"Huh? Deidara-nii, why haven't you left yet?"
"And what do you mean i'm not strong and would lower the organization prestige?"
Kurotsuchi crossed her arms, glaring at the cave entrance.
Seeing Deidara suddenly pipe up to ruin the moment, she immediately fired back with her sharp tongue.
"The only one lowering the prestige is the guy who got trapped and needed his teammates to come rescue him, right?"
"YOU—!" Deidara choked on his retort.
After finishing her verbal jab, Kurotsuchi suddenly tilted her head, scratching her head.
"Wait... what did you just call him? Strategist?"
She froze.
She slowly turned her head to look at Makoto, her expression shifting from confusion to disbelief.
"If Deidara calls you Strategist... that means your organization's perverted 'Blood Deterrence' plan was proposed by you?"
Makoto smiled innocently.
Kurotsuchi stared blankly for a moment before letting out a long, defeated breath.
"Never judge a book by its cover..." she muttered. "You look decent, but you're rotten to the core."
"Whatever."
Kurotsuchi shook her head, slapping her cheeks to refocus.
She looked up at Makoto with serious, determined eyes.
"I'll be direct. The reason I want to join you is to gather intelligence about your organization. Iwagakure will always be first in my heart."
"But," she added, "if your organization is truly as you say—working to protect the Shinobi World against a greater threat—then I can serve as the link between you and Iwagakure."
Before Onoki could float over to stop her, Kurotsuchi shouted over her shoulder.
"Old man! Don't try to persuade me! I'll remember your Will of Stone nonsense, but your thinking is outdated. The world is changing!"
Onoki stopped in mid-air.
He looked at his granddaughter, then at Makoto, and finally retreated to the side with a frustrated expression.
He flew downward, barking orders for the Iwa-nin below to withdraw.
He knew when he was beat.
"Deidara, time to come out," Makoto called.
"..."
Deidara walked out of the cave looking grumpy, his jaw working as he chewed on something.
Kurotsuchi immediately assumed a defensive stance, eyes widening.
'Is he chewing explosive clay?!'
"Relax! I'm eating a Soldier Pill, not clay! Hmm!"
Deidara glared at Kurotsuchi irritably.
He felt displeased about an old acquaintance joining the club—especially his annoying little sister figure.
It ruined his cool rogue ninja vibe!
Below them, Onoki gave the final withdrawal signal and flew back up to a safe distance.
"Since the Tsuchikage has ordered the retreat and the area is clear," Makoto looked up at the empty air above the cliff.
"Konan-nee, you can begin the 'demonstration'."
Rustle.
Konan, who had been using her camouflage to blend into the sky, slowly revealed her form.
The massive white wings composed of paper fluttered majestically behind her as she descended like an angel, stopping beside Makoto.
"Let's go," Konan said simply.
"Deidara..." Makoto glanced at the bomber.
"Let Kurotsuchi fly by herself, un."
Deidara summoned a clay owl, jumped onto it alone, and took off without offering a ride.
"I fly by myself then, whatever," Kurotsuchi curled her lips, watching him go. "He hasn't even learned the Light-Weight Rock Technique yet. Still relying on clay birds to take off. What's there to be proud of?"
She activated her technique and floated up.
"Well, Tsuchikage-sama, we'll be taking our leave now," Makoto called out to Onoki. "You should move away from the mountain. Fast. We've prepared a few hundred thousand 'firecrackers' for this first meeting gift."
As Makoto spoke, he drifted backward, putting distance between himself and the cliff.
"Huh?"
Onoki was momentarily stunned.
Then, his eyes narrowed as he noticed something.
The cliff face... was shifting.
Layer upon layer of glowing Exploding Tags began to peel away from the rock camouflage, revealing a sea of white paper.
"!!!"
Not caring about straining his bad back, Onoki turned and rocketed away in the direction of Makoto and the others.
BOOM!
Immediately after, the cliff where Deidara had been hiding erupted.
A continuous, rolling series of detonations tore the mountain apart.
As is well known, Konan would eventually prepare six hundred billion Exploding Tags to kill Obito.
She had mentioned needing to "rehearse" the timing and placement.
This was one such rehearsal Makoto had helped arrange.
