Adjusting the white mask on his face with one hand, Uchiha Gen made no attempt to hide as he walked over and greeted Itachi, who had fallen behind. Strictly speaking, though, they had only parted a little while ago.
"?"
Seeing Uchiha Gen suddenly appear, Itachi was puzzled. What was he doing here? Had he come to rescue the Two-Tails? He was considering whether he should hold back if a fight broke out when—
The white flying object ahead, which had already shrunk to a tiny speck, suddenly flapped its wings and flew back. Deidara looked to the side and said impatiently, "Hey! Did you see Sasori on your way here? That guy didn't actually get killed, did he?!"
A sudden silence fell...
When his question received no answer, Deidara frowned and looked over, only to discover a masked man standing beside Itachi. Stranger still, he looked oddly familiar.
"Who's he...?" Deidara asked instinctively. Yet the moment he asked, an ominous feeling welled up inside him...
As though he had suddenly remembered something, Deidara's expression instantly turned ugly. He looked constipated.
At that, Uchiha Gen grinned and volunteered an introduction. "Hello, my name's Gen. The Gen in Uchiha Gen."
"..."
Deidara felt as though he had poked an Uchiha nest. Of the only three Uchiha left in the world, he had now run into two. A certain curse sprang to mind, but he wasn't sure whether to say it.
"Itachi, this guy betrayed the organization! Aren't you going to do something?!" Deidara demanded, looking at Itachi. Meanwhile, he was already secretly molding a bomb in his hand. He had considered the worst-case scenario: if Itachi turned traitor, he would just blow himself up and take them both with him!
Itachi completely ignored his reaction and said flatly, "There's no need."