"You look pretty weak for a Kazekage, kid," Deidara laughed arrogantly, scattering countless small clay birds from his hands.
Gaara's expression was cold. He extended his right hand, and a massive wall of sand formed in front of him.
Boom, boom, boom! The birds crashed into the sand wall, creating a dense barrage of explosions.
"Nice jutsu. Not bad on defense," Deidara laughed, once again unleashing an even larger swarm of bird bombs.
"It's useless. Such a weak jutsu has no effect on me," Gaara said, extending both hands to create an even taller wall of sand.
Boom, boom, boom! A deafening roar filled the air as the sky above the entrance to Sunagakure was almost completely obscured by explosions.
"As expected of the Kazekage!" the ninja below said with admiration. Gaara had worked hard to go from being universally reviled to universally respected, and much of that was due to his strength.
Swish, swish, swish. The desert was Gaara's home turf, boosting his power from that of a novice Kage to a respectable mid-Kage level.
The clay birds plunged into the sand wall, setting off another series of muffled explosions, but they were almost instantly swallowed by the churning sand. The seemingly solid wall was, in fact, in a constant state of flow and circulation, allowing it to withstand the vast majority of impacts and explosions. Any bird that entered the wall was like a creature caught in a swamp, its movement slowed before it exploded deep within, the resulting gap instantly filled by the flowing sand.
Deidara's second wave of attacks was easily neutralized by Gaara, and the ninja of Sunagakure erupted in cheers.
But Deidara showed no signs of panic. He waved his hand again, throwing another wave of clay birds at Gaara.
"It's no use," Gaara said, crossing his arms with a cold expression.
"Is that so?" A strange smile twisted Deidara's lips. "Exploding Clay: Detonating Mines."
As he spoke, a series of even more violent explosions suddenly erupted on the sand wall itself, well before the new wave of birds arrived. The wall was blasted open, and though the churning sand rushed to fill the gap, the second wave of bird bombs had already arrived, blasting the opening even wider.
"Exploding Clay: Micro-Birds." A swarm of tiny, barely visible birds shot through the gap, landing on the unprepared Gaara.
Boom! With a heaven-shaking explosion, Gaara was completely engulfed in the blast, and a cloud of dust and smoke billowed out. A normal person would have been blown to bits.
"Lord Kazekage!!!" the ninja of Sunagakure cried out in despair. It had all happened too fast. One moment, Gaara was pressing his opponent; the next, he had been defeated in the blink of an eye.
Sasori crossed his arms and sneered. "Interesting. He first uses the bird bombs to plant clay mines on the wall, then follows up with a second wave. The moment the mines and the birds create an opening, the micro-birds hidden in the second wave's mouths fly through and hit the target. An explosion within an explosion. Not bad." Sasori rarely praised Deidara. He had always thought of him as a simple-minded fool obsessed with explosions, but he never expected him to use a bit of strategy.
"It seems to be over. The capture of the One-Tail was surprisingly smooth," Kisame remarked.
"No. This Kazekage is not so simple," Itachi said coldly, his Mangekyo slowly spinning.
As the dust settled, Gaara was revealed, still standing in the same position. Crack, crack, crack. Countless tiny cracks appeared on the surface of his skin, which then flaked off to reveal the smooth skin beneath.
"Armor of Sand."
This was Gaara's ultimate defense, a layer of compressed sand that protected his entire body. "Sand Shuriken." The surrounding sand coalesced into a giant hand that shot toward Deidara in the sky.
"Not bad. It seems you have some skill after all, Kazekage," Deidara laughed, his clay bird dodging the giant hand as he unleashed countless bombs to shatter it.
The two then engaged in a series of attacks and defenses. Although Deidara's bombs were relentless and his attacks fierce, Gaara's defense was impregnable. With the entire desert at his command, the defensive power of his sand had reached a terrifying level. Unfortunately, Gaara couldn't fly, leaving him somewhat helpless against the agile Deidara.
The stalemate lasted for ten minutes, and signs of fatigue began to show on Deidara's face. He finally decided to end the battle with his C3.
