Chapter 114 – Death of Art Duo
The sandstone cavern echoed with the distant flap of wings. The air was heavy with ancient dust and tension. Hajime stood silently at the center of the circular chamber, his massive frame casting long shadows under the flickering torchlight. His gleaming silver armor, adorned with faint psychic etchings, reflected the glow like a statue of war. Behind him stood Naruto, Sakura, and Chiyo, alert and ready.
Faint symbols carved into the stone pulsed gently with chakra, marking this as one of the hidden sanctuaries of the Akatsuki. A sealing circle thrummed beneath Hajime's feet, freshly used. This was the place.
From above, the air cracked with sudden motion. A massive clay bird swooped down, wings beating heavily. On its back lay Gaara, the Kazekage, bound in a chakra cocoon, unconscious and unmoving. Riding the bird stood Deidara, his grin wide and twisted with delight.
Beside him hovered a darker figure. Sasori, concealed inside the grotesque puppet Hiruko, clung to the bird's edge. The spiked tail of the puppet twitched like a scorpion's.
"So. You knew where we'd go," Sasori's voice echoed, hollow and mechanical through Hiruko's shell.
Hajime didn't respond. He didn't need to.
Naruto's eyes flared in panic as he spotted Gaara. "That's Gaara! He's!"
"Alive," Hajime said calmly. "But sealed."
Deidara sneered, guiding the bird to hover just above. "You Konoha types never give up. So eager to die for your friends. Art is an explosion!"
"An explosion, huh?" Naruto shouted, already moving. "You talk too much!"
"Shadow Clone Jutsu!"
A dozen clones erupted beside him, rushing forward. The clay bird veered higher, trying to evade, but Naruto was already mid-air, leaping from clone to clone. One clone launched him higher, straight toward Gaara.
Above, Deidara growled and threw a palm-sized clay sphere.
It exploded, tearing through two clones, but the real Naruto broke through the smoke. He grabbed Gaara mid-air and pushed off the bird's back with a chakra-boosted kick, flipping as he descended.
Hajime extended one armored hand, psychic energy swirling around his palm. A moment later, Naruto landed in a cushioned field of force. The Kazekage still pulsed with faint chakra.
"He's alive… but weak," Naruto muttered. "That bastard!"
Deidara shot higher into the air, annoyed. "You little gnat!"
Below, Sasori dropped from the bird and landed with a heavy thud. The scorpion-tail of Hiruko lashed forward.
Chiyo stepped back. Her breath caught. "armor… He's using a puppet armor…"
Hajime's voice was low, unimpressed. "Still hiding in a shell. Fine. Let's crack it."
The puppet's tail darted with blinding speed, aimed for Hajime's chest. But Hajime didn't bother blocking. The tail stabbed forward, and bounced harmlessly off his warplate with a metallic clang.
The attack hadn't even left a scratch.
Hajime's eyes glowed faintly from behind his helmet. "That won't work."
He stepped in, halberd already spinning in his hand. With one fluid motion, he swung in an upward arc, CRACK!
The side of Hiruko burst apart, splinters of wood and metal flying in every direction. The tail was severed on the next swing, clattering to the floor.
Chiyo's expression tightened. "He's faster than I expected…"
Sasori leapt backward, discarding Hiruko completely. The real form emerged, young, pale, with crimson hair and puppet joints at every limb. His hollow eyes stared emotionlessly.
"He made himself a puppet…" Chiyo whispered, pain crossing her features. "Sasori…"
Above, Deidara launched more birds. "Let's see how you handle this!"
Clay birds rained down like missiles.
"Sakura!" Hajime called.
"I'm on it!"
Sakura surged forward. She clapped her hands and drove her fist into the ground.
"Cherry Blossom Impact!"
A shockwave erupted. The earth split and rocks burst into the air, catching many of the bombs mid-flight and triggering them prematurely. Explosions rocked the ceiling, but none touched the team.
