On the mountain, explosions echoed incessantly.
Konan's figure transformed into scattered sheets of paper, fluttering and swirling around before reassembling in another location.
Whoosh! Whoosh!
The paper sheets flew like shuriken, forcing the puppets to retreat under the barrage of explosions.
"You go first."
Konan didn't look back.
Behind her, a dozen Amegakure shinobi huddled together, with two corpses lying on the ground.
Hearing her words, they snapped out of their daze and immediately fled.
Sasori didn't pursue them. Instead, he stared at the kunoichi before him with excitement.
Paper.
A novel ninjutsu…
"You'll make the perfect addition to my collection!"
"Hmph."
Konan remained expressionless, not bothering to engage in conversation.
She manipulated the paper sheets, many of which were embedded with explosive tags. The continuous explosions created a dazzling sea of fire, but in the next moment, a wall of water rose around Sasori.
Water Release: Water Wall!
Additionally, earthen walls emerged…
The combination of water and earth instantly blocked the explosions.
Simultaneous ninjutsu?
Konan was startled, her suspicion growing—
Is this his own ability?
No!
Could it be…?!
Her pupils contracted as she realized the true meaning behind Sasori's earlier words about "collection."
"You're conducting forbidden research?!"
"Forbidden? Who defines what's forbidden or conventional? It's merely the ignorance of ordinary people."
Sasori spoke lazily.
He stepped out from behind a tree, his fingers manipulating two puppets. Then, several more figures emerged from the forest.
Ten fingers, an army of one.
"Your technique is fascinating. Become part of my eternal art. I'll grant you immortality!"
His voice was fervent.
With a flick of his fingers, the ten figures surged forward, their ninjutsu and weapons intertwining.
Light and shadow danced.
The paper burned in the flames, but Konan herself remained unharmed, her body disintegrating into sheets of paper.
Paper Clone!
The collapsed clone instantly reformed into a spear.
Boom!
The spear shot forward, aiming for one of the puppets, but it was swiftly blocked by a ninjutsu.
However—
In the next moment, the spear exploded violently.
The earthen wall crumbled, and the puppet was sent flying. As it soared through the air, its outer layer of flesh peeled away, revealing the mechanical structure beneath.
As expected.
Konan's heart sank. She understood why Sasori had come to this area.
He was here for materials!
As she manipulated the paper to attack Sasori, she suddenly sensed a squad approaching from the left. Then—
Whoosh!
She instantly transformed into scattered paper sheets, soaring into the air to survey the surroundings.
From above, she saw another squad rapidly approaching from behind Sasori, while a Sunagakure-style squad closed in from her side.
Sunagakure…
The madman before her was clearly a Suna shinobi. Were the two groups working together?
Amegakure had been at war with Sunagakure before, and Konan wasn't about to gamble her comrades' lives on the enemy's mercy. She immediately decided to retreat.
Fortunately, her subordinates had already fled some distance.
Even if she left now, the enemy wouldn't catch up immediately, and they could set up ambushes along the way.
With that in mind, she prepared to leave.
But—
Upon closer inspection, the person in the distance seemed familiar—a child she had seen in Takigakure…
A Konoha shinobi?
Konan hesitated, flying higher to ensure her safety.
From above, the situation became clearer.
Yes.
It was them!
Konan hesitated for a moment before creating a clone to head toward Nagato and Yahiko.
…
"Flying, huh?"
Sasori's eyes showed a hint of frustration, but then he smiled. "You can fly, but so can I!"
In an instant, three puppets rose from the ground, heading toward Konan.
"Your technique may be immune to damage, but it must consume a lot of chakra. Once I drain your chakra, you'll be…"
Sasori was about to break Konan's morale with words when he suddenly felt a chilling killing intent.
His hair stood on end, and he swiftly manipulated four puppets to shield himself.
In the next moment—
Earth Release: Earth Wall!
Sss!
A blade sliced through the wall, and lightning chakra shattered it.
Kakashi destroyed the earth wall.
Behind him, Minato arrived in a flash.
A Rasengan instantly struck the puppet that was forming hand seals.
At the same time—
Boom!
The puppet exploded, releasing a cloud of poisonous gas, but Minato's figure flickered and vanished.
It was a Shadow Clone.
Then, a gust of wind swept toward Sasori.
Sasori remained unfazed.
The poison washed over him, but he simply swallowed a pill and tightened the puppets around him.
"Sunagakure's rogue shinobi, Sasori of the Red Sand."
Minato's real body emerged from behind Kakashi. "We've been expecting you."
He couldn't help but glance at Kyohiko.
Earlier, on the road—
"Minato-senpai, Kakashi, Gai. He's Suna's genius puppeteer. We should avoid close combat and use clones or ninjutsu to subdue him."
The current situation perfectly matched Kyohiko's prediction.
Otherwise, Minato wouldn't have used a Shadow Clone for the initial attack.
"Konoha's…"
Sasori looked behind them, his eyes lighting up. "That guy… the one who got away before? You brought him here? Excellent! I'll have to thank you!"
With that, he manipulated all his puppets to converge.
