Chapter 141: Bliss
Above a boundless desert, scorching sunlight beat down mercilessly on the earth. This was the vast territory of the Land of Wind, where the sand sea below was occasionally stirred by wind-blown sand waves. There were almost no signs of life visible—only desolation and vastness.
Deidara excitedly rode on a white giant bird he had just created from explosive clay. He looked down with great interest at the magnificent desert landscape he had never seen with his own eyes. But more than curiosity about the unfamiliar terrain, what made his heart race and barely containable was the anticipation of witnessing that jutsu he had dreamed of—representing the ultimate form of explosive art!
Menma used the Flying Thunder God Technique to instantly transport himself and Deidara from the border of the Land of Earth to this uninhabited region of the Land of Wind. The spatial coordinates here had been secretly left behind long ago when he had sent shadow clones to search for Sasori of the Red Sand.
Though that search for Sasori had ultimately returned empty-handed, these pre-positioned coordinates now came in handy.
At this moment, Menma hovered in the air beside Deidara. Wind Style chakra flowing like rapids—the Wind Storm Style—wrapped tightly around his body, forming powerful updrafts and lift that allowed him to maintain steady flight at an optimal height for safely executing and observing that destructive art.
"Watch carefully, Deidara. This is... the Great Rasengan Ring you've been anticipating."
Menma spoke as he slowly raised his hand. The next moment, an indescribably massive, heart-palpitating amount of chakra began frantically converging toward his palm!
Deidara instantly held his breath, all his attention completely drawn over, trembling with excitement throughout his body.
He stared fixedly at Menma's palm, not even willing to blink, afraid of missing any minute change.
This was the art he had dreamed of! Ever since Iwagakure's reconnaissance ninja had brought back those shocking photographs—showing a massive, perfectly hemispherical destruction crater that appeared on the wasteland outside Konoha Village, so large it rivaled Konoha Village itself.
From that moment, this unknown jutsu representing ultimate destruction and instantaneous beauty had become the true ultimate art surpassing everything else in his heart! And now, he was about to witness its birth with his own eyes!
Why had Menma specifically moved the testing site to this desolate desert deep in the Land of Wind? The reason was simple.
The last time he used it outside Konoha Village, circumstances forced him to act without choosing the location. But now with preparation, Naruto felt it was better to be environmentally conscious and avoid conducting such destructive tests in ecologically rich areas. This dead sand sea was undoubtedly the perfect natural target range.
Anticipating that this meeting with Deidara would likely require using "ultimate art" for intimidation and recruitment, the Menma clone Naruto sent this time was different from before—he hadn't dispersed chakra to create multiple clones, but rather distributed nearly half of his main body's massive chakra reserves to this single clone executing the mission, ensuring it had the tremendous energy needed to support high-intensity combat and even forbidden techniques.
Ever since obtaining the Rasengan Ring through system lottery, Naruto had continuously sent shadow clones to remote areas outside the Land of Fire, using memories of the experience card to constantly attempt and explore, trying to recreate this terrifyingly ultimate jutsu.
He gradually understood that the Great Rasengan Ring was essentially just a power-enhanced version of the Rasengan Ring. But this jutsu had one fundamental difference from ordinary Rasengan—its chakra consumption ability was like a bottomless black hole!
This "black hole" had no capacity limit. No matter how massive the amount of chakra injected into it, it could compress and contain everything at a speed that defied logic.
At this moment, Menma's clone carried enormous chakra from the main body. He unreservedly poured over eighty percent of his terrifying chakra reserves frantically into the continuously rotating, collapsing energy core in his palm!
Finally, quantitative change triggered qualitative change!
That highly compressed chakra core was no longer a simple energy aggregate. The darkness emanating from its center became so profound that it began devouring surrounding light, while around that ultimate darkness, a white energy ring suddenly formed, like placing a dangerous halo around this avatar of destruction.
The Great Rasengan Ring—descended upon this world once again!
Feeling the annihilative terror emanating from that palm at close range, Deidara's pupils contracted from ultimate excitement. He couldn't help but imagine uncontrollably what kind of earth-shaking, perfectly suffocating ultimate artistic scene would unfold once this dark star erupted!
Just thinking of that destructive, brilliant scene made ultimate ecstasy bring an unnatural flush to his face.
This time, Menma didn't speak any philosophical statements like when intimidating Kakuzu before. He was absolutely certain that for someone like Deidara, any words would be pale before this ultimate "art."
Once Deidara witnessed this explosive spectacle with his own eyes, joining the Ember organization would become his only and inevitable choice.
Menma released his supporting hand. That black stardust condensed with terrifying energy broke free from control and began slowly, unstoppably falling toward the dead sand sea below...
Its trajectory seemed slow, but that was because the destructive mass it contained distorted surrounding perception. It silently cut through the air, carrying suffocating solemnity as it fell toward its destined endpoint.
The next moment—
BOOOOOOOOOOOM—!!!!!!
An indescribable thunderous roar suddenly erupted! The destructive energy torrent instantly devoured the vast desert below! Blindingly brilliant white light like a supernova explosion covered Deidara's entire field of vision in an instant, dyeing everything between heaven and earth pure white!
The shockwave from the explosion spread frantically in visible rings in all directions. Wherever it passed, sand dunes were instantly leveled and vaporized! The cloud layers in the high sky were brutally torn apart and scattered by this tyrannical force, revealing the azure sky behind!
Violent airflow struck Deidara's face like a solid iron wall, the stinging pain making it almost impossible to keep his eyes open, his skin burning from the blast.
But he gritted his teeth stubbornly, defiantly and greedily widening those blue-green eyes, unwilling to move his gaze even a millimeter as he forcibly stared at the center of destruction!
Bliss.
This was the only thought filling his mind at this moment. A supreme happiness and satisfaction transcending all sensory stimulation swept through his entire body.
Ultimate art... the dream he had pursued his entire life was blooming right before his eyes in the most violent, most perfect, most fleeting form!
He was so fortunate! He almost wanted to shout out loud. Thank you, old man! Thank you for driving me out of the village!
Scalding tears flowed uncontrollably from the corners of his eyes, instantly scattered by the violent airstream. But these weren't tears of sadness or fear—they were tears shed from the deepest part of his soul as a fanatical devotee of ultimate art, finally witnessing "art" descending—tears of blissful emotion and witnessing.
"Thank you... so much..."
[Ding!]
[Congratulations, Host: Bond Level 2 established with original character "Deidara"!]
[Points earned: 300!]