The scene on the screen shifted. A desolate desert glowed with golden-red light under the setting sun.
A young boy with blond hair rode atop a giant white clay bird, surveying the land below from high above.
A bold, carefree smile curled at the corners of his mouth, revealing a row of white teeth, and the Akatsuki's black cloak with red clouds fluttered loudly in the wind.
[Speaking of Deidara, his battle against Gaara was arguably his highlight moment—a one-on-one fight that ended with him capturing Gaara alive.]
[Although Deidara himself claimed that Sasori was stronger than him, in reality, Sasori might not even be able to defeat Deidara. The mere fact that Deidara can fly at high altitudes already neutralizes most of Sasori's offensive options.]
[For a fragile puppet physique, high-damage explosives are also a hard counter—especially since his bombs are basically map-wide area-clearing attacks. Clunky puppet masters simply have no way to withstand them. Deidara is a typical Shinobi with mediocre stats but extremely high combat effectiveness. His aerial combat + range advantage alone can shut down a large number of elite Shinobis, and his firepower is explosively strong.]
[Theoretically, as long as Deidara can infiltrate his bombs into an enemy's body, he can defeat opponents he couldn't otherwise beat on paper.]
[Without the Sharingan or Rinnegan, and without being a sensory-type Shinobi, there's practically no resistance against this ability.]
---
[Akatsuki Hideout]
Deidara looked at the screen's image of his majestic figure riding the white bird and burst into laughter, crossing his legs with a smug air.
Deidara: "Did you hear that? 'Mediocre stats, but extremely high combat effectiveness'! That's the power of an artist!"
Hidan curled his lip: "Tch, so what if you can fly? What's so great about that? I still cut people down just fine on the ground."
Deidara shot him a glare: "Why don't you try flying, then?"
Hidan froze, momentarily speechless.
Itachi sat in the corner, his eyes without a ripple.
He just happened to have the Sharingan, and at thirteen, he had already defeated Deidara.
[But there was something strange about this battle. Gaara wasn't blown to pieces—he just passed out. And normally, if Gaara falls asleep, Shukaku should have surfaced.]
[Before this, whenever Gaara fell asleep, Shukaku would seize the opportunity to go berserk. Yet this time, even though Gaara was knocked unconscious, Shukaku showed no reaction at all.]
[However, after this battle, Deidara's performance went downhill—each fight worse than the last.]
The other villages thought that the Fifth Kazekage really is the son of the Fourth Kazekage, Rasa—he even got kidnapped just like his father.
How embarrassing. They might as well sit at the same table as Kirigakure. Both Kages were jinchuriki—one got controlled by Genjutsu, the other got abducted in broad daylight.
---
[Different Timelines · Sunagakure]
The First and Second Kazekage felt like they were about to die of anger. These descendants were simply too incompetent.
The Third was assassinated by his own people. The Fourth seemed to have tried to ally with a rogue-nin against Konoha—only to be killed by that same rogue-nin, and the Fifth got beaten, and the rest of the village just watched like it was a show.
Rasa's expression darkened as he looked at Chiyo. He had seen snippets before, but now that he had witnessed the full detailed process… he wanted to ask: where was Chiyo? Where was Ebizō?
Where the hell were these guys?
You didn't act when it mattered, but you had all the energy in the world when it came to chasing after your grandson later.
As the screen's narration continued, Deidara was already riding his giant white bird over Sunagakure.
The setting sun hung low, sand filled the sky, and desolate scenery stretched in every direction—all the houses were made of sand and earth.
The moment Rasa and the others watching the screen saw this, their faces changed drastically. The village's daily defensive measures were far too flawed!
Rasa instantly shot to his feet: "The village's defenses are way too lacking! There's no monitoring of the skies at all?!"
Ebizō pushed up his glasses, his expression grave: "In the footage, Deidara flew from evening until night without being detected. Our air defense… is completely nonexistent."
They had previously assumed that Deidara and Sasori had broken in through brute force, and had even wondered if the village's barrier defenses might be too weak. Never did they expect it to be like this.
On the screen, Deidara dropped three small white spiders from high altitude, which landed silently on sensory shinobis stationed at different locations around Sunagakure.
Then he raised a single hand, forming a hand seal.
"Art is an explosion!"
The three Sunagakure shinobis were instantly blown to the ground.
Seeing this, Deidara was thoroughly pleased with himself. He flew swiftly atop his giant bird to the Kazekage's residence, then leaped down from high above.
"Infiltration successful!" Deidara landed in a half-crouch, one hand bracing against the ground, his posture cool and stylish. The Akatsuki cloak fluttered slightly as he touched down. He then slowly raised his head, a smug grin still on his face.
Then, his smile froze.
There stood Gaara, with a massive gourd strapped to his back, right in front of him, staring coldly at Deidara, expressionless.
"This is as far as you go." Gaara smiled slightly as sand began to pour endlessly from his gourd.
---
[Akatsuki Hideout]
Hidan immediately burst out laughing at Deidara. "You snuck around all mysteriously, flew for ages, and got found out just like that. As long as your bombs explode, how could you possibly not be detected?"
"And 'Infiltration successful'? You're killing me!"
Deidara, though, wasn't bothered in the least. He just grinned and said, "But I still beat him in the end. Kazekage or not—I'm just that awesome."
Meanwhile, on the screen, Gaara manipulated his sand, sending it shooting toward Deidara.
With a wave of his right hand, Gaara caused countless grains of sand to surge up from the ground, blotting out the sky as they hurtled toward Deidara.
The sand moved at terrifying speed, tracing muddy yellow streaks through the air.
Deidara leaped into the air, and his giant white bird swooped down to catch him perfectly.
Riding the bird, he weaved nimbly through the pursuing sand, soaring and diving, dodging the sand attacks that tracked him like homing missiles.
"Not bad at all." Deidara even had the leisure to be impressed.
Just then, Gaara raised both hands, chakra surging wildly within his body, and from the gourd behind him, sand poured out faster and faster, more and more.
In that moment, the sand beneath Gaara's feet condensed into a solid platform, lifting him slowly into the air. He stood on the sand platform, facing Deidara from the heights.
Moonlight spilled over the two of them, casting their shadows across the desert below.
As Gaara raised both hands, his chakra erupting at full power, countless grains of sand rose from the ground—blotting out the sky and the moon in a breathtaking display once again.
The entire sky above Sunagakure was covered in sand, as if the sky itself was collapsing. The villagers of Sunagakure looked up in terror at this apocalyptic scene.
Those watching the screen across the Shinobi World wiped the smiles from their faces, their expressions turning serious.
Without a doubt, with this kind of performance, Gaara as the Kazekage was by no means weak—and he had the home-field advantage to boot.
This guy Deidara… was truly no simple opponent then!
Even Rasa's eyes flickered with shock.
He stared at the boy on the screen commanding a sky full of sand, his lips parting slightly.
It seemed that Gaara becoming the Fifth Kazekage wasn't just because he was his son.
This level of power was already on par with his own!
*****
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