In a dark cave, several members shimmering faintly with rainbow light formed hand seals toward a vessel. Vast amounts of chakra flowed along a thin thread of chakra into the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path.
Once the vessel's chakra had completely disappeared, one of the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path's nine eyes opened. A closer look revealed that two eyes were open in total.
When it was all done, Pain, who possessed the Rinnegan, spoke first. "Of the Nine Tailed Beasts, we've finished with two so far. Seven remain. Each team has a quota of two. Now that we've begun collecting the tailed beasts, we must pick up the pace."
"Agreed. Deidara and I will take the One-Tail. It was my village once, after all. I know it well," Sasori volunteered.
"Our team doesn't mind. Any two will do," a sinister voice said with a hint of laughter.
"Hey, Kisame, don't talk like your team's the strongest. Kakuzu and I could take all the rest ourselves. Right, Kakuzu?" an arrogant voice shouted.
"Hidan, shut up," Kakuzu replied coldly.
Konan, the only woman, spoke. "We've confirmed the locations of eight of the Nine Tailed Beasts, but the Three-Tails hasn't appeared in recent years. The organization has devoted considerable manpower to searching over the past few years, but we've never found any trace of it."
The Akatsuki fell silent at her words. It really was strange. A wild tailed beast should hardly have been able to hide so perfectly. Could some organization have already captured it and hidden it away?
At that thought, Pain said, "Kisame, the Three-Tails was once Kirigakure's tailed beast. You're the most familiar with it, you're proficient in Water Release, and the Samehada you wield has ties to it as well. I'll leave this tailed beast's