[Hidden Hide Out]
Pain, Konan, Kisame, Itachi, Zetsu, and Hidan were extracting the One-Tail from Gaara. Konoha tried to track both Kisame and Itachi, who had kidnapped Gaara out of Konoha, but couldn't do so. Or even if they were successful at finding them, stopping two S-rank missing-nin was outside the scope of most Shinobi. And currently, most of Konoha's heavy hitters were not in the village for some reason or another, or two couldn't leave the village.
Of course, their escape from the village wasn't as smooth sailing as they might have wanted, and currently Konoha was under an even bigger lockdown than it was earlier. Practically a curfew, where the entire village was being scanned after they left, even after knowing that the culprits were gone.
Tsunade just couldn't sleep in peace until she made certain there were no more hidden threats inside the village. Of course, the political fallout of letting the last Kazekage's son and the current and only Jinchuriki of the Hidden Sand get kidnapped on Konoha's own soil was looming the moment she let the news out.
Which, unfortunately, she had to sooner or later, seeing the growing tension in the village at the amount of chaos both Itachi Uchiha and Kisame Hoshigaki had caused.
She had to urgently call back Jiraiya, who had had a rather smooth sailing so far on the northern border of both Kumo and Konoha. And of course, besides Jiraiya, she also called Shibi Aburame and Hyuga Hiashi, who were currently inside the village, and Tsume Inuzuka, of all people, currently deployed on the front line as the overall commander of the much less assaulted north-eastern border between Konoha and Kumo.
As for why, because Inuzuka, Aburame, and Hyuga clans excelled at tracking and searching, and Tsunade wanted Gaara found before this entire thing turned into a political disaster right after the invasion and this war on top.
As for Jiraiya, he was currently Konoha's intelligence head in a way. He handled the village's spy system completely after Danzo was gone.
Back to the Akatsuki, though…the six members had gathered around an unconscious Gaara, extracting the One-Tail's chakra from him just like how it was in the anime.
Surprisingly, the six people mentioned were the only members of the Akatsuki currently who could be contacted to start the extraction process for the One-Tail. Sasori and Deidara couldn't be contacted; both went to capture the Two-Tails from the battlefield, but so far there was no report from them.
Gaara's body slumped lifeless against the statue's restraints, chakra fully drained, the husk of what had once been a Jinchuriki left hollow in a way that made even Hidan pause his usual grinning commentary.
The extraction complete, Pain's attention shifted immediately.
"Zetsu. The Three-Tails. Status."
Black Zetsu's pale half twisted faintly, the same non-answer as before dressed up no better this time around. "Still unconfirmed. No leads on location."
"You've had time," Pain said, voice flat, patience visibly thinning. "And Sasori. Deidara. Are they still out of contact?"
This time Zetsu hesitated longer, dark half shifting uncomfortably. "…I can't locate them either."
Silence settled over the cave, heavy enough that even Hidan's usual restlessness quieted.
"Explain," Pain said.
"Their last confirmed position was near the Kumo-Konoha border, tracking the Two-Tails Jinchuriki." Zetsu's voice dropped lower. "Since then, nothing. No check-in, no signal, nothing through any of my usual channels."
"They could simply be delayed," Konan offered, though even she didn't sound convinced saying it.
"There's more," Zetsu continued, clearly reluctant to be the one delivering it. "My information network picked up something recent. Kumo has begun quietly investigating Akatsuki. Not publicly — nothing official yet — but there's chatter. Someone tipped them off to our existence, or they stumbled onto something themselves."
Itachi's eyes narrowed slightly, though he said nothing. Kisame was thinking the same; their own adventures in Konoha might have stirred this up, but they can't be certain. Konoha hasn't made anything public yet.
"You're suggesting the two of them were caught," Pain asked, landing on a completely different outcome, his tone still even, though something colder crept beneath the words now.
"I'm suggesting it's possible," Zetsu corrected. "If they engaged the Two-Tails and failed, and Kumo recovered anything — a body, an item, even a witness — that would explain the sudden interest in us. As long as it isn't something related to our actions in the Hidden Leaf, that is. It's completely possible that they got the news and are investigating just in case."
Something flickered behind Pain's rippled eyes, gone as quickly as it appeared. Nagato's fury, buried deep beneath Deva Path's borrowed stillness, showed itself for less than a heartbeat before vanishing back beneath practiced control. No one in the room could see the man behind the Path, and that was precisely how he intended to keep it.
There was a silence in the hideout after that for a stretching amount of time before finally Kisame couldn't take it and spoke.
"Should we send someone to confirm?" Kisame said, already looking mildly interested in the prospect of a fight, despite the circumstances.
"No." The refusal came instantly, absolute. "We don't have confirmation of what happened, only suspicion. Sending anyone into Kumo's territory blind, with their intelligence networks already active against us, would only compound the loss." It was Konan who spoke this.
"So we do nothing?" Hidan scoffed, clearly unsatisfied with that answer.
"We do what matters," Pain said. "The Three-Tails is currently unlocatable, and even if Zetsu found it tomorrow, we can't extract the Three-Tails' chakra before the Two-Tails."
Kumo is a war zone right now, crawling with shinobi on high alert. Attempting a capture there, blind, with an active investigation into our organization already underway, is reckless… we don't even know what happened to either of them….no." Pain shook his head.
"Right now we need intel about what's going on. Sasori and Deidara's location, the location of the Two-Tails, and only then do we take action."
"And Kumo itself?" Konan asked. "If they know about us—"
"We don't know what they know or don't know. Acting on that would be foolish, and remember, Konan," Pain said. "Ultimately, even if they find out about us, the outcome would be the same. No one can defy a god. We continue as planned. Quietly. No further engagements until we understand exactly what happened to Sasori and Deidara, and no unnecessary attention drawn while that investigation is ongoing."
He turned toward Itachi and Kisame next, voice settling back into its usual cold clarity. "Return to standard operations. Stay low. If Kumo's investigation expands, I want to know before it reaches anyone close to us."
Itachi inclined his head slightly, saying nothing.
"And Sasori and Deidara, not to mention the Two-Tails," Zetsu asked quietly.
"I leave that to you. Find what has happened and do it quickly. Don't disappoint me again."
Zetsu nodded, internally grumbling, seeing all his plans going to nothing.
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