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After a rather thorough talk with Izumi, Neji finally pieced together the "misunderstanding" and he couldn't help but laugh.
Sure, Sasuko was beautiful now, but come on he wasn't some lovesick puppy.
If anything, his only real relationships had been accidents of circumstance: Tenten, out of mutual respect; Izumi, through compassion and fate; and Hinata… well, that was complicated.
Hiashi's "arranged future" idea wasn't something Neji had exactly planned for and with his current bloodline evolution, those lines were all but blurred.
Among bloodline clans, purity trumped everything. Unless they were immediate kin, pairings were hardly taboo. History was full of such examples and after living through multiple lifetimes, Neji had long since stopped caring about those conventions.
This was his third life, not the first. Morality didn't need to chain him anymore.
Still, he couldn't help but sigh. "People really overthink things sometimes…"
He brushed a hand through Izumi's soft hair.
"You're imagining things again. Look at Karin have I ever made a move on her?"
Izumi tilted her head against his chest, her eyes narrowing just slightly. "So… what are you planning to do about her?"
"No idea," Neji admitted without hesitation.
"She's stubborn. Even if I turned her down, do you think she'd just give up? Not a chance."
Izumi was quiet for a long moment. She knew Karin well after all, she'd mentored her these past three years.
That girl had been shaped by trauma and survival, raised in a den of snakes at Kusagakure. Once Karin decided something mattered, it was final.
She trusted only her own judgment and when she believed someone was worth her loyalty, she'd never let go.
"…I'll talk to her myself," Izumi said at last.
---
Meanwhile, far across the sea in the misty marshlands of the Land of Water chaos erupted.
A series of explosions rolled across the forest. Smoke and acid hissed through the trees as a man perched on a branch, calmly playing a flute.
Each note released shimmering bubbles that floated into the air only to burst in violent detonations as swarms of tiny clay birds dove from above.
"Oi, Deidara-senpai," the masked man called cheerfully. "You sure you've got this? Shouldn't I jump in?"
Deidara scowled over his shoulder. "Stay out of it, Tobi! It's my fight. The Six-Tails is nothing I can't handle!"
"Wow, confident much?" Tobi teased. "Hope you don't blow yourself up again, senpai~."
"Shut it!" Deidara barked. "When I'm done, you'll see the true art of explosion!"
He spat a mouthful of clay into his palm, molding it into dozens of tiny white creatures. They swooped into the smoke below, where the Six-Tails' host, a pale, quiet man named Utakata, prepared his counterattack.
From his back sprouted a thick, slimy tail. Acid dripped from its tip, sizzling the bark beneath his feet. He blew another haunting note on his flute, and droplets of liquid hissed outward like bullets.
Each drop that hit the ground exploded into corrosive steam.
Hiss—crackle—boom!
The forest trembled as trees collapsed, eaten through by acid.
"Whoa!" Tobi yelped. "Senpai, your explosions are melting trees now? So cool!"
"Shut up! That's not me!" Deidara snapped, pointing furiously downward. "Look closer that's acid, you idiot!"
"Ohhh~ So the trees aren't melting because of you… They're melting because he's better, huh?"
The mocking tone nearly made Deidara explode on the spot literally.
He clenched his jaw, twitching. "I swear, when this is over—"
A sudden jet of acid shot upward, forcing Deidara's clay bird to lurch aside. The tail's strike left a smoking trail through the air.
Tobi, meanwhile, was already laughing. "Senpai! Your bird's molting! Look feathers falling off!"
Deidara glanced down. Sure enough, parts of the clay construct were dissolving midair.
"I know! And you're in my way now get lost!"
Before Tobi could reply, Deidara's boot slammed into his back, sending him tumbling off the bird with a shriek.
"Gyaaaaah! Senpaiiiiii—!"
Deidara's craft shot skyward again, finally blessed with silence.
"Peace at last," he muttered, massaging his temple. "Annoying brat."
He turned his attention back to the battle, shaping a new set of clay bombs. "Time to show you true beauty… Art is an explosion!"
BOOOOOM!
The jungle vanished in white light and fire.
Far away, perched on a distant branch, a space-time vortex spiraled open.
From it stepped Obito the real mind behind the mask. He glanced down at the carnage, the crimson glow of his Sharingan flickering beneath the mask.
"The Six-Tails… Looks like Deidara's having more trouble than I expected," he muttered. "I'll take over from here. That host is mine."
With a wave of his hand, the vortex swallowed the empty mask Tobi had used the foolish persona gone as quickly as it had appeared.
---
When the dust settled, Deidara stumbled out of the smoke, half-burned and half-corroded, his cloak eaten away in patches.
He stared at the massive crater and the unconscious form of Utakata below.
A grin split his face. "Hah! Told you so. Art—always—wins."
Then he paused, swaying slightly. "Oi… Tobi! Tobi, you useless brat! Where the hell did you go?!"
His voice echoed across the ruined forest.
Only silence and the faint crackle of dissolving trees answered back.
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