After Sailing with the Pirate King, I Returned to Konoha - 224

Chapter 225: Failed Disguise

High in the sky, the clay giant bird circled at low speed, surveying the landscape below.

Beneath it stretched Iwagakure Village, which Naruto's group had left behind only days before.

"What's the matter? Why not go down?"

Sasori, who had returned to his puppet form "Hiruko," glanced at his gloomy-faced companion beside him, his tone half-joking, half-probing.

"Stop yammering. You think that stinking old man is just for decoration? If we go down directly like that, we'll definitely get shot down, un!"

Deidara had a habit of adding "un" at the end of sentences—his distinctive speech pattern that marked him unmistakably as Iwa-born.

But this time, it seemed only to strengthen the credibility of his words.

"You weren't this cautious back at the Sand Village."

Sasori's words carried a subtle edge.

"Or is what you said about wanting to defeat Ōnoki just talk?"

Having lived those extra years, even though Sasori wasn't ordinarily talkative, he could still easily ignite this young partner's anger with carefully chosen words.

"Ha! What kind of joke is that!"

Saying this, Deidara had the clay bird veer sharply toward the neighboring mountain peak instead.

"?"

Watched by that quizzical gaze, Deidara still stubbornly said:

"First, scout the situation in disguise. Otherwise, if we alert that old man early and he hides away the Jinchūriki, what then?"

"I suppose that's reasonable enough."

Sasori didn't object. Being similarly harboring ulterior motives toward Akatsuki now, he wasn't particularly urgent about capturing tailed beasts. His own agenda took priority.

Benefiting from Deidara's childhood experience living in Iwa, they disguised themselves as two genin and infiltrated the village with ease. The disguises held up through casual encounters and suspicious glances.

After some investigation, the events that had occurred finally became clear to the pair.

"That stinking old man! He actually lost to the Nine-Tails Jinchūriki?! Are you joking?!"

Deidara clenched his fists in disbelief, his eyes widening dangerously, grinding his teeth as he whispered fiercely.

"Compared to that, I'm more concerned with the Jinchūriki's whereabouts."

They had infiltrated as genin, so obtaining more classified intelligence—like Naruto's group's intentions and movements—proved difficult. Official channels wouldn't discuss such matters with a low-rank ninja.

Of course, Naruto openly defeating Ōnoki was something many ninja had witnessed. Plus, he had afterward openly escorted the old man back to the village, so not just ninja but even ordinary civilians could recount the details accurately.

After speaking these words, Sasori waited for his partner's response. When none came immediately, he turned his head.

What he saw was Deidara still muttering to himself that it was impossible, caught in denial.

"Since you don't believe it, why not just go ask directly?"

"What are you saying?"

Deidara sounded like he'd heard wrong.

"The intelligence we can obtain with our current identities is limited. You're more familiar with this place. From now on, you'll be responsible for gathering intelligence. I'll wait for you outside the village."

Having said this, Sasori decisively departed in another direction without waiting for a response.

"Hey! You bastard!"

No matter how Deidara protested, Sasori showed no sign of looking back.

Finally, the rebellious youth could only huff indignantly. Yet his body still moved honestly into action, following the plan despite his irritation.

Kurotsuchi felt uneasy for some reason today.

She couldn't quite identify why.

Walking out of Tsuchikage's office after delivering her report, the young girl routinely returned the pain relief ointment to the medical room.

No helping it—the old man was elderly, and having exerted himself strenuously for the first time in years these past two days, his aging back wasn't holding up well under the strain.

"Hm? Akatsuchi!"

Just exiting the medical room, she spotted another Iwa ninja heading toward the archives.

That person was Akatsuchi, another of Ōnoki's trusted disciples.

Don't underestimate this seemingly honest fellow—he was a proper Tsuchikage's guard, nicknamed "The Shield of the Tsuchikage with Unparalleled Strength," incomparably more formidable than Kurotsuchi, who'd only recently mastered Lava Release.

Bouncing along like a young deer to Akatsuchi's side, Kurotsuchi suddenly wrinkled her nose, her expression shifting subtly.

"Akatsuchi, how long has it been since you bathed? You smell terrible—"

Saying this, the little girl even made an exaggerated show of fanning herself.

"Ah—ha, really? Then I'll go bathe tonight."

Akatsuchi—or rather, Deidara disguised as Akatsuchi—performed based on his childhood memories of the other's mannerisms and habits, doing what he believed was the correct performance.

Kurotsuchi, hearing this, finally nodded in satisfaction.

Kurotsuchi held a unique position among Ōnoki's students—she was both his granddaughter and his youngest disciple. Being willful came naturally to her, and no one took issue with it. Besides, Akatsuchi was too earnest and good-natured to care about her teasing.

"By the way, Kurotsuchi, you just came from the Tsuchikage's room, didn't you?"

As if making casual conversation, Deidara somewhat rigidly changed the subject.

