"Lord Sasori, I'll take my leave first. If I'm gone too long, others will become suspicious." After seeing Deidara ride his bird into the sky, Yura turned to Sasori.
"Mm." Sasori nodded.
The bird soared into the air, and Deidara, seated atop it, rapidly shrank into a tiny dot. Gale Wind howled past his ears as his gaze continuously swept across all of Sunagakure.
The strong wind lifted the hair covering his left eye, revealing a camera-like device over it as it continuously recorded the state of the entire village.
He had specially made it after losing to Uchiha Itachi. It was not only for countering genjutsu; it was also exceptionally useful for reconnaissance.
No matter how confident he acted, he still possessed the caution a ninja ought to have. After all, infiltrating Sunagakure to capture its Kazekage was something that had never occurred in any of the Ninja World Wars. A village's fighting strength was far beyond what any individual could match.
That was also why Akatsuki had sent the two of them. Deidara's bird was perfectly suited to this kind of situation. As long as it flew high enough, he could ignore most ninjutsu attacks, rendering the enemy's numbers meaningless.
Otherwise, even Uchiha Itachi and Kisame Hoshigaki's water-and-fire pairing would not have found this mission easy to complete.
Of course, if it had been those two, they would have used an entirely different battle plan. Given Itachi's combat intelligence, there was no reason for him to choose a frontal assault.
But that did not mean a frontal assault had no chance at all. If Nagato had come while controlling the Six Paths of Pain, there would have been no need for any tricks—he could simply steamroll his way through. In the current Sunagakure, no one could stop him.