Deidara thought his infiltration had succeeded. What he had not expected was that Gaara had noticed him long ago.
Although he had flown through the sky for the entire day, and it was already late at night, he had assumed his plan had worked. He never imagined Gaara would already be waiting here for him.
Gaara stood with his arms crossed in front of his chest, looking at Deidara as he said calmly, "This is as far as you go."
Clearly, as Kazekage, he had absolute confidence that he could deal with the intruder. Not only was his own strength already among the top of the current world, but he also had the status of a Jinchuriki. On top of that, this was Sunagakure. If he could not deal with one mere intruder here, would that not be the greatest joke in the world?
"Oh?" Deidara was not startled. He only smiled faintly. The Kazekage might be an extraordinary powerhouse, but was Deidara not one too?
As he spoke, he leapt straight up, jumping onto the Giant Clay Bird and avoiding the pursuit of Gaara's sand.
"He's gotten much stronger."
Tsunade spoke. In the video, when Gaara, now Kazekage, used Sand Binding, the range of his pursuit stretched directly from the center of the village all the way to the village's edge.
Sunagakure was, of course, much smaller than Konoha. But no matter how small it was, it was still one of the Five Great Shinobi Villages of the current world, a fully mature militarized town.
The fact that Gaara's sand could chase that far was already enough to prove how powerful he was.
No wonder he could become Kazekage. Part of it was certainly because Sunagakure did not have many experts at the time, but even more than that, Gaara himself truly possessed genuine Kage Level strength.
In terms of pure combat power, he was even above Tsunade. The power of his Sand Jutsu was truly astonishing.
Seventh Hokage Naruto also began watching seriously. Back then, he still remembered suddenly receiving a mission to rescue Gaara, and he had learned that Gaara had been captured by the Akatsuki Organization. But at the time, he had not known exactly how Gaara had been taken.
"He can fly? That's pretty troublesome." Hatake Kakashi frowned as he watched Deidara in the diary video, riding a giant bird and moving freely wherever he wanted. He was already thinking about how he would deal with it if he were in Gaara's place.
Use Chidori Current?
Following Uchiha Sasuke's method, he could indeed make Chidori Current stab very far. But that was still nowhere near enough. There was a limit to that range, while this bird had no real limit once it was flying.
At least Gaara had sand. If it were Kakashi, he would probably only be able to get bombed along the way.
The battle quietly unfolded beneath the night sky over Sunagakure. Deidara fled wildly, while behind him, sand followed like a shadow.
This also startled more and more Sunagakure Shinobi.
Deidara was still dodging. He was still buying time. His Clay Bombs also needed time to prepare.
"Not bad at all."
The look Deidara gave Gaara was as if he were looking at prey.
At that moment, Gaara could no longer hold back and chose to take the initiative. His sand turned into a cloud that lifted him high into the air. Although his speed could not compare to Deidara's giant bird, he finally had the ability to fly in the sky and was no longer forced to passively take attacks.
The two sides faced each other from a distance high above.
"Still, you're pretty good. You actually recognized me."
Deidara called out loudly.
Gaara only raised his head and looked at him, saying coldly, "That's because there are no birds like that in this desert."
"So that's it."
Only then did Deidara realize why he had been exposed. It was because there was no bird like this in the sky?
Had he flown too close below while trying to scout out the location of the Kazekage Building and ended up being seen?
But to him, it did not matter. He had to capture his target anyway. Now that the Jinchuriki had rushed to the front line himself, that was perfect.
"Oh, what a convenient Jinchuriki."
At this moment, the clash between the two finally alarmed the other Sunagakure Shinobi. Only now did they discover that their own Kazekage was facing off against some strange thing in the sky.
Inside the Kazekage's office, Kankuro finally saw Gaara confronting someone in midair.
The sight of the Kazekage confronting an outside powerhouse in the sky alarmed more and more Sunagakure Shinobi.
"Hmph. Looks like the infiltration plan failed. But that's fine too. Saves me the trouble of finding you."
Deidara spoke without the slightest concern.
But in the very next second, he saw the sand of the entire Sunagakure rise under Gaara's control, forming towering waves that surged into the sky.
"So he really does have the terrain advantage. What a pain." Deidara looked at the scale of the sand waves before him and spoke in shock.
In truth, Deidara was far from the only one shocked. Everyone else was shocked too.
Because in the previous video, they had only just seen the terrifying scene when Gaara used Sabaku Taiso. That had already been astonishing, impressive even among Jonin-level techniques.
