As Deidara looked in the direction of the footsteps, he saw two people walking toward him. One of them had grey hair and a triple-bladed scythe while the other one was tall and had hidden his face up to his nose. They both were wearing Akatsuki robes and Deidara could see the scratched-off ninja headband one had on his forehead while the other one had on his neck.
As they reached close, the purple-haired one gave a big smile and said " So you two are the ones tagging along with us."
Deidara looked at him and said "No...you are the ones tagging along while I am going to show my art to the people of the hidden sand."
"Ah...I like it when someone doesn't back down...You might turn out to be an interesting sacrifice." the purple-haired guy said as he stepped forward toward Deidara but then the one beside him interrupted "Stop annoying me Hidan. Or else I will have to tear you apart."
Hidan looked at him as if a kid had been denied candy and said "Don't be such a spoilsport Kakuzu...you know this will be fun..."
Kakuzu ignored Hidan and looked at Sasori and said "Shall we get going ?" Sasori nodded turning towards the direction of the hidden sand.
Deidara chuckled and said "Look Sasori, They found someone like you."
"Stop blabbering or they won't even find the real you."Sasori said and then continued to walk.
"I wish someone pays me to kill the two of you...I would gladly do it." Kakuzu said in a gruff voice as he looked at Hidan and then at Deidara.
"Enough with all that...now let's get going. The plan is already in motion." Sasori said without looking back.
"I have no interest in walking toward my death and that too before I take my revenge. So what is the plan? Consider my yes if your plan is to rush inside the village and kill everyone in sight. I am sure Lord Jashin will be happy and grant me more power." Hidan said. Even though he behaved like a reckless maniac at times, he didn't want to get caught off-guard.
Sasori noticed that Kakuzu didn't stop Hidan and let him talk which meant that he had the same questions.
"I have an inside man in the hidden sand and once we reach close enough, I will activate him and he will kill everyone who is guarding the front border. Then Deidara and Kakuzu will fight the Kazekage while me and you will take care of the shinobis that bother us."
"Hmmm...I get to slaughter people and we even complete the mission...what more could I want. Let's go with this." Hidan said as he regained his face and started walking with the others. Kakuzu also didn't show any kind of dissatisfaction with the plan but then he looked at a tree nearby.
Before Hidan could ask what he was looking at, something came out of the tree branch. It was another person wearing the Akatsuki robe. This one looked less human than the others. Half of his body was white while the other half was black. He also had green hair and a big green jaw coming out from his shoulder and closing above his head.
"Zetsu? You are coming with us too?" Deidara asked as he saw him.
"No...I was sent to make sure that nothing unexpected happens. I wouldn't have even shown you my involvement in this if something out of expectation didn't happen." Zetsu said.
"Are you saying we may have to postpone our plan to kidnap the Kazekage?" Hidan asked with a sad expression on his face.
"I am not someone who makes the decisions. All I can tell you is that the security at the borders increased several folds and 2 squads of leaf shinobis crossed the land of fire into the land of earth. I am not sure if they have entered the land of earth for some random mission or to go to the hidden sand." Zetsu said as he looked at Sasori. The entire plan from when to kidnap and how to do it was all created by Sasori so he would be the one to make the decisions right now.
"Except me, only one person knew the date and time of my arrival and that person is my inside man. But until I activate him, he shouldn't remember the plan at all." Sasori said.
"What do we do now? Not only was the inside man compromised but the village knows it as well." Hidan asked to which Sasori said "The leaf shinobis just entered the land of earth from their side which means they will need at least 30-35 more hours to reach the hidden sand. Instead of stepping back because of all these preparations, let's get our hands on the one tails before the leaf shinobis reach the hidden sand."
"Oh...now we are preponing the plan? I like it...lets goo" Hidan said and started to walk faster than before. Kakuzu didn't care even if the plan is preponed as he was already paid to do this mission.
Seeing that the Akatsuki members weren't straying from their path and the Kazekage kidnapping was still going to happen, Zetsu didn't feel like he needed to add anything or inform Pain.
"I have to walk because of you guys, or I just prefer flying on my artistic creations." Deidara said as they continued walking.
Since the number of Akatsuki members had doubled since the initial plan, Sasori was sure that preponing the plan wouldn't cause them any problems. The only difference was that instead of going in quietly, they would have to face the Kazekage and his shinobis head-on.
As they were walking, Kakuzu looked at Zetsu, who occasionally appeared from different trees around them, and asked "The leaf shinobis, is there anyone among them with a good bounty...I don't want to miss some extra cash if It's walking toward me."
Zetsu nodded and said "Although most of them have a small bounty, Kakashi the copy ninja is among them and he has a hefty bounty on him. One other thing, the 9 tails Jinchuriki and Itachi's younger brother Sasuke Uchiha is also coming."
As Hidan heard the name Uchiha he quickly looked at Zetsu and asked "What about the Genjutsu demon? Is he there as well?"
"Heh...if he was then Zetsu would've definitely mentioned him." Deidara said.
"Yes, that kid has a good bounty as well. He will also fall by my hands." Kakuzu smirked under his mask. When Yami's bounty was first announced, Kakuzu searched for him in the land of fire so that he could kill him. Since Itachi was already dead at that time, Kakuzu had no problem hunting him.
"NO....that kid is my sacrifice...I may have left my cult but he has killed many followers of Lord Jashin and the only way to repent his sins is to offer his blood and guts to Lord Jashin." Hidan said in a serious tone. This was the first time Kakuzu had seen Hidan this serious.
"We will reach a village soon so tone down the talks and Zetsu you can leave now. After today, along with the hidden cloud, the hidden mist will also be on the hunt for the Akatsuki." Sasori said as he saw a small village coming at the horizon.
___________________________________________
A village bordering the Land of Fire and Earth. (Same time)
The 2 leaf squads who were traveling for a few hours now, just crossed the border of the land of fire and had entered the land of Earth. As they entered, they came across a village that was full of merchants selling stuff from both lands, be it food or clothing. The number of shinobis in the village were too low and were only stationed near the village's head's mansion.
Just as the 2 squads entered the village, Kakashi said "Everyone, we will have a quick meal here and leave this place within half n hour."
"Kakashi sensei, we should keep going. We need need more than a day to reach the hidden sand." Naruto said. All the way till here he talked less but whatever he said, the others were able to understand what pain Naruto had to go through as a Jinchuriki. They could understand Naruto's motivation and his reason for hurrying.
"Naruto...I understand that you want to reach there as fast as possible but we are already going to travel the entire night and live on Protein balls in the night so we better gobble up some good food while we have the chance. Reaching the hidden sand in an exhausted state is not going to do us any good. And look at others as well...they are already tired of keeping up the pace with you."
Naruto looked back at the rest of his and Guy's squad and saw Sakura and Temari breathing heavily with beads of sweat covering their face.
"I-I am sorry...I didn't know I was dragging everyone." Naruto said with a little embarrassed tone in his voice.
( How will Gaara defeat them? Will Yami interefere? Ans to all your questions are posted in my P@treon)
---------------------------------
To read 16 extra chapters go to my Patreón
https://p@treon.com/lazarus898/
Link in the synopsis as well.