Above the darkening skies of Sunagakure, Gaara hovered inside a dense sphere of sand—his ultimate defense. Only a narrow slit remained open for him to observe the battlefield below. His sea-green eyes locked onto the clay bird circling high overhead.
He raised a hand slowly.
"Sand Binding Coffin."
Deidara didn't have time to react. With a crushing motion, Gaara's sand clamped down on his right arm. A loud crack resounded as his forearm was severed from the rest of his body.
The Akatsuki artist winced but didn't scream. Instead, he grinned.
"Tch. I had a feeling that might happen."
Unbeknownst to Gaara, Deidara had already prepared a replacement—his left palm opened wide, revealing the grotesque mouth embedded there, already chewing fresh clay. The loss of a limb was steep, but he'd already laid the groundwork. The tiny clay insects he'd released earlier were steadily burrowing through Gaara's defensive sand.
Far below, the shinobi of Sunagakure erupted in cheers.
"Lord Kazekage did it!"
"He took his arm!"
From the rooftop of the Kazekage Tower, Maki rallied the defenders. "Ready the archers! We're backing up the Kazekage!"
The rooftop erupted in a flurry of motion as kunoichi and shinobi scrambled to form squads. Kankurō stood near the edge, fists clenched, eyes trained on his brother still engaged in combat overhead.
"Stay strong, Gaara…"
Deidara smirked as he weaved past a barrage of arrows, the clay bird darting nimbly through the sky. "Heh, how annoying. Let's wrap this up."
He grabbed a larger chunk of clay and shoved it into the mouth in his hand. Gaara, far above, sensed the incoming threat and raised an enormous effigy of Shukaku—the One-Tail—crafted entirely from sand. It charged Deidara with frightening speed.
The sky darkened further as twilight gave way to full night. The entire village watched in awe as Gaara battled to protect them, his chakra stretching thinner by the minute.
Deidara scowled. "Tch. What a pain…"
He reached into his pouch and withdrew his trump card—a thick lump of clay, packed tight.
"Let's see how you handle this, One-Tail Jinchūriki," he muttered.
"C4."
The mouth on his hand bit into the clay and sculpted it with speed. Within moments, a massive clay doll, the size of a building, dropped from the sky.
Gasps echoed through the village.
"Look out!"
"It's falling—!"
Below, shinobi scattered as the C4 plummeted. Deidara formed a seal.
"Katsu."
A thunderous explosion split the sky. The shockwave tore through the air like a hurricane. The entire village shook from the impact. Sand and debris burst outward in every direction.
But before the flames could consume the rooftops, a massive dome of sand erupted from the ground, shielding the entire area.
The villagers looked up, stunned.
"Kazekage-sama protected us…"
"Unbelievable…"
Deidara hovered above the ruined skyline, disappointed. "Tch. Still not enough."
He hadn't come to destroy the village. The goal was Gaara. Every attack was bait. And finally, his trap was ready.
Near the slit in Gaara's sand sphere, three tiny clay birds slipped through the gap before Gaara could react.
His eyes narrowed. "Tch…"
Boom.
Boom.
Boom.
The bombs detonated inside his absolute defense. The sphere shattered from within, sand exploding outward. Gaara's body fell from the sky, his skin cracked and bloodied.
Only the sand armor layered beneath his clothing had prevented instant death.
From the rooftop, Kankurō screamed, "Gaara!"
Gaara's eyes fluttered open briefly, just long enough to raise his hand one final time. The sand dome overhead began to dissolve, pulling back like a receding tide.
But the moment it did, his body gave out. He collapsed in midair.
Deidara wasted no time. His clay bird dove, the curled tail grabbing Gaara's unconscious body and lifting him from the sky.
"No—no!!" Kankurō leapt from the rooftop in pursuit.
"Kankurō, stop! It's too dangerous!" Maki called after him, but the puppeteer didn't listen.
The defenders of Sunagakure were frozen in shock. Their Kazekage—taken before their very eyes.
"Damn it," Maki growled. "We need to regroup. This isn't over yet."
Outside the village, Deidara descended and landed near the edge of the desert, where Sasori waited quietly in his Akatsuki cloak, arms crossed.
Seeing Gaara unconscious and slung over the clay bird, Sasori raised an eyebrow.
"You lost an arm."
Deidara shrugged, panting slightly. "Tch, worth it. The intel helped, but the One-Tail's tougher than I thought."
Sasori turned. "Then let's go. We've wasted enough time."
Deidara looked over his shoulder once more, then followed his partner into the desert shadows. The Kazekage was theirs. Phase one of the Akatsuki's plan had begun.
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A/N: Please Leave A Comment Or Drop A Powerstone. It'll mean a lot to me...