Chapter 135: True art is an explosion (1)

A small clay spider in his hand moved from side to side as it did a strange dance that was somehow funny. That boy smiled at the sight of it, it was quite amusing. This was his new art, his new life after stealing the forbidden jutsu.

Still, he didn't have time to stay and look at the beautiful art that was in his hands, as he was being chased by the shinobi of his village.

"Do they think they're going to catch me that easy? Well too bad, since I now have my new style of art" Although in reality he didn't know how to use the forbidden jutsu. He barely managed to learn it before escaping, so he still lacked practice.

Still, he reached into the clay bag and looked at his pursuers while smiling.

After that, some small clay spiders were thrown and collided with the shinobi. A second later what happened was....

BOOM!

Deidara's gaze lit up at the sight of such a spectacle of light, blood and destruction. His body shook with jubilation at this demonstration of what an explosion can do. He raised his arms as he shouted excitedly, "This is art! Real art...is an explosion!"

He discovered something new with that. His new art, the explosion. So destructive, so beautiful that it made his body feel chills because of how perfect it was.

"This is... very cool, yeah..." He nodded his head as he thought of many more art forms involving explosions. This was how he began his journey around the world until he came across the Akatsuki organization.

-In the present-

The small clay spider in his hand danced looking at its creator. Deidara smiled seeing this, as the spider's dance reminded him of the old days. Although he is quite young, so it couldn't be considered "old times".

The youngest members of the organization were Hidan, Deidara and, of course....

"Oh. Toru, you didn't take long at all" Deidara, standing in the middle of the rain, halfway across the bridge that led to the rain city, watched Toru appear out of nowhere like a murderous shadow.

This surprised him a little, but then he was able to recover quickly.

"Pain told me he had visitors, but he didn't tell me who. In any case, what are you looking for me for?" Toru's words were dry and devoid of any emotion. In fact, his look was even more dead than usual.

"Well, I..." Deidara scratched his head and tried not to look Toru in the face. "I just..." A small blush showed on this guy's face.

This made Toru sigh tiredly. So much had happened in one day that his brain, despite having an abysmal capacity to store information, felt mentally exhausted. This was only intensified by being suddenly visited by Deidara and....

"Don't be shy, Deidara-senpai! Say what you feel!" Tobi jumped up and put his arm on Deidara's shoulder. Instantly, a vein swelled on Deidara's forehead and Deidara, in a skillful move, wrapped his legs around Tobi's neck and pulled him to the ground.

"Don't say things that can be misunderstood, you idiot!" He said as he choked Tobi.

Toru just watched this with curiosity. He tilted his head slightly and sighed.

"Looks like you two are getting along quite well" He nodded his head as he watched Deidara and Tobi playing like children.

However, this was far from the truth.

"Us, getting along? Tobi is just Sasori-sensei's replacement. I don't have to get along with him."

"You are cruel, senpai."

Still, despite this strange performance in front of him, Toru remained as usual and looked at Deidara specifically.

"Just say it already. What do you want from me?"

"Me...? Well..." Deidara sighed and looked away as he continued to choke Tobi. "Well... etto... What's so weird about visiting a fellow artist...?" He said with a nervous smile as he looked Toru in the eyes.

"It's pretty weird... and look I'm telling you."

"Well, whatever! I also came looking for you because I needed the new clay!"

Hearing this, Toru touched his forehead and shook his head.

"I already told you that I won't make any more clay for you. Even you can make it yourself, it's quite easy."

"Do you think I would have come to you if I had managed to recreate that special clay? You're the one who thinks difficult things are easy" Deidara let go of Tobi and stood up again. 'That's why Sasori-sensei gave you his respect. Uh... my clothes are soaked.'

'Don't be mean, Toru-senpai' Tobi wiped the mud off his clothes and stood up from the ground. Thereupon, he approached Toru and tapped his shoulder with his fist in a friendly manner. "Do it for your co-worker. You're pretty cool, even in this village they call you Tenshi (Angel)."

