The Akatsuki's plan to capture the Tailed Beasts was underway, but the members were in no hurry.
The plan had a three-year timeline, and the initial phase was merely intelligence gathering.
In the desert, two figures walked through the swirling dust and sand.
"I don't know what the leader is thinking, making us investigate these Hollows. It's just a Jonin-level monster, yeah. Such a big fuss over nothing," Deidara said with a shrug, looking helpless. "No matter what kind of monster it is, it's nothing but trash in the face of my art, un."
Deidara, a rogue ninja from Iwagakure and former student of the Third Tsuchikage, Onoki.
He had a willful, bold, and cruel personality.
He was obsessed with his explosive art, willing to do anything to prove its worth.
His partner, Sasori, grandson of the Sand Village advisor Chiyo, also had a hysterical devotion to art.
However, the art he pursued was eternal art, which was contrary to Deidara's explosive art.
Therefore, Sasori and Deidara often argued.
Their pairing was rather interesting.
In response to Deidara's arrogant words, Sasori snorted coldly, but for once, expressed a similar thought. "It's just a Jonin-level monster."
The two of them soon saw the outline of Sunagakure. After a bit of disguise, they easily infiltrated the village.
They were both Kage-level powerhouses; sneaking into a ninja village was a simple matter.
Their mission was to gather intelligence on Shukaku.
Only after the intelligence on all the Tailed Beasts was collected would the Akatsuki officially enter the capture phase.
Returning to the Sand Village again, a rare flicker of emotion appeared in Sasori's usually placid eyes.
He had once been a ninja of this village.
When he was young, Sasori's parents were killed on a mission by "Sakumo Hatake." Unable to bear the loneliness in his heart, he learned puppetry under Granny Chiyo's tutelage and turned his parents into puppets.
After long planning, he assassinated the Third Kazekage and defected from the village.
From then on, the Sand Village had lost another of its top-tier Kage-level combatants.
Looking at the village, which hadn't changed much from his memory, a look of reminiscence appeared in his eyes.
He vaguely remembered growing up here. Granny Chiyo had hidden the cause of his parents' death from him, telling him they would eventually come home.
But by chance, he discovered the truth of their deaths. He turned his parents into puppets and began to resent Granny Chiyo for her deception.
On top of that, at a young age, he had already displayed a masterful talent for puppetry. The other children in the village saw him as a freak and refused to play with him, even verbally abusing him.
This ultimately led to his defection.
"Let's go. We'll go see the current Kazekage," Sasori said flatly, his eyes returning to their cold state.
According to the reports, the newly appointed Kazekage was not yet 16 years old but possessed Kage-level strength and was quite beloved in the village.
Sasori was very curious to see what had become of the Jinchuriki with the miserable childhood.
They had no fear of being discovered. One was a genius puppeteer who had directly assassinated the strongest Kazekage, and the other was a genius ninja who had participated in various terrorist missions.
They were masters of infiltration and assassination; they naturally wouldn't make any mistakes.
…
Meanwhile, in the Kazekage's office.
Gaara was diligently handling official business. The shota Shukaku was sitting on the sofa with his legs crossed, looking annoyed.
"Hey, you little brat, the great me wants to go out and play. Call over that idiot puppeteer from yesterday. He was pretty interesting."
Gaara continued with his work without looking up.
It was a bit much to ask someone his age to deal with politics. Although he had trusted subordinates to help, he couldn't just do nothing. He had to use his free time to learn how to handle official duties.
Gaara placated Shukaku helplessly. "Shukaku, just wait here a little longer. You spent too much money yesterday. Even though I'm the Kazekage, I can't afford your lavish spending."
"You little brat, you're too much!! How did I spend money? I just bought a few little trinkets, hmph! If I had known, I wouldn't have stayed here!" Shukaku snorted, pouting defiantly.
"It's one thing to buy things, but don't tip so much. Someone says a few nice words to you, and you want to give them all your money. You took all of Kankuro's savings for tips. He was trying to save money to get married, you know. Look, he doesn't even dare to come over anymore," Gaara said, looking up, his voice even more helpless.
