During the standoff, Hyuga Kagami floated in the air, sizing up the Akatsuki members across from him.
Hyuga Kagami was no stranger to the four members of Akatsuki's Mist Squad. The one truly worthy of his attention was Kisame Hoshigaki, who had once fought a Jinchuriki one-on-one.
During Akatsuki's previous assault on Iwagakure, Kisame Hoshigaki had captured the berserk Four-Tails Jinchuriki alive in a one-on-one fight, making a name for himself in the process.
In the shinobi world, anyone capable of dealing with a Jinchuriki one-on-one could basically be classified as a Kage-level powerhouse. Thus, Kisame Hoshigaki, the "tailless Tailed Beast," was actually the strongest member of Akatsuki's Mist Squad, even though what he held was not the Samehada from the original timeline, but the Hiramekarei.
As for Biwa Jūzō, who wielded the Kubikiribōchō; Lotus, a remnant of the Kaguya Clan who possessed the Shikotsumyaku; and Ryu, who possessed the rare Red Eye Kekkei Genkai, none of them had crossed the threshold into the Kage level. They remained Elite Jonin. Still, they were all Kirigakure shinobi and worked together seamlessly, so they could not be underestimated.
Compared to the Mist Squad on the ground, Hyuga Kagami was more concerned with Sasori in the sky.
Or, more precisely, with Hiruko's Human Puppet standing beside Sasori.
Under normal circumstances, once a dead person's corpse was turned into a Human Puppet, its combat strength could not compare to what it had been in life. Hiruko was different, however. He was the first perfect ninja to undergo the Bloodline Fusion Ritual, and his body, tempered by that ritual, was far stronger than that of an ordinary shinobi.
Moreover, the various Kekkei Genkai Hiruko had possessed in life had all been perfectly inherited by his Human Puppet. In the hands of a top-tier puppet master