Reincarnation Paradise Park-Chapter 546 - 34: Gaara up close

"Intruders... these outfits, Akatsuki?"

Gaara stood in front of Deidara, carrying a sand gourd as tall as himself on his back.

"Seems the infiltration didn’t go smoothly, so we’ll switch to a hard attack, hm."

Just as Deidara finished speaking, a stream of yellow sand curled towards him, the sand seeming to come alive, aiming to entangle him.

The yellow sand reached Deidara, accompanied by the roar of breaking wind.

Bam, a bullet sliced through the sand, causing it to splatter. The sand that was wrapping around Deidara fell to the ground, coiling towards Gaara, who looked up at the sky.

"Two intruders."

The yellow sand floated up, forming a sand shield beside Gaara, defending against Su Xiao’s bullets.

Su Xiao put away the sniper rifle from above; the sniper rifle wasn’t effective against Gaara, as the sand was quite different from Jiraiya’s hair—it could significantly reduce the bullet’s kinetic energy.

Should Gaara be shot in the head, it would hardly be worthwhile, although the chances of that happening were even lower than winning the lottery.

Controlling the clay bird at his feet to dive lower, below, Gaara had already engaged in battle with Deidara.

Deidara stood on the back of the clay bird, his body lowered, quickly weaving through the air with a stream of sand as thick as an arm chasing relentlessly behind him, like a maggot clinging to bones.

The sand chasing Deidara moved extremely quickly, forcing Deidara to dodge in the air.

Su Xiao observed the current situation, and when the clay bird descended to ten meters above ground, he silently leaped off the bird.

With the sky already somewhat dim and Su Xiao’s black windbreaker being worn, Gaara, focused intently on dealing with Deidara, did not notice Su Xiao for a while.

As Su Xiao fell to five meters above Gaara, Gaara finally noticed him below.

While falling, Su Xiao held a long knife. As soon as Gaara noticed him, he immediately activated the Blue Steel Shadow. Since he was already discovered, there was no need to stay concealed.

"Enemy attack!"

A loud shout came with some Sand Shinobi noticing Gaara engaged in battle with the enemies.

Dong, dong, dong...

The village’s alarm bell rang as several hastily dressed Sand Shinobi rushed out of their houses.

"Where is the enemy?"

"In the sky, two intruders."

"The Kazekage is battling the enemy."

Although these Sand Shinobi quickly gathered, most had no means to counter enemies in the air. As for helping Gaara in the fight, everyone hesitated.

Gaara was still considered a monster in their hearts, even though he had become Kazekage, the Sand Shinobi still had their reservations.

Two people were different from these Sand Shinobi; one male and one female: Kankuro and Temari.

Kankuro and Temari were the children of the Fourth Kazekage, meaning they were Gaara’s siblings, with Temari being the eldest.

"Kankuro, who is Gaara fighting?"

Temari, carrying a big iron fan, her face slightly red, with golden hair draped over her shoulders, still emitting a faint fragrance. She had been showering earlier.

"Not sure. Let’s go help."

"Hold on."

Temari’s words surprised Kankuro a little.

"You gather the troops, and I’ll go help Gaara fend off the enemy."

After leaving those words, Temari jumped towards the high buildings.

"Damn it."

Kankuro gritted his teeth. He wanted to help too, but assembling the ninja troops quickly was the right choice; the enemies’ origins were unknown, and anyone daring to invade the Sand Ninja Village had to have some ability. 𝘧𝑟𝑒𝑒𝘸𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝓁.𝘤𝘰𝓂

Disregarding the Sand Ninja Village’s reaction, Su Xiao was hanging motionlessly in midair at the moment, with Gaara below looking somewhat surprised.

If you looked closely, you would notice a thin line connected to the bracer on Su Xiao’s left hand, with the other end wrapped around the clay bird above.

"An opportunity."

Utilizing the opportunity created by Su Xiao, not far away, Deidara threw out several bird-shaped clay bombs, speeding towards Gaara in a steep dive.

Su Xiao wasn’t meaning to approach Gaara up close right now; it wasn’t the right time. To approach rashly would mean getting caught up in Deidara’s explosion. His previous actions were to draw Gaara’s attention.

Several clay bombs swooped down at Gaara, who was currently wary of Su Xiao and flanked on both sides.

As the clay bombs dived down, yellow sand enveloped Gaara.

Boom, boom, boom!

The explosions echoed throughout the Sand Ninja Village.

Inside the assembled Sand Shinobi forces within the village, the situation here was somewhat abnormal. No matter how much Kankuro urged, the gathered Sand Shinobi would not go to support Gaara, exposing the internal problems of the Sand Ninja Village.

In the hearts of these Sand Shinobi, Gaara was a Jinchuriki, a monster. Although Gaara had been very peaceful in the past two years, the fact that he had attacked fellow villagers early on could not be erased. Who knows if Gaara might suddenly lash out now?