Toru looked at Tobi's mask in silence, however, a flash of crimson illuminated in the mask's single orifice. Almost instantly, Toru's Kodō Shigan activated and Toru himself pulled out a dagger from his sleeve and tried to stab Tobi in the neck, however, something strange happened.

Tobi literally defended himself from that attack at extreme speed using a kunai.

"Hey, hey, senpai, why are you so aggressive, what did I do?"

Tobi got down on his knees as if he was begging for his life to be spared. At the same time, Toru was left processing what had happened. He lashed out instinctively, his body moving only at the sight of that crimson flash inside Tobi's mask. So it was inevitable that something like this would happen.

"Please, I'm your fan! I'm still too young to die! Ouch!"

Interrupting Tobi's bizarre performance, Deidara smacked him on the head. "Shut up already. Hey, Toru. We'd better go inside one of the buildings, I'll get sick if I'm in the rain, hmm..."

Shaking his head one last time, Toru turned around and started walking. Deidara and Tobi followed him silently, well, almost silently. For out of nowhere Deidara attacked Tobi again.

Despite the noise that could be heard, Toru was left wondering what happened to Tobi. He wasn't entirely sure, but... still... 'Was that a Sharingan?' He pushed away the thoughts that filled his head, and continued walking alongside these two guys who somehow, despite fighting every now and then, were still going on as a team.

-Toru's Lab-

Entering the lab, Toru immediately saw a woman who introduced herself to the three Akatsuki members. Her hair was black, her eyes were brown and she had a beautiful body under a lab coat. She was the mother of the child that Toru once saved from his illness a year ago.

"Good evening, Kami-sama. It's a pleasure to see you again after so long."

"I've been busy lately, so it makes it difficult for me to supervise the manufacture of the 'Pyrazinamide'. Still, it doesn't matter that much. You're already in charge."

"I thank you for having so much confidence in me. My son thanks you too. Yuu also hopes to visit you sometime."

"Yuu-san is still training to become a ninja, isn't he?"

"Yes... he wants to be like you. After all, you saved our lives, Kami-sama."

Deidara watched the conversation Toru and this woman were having. At the same time, it occurred to Tobi to say something that just popped into his mind.

"So you have a son, senpai?"

Instantly, Deidara hit Tobi on the head. He could tell that that woman in front of Toru was probably close to 30 years old, but she still looked beautiful. Although that wasn't important to him, after all, Toru brought them to this specific place.

"Ara... having a child with Kami-sama? I wouldn't mind, but I don't know what Kami-sama's opinion of me is."

Toru sighed wearily. "Ha~ don't play along, Akiko-san. We'll go into the testing lab for now. Take care of the rest with your Workmates."

"As you command, Kami-sama. It was a pleasure to be able to meet you too, Deidara-sama, Tobi-sama" Akiko bowed and returned to her work area.

Toru continued next to these two to the heavy testing lab and entered without a care in the world.

"So... You'll make clay for me?" said Deidara.

"It will be the last time. I'm busy lately, so learn how to make your own clay."

"I knew I could trust you, hm. Sasori-sensei trusted you too."

"Sasori-sensei, uh..."

Deidara and Toru gazed into infinity as they remembered Sasori, however, a sound brought them out of their thoughts.

Cling, cling...

Toru looked at Tobi, who was playing with the test tubes and test tubes on the long table by the wall. He instantly appeared in front of him to take away his working tools.

"Don't touch anything..."

"Hahaha. Sorry, I was really curious and couldn't help myself."

Deidara just sighed tiredly. He didn't know what to do with this guy anymore. Tobi is a hopeless case, who takes every situation as if it was a silly child's game. This annoyed him, but it also made him nostalgic, as it reminded him a lot of his teammate relationship with Sasori.

"It's better if you don't move. If you touch something dangerous by accident, you'll possibly end up turning into a pile of melted, breathing flesh."

