Chapter 216 : Deidara, C2 Dragon
When Deidara heard Riku’s words, he frowned. "You mean that rigid old man? Hah, are you kidding me? He’d make me Tsuchikage?"
Deidara was a little afraid of Ōnoki, but he didn’t like him much either.
But Riku said calmly, "If you had stayed in Iwagakure, who could have competed with you? You were his only disciple. Don’t you understand what that means? His rigidity is only because his own teacher was just as strict with him. The spirit of Iwagakure is the Will of Stone."
"Originally, the passing of the title of Tsuchikage from one generation to the next was heavily scrutinized. The Second Tsuchikage was a powerful man, and extremely strict with his disciples. Do you think your teacher had it easy under the Second Tsuchikage? If it were easy, would he have been able to master the Particle Style?"
Deidara’s expression turned thoughtful at Riku’s words.
In truth, when he had first joined the Akatsuki, it hadn’t been by choice. It had made it clear that he was no match for Uchiha Itachi.
He hadn’t been able to resist.
Now, as he listened to Riku’s explanation, he began to understand—but the chance had long since passed.
There was no way he could return to Iwagakure.
"It’s useless to talk about it now. But you actually know all this... Seems like you’ve done your research on Iwagakure."
Even Kakashi didn’t know these details very well, and he couldn’t figure out how Riku knew so much.
He hadn’t expected that Deidara had once been the personal disciple of the Third Tsuchikage.
And what Riku said was absolutely true. If Deidara had remained in the village, he would have likely become the Fourth Tsuchikage by now.
It wasn’t like Ōnoki—already in his seventies—wanted to hold onto the position forever.
After all, Deidara’s strength was easily Kage-level.
Had he stayed under Ōnoki’s rigorous training, his abilities might have grown even more formidable than they already were.
But Deidara had left when he was only twelve or thirteen years old—freshly graduated from the ninja academy. Now, he was only eighteen.
To reach Kage-level strength at that age was terrifying.
There likely hadn’t been anyone in his generation in Iwagakure with talent to rival his.
And given his current age and ability, he was more than qualified to serve as Tsuchikage.
He had truly missed the best opportunity of his life. Joining the Akatsuki might be his greatest regret.
Of course, it was also possible that he didn’t regret it at all. After all, what he pursued was the art of explosions.
And he had always wanted to challenge Uchiha Itachi.
Riku, calm in the face of Deidara’s suspicions, smiled slightly. "I know a lot. But if you’re weak, then Iwagakure is no better than Konoha. The fact that your Tsuchikage is still in office at his age probably means your defection left them without a suitable successor."
Deidara scowled. Riku knew far too much about Iwagakure.
More than he did, even.
"Enough talk. Riku, right? I heard you defeated Uchiha Itachi. I’ve always wanted to fight him. Since you beat him, I’ll just have to see if I can beat you!"
As he spoke, he hurled the clay spider he’d already molded straight at Riku.
In an instant, the battle began.
Dozens of tiny clay spiders leapt toward Riku.
Chiyo frowned, warning sharply, "Kid, watch out. Those things explode!"
The clay spiders swarmed toward Riku, all aimed at his body.
But just as they were about to reach him, a burst of lightning erupted from Riku’s body.
CRACKLE!
BOOM!
Dozens of clay spiders were struck mid-air by arcs of lightning dancing around Riku’s body.
The explosion never came.
Under the influence of his Lightning Style, the spiders were completely reduced to ash.
This was Lightning Style’s natural advantage over Earth Style.
Strictly speaking, Deidara’s clay bombs were a form of Earth Style—not a kekkei genkai. The clay he used was explosive material, part of a secret technique rather than a bloodline limit. It wasn’t even real Explosion Style.
Deidara was stunned. "That level of Lightning Style control... this guy really is strong."
The lightning Riku had released had been frighteningly precise.
Every thumb-sized spider had been individually neutralized by a bolt of lightning.
So precise it was terrifying. Lightning chakra was notoriously unstable and hard to control.
But Riku had guided it with astonishing accuracy.
That level of finesse alone confirmed Riku’s strength was at the Kage level.
Even Chiyo muttered in awe, "His chakra control is even better than Katsuyu’s..."
Kakashi, of course, already knew just how precise Riku’s chakra control was.
So he wasn’t particularly surprised.
But Sakura and Naruto were stunned.
They had both gone through chakra control training themselves.
They knew from experience just how difficult it was—sometimes harder than mastering a jutsu itself.
Riku glanced at Deidara, his tone calm. "Looks like we’ll have to settle this properly."
Originally, he hadn’t intended to fight. But once Naruto had unleashed Kurama’s chakra, Riku no longer had the luxury of staying out of it.
Seeing Riku’s seriousness, Deidara’s expression shifted.
He quickly began molding more clay bombs in his hands.
"This guy’s no joke... If I hold back, he’ll overwhelm me. He turned all those C1 spiders into duds with Lightning Style. Looks like I’ll need to use C2... maybe even C3."
Deidara was dangerous because his C3 could destroy an entire shinobi village.
And his ultimate technique—C0, the self-detonation—had a blast radius of over ten kilometers.
A power so terrifying, even the Tailed Beast Bomb didn’t necessarily compare.
But using C0 meant certain death.
It was the ultimate mutual destruction technique.
Right now, though, Deidara was considering using C2 just to escape.
That’s right—he no longer had any thoughts of defeating Riku.
After seeing Riku’s control over Lightning Style, he already knew he had no chance unless he fought to the death.
And Deidara had no intention of dying here.
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