Gaara had indeed been caught off guard by the explosives by his feet. But it was still futile. Arguably, Temari and Kankuro were better ninja in that they needed to be constantly vigilant, and aware of their environment.

However--the smoke from the blast cleared, revealing once again, a thick wall of sand-- Gaara was not rumored to have an absolute defense for nothing.

Piece by piece, the wall liquified, as the grains of sand began to hover lazily around Gaara's torso.

"So."

The deadpan expression he had maintained during the fight finally transformed into a sadistic grin. The fight had awoken some of Gaara's more sinister urges.

"Is that all your pathetic hate amounts to? Let me show you some real pain."

A rush of sand coursed towards Gokudera, reaching for any exposed body part- arm, leg, head- Gaara didn't care. Playtime was finally over.