Boom!

The instant Deidara turned and flew backward, his damaged mount, Asuka, transformed into several clay fragments that fell from the sky to Gaara's side. Then, it exploded rapidly above Gaara's head, instantly scattering thousands of grains of sand and dust in the area where Gaara was standing.

Gaara seemed to have been knocked unconscious by the explosion, and immediately fell from the sand cloud he was standing on, plummeting downwards.

Fortunately, the massive sand barrier had already been mostly dumped outside the village. The remaining sand drifting down wouldn't cause much damage to the Sand Village, only making the sky gray.

"Kazekage-sama!"

The Sand Ninja below shouted anxiously when they saw Gaara in danger.

"Hahaha, I'm the one who won in the end!"

Deidara controlled the flying bird and rushed towards Gaara at top speed, but just as he got close to Gaara, the falling figure suddenly opened his eyes.

"You fell for their trap!"

Gaara calmly uttered a single word, and the sand armor on his skin cracked open, transforming into three sand snakes that coiled towards Deidara. At the same time, Gaara manipulated the sand he had just released from the gourd to block the explosion, forming a sand cloud to catch him and allowing him to stand firmly.

laugh

Deidara was too close to Gaara at that moment. Although she tried her best to dodge, the three sand snakes still managed to destroy his black fiery cloud robes and leave him with some minor injuries. The situation changed too suddenly, and Deidara could only desperately control his flying bird to escape in a sorry state. Unfortunately, each attempt to break through was thwarted by the sand snakes.

"That's great! Lord Kazekage is awesome!"

"Lord Kazekage protected the village, that's amazing!"

......

The Sand Ninja watching from below cheered when they saw Gaara turn the tide and regain the upper hand. After today's battle, even the Sand Ninja who had previously harbored resentment towards Gaara were now convinced of his strength.

Boom!

Just when the Sand Village ninja and Gaara thought the matter was completely settled, a series of explosions suddenly occurred in the sand cloud beneath Gaara's feet, blasting the unsuspecting Gaara nearly ten meters into the air.

Most of the sand in the gourd was released to chase Deidara, leaving only a small amount of sand automatically protecting Gaara. Although the explosion didn't kill him, the powerful force caused him to cough up several mouthfuls of blood mid-air before losing all mobility and plummeting to the ground!

The Sand Snakes, now free from Gaara's control, stopped chasing Deidara and instead pursued Gaara to protect him. However, Deidara was already one step ahead and pounced on Gaara first.

"The sand you were using to protect yourself was already mixed with my explosive clay just now, hahaha, I'm the ultimate victor. It's a pity Brother Scorpion couldn't see my ultimate C18 art just now!"

Deidara was incredibly fast; in the blink of an eye, he was in front of Gaara. He raised his hand to grab Gaara. Deidara's palm was less than half a meter away from Gaara when he suddenly felt weak all over, unable to even complete a simple grab.

"What's going on?!"

With his last ounce of strength, Deidara looked down at his body and discovered that black lines were surging across his skin. Upon closer inspection, he even saw that the mouth in his palm, which he used to process clay, was gushing out large amounts of black blood. Yet, he felt no pain whatsoever, only a profound sense of powerlessness.

"Phew, what a tenacious and terrifying enemy."

Standing on the sand that had caught up with him, Gaara seemed to have recovered from the damage of the explosion. He slowly opened his eyes and looked at Deidara, his eyes filled with both relief and a hint of respect.

"There was a little poison mixed into the sand that injured you before. Elder Chiyo gave it to me; it can be mixed into the sand to attack enemies. I've always been reluctant to use this method, but your ninjutsu is too dangerous, and this method is perfect for dealing with invaders like you!"

"Now, you will come with me back to Sunagakure to face judgment!"

Gaara slowly recovered some of his strength, and despite the trauma from the explosion, he manipulated the sand to grab Deidara.

"I never imagined I'd fall in a place like this. I was about to complete the ultimate art I envisioned to defeat Itachi. What a pity!"

Having run out of explosive clay and poisoned with a deadly toxin, Deidara lost all will to live. He felt no fear of death; his only regret was that he could no longer pursue his art to the fullest.

whoosh whoosh

Just as Gaara was about to descend to the ground with Deidara, he suddenly saw something flying towards him from the sky not far away.

Could it be another enemy invasion?

Gaara's heart tightened. He stared intently and discovered that it was actually a giant eagle in the style of a traditional Chinese ink painting, with four people standing on its back. One of them, with his striking golden hair against the azure sky, was none other than Naruto Uzumaki, whom he had longed to see for so long!

Gaara!

The giant eagle was incredibly fast, and soon it was less than two hundred meters away from Gaara. Naruto had already spotted Gaara and couldn't help but wave and greet him.

With a slight smile, Gaara was about to reply when he suddenly felt a chill run down his spine, and then he lost consciousness completely. In the last instant before his eyes closed, Gaara saw Naruto's anxiously calling face, and then all that remained was endless darkness.

Gaara!

From Kakashi and Naruto's perspective, a twisted vortex suddenly appeared behind Gaara, and then an iron chain emerged from it, piercing through the sand protecting him like an invisible shadow and striking Gaara's head, knocking him completely unconscious.

Then a mysterious figure wearing a mask and dressed in a black robe with fiery clouds emerged from the vortex. The vortex swirled around him, gradually engulfing Gaara and Deidara beside him.

"No!"

Upon seeing this, Naruto screamed in panic, and a terrifying dark red chakra cloak suddenly surged from his body. This chakra carried a chilling malice and a terrifying corrosive power, instantly turning the ink-colored flying eagles they were standing on into puddles of ink!

Kakashi and the others lost their footing and fell one by one. Kakashi had originally intended to use ninjutsu to stop the mysterious man, but now it was too late. In desperation, he pushed off his blindfold.

The next second, the area in front of the mysterious figure suddenly began to twist, and then the vortex disappeared completely. Only half of Deidara's body, along with his only remaining arm, suddenly exploded and fell to the ground, his shattered face still bearing deep confusion and resentment.

But the mysterious man and Gaara have disappeared!

ah!

With nothing to hold onto in the air, Sakura kept shouting. Fortunately, Sai remained calm. After falling several dozen meters, he took out a scroll and summoned a flying eagle to catch Sakura and Kakashi.

Then he controlled the eagle to fly behind Naruto, and only when Naruto was about to land did he have the eagle grab him to slow down and land.