"This mission was really simple. If Takumi-senpai finds out, he'll definitely be shocked and impressed by my strength!"
Deidara's face is full of excitement. Even after walking for a day, the excitement hasn't worn off.
"Maybe. Perhaps Takumi hasn't even received the news yet."
Sasori says calmly. "We acted too quickly and too covertly. It'll probably take a few days for Konoha to receive the news."
"No, Konoha should know by now."
A voice not belonging to them comes.
Deidara and Sasori immediately stop.
Deidara even puts his hand into the pouch containing his clay.
At this moment, a pitcher plant drills out from in front of them.
The pitcher plant splits open, revealing Black Zetsu's figure.
"So it's you."
Deidara's guard drops, and he pulls his hand out, saying displeasedly, "Always appearing and disappearing like that. I almost attacked you."
"Tell us, what do you want?"
Deidara says displeasedly. "Isn't the temporary base still a ways off?"
"What did you mean earlier when you said Konoha has already received the news?"
Sasori notices Black Zetsu's words before appearing and asks.
"My clone saw people from Sunagakure heading towards Konoha."
Black Zetsu says. "That was yesterday. That means they have already arrived in Konoha by now."
"Now, Takumi might already be on his way here. We have no time to waste."
"So, there's no time to go to that base. The location has been temporarily changed."
"I'll take you there."
Saying this, he uses his pitcher plant to wrap Sasori and Deidara and drills into the ground.
Then, he takes them underground.
An area has been excavated here at some point.
And the Outer Path Statue has already been summoned. On each of its fingers, the phantom images of the Akatsuki's members already stand.
They are just waiting for these two to arrive.
"You guys are too slow."
Seeing them, Hidan immediately starts yelling, "Your efficiency is too poor!"
"If we had gone, we would have been a day faster than you!"
"Right, Kakuzu-san?"
Hidan says, turning to look at Kakuzu beside him, seeking his partner's agreement.
"Time is money. We've been waiting for you for a long time."
Kakuzu says gloomily. "You almost made me miss out on a bounty target."
"Alright, alright, let's get started."
Kisame acts as a mediator. "Don't forget Takumi is still on his way here. Let's hurry up."
"Deidara, Sasori, take your positions immediately."
Pain, standing on the main position, glances at them and then says calmly.
"Hmph!"
Deidara snorts coldly, jumps onto his designated finger, and then says to Hidan, "Just wait. When I have free time, I'll definitely blow you to pieces!"
"I'd like to see if your Jashin-sama can resurrect your body after it's blown to bits."
Deidara's eyes are full of malice.
It's clearly more than just talk.
"Stop the nonsense."
Sasori jumps onto his finger, glancing indifferently at Kakuzu. "Just some incompetent dogs barking. No need to pay attention."
"That's right, Sasori-danna is right."
Deidara laughs, giving Sasori a thumbs up. "Just two incompetent little dogs."
"You!"
Hidan immediately gets angry. If he weren't on the finger, he would probably go berserk immediately.
Kakuzu's gaze also turns extremely cold.
"Enough!"
Pain's gaze is even colder. "Don't waste time. If you delay the plan..."
He doesn't finish, but the threat in his words is clear to everyone.
"Hmph!"
Kakuzu snorts coldly and says, "After this is done, leave the next mission to us. The time we spend will definitely be much less than theirs."
"We'll talk about that then."
Pain doesn't give a definite answer. After all, the next target hasn't been determined yet.
If they go in order, they need to capture Yugito.
But she is currently in Kumogakure, and the Fourth Raikage simply won't let her out.
Unless they all go out, they cannot secretly capture Yugito.
Black Zetsu places the unconscious Gaara in the center of the open space, then drills into the ground and appears on the last vacant finger.
"Let's begin."
Pain says, forming hand seals. "Sealing Technique: Phantom Dragons Nine Consuming Seals!"
The others follow suit, forming hand seals.
Nine dragon heads condensed from Chakra appear and then swarm towards Gaara on the ground.
Gaara seems to be swallowed into the dragon's body, wrapped in Chakra.
The dragon bodies seem to become pipes transporting the Tailed Beast's Chakra, bit by bit extracting the Tailed Beast Chakra from Gaara's body and transporting it into the Outer Path Statue.
With the input of Tailed Beast Chakra, the Outer Path Statue also slowly opens its eyes.
When all these eyes are fully open, it means the Tailed Beast inside Gaara has been completely drained.
Gaara will also die because of this.
Under normal circumstances, the Nine Phantom Dragons would need the nine of them to maintain for several days to completely drain the Tailed Beast from Gaara's body.
But they don't have that much time now.
Takumi is on his way here.
He can arrive in at most a day.
With Konoha's Byakugan, even if they are hidden deep underground, they can be easily found.
This kind of behavior only delays some time.
Therefore, they must speed up.
They must drain the tailed beast from Gaara's body within one day at most.
To achieve this goal, others need to expend more Chakra.
Fortunately, the Akatsuki's members are not weaklings; each has a considerable amount of Chakra.
Someone like Kisame, known as a "Tailless Tailed Beast", has Chakra Reserve almost comparable to a Tailed Beast.
So, Chakra amount is not a worry for him.
But having Chakra Reserve mostly depleted is disadvantageous for any possible upcoming combat.
Fortunately, the two of them here don't rely heavily on Chakra.
Sasori only needs to maintain Chakra Threads to control his puppets. Deidara might need Chakra, as he needs to infuse it into his clay bombs to activate them.
So, it's best to avoid combat.
Otherwise, without backup, their Akatsuki might see casualties.
After all, it's Takumi, who has thwarted them multiple times.
Although they have had no casualties, Takumi's multiple defeats of Akatsuki's members prove he has the strength to kill them.
Pain, as the leader of Akatsuki, must ensure everyone survives.
At least until the mission is complete, these tools for capturing Tailed Beasts being alive is more advantageous for him.