Fortunately, from Kurotsuchi's expression, it seemed that the other hadn't discovered any flaws in his act.

"Ah—it was Grandpa. His old waist injury flared up again. Isn't it all that Uzumaki Naruto's fault from a few days ago."

In private, Kurotsuchi mostly called Ōnoki "Grandpa."

The speaker meant nothing by it, but the listener understood the implication perfectly.

Hearing this, Deidara unconsciously clenched his teeth, wanting desperately to speak and ask about the situation that had unfolded that day. But fortunately, having spent those years with Akatsuki, he'd picked up certain criminal habits. At least he still knew he was currently infiltrating to gather intelligence, not to start a confrontation.

Walking alongside Kurotsuchi through the familiar Tsuchikage building corridors, Deidara continued his subtle probing about the situation from that day.

More than the whereabouts of the two village Jinchūriki, he was more interested in understanding how exactly Ōnoki had lost to Naruto.

"Speaking of which, that fellow is really something else. He couldn't even deal with the Tsuchikage's Dust Release."

This was based on information he'd overheard from other ninja outside earlier. The spectacle of Ōnoki deploying Dust Release that day couldn't possibly be hidden from the village.

Plus, Uzumaki Naruto's pristine appearance afterward provided obvious evidence. Even without witnessing the entire battle, one could guess the basic outcome.

"Yeah—"

Kurotsuchi's brief affirmation prompted another question.

"Speaking of which, why did that fellow attack us? And since he defeated the Tsuchikage, how did he just leave without doing anything else?"

Speaking this long sequence, Deidara also felt somewhat uncertain in his heart about how to proceed. Because, based on Akatsuchi's habits, he rarely questioned things with such intensity and curiosity.

But compared to slowly flipping through archives for possible intelligence, directly obtaining information from those involved was far more efficient. Deidara lacked patience for slow investigation methods.

Fortunately, Kurotsuchi seemed not to notice this slight oddity in his behavior and answered naturally enough.

"You still don't know about it—well, only Dad and Grandpa heard about it then."

She paused, choosing her words carefully.

"Konoha Village hadn't previously sent a warning saying someone was targeting the village's tailed beasts—he came here because of that."

"That fellow actually found that Iwa lacks the ability to protect Jinchūriki, so he wanted to take over for us temporarily. By now, he should've already gone to find Rōshi."

Hearing this, Deidara's heart leaped with realization.

So as expected, the other wouldn't sit passively by doing nothing. That mysterious "Uchiha Madara" figure—while collecting tailed beasts, the other was already actively taking the first step toward gathering them together.

Those were the Tailed Beast Jinchūriki, which every village treated as absolute secret weapons. Was the other actually doing this so openly and forcefully without hesitation?

"Then—what about Gari? That Uzumaki Naruto didn't take him away, did he?"

Speaking these words, Deidara already sensed something was off with the situation.

Because, based on Akatsuchi's typical "character," he shouldn't have asked this type of probing question so directly.

"Sigh..."

Kurotsuchi released a soft sigh, her young face suddenly serious.

"Deidara-nii, you're still too impatient, aren't you?"

The little girl turned around. She made no move to attack, simply staring directly into Deidara's eyes with absolute certainty.

Seeing his cover blown so thoroughly, Deidara instinctively reached for his explosion clay, muscles tensing for combat. But upon seeing his junior sister's gaze—that calm, knowing look—he didn't make a move immediately.

"When did you figure it out?"

His voice dropped to near-whisper.

"Deidara-nii, you really are careless. When disguising yourself, you didn't even bother masking your explosion clay's scent—"

That was right. How could Kurotsuchi, who'd grown up with him since childhood, be unfamiliar with that distinctive scent that clung to his very being?

"Ha..."

Smoke dispersed as Deidara reverted to his original form with practiced speed. Then, with a sweep of his left hand, countless tiny clay spiders flew toward the corridor walls in a deadly swarm.

Boom!

The corridor exploded into a massive, jagged hole, rubble and dust cascading downward.

"Tell that old man, I'll come defeat him after I finish with that Uzumaki Naruto fellow."

Deidara's voice carried absolute conviction.

"I absolutely won't acknowledge being defeated by someone else before I beat him myself."

Saying this, Deidara departed as if knowing the other wouldn't chase after him, leisurely releasing his clay giant bird to fly from the destroyed building. His confidence in his escape was absolute.

"Cough cough."

Only after Deidara's form could no longer be seen did Ōnoki's figure slowly emerge from around the corner, having watched the entire exchange in silence.

"Ah, Grandpa, you're here!"

Kurotsuchi made a very exaggerated pretense of surprise, though her eyes betrayed that she'd actually discovered him long ago, positioned exactly where he could witness everything.

"That bastard brat."

Ōnoki smirked despite his aching body, finally letting his granddaughter help him back toward his office. The old Tsuchikage's expression held both amusement and respect—the boy still had nerve, at least.