Clearly, however, all of them had underestimated Deidara far too much. Even facing such a desperate situation, Deidara set off an explosion and blew open a gap, escaping straight through it.
But just as he was about to get out, Gaara immediately caught him again in midair with Sand Binding. Just as Deidara was about to be thrown back into the Sand Sphere, he tossed out another Giant Clay Bird at the last possible second and fled beneath the moonlight.
Looking up from below, the massive Shukaku hand formed from sand and Deidara's giant clay hand chased each other across the night sky. The entire scene looked unbelievably shocking.
The people of Sunagakure also began arriving one after another after receiving the news.
But with the battle taking place high above the sky, they could not help at all. The situation only changed when Gaara's sand caught one of Deidara's arms. In an instant, he used Sand Binding to cripple that arm.
Facing such an unfavorable situation, Deidara simply severed his own arm. He could only be called absolutely ruthless.
Deidara finally realized that the sand that had suddenly caught up to him earlier was not ordinary sand. It had come from the gourd on Gaara's back. After being tempered by Chakra for many years, its speed and power were far beyond what ordinary sand could compare with.
"According to the intel, that guy always carries a fixed amount of sand with him. In other words, only that sand should have a large amount of Chakra infused into it, which gives it those special properties. That sand can form a defense and is also suited for instant attacks. What was it called again?" Deidara kept flying while dodging the sand in midair. "I remember. Absolute Defense. That's the sand used for Absolute Defense. Which means the sand from that opened hole crushed my arm."
He noticed the large hole in the Absolute Defense that had originally surrounded Gaara and realized that it was not impossible for that sand to suddenly accelerate and possess such power.
As Jiraiya watched Deidara's analysis in the diary, he compared it with his own intelligence assessment of this battle and found that their views were more or less the same. The difference was that Jiraiya had the clarity of a bystander, while Deidara had noticed so many key pieces of intelligence in the middle of battle.
Even after losing an arm, he could still remain this calm? It did not affect his fighting at all?
That was not inferior in the slightest to Jiraiya's own battle against Deva Path Pain back then.
When had Iwagakure produced such an extraordinary genius? Judging by his age, he should definitely have been one of Iwagakure's rare talents, the kind who ought to have been Onoki's ideal successor. Yet now he had defected from the village and become a Missing-nin?
But on this issue, Konoha and Iwagakure were in no position to criticize each other. If anything, Konoha's situation was even more serious. Konoha was even less capable of tolerating geniuses like this.
"If that's all he has, he won't win."
Namikaze Minato looked at the situation in the diary video. From what he could see, even if Gaara's Absolute Defense had some flaws, they would be extremely hard to seize.
On top of that, this was Sunagakure in the Land of Wind. Deidara had almost no chance of winning here. Sand covered the land in every direction, so there was no difficulty at all for Gaara.
It was like a Water Release ninja using Water Release on the ocean. The power would increase by itself, and the amount of Chakra needed would also drop greatly.
Below them was an entire village of Sunagakure ninjas too. If the battle had not been locked in the sky, preventing those Sunagakure people from directly interfering, Deidara probably would have been chopped into mincemeat on the spot.
Even a Kage Level expert had no chance of forcing his way into a Kage village.
Kage Level experts did not have that kind of strength. Even a Strong Kage Level fighter would not fare much differently. Only someone who reached the Super Kage Level mentioned in Kaede Kitahara's diary would probably possess the ability to fight an entire great ninja village alone.
"How is he going to break this situation? Will Sasori, hiding in the dark, make a move?"
Hatake Kakashi had thought of the same problem. In a battle like this, Deidara had no chance of victory. In the end, he could only be dragged to death by Gaara, who held the terrain advantage.
Compared with other Kage Level fighters, Deidara did not have any especially overwhelming traits. He did not have a ridiculous amount of Chakra, nor did he have an astonishingly powerful body. He looked like nothing more than an ordinary Kage Level fighter.
For someone like that to raid Sunagakure and still expect to leave in one piece was pure fantasy.
But what if he was only delaying for time and drawing attention?
Hatake Kakashi thought of another possibility. As a member of the Akatsuki Organization, Deidara had another companion of the same level. That Sasori was a genius from Sunagakure who had become famous at a young age, just like him.
He even had his own spies inside Sunagakure. What would he do?
From his father's notes, Kakashi knew that Sasori's line had an allegedly city-destroying terrifying technique called the Ten Puppets Collection.
It was said to allow the user to control ten puppets at the same time, achieving the terrifying effect of becoming an army all by himself.