However—
While he was speaking, Konan silently embedded explosive tags into one of the human puppets and detonated it.
She was immune to poison and traps.
Even after triggering the poison, she remained unharmed. But after destroying the puppet, her gaze shifted to the other side.
Below, Kyohiko gave a slight nod.
He had already heard everything, so—
It was time to end this!
Whoosh!
Three figures dashed forward, moving like streaks of light.
Sasori's eyes scanned the area.
Then, another puppet began forming hand seals, but just as it was about to finish, one of the three figures suddenly accelerated.
In the blink of an eye, it was in front of the puppet.
A blade flashed, severing its hands.
"You think you can take out my puppets one by one? How naive!"
Sasori sneered, his fingers twitching. The severed puppet's wounds shot out countless senbon needles, aimed at the figure and the others behind it.
Each needle was laced with deadly poison.
A single scratch would trigger rapid toxin spread.
But the figure before him wasn't even a Shadow Clone—it was just a basic Clone Technique illusion. The four behind it had already vanished.
In an instant, the other two figures accelerated.
By the time Sasori realized it—
They were already in front of him!
A blade slashed across his neck, but in the next moment, Sasori's body turned into sand, crumbling and dissipating.
Then, explosions erupted from the ground.
Explosive tags detonated, sending a barrage of poisoned senbon needles in all directions.
At the same time, the surrounding puppets closed in on the two.
Water and lightning intertwined, creating a dazzling display of electricity.
Traps, poison, puppets.
These were a puppeteer's most common tools.
Against Sasori of the Red Sand, these tactics were even more unpredictable and terrifying, combining puppets, traps, poison, and ninjutsu in bizarre and horrifying ways.
However—
His opponents…
Whoosh!
Paper sheets fluttered.
Konan dove from the sky, her paper converging in one spot before scattering again, triggering a series of explosions.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Amid the relentless explosions, a figure fled in disarray.
As he ran, his fingers manipulated the puppets, and his figure moved toward another area.
There, another confrontation was unfolding, and…
A familiar chakra.
Chiyo.
His grandmother.
Sasori's eyes darted around as he dealt with Konan's paper and explosive tags while keeping an eye on Minato and Kyohiko.
Those two were the real threats!
Konan was troublesome, but her technique was likely chakra-intensive, and her explosive tags were finite. She couldn't keep this up indefinitely.
But—
The speed of those two… if they got close, he'd have no chance.
Sasori knew this well.
So—
He kept manipulating his puppets, trying to…
What?!
Sasori's eyes widened in horror as he saw one of his puppets collapse silently.
The poison was released, but by the time it spread, the attacker was already gone.
No!
Over there!
"Here!"
Sasori abruptly detonated a puppet.
Senbon and mechanisms exploded outward, but to his shock, the attacker dodged and redirected with inhuman speed.
How is this possible?
Is this even human reaction time?
Soon, he noticed that the one who had destroyed the puppet wasn't the tall, blond one—it was the shorter, black-haired kid.
Unbelievable!
Sasori was dumbfounded. And if the kid was this fast, how much more terrifying was the other one?
At this moment, the usually arrogant and self-proclaimed invincible Sasori finally realized that puppeteers had their limits.
While manipulating his puppets for defense, he reached for a scroll with one hand, intending to summon more puppets.
But—
Just as he was about to do so, a phantom figure flashed before his eyes.
Then—
Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!
A massive fireball hurtled toward him. Minato formed hand seals, and the fireball engulfed a large area.
Sasori didn't dare take it lightly.
He manipulated six puppets, each releasing ninjutsu to shield him.
However—
In the next moment, Boom!
Konan detonated the last of her explosive tags, collapsing an earth wall.
Then, a water jet shot in from the outside.
Sasori's pupils contracted as he dodged, but the water jet dispersed into a normal stream, followed by a surge of lightning.
Over the past period, Kyohiko had been discussing Lightning Release with Kakashi.
Though he hadn't mastered any specific Lightning ninjutsu, he had developed the chakra nature. Now, he channeled Lightning chakra through his chakra-infused blade, sending it into the transformed water jet.
Water surged, and lightning spread.
Sasori's body froze, paralyzed by the electricity.
Though Kyohiko also suffered from the backlash, temporarily immobilizing him, he had allies—
Minato's figure flickered.
In an instant, he was in front of Sasori, a Great Rasengan erupting in his hand.
Sasori had summoned two puppets to shield himself, but the Rasengan's power was overwhelming. Paralyzed, he couldn't form seals to defend himself. The rotating chakra tore through everything in its path, obliterating the puppets in an instant.
Boom!
Sasori was sent flying, crashing into a rock and unable to move.
The long trail on the ground showed just how devastating Minato's Rasengan had been. Sasori's chest was caved in, the flesh mangled and bloody.
Minato panted heavily.
He and Kyohiko had been using Shadow Clones and Body Flickers nonstop, draining their chakra.
To avoid the poison, Kyohiko had even opened the First and Second Gates.
But finally—
They had hit Sasori's real body!
Minato stepped forward.
"Sasori… you deserve to die!"
