Chapter 1

His face never dropped that smirk. He silently lowered his clay bird down a little. He sat more firmly on the back of the bird, as he focused all his chakra into the clay. The bomb was ready, time was running low. I've got him now.

He released the bomb, and let it whistle down towards the target. He began to fly as he heard that familiar boom.

"I'm going to get one of those bells, hm!"

He jumped off the clay bird and let it disappear. He ran, feet pounding hard against the earth. There had to be a bell, lying somewhere on the ground. The incredible amount of dirt his detonating clay had stirred up was impairing his sightlines. He was almost to where his sensei had been standing just moments before, and…

The timer went off. Deidara froze, then gritted his teeth. Late… again. Every time that Kakashi Sensei did this bell training, Deidara was always just a couple steps away from getting one. But again, he was beaten by the timer.

Kakashi emerged from behind the debris left from Deidara's explosives. His one exposed eye was squinted shut, signaling he was smiling behind that mysterious mask. He tossed the bells up in the air and caught them again. That invisible grin never dropped from his face.

"Always close, Deidara, always close. But, once again… looks as though you failed to take them."

Deidara considered getting angry, but he knew that wouldn't get him anywhere. Instead, he stood up straight and smirked.

"Maybe this time, but next time, I'll have them, hm!"

He could hear the tired panting of his teammates. Sasuke and Naruto had been blown about ten feet back by his massive explosion. They both wore dazed expressions, and breathed heavily. Naruto immediately leapt to his feet, whereas Sasuke slowly sat up, looking utterly sullen.

"Deidara! What the hell were you thinking? You could have killed all of us!"

Deidara rolled his eyes. And, once again, Naruto was yelling uncontrollably.

"Naruto, what was the mission, hm? To get the bells. And I almost did, using that explosion."

"Yeah, almost." Sasuke muttered, clamoring to his feet. Deidara glared.

"Well, I'd say that's a good amount of training for a day. I heard that there are some good new missions that have come in, and I think it's about time Deidara goes on one." Kakashi suggested.

Despite starting at the academy very late, Deidara had showed tremendous skill and had been placed on Team 7 when one of their members, Sakura Haruno, had been killed in action. Though he had shown great potential in training, he hadn't been on any missions. Deidara blamed this on the fact that his teammates didn't appreciate his… special talents.

Team 7 arrived at Lady Tsunade's office. She was looking particularly worrisome, chewing at her nails as she whispered a conversation with her assistant Shizune and a man Deidara had never seen before. He was tall, and had a long, wavy ponytail of white hair, and had red marks under his dark eyes. He noticed, though, that Naruto brightened right up when he saw the man.

"Pervy Sage! What are you doing here?"

The man laughed. "Hey, Naruto! I've just been talking to Lady Tsunade."

He looked over at Deidara. "Ah, is this the new kid."

The new kid?

Tsunade gave a curt nod. "Deidara, this is Jiraiya. He's a sage-"

"And the author of the Make-out series! I've bet you heard of that!" Jiraiya cut her off.

"Sensei, isn't that what you're always reading?" Deidara turned to Kakashi. Even behind that retched mask, Deidara could make the outline of a pervy smirk. His sensei even began to sweat a little. Deidara rolled his eyes. What a perv.

Tsunade interrupted. "Anyway, Jiraiya has come back with some very troubling news. He's been spying on the Akatsuki for quite some time and-"

"Wait, who?" Deidara butted in.

Tsunade sighed. "I forgot, how little you know. Well, the Akatsuki is a group composed of S-Rank missing-nin criminals, who, for quite some time now, has been collecting the tailed beasts out of the Jinchuuriki hosts. Their intentions aren't clear, but we know that at some point, they're going to be headed out here."

Deidara glanced over at Naruto, who was looking dejectedly at the ground. So, the Akatsuki's after him, hm? I bet I could take all of 'em down with one blast!

"The key with defeating them is not to be rash. We can't just go into a fight with them and expect to come out unscathed, or alive for that matter." Tsunade continued. "We need a smart team with a smart leader, and I figured that team Kakashi was the right choice for this matter."

"So what exactly do want us to do?" Naruto asked, stepping forward a little. Tsunade stopped chewing her nails and gave the team an intense, determined stare.

"I've decided since Deidara doesn't quite know the ropes of missions yet, you should spy on the Akatsuki more thoroughly. We have located their hideout, but lately security has been tightened up, and we can't quite figure out how to break the seal to get in. It's your job to find a way to spy on them and once you have acquired sufficient information about their upcoming plans, report back to me and we will do what we can with what you've learned."

Deidara folded his arms and let the smirk cross his face again. He said almost degradingly, "Are you sure fighting isn't necessary? My art could do a number on them, hm."

Tsunade leapt up and slammed her hands on the desk. Shizune flinched and Jiraiya rolled his eyes and muttered, "Here we go again…"

"Deidara, with the explosions I've been hearing outside and the complaints I've been getting, I think your uncontrollable 'talent' will not be necessary!" Her voice was like knives.

Deidara's smirk faded, and he leaned back. "Damn."

Kakashi turned. "Deidara, don't complain. For your first mission, this is fine."

Naruto laughed and gave a big thumbs- up to the hokage. "We won't let you down, grandma!"

Tsunade couldn't hide a little smile. "Alright. The weather is looking poor, so you all had better be on your way."

Jiraiya handed Kakashi a map and gave a brief explanation that Deidara didn't really pay attention to. As they all walked out of the office to get on their way, Deidara made a promise to himself.

Those missing-nins will experience my art like no one else before. I will kick the Akatsuki's ass, if it's the last thing I do!

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