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"If you knew I'd refuse, why did you even come to ask?" Kagaya looked at Zabuza as he spoke.
Zabuza sighed, sounding exasperated.
"That's what I'm saying. It's not "me" asking. It's Mei Terumī who wants to know."
Kagaya chuckled. "And you still follow the Mizukage's orders?"
Zabuza snorted dismissively.
"Impossible. I'm a missing-nin now. No matter the reasons behind my defection, the underlying causes, the fact remains: I am a rogue ninja. Of course I don't take orders from the Mizukage. This matter... I only took it on because it could be done as a simple side task. That's why I'm here."
Kagaya looked puzzled. "A side task? But you were supposed to have left the Land of Waves. Coming back here doesn't seem very 'side task'-like."
Kagaya had a feeling Zabuza was holding something back.
Sure enough, Zabuza grinned the next second. "The reason it's a 'side task' is because Mei Terumī mentioned another matter to me. Because of that, I needed to return to the Land of Waves to find you anyway. In that context, passing on her message became the side task."
A sense of foreboding washed over Kagaya.
"What other matter?"
Zabuza drew the massive Kubikiribōchō from its harness on his back.
"Kirigakure's Anbu have detected a group moving in the direction of the Land of Waves. They're wearing black cloaks with red clouds. If I had to guess, the Akatsuki sent them to hunt you down after you left, right? Knowing that, of course I had to come back and repay my debt."
News of Kagaya's departure from the Akatsuki wasn't exactly world-shattering, but it wasn't trivial either. Those who paid attention to Kagaya would know; those who didn't wouldn't hear a whisper.
After all, the Akatsuki was still largely an underground organization. To obtain information about them required active investigation; one couldn't just sit around waiting for someone to deliver the news.
Thus, only those with an interest in Kagaya would know he had severed ties with the Akatsuki.
Mei Terumī's recruitment offer stemmed from precisely this knowledge.
Seeing the drawn sword, Kagaya asked, "Have they arrived?"
Zabuza clicked his tongue. "Hard to say. I don't know much about your Akatsuki comrades, and the intel Mei gave me was pretty vague. Can't really estimate when they'll show up."
The vagueness of the intelligence was inevitable. Not a single member of the Akatsuki was weak. Gathering intel on them was extremely difficult. If Mei hadn't been keeping tabs on Kagaya and hadn't intensified her surveillance of Akatsuki movements after learning of his defection, she wouldn't have detected their operation at all.
Karin spoke up, her tone tinged with disbelief. "If you can't guess when they're arriving, then why did you draw your sword?"
Zabuza grinned. "Intuition. Pure intuition. Ever since a moment ago, I've had this feeling of being watched. Kagaya, you felt it too, right?"
Kagaya let out a cold laugh. "No need for alarms. It's a member of the Akatsuki called Zetsu. His intelligence-gathering abilities are top-notch. Him finding us is no surprise at all. He's probably spying on us from inside a tree right about now."
Zabuza lowered his sword slightly.
"Not going to kill him?"
Kagaya rolled his eyes.
"If I could kill him, he wouldn't have lived long enough for you to ask that question."
Right on cue, from a tree to their right, a figure resembling a pitcher plant—Zetsu—emerged from the bark.
"My, my, Kagaya, still as sharp as ever. I was actually planning to make my move while you were transplanting those eyes. It's a shame this little Uzumaki girl ruined my perfect opportunity. It would have been so easy to finish you off then."
Kagaya's eyes narrowed, a cold sweat breaking out on his back. When he was preparing for the transplant earlier, he hadn't sensed Zetsu's presence at all. He had assumed Zetsu simply hadn't found their location. But it seemed the creature had been nearby all along. This Zetsu had the ability to evade detection from both Kagaya and Karin's sensory abilities!
Kagaya had to admit he had underestimated this son of Kaguya.
The reason Kagaya and Zabuza could sense him now was likely because Zetsu was allowing it.
Snorting coldly, Kagaya retorted, "Persistent little pest, aren't you? So impatient. You could have just waited until I went back to transplant the eyes."
Zetsu chuckled. "I would never dare underestimate you, Kagaya. Now that you've learned from Zabuza that the organization has dispatched a team after you, you definitely won't proceed with the transplant carelessly. Waiting any longer would be pointless."
Kagaya countered, "So you think acting now gives you a chance?"
Zetsu replied with certainty, "Of course it does! Kagaya, how much farther can your left eye see?!"
In an instant, Kagaya's eyes widened. Zetsu knew about the state of his left eye!
"You think that condition renders me incapable of dealing with you?!"
Zetsu shook his head. "Of course not. I'm not a combatant, after all. Even if you were completely blind, I probably wouldn't stand a chance. That's why... I've called in someone more suited to be your opponent."
As soon as Zetsu finished speaking, Karin urgently turned to Kagaya.
"Kagaya! Three powerful chakra signatures are approaching rapidly!"
Kagaya nodded grimly.
"I know."
It seemed the Akatsuki team had arrived.
A short while later, the owners of the three chakra signatures appeared before them.
Sasori, Deidara, and Konan.
The moment they arrived, Deidara couldn't contain his eagerness.
"We meet again, Kagaya! This time, I won't fall for your genjutsu! Just you wait, you bastard!"
Ignoring Deidara, Kagaya swept his gaze over the three of them. "What, you think this few are enough to kill me?"
Sasori stared coldly at Kagaya.
"Don't get too cocky, boy."
Zabuza raised his sword again, which he had just lowered, and looked at Kagaya. "Who should I take?"
Kagaya replied indifferently, "Pick whoever you like."
Deidara glanced at Sasori. "Gramps, you handle the guy with the big sword. Let me deal with Kagaya."
Sasori naturally had no objections. "Understood. Call if you need help."
Deidara declared with brimming confidence,
"I can defeat him all by myself!"
Kagaya observed Deidara. He recalled from his memories that in the original timeline, after falling victim to Itachi's genjutsu once, Deidara had trained extensively to resist it. He had supposedly trained one of his eyes specifically to counter genjutsu. Kagaya couldn't remember which eye it was, though.
"Do you think genjutsu is all I have?"Kagaya posed the question.
In the original story, training against genjutsu made sense when facing Itachi, for whom it was a signature ability. But against Kagaya... honestly, Kagaya's genjutsu was standard Mangekyō-level, nothing above extraordinary. Kagaya estimated that even a three-tomoe Sharingan's resistance could likely thwart his illusions. So, whether Deidara had trained to resist genjutsu or not was practically irrelevant to Kagaya.
Deidara stretched out his hand, beginning to mold explosive clay.
"No matter what other tricks you have, today you'll die by my art!"
Kagaya sighed. "Is that so? Well then."
The next moment, in the blink of an eye, Kagaya appeared right beside Deidara. Before anyone could react, he cleanly severed Deidara's entire head from his shoulders!
Crimson Sharingan eyes locked onto Deidara's falling head. "I feel I should reiterate: genjutsu is merely one of my most ordinary, unremarkable abilities."