But compared with the Sand Jutsu Gaara was summoning now, it was like comparing a firefly to the sun.
"Is it because the desert environment suits him perfectly?"
Jiraiya frowned as he watched Gaara in the video. He was even calculating ways to deal with him.
Although it seemed that future Gaara would become an ally, the current Gaara was absolutely no easy opponent.
In fact, the entire Sunagakure would soon fight Konoha head-on. As the Jinchuriki of the One-Tail Shukaku, Gaara was currently an enemy in every sense of the word.
Everyone also realized that for Gaara, who used Sand Jutsu, fighting in a desert was like a fish returning to water. He possessed the right time, the right place, and the right people.
In this kind of environment, even someone with only Kage Level strength could display combat power equivalent to Super Kage Level.
It was just like using Water Release. The power of a Water Release technique was completely different depending on whether there was water nearby or not.
Having a lake beside you and having an ocean beside you would also produce a world of difference in power.
"So he really does have the terrain advantage. What a pain."
At this moment, Deidara also realized that Gaara was indeed extremely troublesome. But as a young genius himself, there was no way he would show weakness.
They were both young geniuses. They had both stepped into Kage Level at a young age. Who was really inferior to whom?
Besides, so what if Gaara had the whole of Sunagakure behind him? Deidara had people behind him too.
When Kankuro and the others arrived, they saw the endless sand waves forming a massive Shukaku hand, constantly reaching in Deidara's direction.
During the process, it was repeatedly blown apart by small bombs, but it quickly reformed.
During the chase, Deidara's Clay Bombs had already been prepared. Faced with such a nimble and troublesome opponent, everyone watching the diary felt he was extremely difficult to deal with.
Only Gaara's special Sand Jutsu could still contend with him. If it had been someone else, they probably would have had no choice but to passively endure the bombing.
"Now it's just getting started."
Deidara threw out little bird bombs, continuously blasting apart Gaara's massive sand arm. However, this kind of attack was barely an itch to Gaara. In this sandy environment, he had as much sand as he wanted.
"Using strange explosives… is that a lure tactic too?"
Gaara was thinking about something else. He was wondering why the other party had come. Was the target him, the Jinchuriki of the One-Tail?
If so, what made the other party think he could take Gaara away right under Sunagakure's nose?
What exactly was his trump card?
That was the real reason Gaara had never dared to act rashly.
Of course, it was also because the battlefield was inside Sunagakure. He had to hold back for fear of damaging what he wanted to protect.
For the Five Great Shinobi Villages, battles fought inside the village itself were truly rare.
Not to mention, someone daring to charge into Sunagakure alone was even more unprecedented.
There had to be a conspiracy here.
As for Deidara, he had already completely figured out Gaara's combat methods and fighting style.
But knowing was one thing. Gaara being troublesome was another. Especially once Gaara realized one thing. Since Deidara's target was him, no matter what, Deidara would eventually have to attack him directly.
Under these circumstances, protecting himself first was the proper path.
So Gaara simply wrapped himself inside a huge Sand Sphere, leaving only one eye made of sand outside.
"This move…"
Uchiha Sasuke looked at Gaara in midair, protected inside the sphere, and instantly remembered what had happened to him in the earlier video.
Faced with such a massive protective shell, there had been almost no way through. In the end, he had used Chidori, which he had not yet fully mastered, to blast a large hole straight through it.
Of course, he also understood very clearly that Gaara three years later was definitely completely different from the Gaara of the current stage. His strength had clearly undergone an earth-shaking improvement. If Sasuke used Chidori against him now, there was a high chance he would not be able to break through his defense.
Gaara in this state was the true Absolute Defense.
And even while maintaining this state, Gaara could still control the massive Shukaku claw and send it grabbing toward Deidara.
"Sand Binding Prison!"
Gaara's huge Shukaku claw even caught Deidara and crushed him into a large sphere.
Everyone looked at the scene in the diary video and felt as though they had seen it somewhere before.
Then it suddenly came to them. Wasn't that the Chibaku Tensei Deva Path Pain had used earlier?
It felt like the principle was almost the same. Both used mud, sand, and chunks of earth from the ground to trap the enemy in midair, then crush them to death in one go.
The principle was similar, but the difference in power should be like heaven and earth.
No matter what, Gaara could not possibly possess the strength of Deva Path Pain.
"It's over."
Kankuro, watching from the ground, looked at the scene and said this.
In his eyes, once someone was caught by Gaara, there was no possibility of escape. Not being crushed into pieces on the spot was already good enough.
The other Sunagakure Shinobi also began cheering one after another.