Sasori was dead.
Chiyo was dead as well.
Ever since Sasori assassinated the Third Kazekage and defected from Sunagakure, the grandmother and grandson had not seen each other for a full twenty years.
When they finally met again, both understood the pain buried in the other's heart.
Chiyo could have dodged Sasori's attack, but she didn't. As her beloved grandson charged toward her with a blade in hand, she was reminded of the adorable child who had once run into her arms many years ago.
Back then, Sasori's parents had stood at her side, smiling warmly, their family whole and happy.
So Chiyo brought out the Mother and Father puppets, allowing those joyful family moments to briefly play out once more.
For a fleeting instant, Sasori seemed to remember the very same scene.
Everything in this world—family, friendship—was simply too fragile, gone in the blink of an eye. Terrified of losing them again, he had sought eternity.
Yet after turning himself into an eternal being, he discovered that he had truly lost everything, left to wander the shinobi world like a lonely ghost.
Some things could only be experienced while living as a flesh-and-blood human. Deep down, he had always envied Deidara. Every time Deidara completed one of his explosive "works of art," he would get so emotional that he'd cry, looking like a complete lunatic as he reveled in his own masterpiece.
That was a feeling Sasori could never experience again.
It was also why he had tolerated that brat's constant antics time and time again.
So, in the end, he made the same choice as his grandmother.
He had already achieved eternity.
And it wasn't all it was cracked up to be.
Perhaps...
...it was finally time to leave for the next world and embrace the family he had longed for all this time.
The blades piercing their hearts became one-way tickets to the Pure Land, where they could reunite with their loved ones.
Sasori.
The puppets fashioned after his parents.
His grandmother.
The family of four knelt together in a circle, the final trace they would leave behind in this world.
It was a scene both heartwarming and cruel.
A perfect reflection of the countless tragedies born from a thousand years of war in the shinobi world.
Naruto, Sakura, and Gaara silently watched everything unfold.
They had the power to stop it.
But none of them intervened.
Because this was the final wish of their respected elder, Chiyo.
The kinjutsu One's Own Life Reincarnation revived the dead at the cost of the user's own life. The moment Chiyo brought Gaara back to life, she had already been destined to die.
Sensing the regrets she still carried, Makoto used Fūinjutsu to delay her death, giving her one last chance to see the grandson she had never stopped thinking about.
She had never had much time left anyway.
Being able to see the grandson she had longed for in her final moments...
...was enough for Chiyo.
...
Meanwhile, high above the battlefield, Deidara saw that only Sasuke had caught up to him and flashed a rather unhinged grin.
He was the petty type. If someone ever got the better of him, he'd always find a way to settle the score.
The blond knew that a Lightning Release specialist like Sasuke was the natural nemesis of his Explosive Clay.
But he was never afraid of that. Instead, he quietly worked out ways to counter it.
What he didn't realize was that the gap between him and Sasuke wasn't merely a matter of elemental compatibility.
Sasuke had far too many ways of countering him.
Could Deidara beat Sasuke?
No.
He simply wasn't capable of it.
In the parallel world, he had ultimately been forced into blowing himself up in the shape of Patrick Star just to prove his art. Even then, he still couldn't take down a mere three-tomoe Sharingan Sasuke.
Compared to that...
...this world's Mangekyō Sasuke, empowered by Constant Sage Mode, was on an entirely different level.
Sasuke's armored Susanoo flew at astonishing speed, far surpassing Deidara's Explosive Clay: Giant Bird.
Watching his opponent close the distance, Deidara rapidly formed hand seals and commanded the giant bird to lay eggs like crazy.
The moment the eggs emerged into the open air, they transformed into swift four-winged birds.
Nearly a hundred of them surged toward Sasuke like a swarm of angry bees.
The instant he recognized the familiar technique, Sasuke didn't hesitate.
With a casual wave of his hand, he unleashed a volley of Lightning Release: Senbon, reducing the flock to useless chunks of clay.
But unlike before, each four-winged bird released a clay sphere from its rear just before being struck, while its own body shielded the sphere from the incoming senbon.
The birds themselves were nothing more than disposable shields against Lightning Release.
The explosive clay bombs hidden inside them were the real attack.
That was the countermeasure Deidara had come up with against Lightning Release.
Especially against opponents flying at high speed.
The spherical bombs didn't need to fly.
They only had to explode before they were destroyed.
Caught off guard for a split second, Sasuke flew straight into the middle of the cluster of explosive bombs.
Grinning from ear to ear, Deidara shouted excitedly, "Art... is an explosion! Haa!"
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
A chain of explosions erupted across the sky, filling the heavens with blazing fire.
Sasuke remained completely unfazed.
