Deidara tilted his head as he watched Naruto charge in.
"You want this guy? Then take him. We have no use for him anymore anyway."
"Huh?"
Naruto froze too. He had braced himself for a huge fight, so why had the other side suddenly become so accommodating?
But Hinata spoke up beside him with a warning.
"Naruto-kun, Gaara's heart has already stopped beating!"
"What?!"
Naruto still hadn't grasped what was happening.
"That means Gaara... he's already dead!"
"Ah!"
Naruto glanced at Gaara's corpse on the ground, then looked at Deidara and Sasori beside it.
"You bastards! You killed Gaara!"
Sasori spoke up irritably.
"Blondie, you talk too much. If you want to fight, get on with it!"
Hearing that, Deidara turned to Sasori and asked,
"Master Sasori, was that a jab at me?"
"You shut up too."
Meanwhile, Obito and Hidan had already returned to the Akatsuki's Temporary Hideout with Yugito.
Obito took out his phone and contacted Nagato.
"Nagato, Hidan and I got another one. Come over."
"That fast? All right."
After the call ended, Nagato's projection emerged from the Temporary Hideout.
"We got lucky. She was on a mission outside Kumogakure, so we caught her outright.
"But Kumogakure's other jinchūriki is a bit troublesome. He's the Raikage's partner, and under normal circumstances, he rarely leaves Kumogakure.
"Still, we'll find an opportunity eventually."
"Yes, I know, but I have a question too."
"What is it?"
"Have you heard anything about the Three-Tails?"
Nagato's question made Obito pause.
Only after a moment did he speak.
"As of now, I haven't heard anything either. But there are only two possibilities: either the Three-Tails hasn't revived yet, or he has, but someone we don't know about got to him first and sealed him inside a jinchūriki."
"Yes, you're right. Those are the