Chapter Text
One week since the destruction of Orochimaru's hideout...
The door to the Hokage's office clicked shut. The sun was just at the zenith; a couple clouds in the blue sky. The day warm and humid, but inside the office it felt cool. Jiraiya had just returned to the village for a brief check over on Naruto. He had learned from his spy network, and frankly more so from a toad messenger, that the Tenchi bridge mission was a disaster. Naruto lost control of himself, Yamato had to suppress him, Sasuke was stronger than ever, and poof. Gone again like flames blown out by the wind. Quite literally in fact. He felt that he failed both himself and Naruto, second guessing himself and wondering if the multi-year training session with Naruto had been enough to prepare him for the threats ahead. Or maybe he did prepare him enough. But no matter what this was bound to happen. He could not be sure. His usual playful "research" type mood was banked for now, a genuine seriousness to his gaze that was etched with lines and stress marks, the massive scroll on his back catching the light for now.
And there was Tsunade.
The desk was, as per usual, a victim of an invasion from paperwork. He could see a variety of different forms and complaints and issues on them. His favorite paperwork that he always liked to see her try to solve which he knew drove her mad was paperwork regarding...recreational activities for the health of the Hokage. Which was essentially her way of bureaucratically justifying gambling and drinking and at one point betting half of the quartermaster funds on a horse race. She made him swear never to disclose the results for that.
She lost
Anyways she is not facing him. She is standing before the wide windows overlooking the village. Seeing the people of konoha, people she is charged to protect, as her duty. Her burden. Them unaware of the predators just outside the walls.
"They are moving much faster than I thought," said Jiraiya.
"The Akatsuki you mean?" Replied Tsunade, her tone slightly tired and thoughtful.
"Yes. Gaara was taken of course. Even though we helped rescue him the one tails was still taken. My spy network is running more quiet than usual; people are getting spooked by folk in robes with red clouds. But I know enough that the two tails jinchuriki was taken recently."
"The two-tails? You mean the one from Kumogakure?"
"Yes, the very same."
"Hmph. And here I thought she was one of the tougher ones."
"Seems like 'they' don't care about toughness.'
"Do you know which ones did it? What is Kumo doing about it?"
"All I know is that they are being referred to as an immortal duo. As for Kumo...they are doing what they do best. Aggressive posturing, doubling of patrols, but my spies point to a sort of internal wound happening there. They don't show it, but they miss their jinchuriki."
"...Miss her?"
Tsunade was a bit stumped, her finally turning from the window to face him, her brow slightly furrowed in thought and confusion. A hidden village didn't "miss" a jinchuriki. They were isolated. Unloved. Unwanted. Treated as walking WMDs. From a military standpoint, a village could indeed miss their jinchuriki, but it would be without sentiment and without love. They would only miss them for their military potential. But Kumo? The aggressive village that tried to kidnap both Kushina and then later Hinata, missing someone? It seemed odd.
"Yes. They miss her," Jiraiya replies, his voice firm and calm. "It seems kumo does a good job integrating their jinchuriki better than...other hidden villages."
He does not need to mention Konoha and its treatment of Naruto.
"Well good for them," she says, her voice dripping with bitter sarcasm.
"Anyways the point is this. We know they are after the tailed beasts. And we know it's only a matter of time before they try to come after Naruto."
"Do you really think they are going for all of them?"
"As it currently stands yes. You don't 'just' take two jinchuriki like you are out for a stroll and come upon a stray dog. No, this is systemic. This is planned. I already got done talking to Kakashi who just got discharged from the hospital after the over usage of the sharingan. I'll be gone again soon, today in fact. But I am pushing him and Yamato to helping Naruto train. He's going to feel defeated and useless, and right now we need to light a fire within him if he's going to stand any chance against those monsters."
Tsunade just looks at him. She does not say anything for a moment. Instead, her gaze flicks to a particular report on her desk. The drawing of a...mule...on it.
"Speaking of monsters...that hideout in the Land of Grass...where team 7 encountered Orochimaru again...apparently it's been vaporized."
"Vaporized? Is Orochimaru cleaning house or something?"
"Yes, it was vaporized, but not by him. No. This was the work of a freelance bounty hunter that Kusagakure hired after the damn disaster at that bridge there. An S-rank bomber who operates on his own rules and his own dime and has no consideration for borders or intelligence operations."
She picks up the folder with the mule again, holding it out for him as if it were a foul piece of trash. Her expression one of disbelief and annoyance as she stares at it, as if it had personally offended her.
"The locals have taken to calling him 'The Mule'."
A wide toothy grin broke out on Jiraiya's face. Oh yes, he heard about him. Or rather, heard about his 'song' that the locals have taken to singing about him.
"HA! You mean that firecracker? The one with that ridiculous song I hear in bars and other places?"
Tsunade rolls her eyes. "This is serious you idiot!"
"Oh I am serious! I heard that song quite a few times in fact. I really should thank him as the song made for good times!"
