"Tobi, do you have a grudge against that guy?" Deidara suddenly asked, puzzled. As far as he was concerned, both of them were his underlings, and Lingchuan had only joined the Akatsuki a few days ago. What could he possibly have done to offend Tobi?
Tobi seemed startled by the question and hurriedly laughed it off. "No, no, nothing like that~ I was just curious why he had so little chakra. It looks like Lingchuan-senpai might have something he can't talk about."
Despite his words, his tone clearly suggested a hidden meaning, as though his denial only made him more suspicious.
"..." At that, Deidara stared at Uzumaki Reikawa and Tobi with dead-fish eyes.
"Is that sooo?"
He kept feeling that these two were hiding something, but after thinking it over, he decided it didn't matter. It had nothing to do with him anyway. Even if things went horribly wrong, at least one of them would survive.
About an hour later...
Pain: stared—
"..." Uzumaki Reikawa's mouth twitched slightly. Under Pain's scrutiny, he finally had no choice but to stand up again, return to his place, and get back to "work."
Sighing because he could no longer slack off, Lingchuan quietly watched Yugito Nii, whose breathing had all but stopped. Only the last traces of Tailed Beast Chakra were keeping her alive now.
If nothing unexpected happened soon, his original body really would end up working for nothing this time.
In anime, the protagonist often appeared at the critical moment. However, that did not apply to Yugito Nii. Even after the Two-Tails' chakra had been fully extracted and her body had gone completely cold, neither side's reinforcements had managed to arrive.
Seeing that the Tailed Beast Chakra had been sealed, the Akatsuki members let out a breath. Every sealing took