Sasori looked at the Wood Release tree trunks pierced through by the Magnet Release thorns around him and breathed a sigh of relief.
He was safe.
The tree trunks were impaled by the Magnet Release spikes, wanting to move and grow but unable to do so, writhing incessantly like worms pierced by needles.
A moment later, Sasori felt pain again.
His puppet techniques were inferior to Wood Release, and also inferior to Magnet Release.
He saw the fragments of his puppets, pierced by the Magnet Release spikes.
It was the same; his techniques were too weak.
Yōkō's eyes lit up upon seeing the Third Kazekage.
So this month's Chakra reserve was secured?
The Third Kazekage stared at the Anbu on the Wood Release rainbow bridge and asked, "Konoha's Copper Fox, was it you who sent a spy to investigate Sasori?"
Yōkō thought to himself, so that was it. A spy had investigated Sasori's information, and the spy was exposed first, which was why the Third Kazekage could arrive in time.
Yōkō said, "Your disciple stole Lord Mitokado Homura's Five Ninja Swords. I am under orders to retrieve those precious weapons."
"Mitokado Homura's Five Ninja Swords?" The Third Kazekage said disdainfully, "Those are clearly the First Hokage's weapons. They passed into Mitokado Homura's hands, and he couldn't even protect them. How they ended up with Mitokado Homura, need I spell it out? You in Konoha don't even value them yourselves, so why not hand those precious weapons over to Sunagakure's puppet masters?"
Seeing they couldn't see eye to eye, Yōkō began forming hand signs.
The Kazekage was faster.
"Magnet Release: Satetsu Shigure!" (Iron Sand Drizzle)
The iron sand formed countless fine needles, which aimed at Copper Fox and shot forth violently.
Thud thud thud.
A large tree grew from the maple rainbow bridge under Yōkō's feet, blocking all the iron sand needles.
Just as Yōkō prepared to counterattack, the iron sand needles shattered into iron dust and fell, coalescing beneath the tree trunk, transforming back into fine needles aimed at Yōkō.
The needles found gaps and continued shooting towards Yōkō.
However, as physical attacks, these needles were unable to break through the defense of the Absolute Defense: Copper Light.
After a series of clinking and clattering impacts, Yōkō was unharmed, only his clothes were riddled with dense holes.
The Third Kazekage frowned. Never mind Sasori, even he found this enemy troublesome.
It seemed needle-type physical attacks were ineffective; he had to change his approach.
The Third Kazekage formed hand signs, and a Magnet Release cylinder appeared before him.
The thick cylinder was ten meters long and three meters thick, exceptionally sturdy, looking immensely heavy. A graze would cause injury, a direct hit would mean death.
The Magnet Release iron pillar slammed towards Yōkō.
Yōkō clapped his hands together, and over a dozen thick tree trunks grew in front of him.
The Magnet Release cylinder actually smashed through over a dozen tree trunks, its impact force terrifyingly powerful.
Yōkō mobilized Chakra, and a dragon's claw grew from the maple rainbow bridge beneath him.
This was the dragon's claw of the Wood Release: Wood Dragon Technique. The stout dragon claw caught the Magnet Release cylinder.
On the ground, Sasori watched dumbfounded as the dragon claw threw the Magnet Release cylinder back!
What kind of strength was this?
The Wood Release trees he had no way of dealing with were shattered one by one before his teacher's Magnet Release iron sand.
The Magnet Release, which he had never seen fail since following his teacher, was actually caught and thrown back by a single dragon claw?
Was this the power of the top-tier shinobi in the shinobi world?
Why was he so far behind them?
Sasori calculated repeatedly; even if he made his puppets as strong as possible, he would absolutely be no match for them.
Could it be, just as Copper Fox said, that puppet techniques were useless, a pile of garbage?
Shinobi seemed much stronger than puppets. Then... couldn't people be made into puppets?
Yōkō and the Third Kazekage exchanged attacks and defenses, and Yōkō found he had no good way to deal with the Third Kazekage.
In the original story, after the Third Kazekage was turned into a puppet by Sasori, his strength greatly diminished.
His actual strength lived up to his title as the strongest Kazekage.
After failing to gain any new information from the fight, Yōkō pretended to be outmatched and was crushed to death by the Magnet Release cylinder.
—
Everything went black, his vision shifted, and Yōkō appeared over ten days earlier.
He was in Chisa's bedroom in the Capital of the Land of Rivers.
Before him was Chisa, even more voluptuous after giving birth, white waves tumbling.
Thank you, system, for allowing beautiful memories to be relived again and again.
[Mochizuki's Arc activated!
The host has only one resurrection opportunity per month, reviving on the previous full moon night after death.
Reward: One lottery draw opportunity:
1- Magnet Release Kekkei Genkai (Mid-High Tier);
2- Kage-level Chakra Reserve (Stackable);
3- Sealing Technique: Cloth Binding Technique.]