"C3: Eighteen."
Deidara infused his highest level of chakra into a human-shaped doll made of exploding clay and dropped it from the sky. The terrifying chakra contained within the doll made everyone's expression change.
"Is this guy insane? Does he intend to destroy Sunagakure?" For some reason, a flicker of annoyance crossed Sasori's mind. Although he was a missing-nin, he still had a sliver of affection for his home village.
"Looks like this is the end. But this is a bit too much. The Akatsuki is going to become a thorn in the side of the other villages sooner than expected," Kisame said, rubbing his forehead with a headache. The blast radius of the C3 was large enough to destroy an entire village. As the Kazekage, Gaara had to protect his people. He couldn't dodge; he could only face it head-on.
"Die! Hahahaha!!! Turn to ash along with Sunagakure!" Deidara's eyes burned with a fanatic zeal as he watched the doll fall, his laughter echoing through the sky. "This is the art of the explosion!!!"
Boom! His laughter was accompanied by a deafening roar. An endless wave of light and heat erupted from the doll, expanding outward in a perfect circle. The ground shook, and even the yellow sand in the sky seemed to hang suspended for a moment.
When the dust cleared, Deidara's laughter died in his throat, his face turning extremely ugly. In his line of sight, a giant dome of sand had formed over Sunagakure, completely blocking the C3 bomb. The dome dissipated, revealing the unharmed village and a panting Gaara.
This was his ultimate defense, the Sky Sand Defensive Wall. The jutsu consumed an enormous amount of chakra. If not for the Shinigamified Shukaku constantly helping him hone his control over the sand, Gaara would have been completely drained after using this technique, instead of still being able to fight.
"This guy... he actually managed to block my jutsu to protect the village!" Deidara was shaken, his confidence rattled. He even began to doubt himself. If Gaara hadn't been concerned about the village, perhaps he would have been no match for him at all.
"The Kazekage's strength far exceeds our estimates," Kisame and Itachi exchanged a look, their eyes filled with caution.
"Don't drag this out. End it," Itachi said, taking a step forward.
"Tsukuyomi." The next moment, Gaara found himself in the world of the Tsukuyomi.
"Welcome to my world. Here, I control space and time," Itachi said with a chilling smile, raising a blade. Gaara was bound to a cross. After the previous exertion, his stamina was nearly depleted.
"So these are the evolved Sharingan? Truly terrifying," Gaara said, surprisingly calm and even appreciative despite his predicament.
His composure was unexpected. "Are you perhaps waiting for Shukaku to help you?" Itachi tested.
"No. I can't escape this jutsu right now, and Shukaku is not here," Gaara said, shaking his head with a playful smile. "I'd advise you to finish me off quickly. Otherwise, you might not be able to leave!"
At his words, Itachi's pupils contracted. Gaara's confidence gave him a sudden sense of crisis.
In the real world, Kisame said coldly, "It should be over. Now that Itachi-san has made his move, this Gaara kid can't do anything."
"Hmph," Deidara landed with a look of annoyance, glancing at Itachi with apprehension but not daring to argue. He had been defeated by Itachi years ago, which was why he had joined the Akatsuki.
"In any case, the plan to capture the One-Tail is a success," Sasori said, walking over, his tone calm. "Sunagakure's strength is not what it used to be. It seems they've declined quite a bit over the years."
"Damn it! Is Lord Kazekage going to lose?" the Suna ninja glared in fury. They then saw Gaara's body sway before he collapsed to the ground, exhausted.
Itachi wiped a tear of blood from the corner of his eye and said calmly, "Begin the capture of the One-Tail."
"Damn you! Gaara!!" Kankuro roared from the crowd, rushing toward the Akatsuki. "Crow!" His puppet spewed a cloud of poison needles.
"Kankuro, quick! Get out of here!" Gaara forced out, kneeling on the ground. To be Deidara's teammates, these people had to be Kage-level. Kankuro was only a jonin; fighting them was suicide.
"Child's play," Sasori said, his own puppet extending its tail and instantly blocking the attack.
"This guy is a puppet master too?" the Suna ninja said in shock.
