Flames of Duty

Chapter Seven: Unexpected Guests

[With Deidara]

'I must notify the others immediately.' thought Deidara with drops of sweat trickling down his face and worried expression. His clay bird was flying at maximum speed to reach their lair where the Ichibi should have been extracted from Gaara's body, but a few minutes after he separated from Sasori, the missing nin of Iwa had been hit by a wave of monstrous heat, well above the desert standards. It had lasted only a few seconds, but they had been enough for Deidara to understand that it had been released behind him and in his mind he had already given up his partner for dead.

'That monster is well beyond our reach! Perhaps only Leader can face him and hope to defeat him, hell I don't think even that old man of Ōnoki could fight against him and survive!' the blond gritted his teeth but a wave of relief washed him when he saw the canyon where the entrance to their hiding place was. Once inside, he would activate all possible barriers to hide his presence.

When the missing nin was above the canyon, the clay bird swooped down but when it was at ground level, Deidara suddenly stopped it, turning pale in seeing what, or better to say, who was waiting for him.

There, sitting on a small stone in front of a giant boulder, there was Naruto with his sword pointed at the ground and both hands crossed on the tip of the hilt. His head was slightly bent forward, so Deidara could not see his eyes, yet he could feel the enormous power contained in the body of the former Captain-Commander.

'Shit! How did he get here before me?!' thought Deidara before noticing that Naruto had not yet reacted to his presence 'Maybe Sasori has tired him enough and since I haven't made any noise yet, maybe he didn't hear me. I can take advantage of it to kill him!'

Without hesitating, he placed both hands in two special bags hanging from his waist and pulled out two large amounts of white clay. The mouths placed on the palms of his hands began to chew the clay before spitting out a dozen small birds. After a deep breath, he threw all the birds towards Naruto and his creations suddenly grew to become as big as the one he was standing on.

A grin formed on his face when his creations were now very close to Naruto and, with a single hand-seal, made them explode, generating a powerful explosion that shook the whole area. Without wishing to risk, he created other clay creatures and used them in the same way. For several seconds, powerful explosions were heard in the air as the missing nin of Iwa used all the clay supply and after a full minute he decided to interrupt the attack.

Unconsciously, Deidara held his breath when the smoke generated by his explosions began to clear and, when he saw the result of his attack, his heart lost a beat.

Naruto was completely unharmed, surrounded by a sort of cubic light barrier that became invisible after a few seconds.

'What?! No damage at all?!' he thought in a panic and, worst of all, Naruto hadn't moved at all, as if he hadn't even perceived his attack 'Is he mocking me?!' but then, thanks to the special device mounted on his left eye, he noticed something: Naruto was moving even if imperceptibly. His head lowered by a few centimeters before returning to his initial position, only to fall again after a few seconds.

A large vein began to throb on Deidara's face 'He...he...HE'S SLEEPING?! Is he trying to ridicule me?! That's it! No matter how strong you are, I'll blow you up with my special C4!'

However, at that very moment, Naruto woke up raising his head and his calm eyes met Deidara's furious ones for a moment "I see you have finally arrived."

"Fuck you! Are you trying to ridicule my art with your sleeping act?!" shouted the missing nin but Naruto didn't react to his words.

"It took you longer than expected."