"Big Bro Sasori, looks like Gaara from Suna's gone wild again. Why else would he turn into his full Tailed Beast form?"
From a distance, Deidara genuinely mistook Kazama for the real One-Tail, Shukaku.
"Alright then, let's move now. We're here to capture Shukaku anyway—early or late, it's all the same."
"Sweet! You can sit this one out, Big Bro Sasori. I'll take down Shukaku solo, haha!"
With that, Deidara charged toward Kazama, who was disguised as Shukaku.
Meanwhile, Kazama quickly left Sunagakure, rushing toward Deidara in the distance.
Kazama knew Deidara's Explosion Release was insanely powerful and had a wide range.
If their fight caused casualties in Sunagakure, it wouldn't sit right with him.
"Whoa, this Shukaku's got guts, coming straight at me! This'll be fun."
Seeing Kazama's Shukaku form charging at him, Deidara was thrilled.
He loved taking on strong opponents.
Deidara launched a fierce assault on Kazama's Shukaku form.
Before long, they were locked in a heated, neck-and-neck battle.
Kazama's original plan was to let Deidara "defeat" him so he could be captured on purpose.
But he couldn't lose too obviously—Deidara wasn't an idiot.
Even if Shukaku was the weakest Tailed Beast, it wouldn't go down in one hit.
After clashing with Deidara for thousands of rounds as Shukaku, Kazama pretended to falter, letting Deidara's Explosion Release "injure" him.
Then, Kazama transformed into Gaara.
After all, everyone knew Shukaku was tied to Gaara.
He had to play the part perfectly to fool Deidara.
When Deidara saw he'd actually "defeated" Shukaku, he burst into laughter.
He hoisted Kazama, now disguised as Gaara, over his shoulder and headed back to Akatsuki's base.
"What?! You took down the One-Tail that fast?"
Seeing Deidara and Sasori return triumphant, Akatsuki's leader, Pain, was stunned.
"Haha, of course! In the face of my explosive art, no Tailed Beast stands a chance!"
"Well done, well done!"
Kazama's disguise was so convincing that none of Akatsuki's members suspected a thing.
They immediately began extracting the Tailed Beast from Kazama's body.
When Kazama saw that half of his "One-Tail chakra" had been extracted, he deliberately cut off the chakra flow.
Since the Gedo Statue had already opened one eye, the others didn't realize this was Kazama's trick.
They assumed the One-Tail's chakra had been fully absorbed.
So, they moved on to capturing the Two-Tail.
Seeing Akatsuki fall for his scheme, Kazama was secretly thrilled.
He quickly headed near the Akatsuki base and transformed into the Two-Tail, Matatabi.
"What?!"
Just as Akatsuki's members were about to leave, they spotted Kazama's Two-Tail form.
Though shocked, they had no idea it was Kazama in disguise.
They immediately attacked Kazama's Matatabi form.
As they fought, they chatted among themselves.
"Man, Akatsuki's luck is unreal! We just nabbed the One-Tail, and now the Two-Tail shows up on its own!"
"Seriously! Heaven's on our side. At this rate, we'll have all nine Tailed Beasts in no time!"
Hearing their words, Kazama smirked to himself.
It wasn't Akatsuki who'd succeed in collecting the nine Tailed Beasts.
It was he who'd gain the power of all nine.
And Akatsuki would keep being played for fools.