He sobers up however, his expression serious again. Although some amount of amusement twirled in his eyes.
"In all seriousness...if he really is that strong that he can just vaporize an entire hideout like that and then vanish without a trace...then that's someone we can't just let roam around without accounting for him. A man that powerful with no allegiance is more unpredictable than any Kage. Even the Akatsuki have a sort of set pattern at this point."
He looks at the report again, placing it gently on the table.
"But that is not the real issue. Being able to make explosions and blow things up is a tale as old as time. Anyone can do it. I am more concerned about the...intangibles."
He taps a finger on the report, specifically on the drawing of the mule itself.
"That name. 'The Mule' so to speak. It's not a flashy name. Think about it. Most ninja in the world, especially the S rank ones, have these sorts of nicknames with gravitas or some importance to them. Hiruzen with the professor. Minato with the yellow flash. Onoki of both scales. Hashirama, the god of shinobi. These are all names that, well to use the new generations terms, are "cool". They have weight to them that feels both earned and tells a story, a legend. But...this? The Mule? That is not a name a man gives to himself to inspire fear in others. It seems given to him. And what is a mule? A reliable, stubborn and loyal animal. It's not the name of a monster. And the stories...they all suggest the same thing, a sort of folk tale aspect to him. Of a man who quote 'hurries in to save the day. Bombs in hand, a thrice they say'."
He paces back and forth a bit at this point before the desk.
"Based on reports from what I could gather...he's not some old veteran like us where-"
"Are you saying...I'm...old?" Tsunade interjects, a glare that could and would incinerate Jiraiya on the spot if he did not answer correctly. He pauses looking at her with both hands held up in a placating motion with a sheepish grin on his face.
"I...I meanly purely in combat experience! He was too young to have even fought in the third great ninja war technically!"
The answer saves him. For now.
"...Anyways...the point I am trying to make is this. He's young. Not Naruto's age kind of young, but still younger than Kakashi's generations. If i had to guess he's around...what? 22? 23 at most? We have ourselves a young man with kage level destructive power, with no known allegiances and the genuine adoration of the civilians of the world, precisely because he focuses mainly on helping them, bill of service be damned. He's a walking talking political movement with a body count."
Tsunade doesn't say anything for a moment, her focus on a map showing the various nations and hidden villages in the world. She glares at the spot where the hideout was destroyed near Kusagakure in the Land of Grass, as if it had personally offended her. Again.
"A political movement..." she repeated as she mused over the concept of it. "Don't go dressing this all up in fancy terms Jiraiya. You and I have seen this kind of thing before. It's anarchy. He's an S-Class power with no allegiance to anyone who wanders around the nations as if he owns the place. Today he blows up the bank vaults of a wealthy oil merchant that were holding withheld wages from the various workers. The next day he blowing up the hideouts of one of the most dangerous beings on the planet. What is stopping him from escalating? Deciding a Konoha team is 'in the way' of his crusade? You see a folk hero. I see a spark that could trigger even the fourth great ninja war if he is truly that careless. We can't just let him be."
"And what do you propose we do?" Jiraiya stated back to her as his voice was calm but unyielding. "Send an ANBU team to detain him for questioning? The first village that sees a person in Konoha uniform try to take him away after he saved their children will view us as enemies and bullies for a generation. Put a bounty on his head, put him in the bingo books? For what crime? Freeing prisoners? Demolition of morally bankrupt wealthy owner's homes? We'd look out of touch and like tyrants. He is not a nail to be hammered down and he is not someone you can just...punch. He does not operate in our world. He operates in the one's often forgotten about. We wouldn't just be going after one man. We'd be declaring war on every farmer, every peasant, every refugee, every powerless person who has ever looked at the powers of the world and felt a boot on their neck."
Tsunade was silent for a bit, considering what Jiraiya was saying. There was an undeniable logic to it which infuriated her. She is the Hokage. She is the protector of this village. She is supposed to maintain order and control and if necessary eliminate threats. This man...this kid really, was the epitome of an uncontrollable threat. She hated it. Hated being outmaneuvered. Especially by a ghost with the most ridiculous nickname she has ever heard attached to an S-rank power.
"So we do nothing? We just sit around waiting for him to engage in his next act of unscheduled humanitarian terrorism?"
"We do what we're supposed to do," Jiraiya said. "We watch and we listen and we learn. Let me put my network on it. Not to hunt him but to understand him. Find out where he came from. What his breaking point is. What he actually wants. Right now, he's a myth. We need to find the man inside it."
For a moment her gaze flickers back down to the report. Then finally her gaze going back up to where Shizune was standing at the door. SIlent and forgotten, but ready to help whenenver called upon.
"Shizune," Tsunade says with a determined tone of voice. "I want you to open a new file. Threat classification 'Unsanctioned Asset of Indeterminate Allegiance'. Priority level A. For my eyes and the council's eyes only.
"Right away Lady Tsunade." Shizune said, as she goes to do just that.
