Dusk.
Inside a cave far from Iwagakure, long, slanting shadows flickered in the candlelight.
The Akatsuki members who had scattered a few days earlier gathered once more, looking toward Deva Path Pain deep inside the cave.
After patiently waiting for everyone to arrive, Deva Path turned his gaze to Orochimaru and Shinnō and said flatly:
"Orochimaru, Shinnō, why did you fail to capture the jinchūriki? I need an explanation."
A faint smile lingered on Orochimaru's face as he explained, "We forced the Five-Tails Jinchuriki into his Tailed Beast Transformation, but encountered a large force from Iwagakure and chose to retreat."
Shinnō added, "Although we failed to capture the Five-Tails Jinchuriki, he won't be able to fight again for a while."
After keeping his gaze on the two for a long moment, Deva Path nodded without pursuing the matter further.
After the unexpected incidents during their previous attempts to capture tailed beasts, he had grown used to surprises. Having no outside interference would have felt strange instead.
Dismissing the odd thought, Deva Path offered some words of praise to Zou Hyuga and Hiruko, who had captured Roshi, the Four-Tails' jinchūriki.
Then, to prevent any unforeseen incidents, Deva Path immediately summoned the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path and began extracting the tailed beast from the Four-Tails' jinchūriki.
The Akatsuki members were already accustomed to extracting tailed beasts. They leaped onto the fingers of the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path and began helping Deva Path seal the beast inside it.
Several hours later, looking at Roshi's lifeless body, Nagato, who controlled everything from behind the scenes, breathed a sigh of relief. At last, nothing unexpected had happened.
Just then, Konan approached with Hiruko.
Upon seeing Deva Path, Hiruko explained why he had come. He wanted to borrow the jinchūriki's corpse for