Country of Earth, Iwagakure.
Onoki hovered in front of his desk, holding an emergency scroll sent by Kumogakure.
After carefully reading through the contents of the scroll, Onoki furrowed his brows deeply, falling into deep thought.
Seeing this, Kurotsuchi curiously asked, "Old man, what happened?"
Onoki tossed the scroll to Kurotsuchi and said in a serious tone, "Little girl, take a look for yourself..."
"..."
"What the heck! Two of Kumogakure's Jinchuriki were captured?"
Kurotsuchi was shocked. Although she had never seen them, she had heard that Kumogakure's Jinchuriki were extremely powerful.
One of them was even a perfect Jinchuriki.
Now they had also been captured, which suggested that the enemy was no ordinary force.
"Sigh..." Onoki sighed heavily, "The situation has become dire. I never imagined their target would be all the tailed beasts..."
Kurotsuchi immediately closed the scroll and complained, "Old man, it's all your fault! If you had someone watching over Roshi and Han, we wouldn't be in such a passive position!"
Onoki arrogantly raised his chin, "Hmph! What does that have to do with me? They prefer a life of leisure, and I can't stop them from doing that!"
"You stubborn old man, you're so bullheaded! You're already so old; you should just retire early!"
Kurotsuchi's nagging, like a chattering little bird, irritated Onoki greatly.
"Stop bothering me, let me think in peace!"
"Report!"
As they were talking, a ninja brought in an urgent message from Sunagakure.
"What's going on with Sunagakure now? Wasn't it already known that their Shukaku was captured?"
Onoki quickly opened the letter, and the contents left him stunned.
"!!!"
"It was Deidara who did it!"
Sunagakure had directly shared the perpetrator's information with the other villages.
Under the leadership of the Raikage, the great nations that had lost their tailed beasts began to exchange information. After all, this was now an enemy of the entire ninja world, and they could no longer keep things hidden.
"Brother Deidara???"
Kurotsuchi's eyes widened in disbelief.
She hurriedly snatched the letter and frantically read through its contents.
"The culprits are two individuals: one is Iwagakure's rogue ninja, Deidara..."
"The other is Sunagakure's rogue ninja, the former genius puppet master, Sasori of the Red Sand."
"Their distinguishing features: wearing straw hats and red cloud-patterned black cloaks..."
Upon reading about the red cloud-patterned black cloaks, Kurotsuchi suddenly remembered something and shouted:
"Red cloud-patterned black cloaks... Red clouds! Old man, could they be from that mercenary group? I remember you even hired them before...!"
"Yes... It must be them, that mercenary group known as Akatsuki." Onoki reluctantly nodded.
In the past, for tasks or missions that were inconvenient for Iwagakure to handle directly, Onoki would hire a hidden ninja group to do them.
This way, it wouldn't affect the reputation of his village, and he could save a lot of money.
After all, the mercenary group's prices were very affordable.
And the results they delivered were very satisfactory, with almost no failed missions.
It was a cost-effective choice.
There were a few instances where Onoki had collaborated with a mercenary group known as Akatsuki.
But what he hadn't expected was that Deidara, who had betrayed the village, would be part of it!
"The Raikage's idea is correct; it's time to gather the Five Kage for a meeting..."
"The Akatsuki group can't just be capturing the tailed beasts of various nations for fun."
"Their goals and plans are definitely dangerous!"
"Just like the reason for their existence..."
...