"I hate it when people call me a brat, un!" Deidara snapped, his face contorting in irritation.
The moment the words left his mouth, he slammed his palms together and barked, "Ha!"
He didn't use hand signs. To be precise, Deidara was utilizing the power of a Kekkei Genkai, Explosion Release. Most of the time, he only needed a single hand sign, and that was strictly for molding his clay. When it came to detonating his explosive clay, no hand signs were required at all.
As his low shout echoed, Diarmuid's brows twitched slightly. The ground beneath his feet erupted in a violent explosion, the sheer force far eclipsing that of a standard paper bomb. The blast wave and thick smoke instantly engulfed Diarmuid, completely obscuring him from view.
A smug grin spread across Deidara's face. From the moment he initiated the attack, his eyes had been locked onto Diarmuid. According to his calculations, the man had absolutely failed to dodge the blast.
Did he drop his guard because of my age, un? Did the idiot think I was going to shout "let the match begin" or something? This is a battle between ninja, heh, Deidara sneered internally.
Admittedly, based on his execution, the opening move was a textbook ambush. It looked as though Diarmuid had been caught entirely unprepared for combat before Deidara detonated the explosive clay he had covertly planted beforehand.
But it was exactly as Deidara reasoned: this was a battle between ninja. Who cared about fighting fair? If an ambush like this was enough to deal a devastating blow, it only proved Diarmuid lacked competence; it didn't mean Deidara was underhanded.
Despite believing he had seized the upper hand, Deidara remained highly cautious. Chakra rapidly pooled in his palms as the slightly grotesque mouths on his hands opened up, spitting out a large quantity of white clay. Without needing to be molded by his fingers, the clay automatically shifted under the precise control of his chakra, shaping itself into scores of miniature spiders.
"Go!" Deidara flicked his wrists, and dozens of lifelike clay spiders dropped to the earth, swiftly scuttling toward the dense smoke surrounding Diarmuid.
Upon reaching the perimeter of the smoke, the spiders seemed to sense a target simultaneously. They leaped from the ground in unison, plunging straight into the haze.
Deidara's grin widened. "I knew it wouldn't be that simple, un. Trying to act like you're heavily wounded to lure me in? This grand master is a lot more careful than that!"
The instant the final spider vanished into the cloud, Deidara barked another command. Within the thick smoke that already blocked all vision, a continuous, rapid succession of fierce explosions rang out. Though these blasts lacked the sudden, destructive force of the initial explosion, they made up for it with their relentless, overlapping frequency.
Even after unleashing this follow-up assault, Deidara maintained his guard. It had to be said that while the boy carried himself like a rebellious, troublesome brat on the surface, his tactical execution as a ninja was exceptionally elite.
He appeared to hold a massive advantage, but Deidara knew that for Diarmuid to carve out such a terrifying reputation across the ninja world, he couldn't possibly be a weakling. The fact that the man had made no attempt to react or counterattack up to this point was a glaring anomaly in itself.
Whether out of pure caution or to suit his own combat style, Deidara knew he shouldn't close the distance. He had to keep his guard up at all times.
His internal chakra rippled with subtle control; without extremely acute sensory perception, it would be impossible to track his next move. The earth beneath Deidara's feet had already been thoroughly altered by his Explosion Release chakra, silently laying the groundwork for a trap. Yet, from the surface, the terrain looked completely untouched.
A minute or two passed. During this interval, Deidara abstained from launching further attacks, keeping his sharp gaze fixed on the slowly dispersing veil of dust and smoke.
Sure enough, as the haze thinned out, the figure within gradually materialized.
Diarmuid stood exactly as he had before, entirely unaltered. The thick, black ash had failed to leave even a single blemish upon his pristine white haori and hakama.
Lowering his pipe slightly, Diarmuid casually exhaled a stream of smoke, looking entirely unbothered. His gaze pierced through the final remnants of the dust cloud, locking onto Deidara. "Is that all you've got? An explosion of this caliber won't scratch me, kid."
Deidara had anticipated that Diarmuid would survive the assault, but he had never expected the man to look completely unfazed, as if everything Deidara had just done amounted to nothing more than a pointless exercise.
He could have accepted a mismatch in raw durability; he wasn't someone who denied reality. What infuriated him to his core was Diarmuid's dismissive attitude toward his craft.
To Deidara, art was an explosion, and his explosions were the pinnacle of art. Diarmuid looking down on his explosions was a direct insult to his artistry. As an artist of the ninja world, he could tolerate many things, but he absolutely would not tolerate this!
"Damn you! How dare you mock my art, un! I'll show you what real power looks like!" Deidara roared in fury.
The moment he finished speaking, the mouths on his hands spat out more clay, ready to construct an even grander masterpiece.
However, the clay had barely left the palms of his hands and had not even begun to take shape when Deidara's eyes widened in sheer instinct. His pupils dilated then instantly contracted to microscopic points.
Within his field of vision, in less than a fraction of a heartbeat, Diarmuid's silhouette had already closed the distance and materialized directly in front of him.
So fast... The thought barely managed to register in Deidara's mind.