The Mangekyō Sharingan in his left eye spun, activating the dōjutsu Amenotokotachi, allowing the explosions to engulf him without resistance.
Amenotokotachi was a space-time dōjutsu that granted spatial intangibility, spatial folding, and positional swapping—a more powerful fusion of Kamui and Amenotejikara.
Unlike Kamui, however, it could only manipulate real space for combat and lacked a separate dimension that could serve as a storage space.
Given Sasuke's pride, he would never develop the kind of pessimistic, escapist desire that had given Obito his Kamui.
Deidara celebrated too soon.
The excitement had barely reached his face before he saw Sasuke burst out of the explosions completely unharmed.
His carefully prepared countermeasure had accomplished absolutely nothing.
The two were now so close that Deidara could clearly see the Mangekyō pattern in Sasuke's eyes through the translucent armor of his Susanoo.
'This is bad.'
Deidara cried out inwardly.
Everyone in the shinobi world knew one thing: never look an Uchiha with awakened eyes directly in the eyes during battle.
But by the time he realized it...
...it was already too late.
The Mangekyō Sharingan in Sasuke's right eye began to spin.
The dōjutsu Hihayahi no Kami activated.
Deidara suddenly saw flames erupt from behind the rear of the clay bird beneath his feet.
The fire was an almost white shade of pale violet.
It gave off no heat, nor did it leave behind any visible burn marks. The clay bird remained as white as ever, looking no different from before.
But Deidara immediately sensed overwhelming danger.
He had completely lost control of the clay bird.
The chakra he had infused into it was instantly devoured the moment it came into contact with the flames.
If those flames touched him...
...he would undoubtedly end up just like the bird.
He would die a spectacular death.
Seeing the flames rapidly spreading toward his feet, Deidara didn't hesitate.
He leaped off the giant bird and let himself fall freely through the air.
Creating another flying mount would have been easy for him.
He simply wouldn't have the chance.
Sasuke appeared behind him and drove a kick into his back, sending him hurtling toward Naruto's position.
Then he followed close behind, raining punches and kicks onto Deidara until his face swelled into a bruised mess.
At the same time, he deliberately slowed Deidara's descent.
Otherwise, the idiot would have splattered into a pool of flesh when he hit the ground.
After all, he was still Tsuchikage Ōnoki's disciple.
Now that Konohagakure and Iwagakure were allies, it was best to leave Deidara for Ōnoki himself to deal with.
Sasuke wasn't some hotheaded fool.
He understood the difference.
More importantly, he simply enjoyed fighting.
He wasn't someone who took pleasure in killing.
Even the Sasuke from the parallel world, burdened by the hatred of his clan's massacre, had never killed an innocent person before being repeatedly manipulated by Itachi and Obito.
As he shielded his head in midair, Deidara caught a glimpse of Sasuke dismissing his Sharingan.
His pride took a devastating blow.
'Does he already think I'm no longer a threat? He doesn't even need the Sharingan anymore? What a bastard who looks down on people.'
Deidara cursed inwardly.
At the same time, inside the loose robes of the Akatsuki cloak, his right hand gripped a large lump of Explosive Clay and slipped it toward the opening on the left side of his chest, making it look as though he were merely protecting his heart with his arm.
Bang!
Thanks to Sasuke's blows slowing his descent, Deidara landed right beside Sasori.
'Sasori-danna is dead...? Honestly... you kept insisting that eternity was true art, and yet this is how it ends. Fine. Since we've been partners for so long, I'll send you off with the explosive art you hated so much. Hmm!'
Looking up at the peaceful image of the family of four, Deidara sighed to himself.
For some reason...
...he felt a little sad.
The unfamiliar emotion only irritated him further, and the opening in his chest began to pulse faster.
Kankurō glared at him.
"You bastard! You're still alive? Die!"
His puppet Crow shot forward, opening its mouth to fire a volley of poisoned blades, intending to finish Deidara off once and for all.
Kurotsuchi instantly flashed in front of the puppet.
"Deidara-niisan is no longer a threat. Everyone, please leave him to Iwagakure. I promise he won't cause trouble for anyone ever again."
Temari snorted.
"And why should we? That bastard killed my little brother."
Gaara spoke calmly.
"Temari. Kankurō. Let it go. Killing him won't accomplish anything. I don't want to create any more hatred."
Both siblings deeply respected Gaara's wishes now.
After shooting one last hateful glare at the blond lying on the ground, they finally backed down.
Only then did Kurotsuchi let out a sigh of relief.
Fortunately, everyone was allies now.
As the Tsuchikage's granddaughter, her words still carried enough weight.
But would Deidara feel grateful?
No.
His twisted, warped pride could never accept surviving only because one of his former companions had pleaded for mercy on his behalf.
To him...
...that was even worse than death.
It was time to prove what his art truly was.