Yahiko and the three children finished a short tour of Iwagakure with Deidara and Kurotsuchi, and were now walking with them toward the outskirts of the village.
Two kilometers west of Iwa, halfway up a mountain slope, stood several battered earth-style houses barely holding together. This was Deidara's home outside the village.
Yahiko looked at them from a distance and shook his head helplessly.
"Blowing up your own house too? That's… impressive, in the worst way."
Kurotsuchi glanced over.
"Red-haired mister, are you really planning to stay here with Deidara?"
"Iwagakure prices are robbery," Yahiko said casually. "Can't afford to stay in the village. Besides, staying here lets me keep an eye on him. You can call off that escort behind you—no need for him to follow anymore."
"It's Kakko, not 'that guy,'" Kurotsuchi corrected.
"Kakko… explosions…" Yahiko muttered. "Yeah, the name fits."
Deidara stood stiffly to the side, silent. These people had decided to move into his place without even asking him.
But he didn't protest.
Partly because he still hadn't gotten revenge for the morning…
and partly because he knew protesting wouldn't change anything.
"Well then, see you tomorrow, red-haired mister!" Kurotsuchi waved and left.
Yahiko waved back, then turned to Deidara.
"Which one's your room?"
"Far left. Hmm."
"Good. I'll take the second one. Kimimaro, third. Karin, fourth. Haku, last."
Yahiko clapped his hands. "It's late. Get some rest. Training starts early tomorrow."
Everyone dispersed—except Karin, who hesitated before tiptoeing up beside Yahiko.
"What, you want to share a room with me?" Yahiko raised an eyebrow.
Karin rolled her eyes and leaned in, grinning conspiratorially.
"Elder, didn't you notice? Deidara keeps sneaking looks at Haku."
Yahiko blinked.
"No way."
"I swear! I caught him several times."
Yahiko thought for a moment, then sighed.
"He looks at Haku, not you. That answer doesn't come to you naturally?"
Karin froze.
Then turned sharply and stormed back to her room.
Friendship over.
Yahiko watched her leave and muttered to himself,
"Haku's charm really is a problem…"
Late at night.
Yahiko lay on his bed, eyes closed, considering whether he should have Haku disguise herself more heavily. Wherever they went, trouble followed—even someone as… unique as Deidara couldn't resist.
Just then—
"Hmm?"
Yahiko sensed an abnormal chakra fluctuation. He reached toward the window, pulling in more than a dozen small white spiders with gravitational force.
"—!"
A suppressed shout came from the next room.
"Art is an explosion! Hm!"
"Go to sleep," Yahiko muttered. "Explosions aren't bedtime stories."
He crushed the chakra in the spiders, mashed them together in his hand, opened the window, and tossed the lump straight into Deidara's room.
"There. Now you can blow it up."
"…Damn it—"
BOOM!
Yahiko sensed the aftermath and nodded in satisfaction.
"Good. He should sleep well now."
Deidara passed out.
The next morning.
Yahiko led Kimimaro, Karin, and Haku through light warm-up training when Kurotsuchi arrived, smiling brightly. Beside her walked Akatsuchi, the stocky, good-natured boy.
"You're up early!" Kurotsuchi said. "Where's Deidara?"
"Sleeping till noon," Yahiko replied. "Perfect timing. They just finished warming up."
"…You're not starting sparring first thing in the morning, are you?"
"You want to take your grandfather's Tsuchikage seat one day, right? Effort matters."
Yahiko paused, frowning slightly.
Kurotsuchi's strength was awkwardly balanced. Karin wasn't her match—but Kurotsuchi couldn't compete with Haku or Kimimaro either.
Kurotsuchi smiled knowingly.
"I'll spar with Karin. I'll hold back."
Karin clenched her fists, veins bulging.
Yahiko glanced at her with a grin.
"Not happy? Then get used to it. If you're behind, you get hit."
Karin: "…Fine."
As the two girls squared off, Yahiko turned to Akatsuchi.
"Kimimaro. Haku. Both of you."
After a beat, he added calmly,
"Go easy."
"Understood, god!" Kimimaro answered eagerly—and charged.
Yahiko sighed. He hadn't meant that kind of easy.
Sure enough, Kimimaro was sent flying almost immediately.
The rest of the exchange proved Yahiko right—Akatsuchi was far stronger than he looked.
Aside from speed, his chakra reserves and raw power far surpassed both opponents.
Even together, Haku and Kimimaro could only barely hold their ground against his earth-style techniques.
"Unassuming people are always the most dangerous," Yahiko said with a smile.
"That earth-style talent is rare."
Over on the other side, Karin was doing even worse.
Yahiko finally realized Kurotsuchi was also a kekkei genkai user—molten chakra constantly spewed from her mouth, leaving Karin covered in ash and burns.
"Deidara hasn't even joined yet," Yahiko muttered.
"Three-on-two and they're still struggling. They have a long way to go."
He walked aside, toward a pile of white clay he'd quietly collected earlier—taken straight from Deidara's room.
Explosion Release…
Anyone could technically learn it, but only Deidara had turned it into a bloodline-level art.
Half a minute later, Yahiko held a small white sphere identical in chakra signature to Deidara's spiders.
He smiled.
"For someone who knows how everything works, this is easy."
Another secret technique added to Uzushiogakure's legacy.
He tried reshaping it—changing the form.
Failed.
Again.
Still failed.
"…Do I actually have to chew it?"
After hesitating, Yahiko popped a piece of clay into his mouth.
"…Huh. Slightly sweet."
He absentmindedly blew air—
"—PFFT!"
He spat out a misshapen lump with teeth marks.
"…How does he make spiders out of this?"
After more attempts, he finally shaped something usable.
A grenade.
Yahiko weighed it in his hand, then casually tossed it toward Deidara's house.
"Fire in the hole."
---
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