Rorin and Gaara quietly stared into the distance. Gaara spoke in confusion,
"Why? With a ninjutsu of that level, wouldn't they be caught in it themselves? Are the Akatsuki all a bunch of lunatics?"
Rorin couldn't figure it out either. Why had Deidara used C0 self-destruction? That was a technique that cost one's life. If he had only wanted to break free from the sand's restraint, there should have been other ways.
"Rorin-kun, can we still return to where we were fighting earlier?" Gaara turned to look at him.
Rorin shook his head slightly and said regretfully,
"I didn't leave a Flying Thunder God mark there before. Not careful enough… I'm afraid we can't get back there immediately."
"I see…" Gaara was somewhat disappointed, but thinking of Chiyo and Baki's safety, he still decided to go back and check.
"Rorin-kun, I still want to go back. Baki and the others are still there," Gaara said slowly.
Rorin nodded slightly and didn't object. "Let's go together."
The former Tenchi Bridge had now become a ruin. The explosion had affected everything within a radius of ten kilometers.
At this moment, a bird slowly flew in from the distant sky toward Tenchi Bridge. Standing on it were Sasori and Deidara—who should have perished in that explosion.
"What a hassle… Too bad we didn't get rid of that guy Orochimaru. Hmm!" Deidara said softly.
"This is already the best outcome. The One-Tail Jinchūriki is protected by sand. That explosion probably didn't kill him, but he should be on the brink of death. We need to extract the One-Tail as soon as possible," Sasori of the Red Sand said calmly.
"And that guy who took Hidan away probably got caught up in it too. Heh!" Deidara grinned confidently.
"This is already good enough. After all, the clone created by the Impersonation Technique only had fifty percent of your chakra," Sasori replied indifferently.
Their original plan had been to send out clones with half their chakra once Rorin and the others and Orochimaru were both heavily weakened from fighting each other.
Sasori's role was to prevent the enemy from escaping, while Deidara's original goal was simply to severely injure the target through the clone's self-destruction. But after seeing Gaara, Deidara came up with what he believed was a foolproof plan.
That was to feign weakness. As long as Gaara trapped him in sand, and with no way to observe what was happening inside from the outside, he could quietly activate C0 self-destruction.
Afterward, they would return to clean up the aftermath. Even if someone survived by luck, they believed the opponent would have lost most of their combat ability.
After nearly half an hour of travel, Deidara and Sasori finally arrived at the ruins and began searching for traces of Rorin and the others.
After searching for a while, Deidara frowned, his emotions slightly agitated.
"Why? Where are those two bastards?"
They only found the corpses of Chiyo and Baki, but there was no sign of Rorin or Gaara.
Sasori also seemed to realize something. Where had the plan gone wrong?
He carefully recalled the situation at the time, and finally said regretfully,
"It seems they left at the instant of the explosion. We forgot that guy has the Flying Thunder God Technique that Kakuzu mentioned."
Deidara clenched his fists. He had already assured Pain that this mission would succeed, but the result turned out like this. It was a complete slap in the face.
Moreover, to ensure the plan went smoothly, they had even asked Pain to provide assistance with the Impersonation Technique.
Sasori collected Chiyo's remains. Because the chakra of Deidara's clone created through the technique was only half of the original, its power was also reduced by half, so her body remained intact.
After all, their goal was to capture Gaara—they couldn't let him be reduced to nothing.
"It seems this mission still ended in failure. Prepare how you'll explain it to the leader," Sasori said calmly as he turned to Deidara.
"Damn it!" Deidara snapped in frustration. Twice now—Gaara had been saved by Rorin twice right from his hands.
"Let's go," Sasori said as he slowly left the ruins of Tenchi Bridge.
Deidara followed reluctantly, summoning a bird. The two of them mounted it.
"Where are we going now? The Land of Wind? I don't believe that Kaguya guy can stay by the One-Tail Jinchūriki's side forever," Deidara asked.
Sasori shook his head. "Not for now. We need to explain things to the leader first. And I have something else to take care of."
At the mention of explaining things to Pain, Deidara slumped, then sat on the bird as the two of them gradually flew away.
...
On the other side, Rorin and Gaara were heading back toward Tenchi Bridge. After nearly half a day of travel, they finally returned to the ruins.
Looking at the horrifying scene, the unease in Gaara's heart surged.
In the end, they dug Baki's body out from the rubble. Seeing Gaara silent, Rorin stepped forward, patted his shoulder, and comforted him,
"The dead are gone."
Gaara quietly looked at Baki's body lying on the ground, feeling a trace of guilt. As the Kazekage, he had failed to protect his comrade.
Meanwhile, Team 7, who had been tracking Orochimaru, were hurrying along.
Pakkun led the way in front, with Kakashi following behind. Uzumaki Naruto and Haruno Sakura ran on either side of him.
"The target has stopped," Pakkun said suddenly after sniffing the air.
Hearing this, Naruto and Sakura were overjoyed—they had finally found him!
The three of them, along with the ninja hound, sped up. They had previously slowed down to avoid alerting Orochimaru, but now that his location was confirmed, there was no need to hold back.
One of Orochimaru's secret bases.
After returning, Orochimaru and Yakushi Kabuto went straight to the laboratory. Supporting Orochimaru, Kabuto asked with concern,
"Orochimaru-sama, are you alright?"
"It seems this body is reaching its limit," Orochimaru said, his face slightly pale. The vessel he had taken three years ago through the Living Corpse Reincarnation had finally reached its end.
After a long journey, Kakashi, Naruto, and Sakura finally arrived at the entrance of Orochimaru's base.
"This is the place, Kakashi," Pakkun said.
"Alright, thanks, Pakkun," Kakashi replied.
Naruto clenched his fists and muttered,
"We finally found you, Sasuke!"
Inside a room, a young man dressed in a pure white kimono with dark blue pants lay on a bed, turned to one side, his black hair framing his face and his eyes tightly closed—it was Uchiha Sasuke, the one Naruto and the others had been searching for.
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Pls Drop some Power Stones
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