With that, he created another Shadow Clone, which cautiously approached Sasori.
Despair flashed in Sasori's eyes.
At that moment, chaos erupted from the other side. Flames engulfed a section of the forest, and amidst the fire, Chiyo rushed over, shouting, "Stop!"
But—
Minato merely glanced at her.
Then, he said coldly, "Chiyo, you can gamble on whether you're faster than me."
"You!"
Chiyo's face twisted in anger, but she stopped in her tracks.
She looked at Sasori, then…
At the collapsed puppets on the ground, her eyes filled with shock and horror.
She couldn't believe it.
"You?!!"
"It's you, Grandma. I didn't expect you to come. Weren't you with the Third Kazekage earlier?"
Sasori leaned against a tree, blood flowing from his chest, but his expression was lazy, as if the injury meant nothing.
Still, his eyes betrayed a hint of darkness.
Chiyo was deeply disappointed. "You've been researching forbidden puppet techniques!"
"Traditional puppetry is too weak. This is eternal art."
Sasori chuckled weakly.
Chiyo turned to Minato. "Konoha shinobi, he's a rogue from Sunagakure. I want to take him back for punishment…"
"Chiyo, I won't let you take him."
Minato's voice was icy, filled with killing intent.
"Are you trying to steal Sunagakure's secrets?"
Chiyo immediately played the "classified information" card.
Minato narrowed his eyes, his killing intent palpable, but he remained silent. His Shadow Clone drew a kunai.
He wasn't good at arguing—
He was better at killing.
At this moment, Kyohiko spoke up.
"Chiyo-sama, we respect Sunagakure's secrets, but Sasori is also our client's target. He slaughtered an entire village, and our client paid us to capture him for revenge. We can't hand him over to you."
He pointed to Kurokawa, who emerged from hiding.
Kurokawa's face was filled with hatred and rage as he glared at Chiyo. "He calls you Grandma? So Sunagakure is behind this! If you take him, he'll never face justice!"
Chiyo opened her mouth but found no words.
She hadn't expected Sasori to slaughter an entire village for his human puppets, and with the victim present, she had no room to argue.
Chiyo closed her eyes in pain. "I'll offer compensation!"
Kyohiko was about to refuse when Kakashi and Gai were knocked back, retreating toward them.
He was still immobilized and couldn't assist.
"What compensation could bring back my family?"
Kurokawa snarled.
Chiyo took a deep breath. "If you refuse, Sunagakure will consider this an attempt to steal our secrets, and we'll fight to the death!"
With that, she unsealed two scrolls.
Ten white puppets appeared.
Chikamatsu's Ten Puppets of the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path!
"Though I'm old, I still have some skills. In your current state, can you defeat me?"
Her eyes burned with hatred.
She was ready to kill the Konoha shinobi!
Just as she was about to attack—
"What if you add us?"
Two figures appeared—one with long red hair covering his eyes, the other with spiky orange hair and a furious expression.
"Sasori attacked our shinobi. He dies today!"
Chiyo was taken aback.
She hadn't expected Amegakure shinobi to join the fray.
Her eyes filled with pain. "Then let's make a deal."
"I only ask for his body to remain intact. If you grant me that, I won't interfere. Otherwise, I'll fight to the death—even defect—to protect my grandson's corpse!"
Tears streamed down Chiyo's face, her expression one of sorrow and helplessness.
An intact body?
Was Chiyo planning to revive Sasori?
Kyohiko immediately realized her intentions, but with Chiyo wielding the Ten Puppets and Kakashi and Gai struggling against Pakura's squad, they had no better options.
He sighed silently.
Chiyo for Sasori…
It was hard to say who was the bigger loss.
Though Chiyo wasn't as skilled in puppetry or poison as Sasori, Sasori was a madman. His personality would never allow him to coexist with the Third Kazekage.
Even if he returned to the village, his continued research into human puppets would eventually lead to his downfall.
Of course—
The main issue was their current predicament.
Kyohiko chose to remain silent.
Nagato and Yahiko exchanged glances.
With Chiyo's compromise, they had no further justification, and leaving the body intact seemed reasonable…
They looked to Minato.
"Fine!"
Minato didn't hesitate.
He gathered chakra and threw a kunai, piercing Sasori's throat.
The young man's eyes closed forever.
Minato's Shadow Clone approached, picked up the kunai, and stabbed Sasori's heart, much to Chiyo's silent fury.
Then, he turned. "Your village can take him now."
"Thank you."
Chiyo fought back tears as her puppets carried Sasori's body away, the Ten Puppets forming a protective formation as they left.
Pakura extinguished her flames, remaining silent.
She had no particular feelings for Sasori—in fact, she disliked him.
But—
Chiyo's status and contributions to Sunagakure were immense, which was why she had protected him so fiercely.
Kurokawa collapsed to the ground, weeping.
"Sister… everyone… the Konoha shinobi have avenged us!"
Kurokawa's voice trembled with a mix of grief and relief as he fell to his knees, tears streaming down his face.
"…"
Minato's words caught in his throat, ultimately dissolving into a silent sigh.
What use were words now? The dead could not hear them.