Konoha: The Honored One

There's no need to be so vigilant. Am I scary?" Gojo said with a lilt in his voice, his lips curled in that eternally smug grin. He tilted his head slightly, his snow-white hair falling messily over his blindfold. "Or... would you rather I go first?"

The silence from his opponents was telling. Deidara hovered on his clay dragon, his face contorted in annoyed caution, while the Red Sand—Sasori to his allies—remained stoic but tense. Gojo tilted his head further, as if peering directly into their souls.

He already knew their weaknesses. A single move, and Sasori's brittle core would shatter like cheap porcelain. But where was the fun in that? After all, this wasn't just a fight—it was theater for his "stinky brats" back in Squad Seven.

Deidara clicked his tongue from atop his clay dragon. "Oi, Sasori-danna, are you sure you can handle him on your own? Hmm?" His voice was laced with false nonchalance, though the tension in his posture betrayed him.

"Just focus on the weaklings over there," Sasori replied, his raspy voice calm as ever. "If you think a little distraction will throw him off, go ahead."

Deidara gave a wry grin, his single visible eye glinting with mischief. "Heh. As long as I get to show them the beauty of my art!"

The clay dragon swooped low, heading toward Kurenai and the Seventh Squad. But before Deidara could even cross half the distance, the ground between them erupted with a deafening crack. A massive fissure tore through the battlefield, creating a chasm as if the earth itself had split to obey Gojo's whim.

"Oi, oi," Gojo called out, his tone almost playful as he pointed toward the crack. "That's the line. Cross it, and I might get mad. Can't have you hurting the adorable people behind me. They love me too much for that, y'know?"

"You're such a narcissist, Gojo!" Kurenai-san snapped from the sidelines, her cheeks flushed with a mix of embarrassment and anger.

Naruto, wide-eyed, stared at the crack like it was the eighth wonder of the world. "Whoa! Sensei can make the ground split just like that?! That's so cool!"

Sakura wasn't faring much better, her eyes practically sparkling. "Gojo-sensei is amazing..." she murmured dreamily, barely able to keep her focus on anything else.

Sasuke scowled, his arms crossed. "Tch. Showoff."

Back in the sky, Deidara's clay dragon wavered mid-flight. He glared down at Gojo, irritation bubbling over. "Who do you think you are? No one stops my art, hmm!" His fingers began weaving seals, preparing another clay bomb. But before he could unleash it, Gojo raised a single hand and spat out a bolt of electricity.

"Lightning Style: False Darkness."

The crackling energy roared across the battlefield, an enormous wave of electrical fury that lit up the sky. The dragon disintegrated instantly, its remains raining down in harmless chunks of inert clay. Deidara himself was thrown from the explosion, his body tumbling to the ground as streaks of smoke rose from his singed clothing.

He groaned, blood dripping from shallow cuts across his body. "What was that? He didn't even use hand seals! Hmm..."

Still lying on the ground, he glared weakly at Gojo. "What kind of bloodline is this? You shouldn't be able to use advanced Lightning Style like that without—"

Gojo cut him off, pointing dramatically toward the Seventh Squad. "Oi, brats! Pay attention here! This is how you deal with Earth Style users. Lightning trumps earth! See what happens to his 'detonating clay' now? Completely useless. It's just dirt."

"Sensei, is this really the time for a lecture?!" Sakura shouted, her voice tinged with exasperation.

"Heh. Multi-tasking, Sakura-chan," Gojo replied, his tone almost sing-song. "A good sensei never misses a teaching moment."

Meanwhile, Sasori's patience wore thin. His puppeteer fingers moved deftly, summoning the Third Kazekage puppet to the fore. With a flick, the puppet unleashed its ultimate weapon: Iron Sand Gathering Assault: Wedge

The battlefield trembled as a massive, metallic structure rose into the air, its jagged edges glinting ominously. The triangular pyramid hurtled toward Gojo, its weight and velocity enough to crush several buildings in its path.

But Gojo didn't flinch.

He raised a single finger, casually stopping the colossal pyramid mid-flight. The massive structure hung frozen in the air, as if caught by some invisible force.

From the sidelines, Naruto's jaw dropped so far it nearly unhinged. "He stopped it with one finger?! How is that even possible?!"

"Showoff," Sasuke muttered again, though even he couldn't hide the awe in his voice.

Kurenai-san rubbed her temples, sighing deeply. "Why do I feel like this is just feeding his ego even more…?"

Gojo examined the floating pyramid with mock curiosity, spinning it slightly with a flick of his wrist. "Not bad, Sasori-san. I'd give it a 6 out of 10. Nice effort, but a little heavy-handed, don't you think?"

Sasori didn't reply. Instead, his fingers twitched again, commanding the Iron Sand to reassemble into hundreds of razor-sharp spikes. But before the spikes could move, Gojo disappeared in a blur and reappeared right in front of him.

"You're working hard," Gojo said lightly, raising two fingers in a mock salute. "But you'll never reach me. You know why?"

Sasori's eyes narrowed. He prepared to defend himself, but Gojo was already ahead of him.

"There's an infinite distance between us," Gojo said, his tone dropping to something more serious. "It's not defense—it's infinity. No attack, no matter how fast or strong, will ever touch me."

With that, Gojo's fingers crackled with blue lightning. "And now… goodnight."

ZAP!

The electric current surged through Sasori's body, tearing through the delicate mechanisms of his puppet form. His heart container—the core of his being—shattered into pieces, sending shards of wood and steel flying. For a moment, it seemed as if time itself had frozen, the battlefield eerily quiet except for the faint hum of residual electricity.