Deidara's eyes gleamed the moment she heard Andrew speak. It was like she had found someone who finally understood her. With renewed excitement, she shook off the bindings of the loess-style jutsu and rushed over to Andrew's side like an old friend reunited.
"This guy gets it! Explosion is art! I'm just looking for more ways to express it!" she exclaimed.
Andrew gave a small smile but didn't fully agree. "That's true… but isn't your way of exploring art kind of... shallow?" he said plainly.
Deidara blinked in confusion. "Shallow?"
"You only pursue bigger and more powerful explosions. It's all about scale and brute force. But have you ever thought about refinement? The way you're doing it will always be a dead-end, Deidara. Explosion is more than chaos. It's precision."
Andrew's calm words struck Deidara like a surprise blast, not of clay—but of thought.
He continued, "Look, compared to people like Raikage or Tsuchikage, you're different. You focus on one thing, which makes it easier for someone like me to talk to you."
Deidara scratched her head, a little dazed by Andrew's words. "Hmm… maybe you're right. So what do you think I should do?"
"Think more creatively. Use your head. Imagine this: I tell you to blow up a bridge, but you're not allowed to destroy its overall structure. You need to cause a controlled blast that weakens it without collapsing it. Or worse—imagine I tell you to target a human body… no blood, no scars, but you have to destroy the chakra flow inside their cells. That, Deidara… that is real art."
Andrew had introduced Deidara to the concept of precision explosions—blasts that are elegant and surgical, not just loud and messy.
Deidara stood still, thinking deeply for once, completely forgetting Onoki, her supposed master, still nearby. Her world had suddenly expanded. "Art... that doesn't just destroy... but manipulates..."
Meanwhile, word of the ninja war's end between the Cloud and Rock Villages began to spread across the nations. And although many tried to hide it, Uchiha's involvement couldn't be kept secret anymore. Their decisive actions had shaped the war's final result.
Back in Konohagakure, the Third Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen, sat quietly in his office. He was reading the war report summaries. A deep breath followed as he exhaled smoke from his pipe. The reports were brutal—and crystal clear.
"Uchiha's elite unit—just a hundred of them—completely shredded the defenses of the Rock Village," he muttered to himself.
"And Andrew... He alone suppressed the entire leadership of Iwagakure, even cornering Onoki himself. Raikage gave up reparations and Cloud Shinobi retreated unconditionally."
The sheer force and tactical brilliance that once symbolized the might of Konohagakure was now in the hands of one clan.
Sarutobi lowered the scroll. Though he still sat in the Hokage chair, he knew the truth—his control over the village was crumbling.
Most of the Sarutobi clan were stationed at border outposts. The Shimura clan had retreated into obscurity after Danzo's death. Other once-proud ninja clans like the Tenshin and Mito clans were barely holding on, their numbers thin and their funding from the village cut. They were shrinking shadows of their former glory.
The Uchiha clan, however, no longer answered to Konoha. They operated independently, ignoring village policy and leadership altogether. As for the Hyuga clan, they too had distanced themselves from Sarutobi, focusing only on routine village duties and little else.
The only major support left was from the traditional Ino-Shika-Cho alliance. But even their loyalty was to the title of Hokage—not Sarutobi himself.
The political fabric of the village was falling apart internally, and from the outside, things weren't much better.
Despite Danzo's death, Sarutobi knew the grudge held by the Fire Daimyo was still strong. So long as Sarutobi remained in power, that anger wouldn't fade.
The relationships with the other four great villages were deteriorating fast. Iwagakure and Konohagakure had always been enemies. Sunagakure had suffered a humiliating loss and wanted revenge. Kumogakure? They were just waiting for a moment to strike again.
Even Kirigakure, separated by sea, still bore grudges from past conflicts.
In the old days, Konoha's strength kept enemies at bay. But now? Without the Uchiha, and with division at home, Konohagakure was a hollow shell.
Then came the knock.
"Lord Hokage," said an Anbu, entering swiftly. "This is from the Daimyo. The leaders of the Lands of Water, Thunder, and Earth have jointly issued a business cooperation statement with the Uchiha Group. They have acknowledged Uchiha as a multinational entity."
"They will be signing a franchise contract with the Uchiha Group in three days in the Land of Iron."
Sarutobi's heart sank. Even the Daimyo had bypassed him completely, choosing to go straight to Uchiha and ignore the Hokage altogether.
The Anbu continued, "This is the franchise application. Will you be attending the meeting?"
Sarutobi didn't answer at first. Then, quietly, he said, "Put it down. Inform the conference that I'll be present… as a formality."
He sighed again, his voice now full of age and regret. "In the past, I might have protested this. But now? I no longer have the authority. If not for the need to have all five Kage sign the contract, I probably wouldn't have even known it was happening."
He had become a figurehead—nothing more.
Another Anbu spoke softly. "Hokage-sama, please take care of yourself. The village will be okay."
Sarutobi gave a tired nod, waving him off.
His thoughts wandered. "Four Kage attending… will the Kazekage come too? This is starting to look like a Five Kage Summit."
The thought made him chuckle. Uchiha had somehow done the impossible—creating a diplomatic event that rivaled the Five Kage Conference… but for business.
---
Elsewhere, in Sunagakure, news of Uchiha's overwhelming military strength reached the Kazekage's ears.
Rasa, leader of the Sand, could only sigh. "Does it matter what I think anymore?" he muttered.
"Even if Uchiha summoned a 100-meter-tall Susanoo and marched through my gates, I'd still be helpless. Even if I threw my son at them—it wouldn't change a thing."
He leaned back, exhausted. Rasa knew his place. Sand Village was weak, barely holding onto its spot among the Five Great Nations.
"But this Uchiha business venture… that's what really bothers me," he said, sitting up.
"We may be poor, but we're still one of the Five Great Nations! Why would they negotiate with the other four and just leave us out?"
"This isn't just about money—it's about face."
He slapped the table. "We need economic growth too! We can't miss this!"
"Summon Lady Chiyo," he ordered. "We must be part of this Uchiha project. Tell the Daimyo too. If anyone can talk sense into her, it's him."
---
From the battlefield to the boardroom, Uchiha was reshaping the world—not through war, but with influence and vision.
And in the heart of Konoha, the Hokage sat quietly in a village no longer under his full control.
The age of scattered hearts had begun.
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