After digesting the intelligence provided by Hyūga Neji, everyone fell into deep thought.
"It seems this operation has a problem," Gaara said softly.
Everyone nodded in agreement. If Sasori and Orochimaru were planning to cooperate, then Sasori's side wouldn't have come ahead of time to set explosive traps.
"So how should we deploy our next steps?" Baki stepped forward and asked.
Rorin crossed his arms, his gaze once again drifting toward the direction of the Tenchi Bridge as he slowly said,
"Let's wait and see."
At that moment, Uzumaki Naruto jumped out.
"Hey, shouldn't we be doing something now? Like destroying the traps they left behind?"
Rorin shook his head. "Sasori and the others have already arrived. They might be hiding somewhere just like us right now. If we go out, we'll alert them."
Then Rorin turned to Gaara and reminded him, "Since there's a problem with this mission, it likely stems from the person who provided the scroll."
Gaara and Baki exchanged a glance, both seeing the shock and confusion in each other's eyes. They had clearly already read Yūra's memories, so why did things turn out like this?
Baki speculated, "Could this all have been arranged by Sasori? He deliberately let Yūra go and gave him the scroll to mislead us. If that's the case, what is he trying to gain?"
Gaara nodded as he analyzed, "Perhaps he wants to weaken our Hidden Sand Village from within."
Baki gave a slight nod. The two stopped overthinking it—right now, the most important thing was this operation. If they could successfully eliminate Sasori of the Red Sand, there would be no future worries. Thinking of this, he glanced at the Hidden Leaf Village ninjas nearby, feeling somewhat reassured.
Fortunately, they had gone to the Hidden Leaf Village to seek help this time. Otherwise, if the Hidden Sand Village had foolishly come here on their own to ambush Sasori of the Red Sand and Orochimaru, something disastrous might have happened.
If not for Rorin using Flying Thunder God to bring them here ahead of time, they wouldn't have learned about Sasori's scheme in advance. But then again… if they had set out from the Hidden Sand Village from the start, they should have been able to arrive early too.
No matter what, the Hidden Leaf Village had indeed helped them greatly this time.
Meanwhile, the silent Chiyo stepped forward and looked at Hyūga Neji.
"Did you see my lovely grandson just now?"
Hyūga Neji replied softly, "Is your grandson blond?"
Chiyo slowly shook her head. "No, he has red hair."
Neji was momentarily speechless. Not the blond one? Could it be that hunched, short figure?
Because Neji had activated the Byakugan and hadn't carefully observed Sasori, he didn't notice the real body hidden inside Hiruko.
After organizing his thoughts, Neji asked, "There was another figure—short and hunched. Could that be your grandson?"
Gaara spoke up, "That's right. The short figure you saw is the man who called himself Sasori in Yūra's memories."
Chiyo was slightly puzzled for a moment, then said no more. It was a pity she hadn't seen him with her own eyes—otherwise, things wouldn't be so troublesome.
...
On the other side, at the resting place of Sasori and Deidara.
Deidara looked at the composed Sasori and casually said,
"If the Hidden Sand Village and Hidden Leaf Village don't show up, I'll handle Orochimaru myself. Hmm."
His gaze burned as he stared at the distant Tenchi Bridge.
"I'll show him what true art is. Hmm!"
"Art is an explosion!"
Watching Deidara amuse himself, Sasori seemed unimpressed and said calmly,
"They will come. So what we need to do is make them fight each other first. When both sides are weakened, we'll step in."
Deidara looked at him in confusion. "But, aren't you supposed to meet their spy first?"
Sasori neither confirmed nor denied it. When the time came, he could simply control a puppet to make contact.
Suddenly remembering something, Sasori turned to Deidara.
"Deidara, do you have any spare organization cloaks?"
At the mention of clothing, Deidara's face darkened.
"Don't even bring that up. I never want to talk about those clothes again. Hmm!"
Sasori looked slightly embarrassed—he had forgotten to prepare an extra cloak for disguise. After all, he was already wearing one, and Hiruko was also covered in one. Did that mean he had to take off his own cloak and put it on the puppet?
Shaking his head, he asked again, "Just tell me—do you have a spare? I need it for disguise."
"Well… I do have one I've worn before, but it hasn't been washed yet. It should be fine, right?" Deidara said quietly.
Sasori extended his hand. "It's fine. Give it to me."
"Oh!" Deidara took out the unwashed cloak and handed it over.
Sasori took it and went off to the side to work on something.
Time passed quickly, and soon it was the day Sasori and Yakushi Kabuto had agreed to meet. Over the past few days, Sasori had grown somewhat puzzled—he hadn't seen any ninjas from the Hidden Sand Village or Hidden Leaf Village.
"Could it be they haven't arrived yet?" Sasori muttered.
"Looks like you miscalculated. No choice—this time, leave it to me! Hmm." Deidara looked eager to try.
...
Meanwhile, Rorin's group, already hidden, were quietly discussing.
"Judging by the time, it should be soon. Let's first see if they engage directly. We'll wait and observe—the enemy is in the open, we are in the shadows," Rorin said softly, glancing at the sky.
Uzumaki Naruto, who could barely contain himself, asked, "So when do we show up?"
"Calm down, Naruto," Kakashi advised.
"The opponent is Orochimaru! Sasuke is still in his hands, I…" Naruto grew agitated, recalling the moment Sasuke had left.
Rorin gestured for silence, because there was already movement on Sasori's side.
In the distance, Sasori controlled a puppet dressed in an Akatsuki cloak, slowly walking toward the Tenchi Bridge.
On the other side of the bridge, a cloaked figure was also approaching at a measured pace, occasionally adjusting his glasses, a sinister smile curling at his lips.
About three minutes later, both sides arrived at opposite ends of the bridge.
They slowly approached each other—until they finally met.
"It's been a long time, Sasori-sama," Yakushi Kabuto said with emotion.
"Indeed, it has. You've regained your memories, haven't you?"
Watching the two meet, a thought suddenly popped into Rorin's mind—would Sasori suddenly say,
"Where's the item I asked for?"
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Pls Drop some Power Stones
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