Creak, creak.
The snow that had been falling continuously through the night had finally stopped. The vast wilderness was serene, with the morning sunlight spilling over white roofs, walls, and gates that seemed to merge with the earth, reflecting softly.
The snow-covered ground was like a smooth mirror, capturing the mountains and the sky in an infinite tranquility.
As feet sank into the soft, fluffy snow, it felt as if this peace had been shattered. The sound carried far in the quiet morning air.
Step by step, at a leisurely pace, with nothing noticeable around, a trail of footprints extended all the way to the front of the wooden cabin before stopping.
Knock, knock.
The sound of knocking drifted down weakly from the top of the stairs, echoing faintly in the basement.
Knock, knock.
On two separate bed boards, the ears of the occupants twitched.
Although the noise wasn't loud, its persistence was particularly grating on such a quiet morning after a night of snowfall.
Especially when there was no response, the annoying sound only grew more urgent.
Deidara pulled the blanket over his head, adding an extra layer of protection, and soon felt much more comfortable. Before long, he was snoring again.
Knock, knock, knock.
"…"
The person on the other bed board, however, wasn't as easygoing. Unable to bear it any longer, they furrowed their brows and opened their eyes.
Sasori hated nothing more than being disturbed during moments of quiet.
His companion's snoring, contrasted with the knocking, created a double assault that was absolutely unbearable.
He glanced sideways at the sleeping face of the guest who had shamelessly settled in here, and his irritation only grew.
"Deidara, go check who it is."
He called out, but only a tuft of blond hair was visible from under Deidara's blanket as he continued to snore soundly. Sasori's expression turned cold.
His fingers shot out faint blue chakra threads, wrapping around the other's bedding, and without hesitation, he yanked.
Thud.
Deidara, along with his blanket, tumbled off the bed.
"Whoa, what's going on?"
Startled awake, Deidara looked around in a daze, his hair a mess, and cried out in panic.
"Go see who's outside. Did you hear me?" Seeing that his method had worked, Sasori lay back down comfortably and said indifferently, "Some clueless fool with nothing better to do… Hmph, go up and kill…"
Having ruined his mood, Sasori, who had weathered countless dangers, initially intended to say 'kill them' as he would have in the past. But for some reason, the words caught in his throat, and he changed his tone, "…Teach them a lesson."
"Got it." Deidara scratched his head and reluctantly got up, shooting a resentful glance at the owner of the house. 'Why did I always have to be the one to handle this kind of thing? Ah, whatever.'
Knock, knock, knock, knock, knock…
The knocking grew increasingly impatient and rude. It was seriously annoying.
'It seemed necessary to make the person outside suffer a bit.'
'Wait, I could justify setting off an explosion…' With this change in perspective, Deidara's spirits lifted.
"Kill the one knocking, right, Sasori-danna?" Deidara yawned, rubbing his eyes as he climbed the stairs.
"…Just teach them a lesson."
"Got it, Sasori-danna. I'll go kill that guy now."
"I said teach them a lesson!" Sasori's face darkened. He threw off his blanket and stood up, scolding his underling loudly, but the door to the surface had already closed.
…
Arriving at the wooden door, which was trembling from the knocking, Deidara didn't hesitate. He swung the door open, and then, without a word, slapped the prepared clay in his hand directly toward the visitor.
"Knocking so early in the morning, are you looking to die? Have you no sense, coming to a run-down place like this…"
Halfway through his rant, Deidara's voice cut off abruptly. Surprise flashed in his eyes, and all drowsiness vanished.
The person standing before him was actually Logan.
But the motion he had already initiated was unstoppable. Explosion Release Chakra flickered reactively within the clay. Knowing the explosion was inevitable, Deidara froze and hurriedly shouted:
"Don't you come any closer…!"
A flash of silvery-white sword light cut through the air. The reflection from the snow on the ground seemed to be swept up in an instant, only to be surpassed in the blink of an eye.
Swish.
The clay thrown mid-air was cleanly sliced in two, the force deflecting it to either side.
Boom!
A burst of flames from the explosion rose and vanished further ahead. Deidara stared blankly for a moment.
"Is this the welcome ceremony?"
Logan sheathed Shimizu. Standing surrounded by the glistening white snow, he didn't even glance back at the two scattered explosions behind him.
As the black smoke slowly dissipated and vanished, it was as if he had casually dealt with a minor nuisance, "Next time, try something new. I'm not really a fan of this."
"…"
For a moment, it felt as though a thousand words were stuck in his chest. Deidara opened his mouth, but none of the many opening lines he had in mind came out. All he could think was how annoyingly smug this guy in front of him seemed.
'That relaxed tone, that casual demeanor… did you come to the wrong place?' Deidara couldn't help but recall the few plays he'd seen, and the more he looked, the more displeased he felt.
'Using my explosion to show off… Tch, pretty artistic. I'll have to try that next time.'
"So it's you." Deidara said after collecting himself, "Sorry, I was too surprised and couldn't hold back. Good thing I didn't blow you up."
Such a straightforward explanation.
Logan couldn't help but narrow his eyes, 'Wasn't it a bit much to attack someone just for knocking?'
Though he had to admit, deliberately causing a ruckus early in the morning without announcing himself was his own doing.
In the hidden corners of the Ninja World, there were rebellious youths obsessed with explosions and another who dabbled in human puppets, two unstable elements.
Thinking about it, he had come to the right place.
However, Logan hadn't expected to find Deidara at this hideout in the Land of Earth.
'Instead of causing trouble elsewhere, he had come to find Sasori? Just as well.'
He took a moment to study the other before glancing inside at the largely unchanged interior.
"Honestly, I didn't expect to find you here… You've been doing alright lately?"
Logan took another look at the pajamas Deidara was wearing.
"Ah, that's a story from a while ago. I'll fill you in later." Deidara replied, waving a hand, "But Hattori, don't you dare disturb me this early in the morning again! Mark my words."
The winter cold was biting. Other times were manageable, but the inside and outside of a blanket in the early morning were two entirely different worlds, not to be violated unless absolutely necessary.
Remembering this, Deidara's expression turned fiercer as he issued the warning. This represented Sasori's anger, after all.
A cold gust of wind blew past, and Deidara shrank back, stepping inside. The chill reminded him that he still hadn't reported to Sasori.
Turning around, he shouted, "Sasori-danna, things didn't go as expected!"
His boisterous behavior inevitably drew a sharp rebuke from his senior. Sasori's voice came from the other side: "What's wrong with you? I said teach a lesson, not blow them up. Did blood and body parts splatter all over the house?"
"Damn it, if you don't clean it up today…"
"That's not it! The person knocking was Hattori!"
Silence fell for a few seconds on the other end.
"Hey, Hattori." Deidara said, completely unaffected by the scolding, and spread his hands toward Logan, "Weren't you with Itachi? You know the leader's dead, right? The organization's finished."
"Heh." Logan nodded with a light laugh.
Smoothing down his disheveled hair, Deidara shrugged. When he turned around again, he jumped in surprise, as Sasori was already standing beside him, fully dressed.