Swish, swish.
Temari followed Sousuke as the two of them moved quickly through the forest.
They were heading toward the strange place he had sensed earlier.
"Hmm?"
While moving forward, Sousuke suddenly felt a sense of being watched. At the same time, he sensed a faint chakra that flashed by and disappeared.
Swish.
Stopping on top of a large tree, Sousuke's face showed a trace of doubt.
"This chakra…"
Seeing Sousuke stop, Temari also stopped and came to his side.
She asked,
"What's wrong? Is something off?"
Sousuke nodded.
He looked toward the direction where that fleeting chakra had appeared, a smile on his face.
"It seems we found the right target! Just now, someone was watching us from far away… That chakra feeling, if I remember correctly, should belong to someone from the Akatsuki who crossed paths with me before."
Temari's eyes lit up.
Hearing Sousuke's words, joy appeared on her face, and she asked,
"Then what do we do now?"
Sousuke glanced at Temari beside him, then withdrew his gaze and said,
"Saving Gaara is more important. Let's go!"
After saying that, he directly continued on his way.
As for Sousuke's arrangement, Temari naturally had no objections and followed him as well.
Away from the river, among the mountains and forests, there was an extremely hidden cave that was very difficult to discover. A huge stone blocked its entrance.
At the same time, there was also an invisible but extremely large barrier.
It covered everything in this place.
And at this moment, inside the cave on the fingers of the huge Demonic Statue of the Outer Path stood the figures of Deidara and Sasori of the Red Sand.
At the same time, the illusory figures of the other members of the Akatsuki were also present.
In front of the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path, Gaara's body floated in midair. The massive chakra of the One-Tail Shukaku inside his body was being continuously extracted, then swallowed by the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path.
And within this chakra, it was not only the One-Tail Shukaku's chakra.
It also included Gaara's own chakra.
Once both kinds of chakra were completely extracted, Gaara would definitely lose his life.
Just as everyone was quietly extracting the chakra of the One-Tail Shukaku and Gaara—
Among the phantoms, Black Zetsu suddenly spoke.
"Someone is coming!"
Black Zetsu's voice startled everyone, and all the people present opened their eyes.
Pain, with the Rinnegan, looked toward Zetsu and asked,
"Who are they?"
Hearing Pain's question,
White Zetsu, who rarely avoided rambling this time, spoke in a tone that no longer sounded goofy.
"It has been confirmed. Konoha's Gale Swordmaster, Yagyu Sousuke, and Sunagakure's elite jonin, Temari… the older sister of the One-Tail jinchuriki!"
After hearing White Zetsu's words the cave instantly fell silent.
No one cared about Temari.
But Yagyu's arrival truly made everyone present feel a trace of pressure.
Especially Deidara and Sasori of the Red Sand their real bodies were here!
They also knew about Yagyu's terrifying battle record over the past two years.
Because of that, they felt pressured.
Wood Release kekkei genkai.
That point alone made everyone present unable to look down on Yagyu.
"Which of you will use the Shapeshifting Technique to stop Yagyu Sousuke? Move as a team. You do not need to defeat him. You only need to hold him back for a while."
After a moment of silence, Pain spoke.
"The sealing of the One-Tail Shukaku is about to end. We only need to buy Deidara and Sasori enough time to leave."
After hearing this everyone fell silent.
It was not that they were unwilling to go. After all, using the Shapeshifting Technique would not endanger their lives. It would only consume a great deal of energy.
"Leave it to Kisame and me!"
At this moment, Uchiha Itachi suddenly spoke.
"We are not far from Yagyu Sousuke's location!"
Hearing Uchiha Itachi's words,
Kisame also directly said,
"Since Mr. Itachi has said so, leave it to us! After all, we can be considered old opponents of that Yagyu Sousuke… These past few years, just listening to his legends has honestly made me look forward to fighting him again!"
Hearing this, Pain nodded and said,
"Try to delay him as long as possible."
After agreeing,
Uchiha Itachi and Hoshigaki Kisame no longer spoke.
Clearly, they had gone directly to carry out the mission of intercepting Yagyu and Temari.
Not long after the cave had just quieted down again.
"Huh?!"
White Zetsu let out a surprised cry.
Deidara, who had already felt somewhat pressured by the news that Yagyu was rushing over, immediately looked at White Zetsu with dissatisfaction.
"Zetsu!"
With a somewhat embarrassed and angry expression on his face, Deidara said,
"What are you screaming about?"
White Zetsu turned his gaze toward Deidara and said without the slightest sincerity,
"Sorry, did I scare you? But what I wanted to say is, more people are coming!"
In an instant everyone's gaze fell on Deidara.
"Deidara!"
Pain's dissatisfied voice rang out.
"This mission has been very noisy."
After Pain's words fell, Sasori of the Red Sand also spoke.
"I said long ago that this brat's techniques are not suited for covert operations at all. The mission to capture the One-Tail jinchuriki should have been left to me!"
Hearing Pain and Sasori of the Red Sand's words, Deidara's face showed embarrassment and displeasure.
"Huh… Who is it this time? If they make me angry, I'll definitely let whoever comes witness my ultimate art!"
Deidara's question was also what everyone else wanted to know.
When Pain's gaze turned over White Zetsu directly said,
"This time, the ones coming are the Copy Ninja, Hatake Kakashi, and his subordinates… Coincidentally, the Nine-Tails jinchuriki and Uchiha Sasuke are also in this squad!"
After White Zetsu's voice fell, Black Zetsu's hoarse voice asked again,
"What should we do? Who will intercept them this time?"
After a moment of silence, Pain's gaze turned toward Kakuzu beside him.
"Kakuzu, you will go this time! Your techniques are more suited to sniping this group!"
Hearing this, Kakuzu's face showed dissatisfaction, but he did not refuse.
"I understand! But I will only stop them for half an hour at most!"
Kakuzu's phantom also fell silent and no longer spoke.
This time, the cave finally became completely quiet.
...
Between the mountains and forests, Yagyu led Temari forward quickly toward the target.
Suddenly two familiar chakra signatures appeared within his perception.
"Temari!"
His expression unchanged, Yagyu did not slow down much as he spoke.
"Enemies are coming. Prepare for battle!"
Temari's expression turned cold.
She nodded.
"I understand!"
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