One lacked sufficient firepower, while the other's attacks simply weren't effective. Deidara and Konan hovered in midair, staring wide-eyed at each other.
The air turned awkward for a moment.
But since stalling for time had been Konan's goal from the start, she didn't mind continuing this peaceful deadlock.
Deidara, on the other hand...
I'm waiting for my teammates. What are you waiting for?
Over on Iwagakure's side, the three of them fell silent for a while.
Deidara was silent because he couldn't think of a good way to deal with Konan for the moment, yet he was unwilling to simply leave. After all, Konan alone posed no real threat to them.
Katsuchi's thoughts, however, were more complicated.
As the team's strategist, he had already formed some guesses about the weakness of Konan's Paper Secret Technique.
Paper, after all, was afraid of nothing more than water and fire.
They didn't know Water Release, but Lava Release was a Kekkei Genkai combining fire and earth. He knew both Fire Release and Earth Release ninjutsu.
It was just that...
He had just told Deidara to attack without restraint while he handled defense.
He couldn't exactly turn around and say the opposite now, could he?
Wouldn't that plainly mean Deidara was useless at both defense and offense?
Deidara wasn't an idiot. Wouldn't that make him explode with rage?
And what might an enraged Deidara do...
Remembering the secret the Third Tsuchikage had revealed when he had personally met with them before their departure, Katsuchi immediately shuddered and drove that thought from his mind, tossing it far away.
Then what should they do?
Katsuchi was unwilling to retreat, too.
In his eyes, the woman before them was no match for them at all. She was merely relying on a troublesome Paper Release technique to stall