During the days Deidara was trapped, Konan hadn't been idle. She had turned the entire cliff face into a bomb.
Coincidentally, the cliff was in shape with two protrusions on the sides.
When it detonated, the smoke and fire formed a perfect, massive shape of "Patrick Star" against the sky.
Hearing the earth-shattering roar, Deidara turned to look from his clay bird.
He froze.
He halted the bird in mid-air, staring at the mushroom cloud with wide eyes.
When Makoto and Konan caught up to him, he immediately stammered, "Strategist... what... what was that just now? Un?"
"That," Makoto said, stepping forward to pat Deidara's shoulder, "is Konan-nee 'Secret Technique.' And that was only the basic version."
"Deidara, look at that scale. Your instantaneous art still falls far short compared to Konan-nee Paper Ocean."
"And your teammate, Sasori," Makoto continued the lecture. "His puppet techniques are nowhere near as advanced as Leader Pain's Six Paths. You two call yourselves artists, but you can't even surpass the 'amateurs' in our organization who don't even care about art."
"If you can't beat them in your own respective fields, then I don't think you should casually call yourselves artists yet."
"So, work hard."
"..."
Deidara stared at the destruction.
He nodded seriously. "Hmm."
"How shocking! Deidara-nii, you got lectured and didn't argue back?"
Kurotsuchi, who had just arrived and heard the tail end of the conversation, was surprised.
"When the old man lectured you, you never accepted it! You usually threw clay at him!"
"What do you know?" Deidara snapped, though he lacked his usual bite. "The Strategist's insight and understanding of Art are beyond your imagination. Un."
He respected power.
And that explosion? That was power.
"Oh, right, Strategist," Deidara suddenly smirked, winking at Makoto. "Since you know everything, I'd like to hear your evaluation of Kurotsuchi. What's her future?"
Don't misunderstand—this wasn't Deidara playing matchmaker.
He wanted Makoto to give a mediocre evaluation of Kurotsuchi's future so Deidara could mock her for it.
"Leg Kage," Makoto said instantly.
"What kind of evaluation is that?" Deidara looked confused. "Is she going to lead a village of legs?"
"Leg Kage....?" Kurotsuchi flew in front of Makoto, hands on her hips. "What does it even mean?"
"The Fourth Tsuchikage."
"Oh?" Kurotsuchi's eyes lit up.
She proudly lifted her chin. "You think I'll become the Fourth Tsuchikage? Then you do have good judgment. So this 'Leg Kage' is just a nickname for the Fourth?"
She was preening, but she remained puzzled internally.
'What's with the 'leg' business? I don't use kick-based Taijutsu...'
"Did she become Tsuchikage only because Iwagakure ran out of candidates? Hmm?" Deidara curled his lips disdainfully.
"Pretty much," Makoto nodded.
"Huh?"
Kurotsuchi was covered in question marks.
She wasn't upset about the implication that she was a "backup choice"—she was confused by the tone.
Why does it sound less like they're discussing 'future possibilities' and more like they're talking about history?
Why are they speaking with such absolute certainty?
"The scenery over there is wonderful! Hmm!"
Deidara seemed to realize they had slipped up.
He whistled loudly and awkwardly pointed at the distant sunset with feigned excitement.
"Deidara-nii, that's way too fake!" Kurotsuchi shouted, black lines appearing on her forehead.
"Strategist," Deidara dropped the smile and looked at Makoto. "Should we tell her? Or should we just silence her permanently? Un?"
"There's nothing that can't be said," Makoto shrugged. "I'm actually from the Shinobi World twenty years in the future. I know exactly what will happen."
"What I told you and the Tsuchikage earlier wasn't a metaphor. In the future, waves of invaders will come to the Shinobi World, and the Five Kage will be utterly powerless against their strength."
"..."
Kurotsuchi clutched her head.
"Your repeated honesty is giving me a headache."
Logically, she should be skeptical.
'Time travel? Invansion?'
But for some reason, after the specific details, the bizarre "Leg Kage" nickname, and the casual way they interacted... Kurotsuchi instinctively felt Makoto wasn't lying to her.
She took a deep breath.
"Then," Kurotsuchi looked Makoto in the eye. "Instead of asking for proof... tell me. What happens to Iwagakure in the future?"