by MangaMoon

Naruto - Itachi Uchiha

Remember… when Deidara looks at Itachi and the light behind him briefly makes him resemble a saint? The Akatsuki have come to recruit him, but Deidara has no interest in joining. He believes completely in his art: beauty exists in the instant of an explosion, a spectacle he creates and destroys. Itachi offers a challenge. If Deidara loses, he comes with them. Deidara attacks, apparently trapping Itachi in his explosive clay. Then his supposed victory collapses. He is caught in genjutsu, and the danger he imagined directing at Itachi is turned against himself. Itachi stands calmly before him. Light spreads behind his silhouette. His face remains shadowed, his Sharingan holding Deidara’s attention. Against the explosive spectacle Deidara worships, this image feels impossibly still. For a moment, he recognizes something he cannot bear to acknowledge: this, too, is art. The humiliation reaches deeper than losing a fight. Itachi has made him admire a beauty beyond his control. That admiration hardens into resentment. The saintlike image reveals Deidara’s overwhelmed perception—an artist confronted by something beautiful enough to threaten his certainty about himself.

Material: wooden