As time rolled on, Naruto and the others began pursuing Deidara and Sasori of the Akatsuki. After learning of Sasori's whereabouts, Chiyo joined the group from Konoha.
Meanwhile, the Akatsuki were holding a video conference as they extracted the One-Tail from Gaara. As time passed, the life slowly drained out of him.
The Akatsuki: nine freaks and one madman. They wore the flashiest nail polish and the trendiest work uniforms. That was the Akatsuki-despicable yet charming.
With several Akatsuki members working together, the One-Tail was extracted from Gaara, and his life gradually slipped away. By the time the Konoha team arrived, all they found was Gaara's corpse. Only Deidara and Sasori were physically present. Following a discussion with Pain, they decided to send Itachi and Kisame to remotely control corpses with a special technique and block the Konoha ninja.
When the Konoha ninja caught up, they saw Deidara dancing and singing in the distance.
"Oh, c, baka, c, kero, re, eight-four-eight-four-eight-four-eight, heh-heh." Everyone was baffled by Deidara's antics.
But when Naruto saw Gaara lying on the ground, he was furious. Gaara was his friend, after all, and now he was dead. It inevitably reminded Naruto of Meihui-of how his own inadequacy had kept him from helping his older brother. Sensing that something was wrong with Naruto, Kakashi was about to warn him.
But seeing Naruto's state, he figured Naruto would not listen anyway, so he wisely kept his mouth shut.
Seeing so many people arrive, Deidara immediately drew their attention to himself.
"Sasori, my man, I'll leave this to you. I'm going to deal with that Nine-Tails kid." With that, he mounted his clay bird and flew straight off. Naruto immediately chased after him, and Kakashi hurried after Naruto.
Once Sasori sensed that Deidara was far away, he raised his