Hearing this, Shukaku's little face flushed red. Knowing he was in the wrong, he could only offer a weak defense. "Isn't the great me protecting the Sand Village? What's wrong with taking a little money to play with? Hmm?" Suddenly, Shukaku's expression turned solemn, and the small ears in his blond hair twitched.
"We have guests?"
Under Gaara's confused gaze, Shukaku stood up, a brilliant smile on his face. "To think two Kage-level powerhouses have appeared in the Sand Village. I'll go play with them for a bit."
With that, he used Shunpo and disappeared from Gaara's sight.
"I'm coming too!" Gaara's body stiffened, and he quickly called out.
His heart was heavy.
Why would two Kage-level powerhouses be drawn to the Sand Village?
…
"What a rundown village," Deidara said, walking down the street with his arms crossed, letting out a soft, cold snort.
"Oh? Rundown? Don't worry, you'll be the one who's rundown in a bit." A childish voice suddenly sounded. Deidara and Sasori's eyes widened in horror. They whipped their heads around to see a small, blond-haired shota, barely reaching their waists, smiling brilliantly. His small hands tugged at their clothes, and he looked up with big, innocent eyes.
"Big brothers, will you play with me?"
The small ears in the shota's blond hair even twitched playfully.
But this adorable little shota did not make Sasori and Deidara feel the slightest bit of cuteness. Instead, a bone-chilling cold washed over them.
How is that possible? How did this child get so close to us?
Why didn't I sense him at all? Since when did the Sand Village have such a Kage-level powerhouse?
"Big brothers, will you play with me?" Seeing that the two didn't react, Shukaku spoke again, but this time, his tone held a hint of a threat.
Sasori and Deidara exchanged a look and followed Shukaku.
Shukaku walked in front, and they followed behind.
Seeing Shukaku's completely unguarded back, they exchanged another look.
"Explosive Clay: Explosion."
"Hiruko: Eight Waves of Needles."
The next moment, they both acted.
Deidara used his clay explosion, while Sasori had his puppet, Hiruko, use a jutsu.
From the mouth of the human puppet named Hiruko, a high-density barrage of poison needles and spikes shot out, aimed at every vital point on Shukaku's back.
The sudden turn of events made the villagers cry out in alarm. Gaara arrived instantly and ordered the ninja to evacuate the crowd.
"Hey, you two really don't know how to behave." However, something even more shocking happened. The ground rumbled, and a towering wall of sand shot up from behind Shukaku, blocking all the attacks.
From behind the wall came Shukaku's childish voice.
"If that's how it's going to be, then you can all just die."
CRASH. The sand wall suddenly collapsed. The sand within it fell, and with a loud bang, it smashed onto the ground, scattering in all directions like scattered blossoms.
"Watch out!" Deidara slammed his hands on the ground, summoning a clay owl, and immediately flew into the air.
Sasori, on the other hand, controlled his puppet to fire countless poison needles, shooting down the sand that was flying toward him.
Thwack, thwack, thwack. The sand that was shot down suddenly exploded.
A continuous stream of ear-piercing explosions kicked up a large cloud of smoke.
If Sasori and Deidara had allowed the sand to hit them, they might have been blown to bits.
"That Shukaku fellow, he really doesn't know how to hold back," Gaara cursed inwardly, controlling his own sand to block the flying debris.
Before Sasori and Deidara could catch their breath, the scattered sand, as if it had a life of its own, rapidly converged in one spot, instantly forming a giant tanuki.
"Shukaku?!" Sasori and Deidara cried out, their eyes wide with shock.
The monster formed from the sand looked exactly like Shukaku.
"ROAR." The sand Shukaku roared and swiped a claw at the two of them.
"C2 Dragon." Deidara used his explosive clay to create a giant dragon, which then spewed clay bombs from its mouth.
"Explosive Clay: Little Birds."
