"This ends here."
Gaara spoke flatly, and sand began spilling from the gourd on his back.
"Oh?"
Deidara sneered. The Clay Bird continued circling overhead, ensuring that he could attack or retreat as needed.
Gaara manipulated the sand to attack Deidara, who leaped dozens of meters into the air and landed steadily on the Clay Bird.
"Looks like Deidara has already started fighting the One-Tail."
Lin Guang spoke. He and Sasori were still several thousand meters outside the village, yet they could already see the two fighting.
Watching the yellow sand surge into the sky and Deidara dart through the gaps, he could tell that Gaara was even stronger now than he had been three years ago.
"Let's see what Deidara can do!"
Sasori remained noncommittal.
Meanwhile, Gaara chased Deidara through the sky and down toward the ground, leaving him no choice but to flee, as though he had no way to fight back.
"Just a little more."
Deidara looked at the mouths in his palms, doing his best to evade the attacks of Gaara's sand.
Before long, Gaara found that simply controlling the sand to pursue Deidara was difficult. He stepped onto the sand he controlled and flew into the sky himself, confronting Deidara face-to-face.
Now, many of the villagers could see Gaara and Deidara, including Kankuro, who had been looking for Gaara.
"Looks like the plan to sneak in has failed. But that saves me the trouble of finding you."
Deidara laughed.
Gaara said nothing. He raised both hands, lifting all the sand beneath Sunagakure into the sky.
The moon shone brightly that night, but Gaara's actions plunged all of Sunagakure into darkness.
"You really do have the terrain advantage. What a pain!"
Deidara spoke.
Watching their battle, Lin Guang unconsciously activated his Sharingan.
Under Gaara's control, Sunagakure's