said, the smile disappearing as his attention was grabbed. Deidara had leapt into the air, and thrown both his hands down. Whatever he dropped fell to the ground, and like everything else he created, grew to greater proportions after disappearing in smoke.
Five birds appeared on the ground, smaller eagles that stood proud like any of its living counterparts. They all took off at once, one flying underneath Deidara and allowing him to sit on its back as it soared higher. The rest circled around him as he took to the skies, tracking his chakra signature or however else they managed to follow him.
Something was wrong; things were way too quiet. Deidara knew well that Kirai wouldn't just sit back and let him prepare like this, there was no advantage to be gained from that. The only possibility was that he too was getting ready for something, and considering that wasn't Kirai's style, that thought was all the more troubling.
Something finally happened, a movement that made Deidara spring into action. Kirai had burst from the trees, running with a long yumi bow in his hands and a quiver strapped to his back. One thing was certain; he had definitely not been using those before. He held it at the ready, aiming an arrow straight for Deidara.
"Range vs range huh?" Deidara though aloud, smirking as he raised his hand and had the tongue inside wave in the air. His expression grew even more confident with his narrowing eyes, he raised his hand into a seal. "Like that's going to-"
His face froze in shock as one of his birds suddenly fell from the sky. One of Kirai's arrows has shot into it, and it lost its ability to stay airborne. As it came crashing down to the ground, Kirai jumped in the air and used it as a temporary foothold to make his next jump. In barely a moment he was level with Deidara, aiming an arrow straight at him that was dripping with some strange liquid.
"Wait a minute." Deidara thought, as once more he saw that sharp tongue on Kirai's hand. Finally things were making sense, even if pieces of the puzzle were still coming together. There were still a few factors missing, but Deidara was able to make one clear assumption. "So it is the saliva after all!"
Kirai fired the arrow, which became charged with the chakra placed in it by the saliva, Deidara could see this now. With its release, it became charged at an incredible rate, moving faster than it ever should. There was no doubt that if that were to hit, it would be like stabbing butter with a red hot pike.
THRUMMM!
Deidara and Kirai's eyes both widened in shock as their views of each other were cut off. Neither Kirai nor the arrow could make out anything past what now stood between them. It was a wall of sand, burst from below. Kirai's lips curled back into a snarl as he caught sight of the perpetrator down below, Gaara looked up at him with cold eyes.
"What do you think you're doing?" Deidara demanded, looking down over the edge of his bird. Gaara slowly turned his gaze to look up at him, while Kirai landed down on the ground. Don't get in the way of other people's fights!"
"We're not paying you to goof off." Gaara replied, giving Deidara a flat look. The sand slowly lowered back down to the gourd as he spoke, reforming the large item and clearing the view the two had. "We've got a mission to get to."
The blond man blinked down at Gaara in surprise, taken aback by the words he said. After a moment's thought, a smirk appeared on his face as he let out a light laugh, nodding his head understandingly. "Right, sorry about that." He said, as he straightened up. Kirai made to go for him again, but was stopped as a giant blade was pressed against his neck. Behind him stood Naruto, wearing a sly smirk as he got some quiet revenge by reversing a situation he and this person had gone through long before. "Guess we'll finish this quick."
"So you're all going to interfere huh?" Kirai asked, leering at both Deidara and Gaara. The Akatsuki man dropped down from his bird and landed on the ground, the four clay models nesting down behind him. It was this person that Kirai gave his most hateful look to. "Mark my words, I will get you."
Then, before anyone could do anything, Kirai suddenly disappeared in a puff of smoke. Naruto was taken in shock by this, there was absolutely no way that was a Shunshin, he would have noticed at this range. But at the same time, he was nowhere near here.
"Looks like he really does have someone summoning him." Deidara said, sighing as he placed his hand on his side. Naruto and Gaara were both taken by surprise from this, neither were particularly familiar with the Kuchiyose no Jutsu that had only ever been mentioned to them by their sensei.
"Wait a minute, you can summon people?" Naruto bewilderedly asked. He placed Eko back onto his back, looking over to the place where that arrow had come from earlier. So then Kirai really did have an accomplice then. "But.. it couldn't have been that girl, could it?"
"It takes a lot of skill, but it's not impossible." Deidara explained, as he turned towards the birds behind him. Gaara did the same; it was clear what was to be their new mode of transport. "You'd either have to be a very powerful Shinobi to do it, or else spend years training. Either way, it's not something you just pick up."
Naruto turned on the spot, watching the trees off to the distance distrustfully. Despite what Kirai's words had suggested, Naruto wasn't ready to relax just yet. He knew for sure that Gaara too would be on alert, he couldn't really say about Deidara however. But when the other two climbed upon the clay birds, he decided all they could do was leave. He turned back and began to make his way to the other two, before realising a bird had already been selected and placed before him.
"Uhh…" he muttered, giving the bird a wary look. Up ahead, Deidara and Gaara were both watching and waiting for him, neither sure just what the cause of his apparent discomfort was. "This thing isn't gonna… y'know… explode or anything?"
"Don't tempt me." Deidara replied, his brow twitching in annoyance as he took that comment personally. Not one to pick up on subtleties like that, all Naruto could do was take his word for it and nervously climb aboard. Knowing the true purpose of these clay creations certainly didn't make it any easier to ride on them.
Then they suddenly took off, not as smoothly as they had been when atop the larger eagle, but airborne nonetheless. Naruto gripped the neck of the bird he sat on tight, not particularly appreciating the lack of grip offered from the literally bald eagle. Behind him he heard the sound of each of the remaining birds exploding, including the larger one they had been riding up until this point. He also heard an annoyed grunt, one that belonged to the person they had hired.
"Damn it, I'm running low on clay." Deidara muttered, searching through the pouches inside his cloak. He seemed quite annoyed about that, letting out an exasperated groan as he gave up his futile search. "Damn it Kirai, what're you doing showing up like this hm?"
"What was all that anyway?" Naruto asked, looking over at the person talking to himself with squinting eyes. He still had absolutely no idea what to make of this situation, a person he had met only briefly showed up out of nowhere and attacked someone they were travelling with. So far, not much of that train of thought made sense to him.
"Sorry, that's a private story." Deidara replied, keeping his eyes ahead as he answered. Both his answer and the troubled look on his face asked that no further questions be asked for now, something Naruto was just barely able to realise. "Knowing him, we'll be having another encounter like this soon, so be prepared."
"He doesn't have to tell us that."
Naruto gave a small smirk of agreement, even now he was wondering why he had stayed back from that fight in the first place. Once the awe of the explosions had left him, that battle had next to no progress. Both combatants had left without injury, something that Naruto and Gaara had both been trained to be ashamed of. Yet all Deidara could do was smirk faintly, thinking whatever strange thoughts were running through his head.
"His art… I wonder if he even remembers?" Deidara wondered, as his eyes hazed out of focus.