A continuous stream of bombs was released by Deidara, hitting the sand Shukaku and erupting in violent explosions.
Sasori decisively used a Sand Clone to escape the battlefield.
BOOM, BOOM, BOOM. Endless explosions roared, the scene grand and chaotic. For a moment, smoke, dust, and sand were all mixed together.
"Who are these two? Why did they infiltrate the Sand Village?" Gaara's face was grim as he looked worriedly in Shukaku's direction.
His current strength was not yet enough to fight a true Kage-level powerhouse; he could only rely on Shukaku.
According to Shukaku, he was now far stronger than an ordinary Kage-level powerhouse, but that was just empty talk.
Shukaku was a very arrogant little brat.
After the explosions, half of the sand Shukaku's body was blown away, but countless grains of sand surged toward it again, repairing it completely.
In the desert, Shukaku had too great of an advantage.
"Retreat." Deidara and Sasori didn't dare to be arrogant. They both mounted the clay owl and prepared to temporarily retreat.
But clearly, Shukaku had no intention of letting them escape.
In the swirling sand.
He laughed wildly, and a tan-colored Zanpakuto suddenly appeared in his hand.
"Dance wildly, Sandstorm!!!" With Shukaku's sharp cry, the sand and wind of the entire world seemed to come to life, sweeping toward Deidara and Sasori, surrounding them in layer after layer.
They were like birds in a cage, unable to escape.
"What is this power?" For the first time in their lives, Deidara and Sasori felt fear.
"If this goes on, we might both be left here! Dammit, since when did the Sand Village have such a monster?"
They cursed endlessly.
"C3: Number 18!" Deidara's eyes became crazed, and he roared.
The chakra in his body surged out. Using his highest-level chakra, he created a doll-shaped explosive clay figure and sent it falling toward the village below in an air raid.
His crazed laughter echoed.
"Let the Sand Village be buried with us!!!"
"You despicable bastards!!" Shukaku cursed angrily, and with no other choice, he gathered the sand and wind above the village to form a giant protective shield.
BOOM, BOOM, BOOM. The explosions were continuous.
Taking advantage of the reduced swirling sand, Deidara and Sasori used all their trump cards, blasting an opening with their jutsu, and then fled in a sorry state.
They flew for an unknown amount of time, only stopping when their chakra was rapidly depleting, their faces still showing signs of shock.
"That guy… what kind of monster was he?!!"
Deidara panted heavily.
In this short battle, his consumption had undoubtedly been the greatest.
Sasori, on the other hand, hadn't consumed much.
But his puppets were not very effective against the sandstorm.
It could be said that in this battle, he had been completely countered.
If it weren't for Deidara, he might have been worn down and killed.
"He could actually control the weather… and that sword." Recalling the details, their hearts trembled.
If it were a life-or-death battle, they wouldn't necessarily lose to Shukaku.
But it was important to know…
In battle, intelligence is crucial.
They knew nothing about Shukaku's abilities.
A few simple jutsu from him had already left them struggling to defend.
It was hard to guess if Shukaku had even more terrifying trump cards.
Deidara and Sasori were both Kage-level powerhouses, after all, and they naturally had their own trump cards, but there was no need to use them right away.
If they could run, they would run.
They looked at each other, and both could see the gravity in the other's eyes.
The Sand Village was far more terrifying than the intelligence reports had suggested.
"Hey, since when did your Sand Village have such a powerful little brat? Have you ever seen him before?" Deidara asked, still panting.
Sasori shook his head.
He had never seen that little blond-haired shota before.
"Let's go back and report to the leader. The Sand Village is not simple," Deidara said hatefully.
Their mission completion rate had always been 100%, and now it was broken.
"Suzaku and the others' target is the Leaf Village. Do you think… Konoha might have a similar monster?" Deidara suddenly asked, his tone tinged with a hint of schadenfreude.
…
Meanwhile, far outside the Leaf Village.
Two figures in black cloaks with red clouds were approaching Konoha.