"Nice punch!" Naruto called, laying Gaara down gently behind some cover.
"I'll deal with the bomber," he added. "Time for some air support!"
Clones launched him skyward again, straight toward Deidara.
Back on the ground, Sasori raised his hand, and from a scroll, summoned the Third Kazekage puppet. Its arms lifted, spilling black iron sand into the air.
The particles shifted and hardened into sharp spikes.
"Third Kazekage…" Chiyo muttered sadly. "He's really the one who killed Third Kazekage and turn him into a puppet."
The sand surged like a dark cloud.
Hajime raised one hand.
A shimmering psychic shield bloomed before him, blue and translucent. The sand slammed against it, but didn't breach.
Then Hajime blinked from existence.
In a flash of warped space, he reappeared behind the Kazekage puppet, and slammed his halberd through its back, pinning it into the wall.
Sasori spun, launching dozens of chakra threads.
Chiyo unleashed her ten puppets, intercepting. Strings crossed in the air like webs. Sakura supported with explosive tags and quick healing on injured allies. Even surrounded, she moved with grace and purpose, her training under Tsunade showing in every motion.
Sasori snarled, pulling out a scroll.
"Red Secret Technique: Performance of a Hundred Puppets!"
Dozens, then hundreds, of puppets burst from his scroll. The cave filled with clicking joints and gleaming blades.
Hajime didn't move.
He lifted his halberd high, and it glowed warp blue and white.
And unleashed a psychic wave.
The energy surged outward like a tidal force, severing every chakra thread it touched. Over half the puppets collapsed instantly.
"You think numbers matter?" Hajime muttered. "You're not facing children."
Sasori's eyes widened for the first time in puppet body.
Naruto, above, finally connected. A Rasengan tore through one of Deidara's clay creatures, blasting Deidara into a wall. His bird dispersed.
Deidara came out immediately and made a clay bird again and flew higher.
Below, Sasori was now pinned, staggering, his puppet body damaged.
Chiyo stepped forward, slowly. She looked at the puppet, but saw a boy.
"Sasori… please… why?"
He didn't answer.
Sasori stopped struggling, and his eyes soften, no longer showing a emotionless eyes.
Instead, Chiyo formed a hand seal. Her chakra thread cut deep into the core of his puppet chest.
Hajime didn't raise his halberd again.
Sasori stopped moving.
The light in his eyes faded.
Chiyo stared at her grandson's remains. "He turned his heart into a machine. But… it still hurt in the end."
And Hajime saw that Naruto and Sakura still haven't defeated Deidara, but it was still withing expectations as Deidara Can fly.
Deidara saw the death of his Partner, The Eternal Artist, was sad, as it was his peer and friend, but immediately let go, of his sadness.
Deidara now above on his bird immediately flees, going to the entrance to escape.
Hajime, raises his gauntlet hand, pointing it at the flying bird, then his red lenses shine with blue light.
The bird and the person, stop mid air, even though they're in mid air, they were not falling down, then Deidara felt being pulled, he look behind, and saw the Armored Guy who defeated Sasori, pointing at him.
"You bastards! You don't wanna give up?" Deidara immediately showing fury on his face, then making seals with his hands, wanting to make more clay to blow them all up.
Hajime immediately controlled his body, then took out his bolter from his side with his free hand, and aiming it at Deidara and Charging it, the bolter shining with psychic accumulating inside.
Then
WOOSH
Deidara saw him being pointed by a gun thinking it's a type of weapon, and it fired at him, Deidara wanting to move, but can't, life flashing before his eyes.
"Heh... Art really is an explosion..."
A flicker, a memory. An old man standing over a young boy, frowning at a cracked training field.
'Too reckless, Deidara. You need control.'
'I don't need control! I need Explosion!'
The young version of himself walks away. The old man sighs.
"Tch..."
Deidara's eyes dim, but his voice, just a whisper, escapes.
"I'm sorry, old man... Maybe... you were ri-." he turn to ash with his clay bird mid air