"One last thing Jiraiya."
Jiraiya who had been ready to leave turns his gaze back to her, curious what she was about to say.
"His...techniques...it has explosion release written all over it. There's only one village where that Kekkei Genkai is known to come from."
"Iwagakure." Jiraiya said, not as opinion but fact.
"Exactly. So what the hell is a presumably former Iwa shinobi going around acting like a damn folk tale hero?"
"I don't know."
"Do you think he's related to...him?"
No name was given, but Deidara's shadow well and truly reached the room.
"Honestly? I don't know. Just having a Kekkei Genkai does not mean you are automatically brothers with someone. But...I would not rule it out as a possibility. It's strange though. One joined a terrorist group hellbent on destruction, the other seems more so trying to clean up the messes of the world. One treats their Kekkei Genkai like a medium for art and the other treats it more...clinical. As if he's detached from it."
Tsunade does not say anything as she considers this new information. Two individuals from Iwa. Both defected. Both with the same Kekkei Genkai. Yet both operating on different axis.
"Just put your spy network to good use Jiraiya. I can't afford two mad bombers out there. Not at this time."
"Understood. Anything else before I go off galivanting into the world once again?" Jiraiya said, his demeanor shifting to being slightly more playful again with a grin.
Tsunade again rolls her eyes. "Just don't go getting yourself killed idiot."
Jiraiya places a hand over his heart in faux-woundedness. "My dear Tsunade...I would never go and do such a thing! I am the epitome of self-care! And speaking of self-care, the hot springs are calling to me. I could use-"
He had intended to say he could use a hot soak in the waters from the aches of travelling on the roads and sleeping in dusty rundown inns. But for Tsunade, any mention of hot springs and Jiraiya can only mean one thing. "Research". She grabbed a bottle of sake and chucked it at him, the glass bottle shattering and dousing him a bit.
"OW! What was that for?!"
"For being 'you'. Now...go away. Shoo. Get out!"
The terms settled and a plan put into action, both decided to their separate ways for now. Jiraiya into the world of shadows and spies and a desperately needed bath. And Tsunade into the world of politics and villages, as she reaches into a cabinet where her sake is kept. But neither can say they are wrong in what they thought of him. Both simply inhabit different worlds that overlap and ultimately need each other.
Somewhere else in a damp cave...
Deidara was sitting on a flat-topped rock. He was busy kneading clay and trying out his arms that were "gracefully" stitched back on by Kakazu, 'a considerable expense cutting into my profits', he mentioned which irritated Deidara. He always disliked the money hungry person, and disliked even more Hidan. They were both annoying. So...unsophisticated and lacking in art. Hm.
The sterile memory of the place was ever so hard to forget. the words echoing from that place.
It's...art.
He paused his art making process. A small, satisfied smirk on his face. It was the first time someone had truly understood. Not a tool. Not just a bang. Seven had understood. For all of his more boring and clinical power, he had understood.
...If your bang is you…what are you trying to say? What will you do with it? When will you be loud enough for the whole world to hear?
Something like that... something like that. Trust me...you'll hear it...and you'll understand.
The barking from one of the handlers ruined the moment. They had gone back to their usual affairs with the drab food and the drab place and the drab clothing. But there was a promise in the air. A charge and a spark waiting to go off.
Deidara had indeed waited. He had indeed been paying attention.
And then it happened.
He had not been there to see it personally. No one had on that day. But you could feel it. And you could hear it, the sound from the exposion forever echoing in his head. Everyone at the Kiln had felt a tremor that shook the mountains to its core. A roar that made the very walls groan and ache from the pressure of it. The report was clinical and brief.
Subject-7. Field test anomaly. Loss of control. Self-detonation. Asset written off.
The handlers and men in coats called it a failure of a good asset.
Deidara knew better.
He finished kneading a particular clay object into making it a small bird as it rests on his palm. He remembers at one point standing at a porch, an oberservation deck really, as he saw the new reshaped mountain pass. A massive crater where the peak of the mountain had once stood. He understood then.
It was not a loss of control. It was not a tantrum. It was the ultimate expression of control against being controlled. A perfect literal mountain shaking explosion. The final word. It was undeniably seven's masterpiece carved into the world itself. It was his masterpiece. His freedom. His escape.
Deidara’s smirk faded and was instead replaced by a competitive fire in his eyes. Seven had set the artistic bar even if he never intended to. He had turned himself into the ultimate ephemeral art. A memory. A legend. He held up the small clay bird still in his palm, admiring it.
"Hm. A beautiful performance, yeah," he mused to himself in the cave. Tobi wasn't there. He was being an idiot somewhere else, probably going to go get dango among other things. "But the show's not over seven." He said, his fingers pressing into the clay bird and some chakra going into it.
"My art will surpass yours seven. The whole world is my canvas ready to be made into art. And when I'm done, when I finally have my finale...it will make your little mountain stunt look like a firecracker, hm."