"Ha ha, old man, I knew you'd come after me, hmm!" The moment Deidara saw Ōnoki, he excitedly greeted him.
Yet beneath that excitement, there was a faint hint of fighting spirit!
However, Ōnoki failed to notice it.
"Deidara, don't worry. I'll take you back. Shisui Uchiha, Konoha's S-rank rogue ninja; Kisame Hoshigaki, Kirigakure's S-rank rogue ninja; Sasori of the Red Sands, Sunagakure's S-rank rogue ninja.
Heh, my disciple is certainly honored. To think he was worth having three dangerous fellows like you kidnap him.
Don't tell me you plan to train Deidara into Iwagakure's S-rank rogue ninja?"
Still unaware of the situation, Ōnoki first reassured his disciple, then turned his gaze toward the other three.
But one look was enough to give him a fright!
The danger posed by those three people was among the highest in the entire Ninja World.
At that moment, Ōnoki felt incredibly fortunate that he had not foolishly chased after them alone, but had instead brought Hyuga Soji along as backup.
Though the current situation was still two against three, he remained confident that he could bring Deidara back.
Had he come alone, what he would need to consider might have been how to escape from those three dangerous people.
Perhaps not only Deidara, but even he himself could have ended up getting kidnapped!
Of course, Ōnoki did not know that even with Soji's help, the current situation was two against four, not the two against three he imagined.
Meanwhile, when Soji saw that the three people who had come to recruit Deidara were the undercover agents he had planted within the Akatsuki Organization, he was stunned on the spot!
So if a fight really broke out, it might end up being Soji and his three undercover agents ganging up on Ōnoki and Deidara.