As the prized disciple of Iwagakure's highest authority, Deidara's battle reflexes were exceptional. Even though his conscious mind couldn't keep pace with the speed, his physical instincts kicked in automatically. His knees bent slightly, his ankles flexing as he threw his upper body backward, attempting to leap away and re-establish a safe distance.
Yet, in that exact same microsecond, a shadow draped over his vision.
Deidara could clearly see Diarmuid's palm, he could even make out the fine lines tracing across his skin. What followed was not a lethal strike, but rather the sight of Diarmuid's thumb and middle finger locking together, forming a ring as if prepping to flick something.
His mind raced. In the next instant, Deidara realized the truth: Is he trying to flick my forehead?!
What kind of bizarre maneuver was this?
Before his instinctual leap could carry him out of range, a sharp, searing pain erupted across Deidara's brow. His entire body was sent flying backward by the sheer force of a single finger-flick.
Even though it was just the strength of a finger, Deidara found it completely irresistible. He was hurled backward over a dozen meters. When his feet finally slammed into the mud, he was forced to take several stumbling steps, digging deep tracks into the earth before he could fully neutralize the kinetic energy.
He instinctively clapped a hand over his forehead, his face burning with absolute humiliation and rage; he could already feel a massive, throbbing lump swelling beneath his fingers!
Diarmuid's gesture was an utter insult. Deidara knew that if the man had harbored even a shred of murderous intent in that instant, he could have effortlessly snapped his neck. Deidara wouldn't have been able to perceive the strike, let alone counter it.
Was the chasm between their abilities really this vast?
"Are you mocking me, un?! Is this a joke to you?!" Deidara bellowed in a towering rage.
Without waiting for Diarmuid to reply, he slammed his hands into a hand sign, barking out a rapid sequence of commands.
Diarmuid was currently occupying the exact patch of ground where Deidara had been standing moments prior. The moment Deidara initiated the trap, Diarmuid sensed the shift and cast a casual glance downward.
In the next fraction of a second, the earth tore open as a massive white clay centipede erupted from the mud. It coiled tightly around his legs, instantly binding him in place.
A flicker of genuine surprise crossed Diarmuid's eyes. This technique looked incredibly familiar. If he recalled correctly, this was the exact same trick Deidara had attempted to use against Itachi in the original timeline, only to realize he was the clown all along; the centipede he thought he had wrapped around Itachi was actually coiled tightly around his own body, nearly blowing himself to pieces.
Even though he was thoroughly bound by the explosive centipede, no irritation surfaced on Diarmuid's face. On the contrary, his gaze carried a hint of approval.
Very good, not bad at all. Although Deidara's current strength posed absolutely zero threat to him, his fundamentals as a ninja were remarkably high. He laid his traps and lured his targets; while he seemed incredibly hot-tempered on the surface, his mind remained cold, analytical, and precise throughout the engagement. He was excellent raw material.
Granted, given his current power level, he wasn't quite qualified to become an official employee of the Yorozuya. But as an errand boy or an apprentice? He fit the bill perfectly.
It just so happened that Kabuto had recently been promoted to a full member. The Yorozuya was overdue for a new junior to handle the menial tasks, otherwise, how could the veterans emphasize their own seniority and importance?
"This isn't like those little toys from earlier, un! Once this baby goes off, the blast radius is massive! I suggest you don't—" Deidara shouted, seeing that he had successfully ensnared his target.
But before he could finish his warning, Diarmuid began to casually lift his arm, preparing to snap the bindings through sheer physical force.
Deidara wasn't the type to back down from a challenge. Abandoning his speech, he surged his chakra and directly commanded the centipede to detonate.
"Ha!" Deidara barked.
A brilliant flash of fire erupted as the clay centipede's body expanded rapidly, on the verge of tearing the surroundings apart with a cataclysmic blast.
Yet, in that single, fleeting microsecond, the light of the explosion manifested, but the sound never reached Deidara's ears. The flashing fire vanished as quickly as it had appeared, or more accurately, it was entirely smothered.
An oppressive aura of absolute darkness had instantly swallowed everything.
Bewilderment flashed in Deidara's eyes. He could have accepted it if the explosion had been deflected, or even blocked by a barrier. But the blast had clearly detonated; how could it possibly be absorbed out of nowhere?
Diarmuid stood clad in pure, pristine white garments, yet an uncomfortable, deeply unsettling dark energy oozed outward from the depths of his being. This bizarre, paradoxical contrast lent him an incredibly menacing, enigmatic air.
Snapping out of his daze, Deidara stared at Diarmuid, his voice laced with shock. "What... what is that, un?"
Diarmuid's lips parted into a cruel, dangerous smile. "Darkness."
"Darkn..." Deidara repeated mechanically.
Before he could finish the word, his entire vision went black.
It wasn't unconsciousness. Rather, it was the terrifying sensation that the entire world had been plunged into an absolute void. He had been thoroughly consumed by the darkness.
With his five senses completely stripped away, a primal dread gripped Deidara for the first time in his life. He screamed and roared with all his might, but to his growing horror, he couldn't hear his own voice, nor could he feel the vibration of his vocal cords.
Every effort was entirely futile. He had been completely dissolved and swallowed by the darkness.
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