Logan fell silent. He glanced at Sasori, who looked at him expressionlessly. Well, the puppet shell had no expression.
The implication of the other party's words is very obvious: We're about to meet the leader and the others soon. You skipped out on the organization for three years without so much as a resignation letter, and now you're still not running? You've got a death wish?
In short, it is a 'friendly and well-intentioned' reminder, though delivered with Sasori's usual deadpan, emotionless gaze… which made it sound exactly like that.
"Hey, come on, Sasori…" Logan said, scratching his head, "you still owe me that custom kunai you promised..."
The puppet's facial plates twitched slightly. Sasori swiftly stepped back and said coldly: "Shut up."
Logan's outstretched arm, meant to sling over Sasori's shoulder, hung awkwardly in the air for a second before he casually retracted it and smoothed his hair instead.
"At the latest, we'll reach one of the organization's hideouts by tomorrow night. Once we're there and the leader's projections show up, I'd love to see how you handle that." Sasori said, with a deliberate note of schadenfreude in his tone.
Back when Akatsuki was still recruiting, most members had been personally 'convinced' by Pain and Konan to join (though the high degree of freedom was a big selling point). So despite being S-Rank Missing-nin with terrifying reputations, most of these so-called ruthless criminals were actually pretty well-behaved within the organization.
"What's the big deal? It's just a projection. It's not like he can kill me on the spot with just projection." Logan said dismissively, and then waved his hand, "Besides, why would I just stand there and wait for him to scold me?"
"..."
'Well, Pain's Rinnegan and his god-complex glare were still pretty intimidating, though.'
After a brief silence, Logan sighed and spoke more seriously: "I'm not leaving."
'Wait, that sounded weird.' Logan quickly added, "Right now, you should be more worried about yourself. Sunagakure isn't just going to sit back after their Kazekage got kidnapped. Moreover, Konoha is their ally."
Sasori gave him a genuinely puzzled look, not at the latter sentence, but at Yu Logan's refusal to leave.
…
When Logan saw this, he chuckled to himself, but his heart wasn't as light as his expression suggested.
He knew Sasori was right. If things continued like this, they'd soon be back in what amounted to an Akatsuki's team meeting. Not long ago, he'd casually obliterated one of White Zetsu's clones, acting all cocky and disrespectful. From a boss's perspective, that was just begging for a disciplinary session.
Logically speaking, Logan really shouldn't have stuck around Sasori for this long, but he couldn't tell others the unspeakable secrets in his heart.
He glanced at the front, and saw a sea of pitch-black sand, 'Itachi, where are you?'
'Based on how things were unfolding, the joint pursuit squad from Konoha and Sunagakure would catch up soon. Extracting the Biju from the Jinchuriki took time, and Akatsuki would need to delay their pursuers.'
Logan pondered. Truthfully, he was a little worried. Every day that passed as he followed Sasori and Deidara's return route brought him one step closer to an inevitable organizational reprimand.
But at this point, he couldn't back out. Remembering that Itachi and Kisame's clones created with Shapeshifting Technique were already on their way, Logan steeled his resolve.
"Suit yourself." Seeing that he couldn't talk sense into this person, even though he didn't understand Logan's reasoning, Sasori couldn't be bothered to care anymore.
Deidara, who had been quiet until now, suddenly interjected, " "What's there to worry about? Sunagakure? You think they'll actually send people after us? That'd be hilarious. I'll blow up every single one of them. It's a perfect chance to refine my understanding of mass-scale art, mm."
His thought process was refreshingly simple, focused solely on combat and explosions.
"As for their so-called allies... heh..." Deidara scoffed disdainfully.
"Yeah, yeah, 'art is an explosion'." Logan took advantage of the situation to change the subject, "Who cares if they send pursuers? If there are, Deidara will wave his hand and let them explode on the spot…sending them straight home."
"Oh?" Deidara glanced at Logan in surprise, "I like the way you phrase things."
As someone well-versed in internet culture, Logan's repertoire of phrases was far beyond what a native youngster like Deidra could imagine.
After telling him a few trendy memes, he easily captured Deidra's interest. The impressionable Deidara even started to believe he'd met a fellow artist who truly understood the depths of his craft, and his attitude toward Logan noticeably improved.
While Deidara eagerly recited lines like, 'Boom, instant trip home.' and 'If one explosion doesn't solve it, just use two...' the otherwise uneventful journey finally saw some movement.
The moonlit desert stretched endlessly, its veil is still hazy and peaceful.
Sasori noticed something and said calmly, "Someone is chasing us."
Deidara was stunned for a moment, with some uneasiness on his face, "Someone is really chasing us? That's just in time, let's try using what I just memorized..."
'Wait, since when were there are techniques you can memorize?' Logan complained in his heart.
Sasori stared at Deidara like he was looking at an idiot, and interrupted him, "There's only one pursuer, and I'm the one handling rear guard. I'll take care of it."
Deidara was a little reluctant, but since the senior had spoken, there was no argument.
Looking back, they saw a single black dot was indeed racing toward them.
The yellow sand bloomed like tiny flowers along the winding ridges of the desert. The pre-dawn darkness was the quietest, and everyone could hear the faint, scratching sounds of movement.
"Not even bothering to conceal himself, and charging in alone, he is really reckless."
Logan was busy adjusting his wide-brimmed hat, letting the white strips hanging from its edges obscure most of his face.
He didn't need to wait for the pursuer to get close before recognizing who it was, Kankuro, who was driven by fury after his younger brother had been taken, now recklessly chasing them alone.
When he spotted the three scrolls strapped to Kankuro's back, Logan glanced at Sasori's impassive face and silently mourned for the poor guy for a few seconds.
"Then I'll leave it to you, Sasori-danna." When Deidara saw clearly the face of the visitor and the conspicuous large scroll, he immediately lost interest.
"Let me ride your bird for a bit." Logan said to Deidara. Since he'd have to sit through this fight before meeting Itachi anyway, he might as well rest his feet.
Deidara hesitated, but eventually let the man who had taught him a few artistic phrases climb aboard. Logan patted the clay bird's feathers, shifting a little, but still found his own bird more comfortable.
"Give Gaara back!"
Kankuro had arrived. Since he ran for a long time, his breath unsteady, but he still roared loudly. He quickly assessed the battlefield, committing every detail to memory, then unfurled his three signature puppet scrolls.
"Let me treat you to a grand puppet performance!"
…
Kankuro lay defeated on the ground.
The duo, plus their forcibly hitched companion, turned and left without another word.
The difference in strength was too vast. It was a brutal, one-sided domination, the kind only a master of the craft could inflict on an amateur.
Poisoned and unable to move a single finger, Kankuro could only use the last of his fading consciousness to stare at their retreating figures.
"Th-three…"
…
Once they left the Land of Wind, no one mentioned Kankuro, who was left to fend for himself, nor did they care whether he would be rescued by the subsequent Sunagakure's Ninja, thus potentially leaking information.
Dawn arrived, and they were the dawn, the first light the world would see. (T/N: Akatsuki can also means Dawn.)
there was any regret, it was that out of the ten who brought this dawn, only their leader truly had the resolve.
Logan suddenly stopped in his tracks.
At the edge of his vision, two more figures clad in black robes with red clouds pattern were approaching.