"Not bad," Kankuro said, his chakra threads manipulating Crow to form countless more poison needles in the air, which he then shot at Sasori.
The tail of Sasori's puppet wrapped around its body, deflecting all the needles before plunging into the desert and disappearing. It shot out from the sand in less than a second, perfectly predicting the movements of Crow and Salamander and destroying them both.
"How? How did he know my puppets so well?" Kankuro said in shock.
"I've seen through all your attack patterns."
"Because I was the one who made those puppets," Sasori said coldly.
"Impossible! You're that genius puppet master!" Kankuro looked at Sasori in disbelief, his heart already resigned to death.
"The current Sunagakure is so weak I'm tempted to destroy it myself," Sasori's eyes were filled with killing intent.
"A Konoha missing-nin, a Kiri missing-nin, a Suna missing-nin, and one who uses bombs... so this is the strength of the Akatsuki," Gaara's eyes flashed with understanding. "What is their goal in collecting the Tailed Beasts?" He did not fear death; even in his final moments, he was trying to gather more intelligence. The most important thing was to provide Naruto with more information about the Akatsuki, because they were destined to become Naruto's enemies.
"Let's end this. A puppet master as weak as you has no reason to exist," a poison needle shot from the puppet toward Kankuro.
"Desert Wave," with the last of his chakra, Gaara created a sand barrier in front of Kankuro just as the needle was about to strike. Having done this, he collapsed, unconscious.
"Risking your own life for the weak? What a foolish ideology," Sasori said, having one of his puppets sling Gaara over its shoulder. He looked at Kankuro with contempt, his killing intent gone. "Since your Kazekage was willing to trade his life for yours, then you can live on like a dog."
The sand barrier in front of Kankuro dissipated, revealing his guilt-ridden face. "Damn it!" he cried, pounding the sand in anguish. As he watched the Akatsuki's retreating figures, two lines of hot tears streamed down his face.
Patter. Suddenly, a light snow began to fall in the sand-filled desert. In this scorching heat of over fifty degrees Celsius, the delicate snowflakes fell as if unaffected, uniquely cold and beautiful. They landed on the skin, bringing a chilling sensation that contrasted bizarrely with the oppressive heat.
"Why is it snowing?" The Akatsuki members stopped in their tracks, exchanging wary glances.
"Ice Release?"
"Why is it snowing?" the Suna ninja said, stunned. Many of them had never seen snow before. Temari held out her hand, letting the snowflakes land in her palm, feeling their cool comfort. She looked up. The light snowfall gradually turned into a heavy blizzard, blanketing the entire village in a beautiful, dreamlike scene that left her mesmerized.
The villagers of Sunagakure were in an uproar. It was common knowledge that resources were scarce in the desert. They had rarely even seen rain, let alone snow. Countless villagers rushed to get wooden basins and other tools to collect the snowmelt.
The Akatsuki members also sensed that something was wrong. They looked toward Sunagakure and saw an eagle made of ice and snow soaring across the sky. Standing atop it was a handsome, black-haired man.
"Reinforcements?" the Suna ninja's faces lit up, while the Akatsuki members' expressions darkened. Since when did Konoha, Sunagakure's ally, have a ninja who could use Ice Release? To be able to change the weather, this ninja had to be Kage-level!
"I'm sorry, but you can't take Gaara right now," Haku's gentle voice echoed across the land as his ice eagle hovered above the entrance to the village.
"It seems to be our backup," the Suna ninja sighed in relief. At least for now, this mysterious ninja was on their side.
"Is that a Konoha ninja? Itachi-san, does your village have a ninja who can use Ice Release?" Kisame asked Itachi, who shook his head, his expression grave.
"Who are you? You dare to interfere in the affairs of the Akatsuki?" Perhaps the successful capture of Gaara had inflated Deidara's ego, and he shouted the question loudly.
"I am Haku, Captain of the Third Division of the Seireitei," Haku said, his face as gentle as jade as he slowly drew the Zanpakuto from his waist. "Could I trouble you to hand Gaara over to me? I would prefer not to kill."