Moreover, Gaara was the Kazekage and a Jinchuriki; defending against enemies was his primary responsibility. These Sand Shinobi didn’t want to not help defend against enemies; they just didn’t dare to approach Gaara in battle.

...

The dust from the explosion cleared, and a large sand ball emerged, with Gaara hiding inside unscathed.

"Formation A."

Su Xiao shouted and simultaneously withdrew the Boundary Line as he descended towards the sand ball below.

Deidara was about to throw a clay bomb but stopped when he heard Su Xiao’s shout, beginning to prepare more clay bombs. If Su Xiao did not succeed, he would step in.

Su Xiao swooped down, and just as the sand ball below hadn’t dissipated, he stabbed it with a knife.

With a swipe, the Dragon Slash deeply embedded into the sand ball, not because Gaara’s sand ball’s defensive power was weak, but because Blue Steel Shadow energy devoured the Chakra within the sand, greatly reducing the sand ball’s defense.

A long knife suddenly stabbed into the sand ball, startling Gaara, as the knife was positioned beside him without injuring him.

"A ninja adept at using a shinobi dagger."

Through the Eye of Sand floating outside the sand ball, Gaara saw the situation outside. Inside the sand ball, Gaara stretched his palm forward, a stream of yellow sand wrapped around Su Xiao’s body, binding the airborne Su Xiao.

"Sand Coffin..."

The yellow sand quickly tightened, and pressure emanated from Su Xiao’s chest cavity, yet he continued to stab the long knife forward, though he surely couldn’t hit Gaara.

Just as Gaara was about to constrict Su Xiao’s ribcage with sand, a mutation occurred.

With a squelch, pale blue spikes protruded from the sand ball, droplets of blood seeped from the sand, and the yellow sand binding Su Xiao scattered on the ground.

After Su Xiao stabbed the Dragon Slash into the sand ball, he unleashed ’Shadow Sting,’ a move accidentally developed while working on Ring Break before, combining Blade Aura and Blue Steel Shadow to form energy spikes.

Gaara’s enveloping sand ball dissipated, and at the tip of the Dragon Slash, over a dozen half-meter-long energy spikes emerged, piercing half of Gaara’s body, causing one of Gaara’s arms to hang limp.

"Sand..."

Gaara was about to manipulate sand to attack Su Xiao when Su Xiao quickly dashed forward and delivered a side kick to Gaara’s abdomen.

Crack.

Like smashing pottery, cracks appeared on Gaara’s body surface, which was the Sand Armor, a principle of covering the entire body with sand infused with Chakra.

The Shadow Sting fractured, but the energy spikes didn’t immediately dissipate; they remained inside Gaara’s body.

From the original work, it is clear that while Gaara’s strength was not weak, in close combat before Tailed Beast Transformation, he was quite lackluster.

With a kick that lifted Gaara off the ground, Su Xiao charged forward with his knife. If Gaara were to endure Su Xiao’s direct cleave, the Sand Armor wouldn’t be effective at all.

"Kid, transform into a tailed beast quickly, something’s wrong with this guy!"

The high-pitched roar reached Gaara’s ears, it was the sound of One-Tailed Shukaku.

Gaara ignored this voice; he couldn’t transform into a tailed beast, as once he did, he would immediately lose control.

Su Xiao wielded the knife single-handedly, his eyes boiling with killing intent, slicing towards Gaara’s chest.

With Su Xiao’s character, if not needing to capture the Jinchuriki alive, this slash would definitely be aimed at Gaara’s neck.

Is Gaara very strong now? The answer is not really, not that Gaara as a ninja is weak, but because the One Tail inside him is dragging him down, preventing him from exerting full strength.

The long knife sliced through the air and struck in front of him; Gaara’s pupils contracted although he was not lightly injured, he hadn’t lost fighting power.

Just as Gaara was about to counterattack, the sound of rushing wind arrived.

Bang.

A strong gust slapped onto Su Xiao, who was propelled mid-charge. After adjusting his balance mid-air, he landed steadily.

Temari stood not far away with her big iron fan, although she was only nineteen, her figure was quite voluptuous.

It was Temari who made a move just now, helping Gaara significantly by resolving the awkward predicament of being engaged closely by Su Xiao.

Before engaging closely, Su Xiao was no match for Gaara; after engaging closely, Gaara was no match for Su Xiao.

"The Sand Ninja Village cannot allow Akatsuki to wreak havoc."

Temari stared at Su Xiao, the hostility was unmistakable.

"Deidara, help me buy five minutes; I’ll settle this woman first."

Up above, Deidara stopped preparing bombs and swooped down. Su Xiao no longer paid attention to Gaara, trusting that Deidara could hold him off without issues.

"Isn’t it good to live?"

Su Xiao spoke as he stomped on the ground, rapidly charging towards Temari.