Live long enough and you'll see anything-the Akatsuki learned to send backup for its employees!

Inside the Akatsuki base.

The extraction and sealing of the tailed beasts was still proceeding in an orderly fashion.

This job was a long-term project, requiring them to seal seven Jinchūriki all at once.

It was fine at first, but as time wore on, the less patient members inevitably began to grow irritable.

"My arms are sore. This is so annoying!" Deidara pouted, grumbling resentfully:

"I'm a great artist! Isn't making me do this a waste of my talent? Hmm!"

Sasori: "Shut up! Keep quiet. Letting you do this is already giving you too much credit."

Whenever he heard the word "art" come out of Deidara's mouth, Sasori felt an urge to snap at him-and acted on it.

That said, Sasori was actually running out of patience too.

Pain opened his eyes slightly. "This is all for the Akatsuki's grand undertaking. If you have complaints, bear with it."

Kisame Hoshigaki spoke up. "How are things going with Kakuzu and Hidan? Are they still not done? With those two here, we could at least extract the tailed beasts a little faster."

Pain: "Zetsu, tell me their current situation."

Black Zetsu answered in a low voice, "Kakuzu and Hidan are fighting Fourth Raikage A, along with two Elite Jonin, Darui and C. Their strength can't be underestimated..."

White Zetsu: "That's not all. Several powerful chakra signatures are rapidly converging on the battlefield. They're a group of powerful fighters from Kumogakure. Tsk, tsk... looks like Kakuzu and Hidan will have a hard time holding them off..."

Hearing this, Deidara's eyes darted, and he instantly came up with a way to escape this "cage."

"Boss! I usually don't think much of that guy Kakuzu, but we're colleagues, after all. There's still some affection between us, no matter what. For the sake of that bond,