In any case, their goal was not to defeat Sunagakure. If they only wanted to launch a surprise attack and capture Gaara, the Jinchuriki of the One-Tail, there had to be a way.
Create a diversion, lure the tiger away from the mountain, capture the leader first?
For a moment, many different tactics flashed through Hatake Kakashi's mind. If it were him, how would he operate in order to capture Gaara, who was now Kazekage?
Only, with his current strength, he had no way to do it. That was not to say he could not beat Sasori or Deidara in a real fight. It was just that everyone's abilities were different. Some people were suited to be piercing assassins, while others were suited to open, head-on battles. They were all Kage Level, but each was different in their own way.
At the very least, if it were Kakashi, unless he infiltrated nearby and struck Gaara while no one was paying attention, there would be no chance.
But if he had already been exposed, succeeding would be far too difficult.
Everyone realized the enormous problem Deidara was facing now, so they all began thinking about what they would do if they were in his place.
Deidara himself also realized that he had underestimated Gaara, the Jinchuriki of the One-Tail, far too much. What would he have to do to succeed?
"Forget it. I'll destroy this village."
Deidara's face twisted as he looked at the last fallback he had prepared.
He flew higher and higher, high enough that ordinary Sunagakure ninjas could no longer interfere at all. They could only watch helplessly as their Kazekage faced the enemy alone, with sand constantly grabbing toward Deidara.
In the world of Naruto, flying was simply that unreasonable. Ninjas who possessed the ability to fly were already rare to begin with.
They also realized that if even the Kazekage had used the sand meant for Absolute Defense, then the enemy must be truly formidable to have forced Gaara this far.
They had even reached the point where they had to consider what might happen if Gaara lost control and the One-Tail Shukaku emerged.
This proved that deep down, Sunagakure still guarded against Gaara. More accurately, they guarded against Shukaku inside Gaara's body.
To Sunagakure, Shukaku was both a national weapon and the root of their fear.
Because the One-Tail had indeed run wild before and caused many casualties. It simply had not caused as much damage as the Nine-Tails had inflicted on Konoha.
But the result was the same. The people of the Hidden Leaf Village would still be extremely wary and cautious of the Nine-Tails, even though everyone knew the Nine-Tails was crucial to Konoha's existence.
Even so, they would still feel that Tailed Beasts were true monsters.
Faced with this perception, Gaara believed Naruto's method had given him great inspiration.
He left the special unit and joined Sunagakure's regular forces. What he faced there were superiors who misunderstood and hated him, along with more than half the village fearing him.
Even so, he resolved to exchange sincerity for understanding. Becoming a Jinchuriki had not been his choice. He had been forced into it. But what kind of Jinchuriki he became was something he could choose for himself.
"I understand. I understand it, but if all I do is wait, even greater pain will come for me. I have to work hard and carve open my own path. I can't run away from the lonely road of being alone. If I do that, then someday, someday, I can become like him. So, as a ninja of the Land of Sand, I set my sights on becoming Kazekage, so I can live connected to this village. I worked hard, wanting others to acknowledge my existence. After seeing Uzumaki Naruto, I began to think this way. Until now, the only connections I had with others were hatred and killing intent. But what kind of connection could push that guy so far? Now, I think I'm starting to understand. Pain, sadness, and happiness can all be shared with other people. Uzumaki Naruto, through meeting him and fighting him, I feel like he taught me that. That guy endured the same pain as me, and he taught me that the way I live can be changed. I want to someday become someone needed by others, not as a terrifying weapon, but as the Kazekage of Sunagakure."
Listening to Gaara's monologue, many people fell silent.
"This should be the correct way to use a Jinchuriki. It should also be the true goal Great Grandfather had in mind when he created this system."
Tsunade thought of this.
Before the era of ninja villages, the Shinobi World had not possessed such a systematic, large-scale appearance of Jinchuriki.
It was only after the God of Shinobi, Senju Hashirama, suddenly had the idea to capture the Nine Tailed Beasts and distribute them to different villages that each village's Jinchuriki system took shape.
Different villages treated their Jinchuriki differently, and their sealing systems were also different. As a result, Jinchuriki came in all kinds.
There were those like Gaara, who had been harassed by the One-Tail's Chakra and mental power since childhood and nearly turned into a madman who knew only slaughter. There were also those like the Eight-Tails Jinchuriki, Killer Bee, who reached an agreement with his Tailed Beast and became a Perfect Jinchuriki capable of fully displaying the Eight-Tails' strength.
Each had their own method.