Deidara was pissed.
No, scratch that. He was furious.
A genius shinobi from Iwagakure. A core Akatsuki member. An artist who pursued the ultimate explosive art…
When had he ever been made to swallow this kind of humiliation?
He couldn't fly.
He couldn't blast through.
He was getting chased all over the streets by a red-haired brat who talked like a brick.
And worst of all…
They had agreed to hide, lie low, and wait for the right chance to strike.
So what happened?
No matter where they hid, those damned Sand shinobi found them immediately.
Like the entire village had eyes.
Like every move they made was being watched, crystal clear.
The plan had failed from the very start.
Deidara clenched his teeth, a suffocating fury rising in his chest.
He couldn't drag this out anymore.
He glanced at Gaara floating in the air, expressionless, then at the "413" sand hands surging in from every direction.
His heart hardened.
Use the trump card.
If that still didn't work…
Then he'd have to retreat.
As for Kakuzu and the others…
He couldn't care anymore. Let fate sort them out.
His hand slipped into his tool pouch.
His fingertips touched the special clay.
C4: Garuda.
The one he'd developed specifically for that bastard Itachi Uchiha.
Once it went off, everything living within several kilometers would be shredded into powder by nano-scale clay bombs.
He hated to waste it.
But if it came to that…
Just as he was about to move--
"Jiton: Cage."
A cold voice spoke from behind him without warning.
Not loud, but it hit like a blast right next to his ear.
Deidara jolted so hard his whole body twitched.
What?
He didn't even have time to react.
The ground beneath him surged.
Black sand iron burst up from below like a living thing.
It grew, braided, and formed at visible speed.
In the blink of an eye, an airtight sand-iron prison rose from the ground, snapping into place.
It swallowed Deidara whole.
"Hey, hey, hey…"
Deidara's eyes went wide as he watched the black metal bars close in from all sides.
As he watched the one escape above his head get sealed shut.
Free man to caged beast.
The whole thing took less than three seconds.
He looked up through the gaps in the sand iron bars.
And saw the figure standing on top of the cage.
A dark-gold cloak. A straight, imposing stance. A pair of eyes looking down at him with a half-smile.
Him.
That damned Kazekage.
"You…"
Deidara's face twitched.
His voice shook with undisguised rage… and a trace of fear he refused to admit even to himself.
"You bastard! Where did you pop out from?!"
Teizawa stood on the cage, looking down at him.
That gaze was like he was studying a wild animal shoved into a pen, still baring its teeth.
"Oh?"
He raised an eyebrow, tone laced with amusement.
"Well, if it isn't Iwagakure's genius shinobi… Deidara."
He bit down hard on the words "genius shinobi," like he'd only just recognized him.
"What brings you to Sunagakure? Here to visit?"
"Bastard…"
Deidara practically stomped in rage.
"You dare lock me up in this… this dog cage!"
He flailed both arms and hammered the black sand-iron bars with his fists.
They didn't move.
Not even a tremor.
"Dog cage?"
Teizawa paused, then looked down at the prison under his feet, and then at the blond man inside, fangs bared.
A slow, meaningful curve lifted the corner of his mouth.
"When you put it that way…"
He nodded lightly.
"…You're not wrong."
"You--!"
Deidara nearly choked on his own anger.
At that moment, Gaara drifted down from the sky, hovering beside Teizawa.
He looked at Deidara in the cage, then turned to Teizawa, green eyes carrying a hint of confusion.
"Will this… really hold him?"
An S-rank missing-nin.
A kind of threat that could throw all of Sunagakure into chaos.
Could a single cage really be enough?
Teizawa flicked him a glance, then looked back at Deidara and smiled like it was nothing.
"Unless he blows himself up."
He paused, voice steady, like he was stating a simple fact.
"Otherwise… he's not getting out."
"You bastard…"
That sentence lit Deidara on fire.
Self-destruction?
That was his final art. His most dazzling bloom. The ultimate masterpiece he'd leave to this world…
It wasn't for blowing up some stupid cage!
"You're looking down on me!"
He roared, his hand already reaching for his tool pouch--
A lump of white clay was kneaded in an instant into several tiny spiders.
Then…
"Try this!"
He snapped his arm forward. The clay spiders shot toward the bars.
"BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM--!"
Explosions chained together. Fire and smoke swallowed the entire prison in a heartbeat.
Deidara bared his teeth, grinning smugly.
"Hah! Like hell a little sand iron is going to stop my ar--"
He cut off.
The smoke cleared.
The sand-iron cage stood there, perfectly intact.
Those black bars didn't even have a scratch on them.
Deidara's smile froze.
"How… how is that possible…"
He stared, eyes wide, at the unmoving bars.
His clay spiders. His art. His explosions…
They did nothing.
Teizawa stood above, looking down at him.
Mockery in his eyes.
A faint satisfaction.
And something deeper Deidara couldn't read at all.
"That's it?"
Teizawa spoke softly, tone as casual as commenting on the weather.
"Your art is just… this?"
Deidara's face flushed red.
He wanted to snap back.
Wanted to use every trump card he had to prove this bastard wrong--
But the words stuck in his throat.
Because the fact was right there.
His explosions couldn't open the cage.
"Alright."
Teizawa hopped down from the top of the prison and landed in front of Deidara.
He looked at the blond man still panting, still defiant, and a small smile surfaced.
"Stop struggling."
He paused, voice carrying a quiet certainty that felt like a hook under the ribs.
"We've got plenty of time to talk."
Deidara glared at him, chest heaving.
He wanted to curse. To blow something apart. To use his art to show this bastard what a real explosion was--
But in the end, he said nothing.
He just stared into those bottomless eyes.
And felt something he'd never felt before swelling in his chest.
Something complicated.
This was…
Trouble.
Then, for no reason at all, a fresh surge of anger rose in him.
"Trying to keep me here? Like hell you will!"
Gritting his teeth, Deidara looked like he was slipping into the edge of final madness.
He yanked out his last clay, ready to--
(End of Chapter)
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