"Hiiii! Are you serious, senpai! Then I'll stay nice and still in this place. I won't move a muscle!"

"I doubt it" Deidara said.

After that, a few minutes passed. Toru and Deidara improved the clay the latter already had and made C4 clay with a special powder patented by the same Toru in question.

In the end, Deidara was quite satisfied with the results and decided that he would use this clay to explode the boy with nine tails.

-Pain statue-

"Come here, doggie. catch the branch!"

"I'm not a dog!"

Okaminaru was offended by Tobi's comment. He didn't understand why Toru summoned him, no, he did understand. Toru was just using Okaminaru to entertain Tobi so that Tobi himself wouldn't bother them.

"There it goes!" Tobi threw the branch in his hand and, like a real dog, Okaminaru's gaze sharpened and he instantly appeared in the sky where the branch had been thrown.

Catching the branch with his fangs, Okaminaru looked down at the ground.

"What, how, my body moved by itself!"

"Hahaha. Well done, you're a good dog. I'll get you some kibble."

"Ah! I've had enough of you, I'll rip your head off!"

"Huh? No! Wait! Ahhhhhh!"

While all this was going on, Toru and Deidara watched from the top of Pain's statue.

Deidara had a smile on his face, because it looked like the wolf was giving Tobi a good lesson in manners. Toru just watched this silently thinking about what happened at the beginning, but he didn't give the matter that much thought, because Deidara interrupted him.

"Sometimes Tobi is kind of stressful, but he's not a bad guy."

"And you told him that yourself?"

"What, no!"

"Are you what young people nowadays call a 'tsundere', Deidara-san?"

Deidara looked at Toru with a vein swelling in his forehead.

"I'm not a tsundere! And don't talk like you're an old man when you're younger than me!"

"Alright. I won't!"

Silence returned to the atmosphere for a few seconds until Toru realized that Deidara still didn't know this. In fact, this question arose in Deidara's mind, since, Toru was with them at the last meeting to seal the Bijū.

"And how did it go with Hidan and Kakuzu?"

Toru's eyes narrowed. He touched his head painfully as his vision distorted and then looked straight ahead before speaking.

"They died."

Deidara's eyes widened and he instantly looked at Toru.

"What the hell are you saying?"

Toru didn't expect this reaction from Deidara. This boy looked quite surprised and somehow a bit of guilt showed on his face.

In response to this reaction, Toru just kept quiet and watched Okaminaru play with Tobi.

"Ha~ what the fuck... How could those two die? It's almost like a weird dream."

Deidara's words were serious and nostalgic. He hadn't expected that two ninja who were considered immortal had died just like that out of the blue. It was quite surprising. Hidan's departure did sadden Deidara a bit though.

"And here I was already getting along with those two. Life dies out fast, like an explosion. Only this time it's nothing artistic."

"Death can be art depending on who's holding the bloody gun."

"Only you can say something so creepy with that octopus face you wear."

"Octopus face?"

"Yes. Octopus face - haven't you seen them? They're kind of like that, or so, but they certainly look like you."

"I don't think I look like an octopus."

"Haha. It was just a joke..." Deidara looked up at the rainy sky and smiled. "All of us in Akatsuki are artists. Some are crazier than others, but that makes our art into true masterpieces. Sure, I am superior in every way to any amateur artist in Akatsuki" He stood up from his seat and raised his hand. "Pop is dead! My style is super flat and nothing can top it!"

'A style that can't be surpassed, huh...'

It's been a long time since Toru referred to killing as if it were art. At first he was just doing it to fit in well with Sasori and Deidara's team, but he ended up turning killing into a new art style.

Deidara knew this. And, as hard as it is for him to admit it, Toru's art is quite beautiful... quite lonely and sad. A true art that conveys emotions.

To be continued...

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Well, I have nothing to say for this, but okay.

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Are you still here? Well... 150 power stones for the next chapter!