Kankurou and the other sandnin think it’s over but then Deidara causes another explosion and escapes from the ball of sand. The sand grabs his leg and pulls him back. He escapes again on an owl of clay but the sand continues to follow.

Kakashi laments losing because of the book. Naruto admits he’s only read 10 pages since the book was so boring and he has no idea how it ends. Kakashi hangs his head in shame. Tsunade says the three of them will form Team Kakashi for future missions. Kakashi says they are now together as equal shinobi, no longer teacher and students.

Gaara’s sand crushes Deidara’s left arm. But Deidara manages to fly away and doesn’t seem to be upset about losing an arm. He realizes the sand Gaara used to crush his arm has greater speed and power than the regular desert sand. It’s infused with a large mount of chakra, usually used for defense but can attack too. The hole in the shell of absolute defense is where the sand used to crush his arm came from. Deidara has only a little clay left. He molds it with his one arm. He has one pursuit type bird and his specialty left which he will use in his plan to destroy the village.

Baki worries about what will happened if Gaara loses control and Shukaku comes out, but Kankurou says Gaara will never harm the villagers no matter what. Kankurou flashback to talking with Gaara who wants to be the Kazekage and protect the village thanks to Naruto (nice speech here).

Kakashi walks with Naruto and Sakura. Naruto comments he may now be stronger than Kakashi, but Kakashi says he recently developed an unbelievable new technique. Sakura and Naruto aren’t interested. Instead they’re hungry and run off to Ichiraku. Kakashi laments how they were so cute back then and listened to everything he said. Jiraiya appears by Kakashi and tells him Akatsuki is on the move again. Sakura and Naruto want Kakashi to treat, but he says he’s busy and needs to make a list of new teams. They know he just wants to read his book. Naruto says since it’s just the two of them it’s a date. Sakura says he has to pay, but poor Naruto has little money left.

Baki orders battle preparations. Deidara creates a huge bird bomb and drops it down toward village. Baki orders everyone to retreat but it’s too late. A huge explosive erupts in the middle of sand village.

End: Konoha Tourism Association - Chibi Sakura introduce one of the many training grounds in Konoha, where they fought to get the bells in the past.

Review: Deidara and Gaara fight took a while but looks like it’s finally going to end.

Notes:
Deidara makes exploding dolls by eating clay with his hands and combining it with his chakra. The C-3 specialty takes the highest level of chakra. Its explosive power is his finest art.

Thoughts:
Is the clay different or is it just the amount of chakra mixed into the clay? Deidara apparently has different clay pouches.