Tendo Pain's voice echoed across the dark chamber: "There's no need to panic. As long as the Konoha shinobi are delayed, that will suffice."
"We're nearing completion. The extraction of Shukaku from the jinchūriki is almost finished."
"Deidara, Sasori, once the extraction ends, the two of you will remain behind to deal with the intruders."
"Understood, Leader," Deidara replied, a gleam of excitement in his eyes. He was still frustrated from his earlier clash with Gaara and longed for another battle. "I'll make sure to put on a real show this time."
Meanwhile, Uchiha Itachi sat silently at the far end of the cave, eyes closed, his thoughts lingering not on Gaara, but on Naruto. Uzumaki Naruto… a variable he hadn't accounted for years ago. But now, that same boy seemed to radiate a presence that even he could not ignore.
Moments later, Shukaku's chakra was fully drawn out of Gaara by the Gedo Statue. His body, now lifeless, collapsed beside the hulking entity.
The first eye of the Gedo Statue creaked open—eerily empty yet terrifyingly intense. One glance was enough to send shivers down a lesser shinobi's spine.
"Our task is complete," Pain declared coldly. "This operation ends here. The rest of you, withdraw."
One by one, the holograms representing the Akatsuki members shimmered and vanished. Tendo Pain lingered briefly, turning to Deidara and Sasori. "The Leaf's retrieval team is approaching. Handle it as you see fit."
The Gedo Statue disappeared in a swirl of smoke, leaving only the bodies of Gaara, Deidara, and Sasori in the hollowed cave.
Deidara stretched, cracking his neck with exaggerated irritation. "Tch, three days of sitting here babysitting a statue."
Sasori's mechanical voice responded, "Focus. Konoha is nearly here. Stay sharp."
"Yeah, yeah…" Deidara muttered, plopping himself down atop Gaara's still form like a throne. "What a pain…"
Outside, the rescue teams from Konoha had arrived at the barrier. Hyuga Neji activated his Byakugan, scanning the area.
"It's centered on a large circular seal," Neji explained. "But the jutsu formula extends one kilometer in four directions. There are four external seals anchoring the barrier."
Kakashi assessed the situation quickly. "We'll need four shinobi to release all the tags simultaneously. That rules out our team—it's just three of us, and Chiyo-sama isn't suited for field infiltration."
Gai stepped forward. "Leave the seal removal to us—Team Gai will handle it."
Everyone was on a tight clock. Any further delay could risk Gaara's life—or what was left of it. Kakashi nodded. "Good. We'll stay and prepare to breach once the barrier is down."
Gai distributed earpieces. "Check in—Neji?"
"In position."
"Lee?"
"Standing by!"
"Tenten?"
"All set!"
"Alright," Gai called. "Three, two, one—release!"
Each member of Team Gai simultaneously destroyed their assigned seal points—but in an instant, a trap was triggered.
Clones emerged before them—perfect replicas, identical down to stance and chakra flow. The Akatsuki had laid a mimic barrier trap, forcing each of them into an individual battle against their own doppelgänger.
Back at the central seal, Kakashi felt a spike in chakra. "It's not going smoothly for Gai's team."
He turned to Naruto. "We're up."
Naruto nodded, creating a shadow clone that began shaping the Rasengan. His real body followed, compressing a dense vortex of chakra until it expanded into a swirling sphere the size of three basketballs.
"Odama Rasengan!" he shouted, leaping into the air. The colossal Rasengan struck the central barrier tag with a massive explosion, shattering the stone base and sending debris flying in all directions.
Kakashi, Sakura, and Chiyo leapt in behind him, rushing into the now-exposed cave.
Naruto was the first to spot them—Deidara seated arrogantly atop Gaara's corpse.
His expression twisted into fury.
"You, get off Gaara right now," Naruto shouted. "Or I swear, a year from today will be the anniversary of your death!"
Deidara's brows twitched. "What did you just say, brat?"
"I've met arrogant punks before," Deidara growled, standing slowly, "but never one with a death wish like yours."
His mouth-hands began chewing on clay. "Sasori-danna, the blond idiot is mine."
"Don't forget," Sasori warned with a flat tone, "He's the Nine-Tails Jinchūriki. Leader wants him alive."
"Yeah, yeah, as long as he's breathing."
Kakashi quickly stepped forward. "Naruto, don't provoke him unnecessarily. If he panics and harms Gaara's body, we may not be able to retrieve it safely."
Naruto didn't waver. "Don't worry, Kakashi-sensei. I won't let that happen under my watch."
Kakashi caught a glimpse of the confidence in Naruto's golden-tinged eyes—the sign of Sage Mode building beneath the surface. Perhaps there was reason to trust him.
From the sidelines, Chiyo narrowed her eyes at the blond boy. He had the same recklessness… and conviction… as her own grandson, once.
Sakura readied her medical gloves and stood beside Naruto. "Let's take them down fast. Gaara doesn't have time."
The battle was about to erupt.
Kakashi moved first, attacking Sasori with a barrage of swift shuriken and kunai laced with lightning chakra. At the same time, Naruto darted forward toward Deidara, his clone at his flank.
The cave thundered with explosions and chakra clashes.
But as the battle raged, Kakashi noticed something peculiar about "Itachi" and "Kisame's" clones earlier, and now again with Deidara and Sasori. There was something off—their chakra signatures were significantly weaker.
After a fierce six-minute exchange, Naruto finally broke through Deidara's mid-air evasion and slammed an Odama Rasengan directly into his chest.
The impact sent Deidara flying into the cave wall—before his body began to smoke and warp.
"What the—?" Sakura gasped. "He's… changing?"
Chiyo's expression darkened. "A puppet?"
"No," Kakashi said. "A chakra projection."
Just as he suspected—the Akatsuki had used Pain's Shōten no Jutsu, the Body Replacement Technique, again. Only 30% of their real chakra.
Naruto frowned but remained calm. "So it was a decoy. Just like Itachi and Kisame…"
Chiyo spoke bitterly, "All this time, we were only fighting shadows."
"But we're not done yet," Kakashi said, recovering quickly. "We've got Gaara."
Elsewhere, back in the Akatsuki hideout, the real Deidara and Sasori stirred awake.
Deidara snarled, "Tch. Mission failed. They got through."
Sasori said nothing.
"The Jinchūriki of the Nine-Tails… he's more than I expected," Deidara muttered, cracking his knuckles. "Next time, I'll make sure to leave my mark."