Yōkō currently lacked neither offensive nor defensive methods. The Magnet Release Kekkei Genkai was useless to him now.
Sunagakure's sealing techniques were quite unique, but they still couldn't compare to the Uzumaki clan's sealing techniques.
Yōkō chose Chakra reserve.
His Chakra reserve instantly surged dramatically, going from 3.3 times to 4.3 times the Kage-level Chakra reserve.
Although Chakra reserve didn't represent total strength, when crushing weaker opponents, having more Chakra had its effect.
His Chakra was abundant, but Yōkō faintly felt that his body seemed to be reaching its limit.
Seeing Chisa slumped weakly on the desk, Yōkō helped her up, holding her in his arms, and said,
"Chisa, I'm going to the Land of Wind to warn Sunagakure, tell them to stop sending people into the Land of Rivers."
Chisa sat on Yōkō's lap, panting softly, and asked, "Won't it be very dangerous? Right now, Konoha's White Fang is patrolling between the Land of Rivers and the Land of Grass, taking turns stationed there. You don't need to take the risk."
"Advisor Sakumo is dealing with rogue ninja like Uchiha Madara. I'm going to warn Sunagakure, tell them not to think about profiting from the war between Konoha and the rogue ninjas."
After bidding farewell to Chisa, Yōkō entered the Land of Wind with the Leaf Monkey Squad.
This time, Yōkō did not contact any spies.
In the previous timeline, he contacted a spy, who investigated Sasori, leading to the spy's exposure. They were probably eliminated by Sunagakure.
Spies were among the most respectable people in Konoha. If possible, it was better to let them live a little longer.
For Chisa's sake, this battle had to be earth-shattering. Therefore, Yōkō intercepted Sasori not far from Sunagakure.
He needed both to seize the Five Ninja Swords and to issue a warning to the Suna-nin.
Standing on the Wood Release rainbow bridge, Yōkō looked down at Sasori, contemplating the upcoming battle.
He had already died once at the hands of the Third Kazekage; he couldn't die again.
But killing the Third Kazekage here outright would likely trigger the Third Shinobi World War.
It was currently year 42 of Konoha. The original Third Shinobi World War broke out around year 45 of Konoha.
Rather than forcefully killing the Third Kazekage here, it would be better to wait a few years for Sasori to kill the Third Kazekage and turn him into a puppet.
That way, he could get a lottery draw from Sasori.
The upcoming battle, after luring out the Third Kazekage, should focus on creating a spectacle; there was no need to kill the Third Kazekage.
Looking down at Sasori, Yōkō said:
"How disappointing. Is this Sunagakure's genius?
If the genius is this weak, aren't the others in Sunagakure even more garbage?
The era of puppet techniques ended when your parents died.
Mere puppet techniques are nothing but broken wood and scrap iron."
Facing the Advent of a World of Flowering Trees, Sasori brought out his four strongest puppets, top-tier puppets designed based on the weapon treasury of Mitokado Homura.
This time, Yōkō didn't crush those puppets in a dozen seconds. He played with Sasori slowly, crushing the puppets one by one, retrieving the ninja swords one after another.
Until a person with formidable power appeared in the distance.
"Magnet Release: Satetsu Kaihō!" (Iron Sand Boundary Method)
Countless iron sand spikes, like thorns, pierced through all the Wood Release tree trunks and vines, saving Sasori.
Yōkō turned to look at the 'timely' arriving Third Kazekage.
Yōkō said, "Kazekage, was it you who sent Sasori to poison the Daimyō of the Land of Rivers?"
"Of course not." The Third Kazekage stared cautiously at Copper Fox: "My Sunagakure certainly wants to seize the mission share of the Land of Rivers, but the Mitokado Homura massacre was clearly an act of revenge. I'm afraid it's internal strife within Konoha, killing each other, that affected the Daimyō of the Land of Rivers."
Yōkō was taken aback. This matter of Konoha's internal strife was impossible to explain clearly.
Over half the rogue ninja in the shinobi world were from Konoha.
The Third Hokage's management must have problems, otherwise why were there so many rogue ninja?
Yōkō said, "Third Kazekage, I'm here to warn you.
Even if rogue ninja like Uchiha Madara run rampant, Konoha is not something your mere Sunagakure can provoke.
Do not touch any nobles of the Land of Rivers again. If Konoha can't defeat Uchiha Madara, can't we still handle your insignificant Sunagakure?"
The Third Kazekage, being scolded like this by a mere Konoha Anbu, felt rage rising in his heart.
The iron sand turned into steel needles, dense as rain, violently shooting towards Copper Fox.
Yōkō didn't move at all, letting the steel needles strike his body.
The air was filled with the sound of clinking and clattering.
The Third Kazekage's expression grew increasingly grim. His Magnet Release steel needles actually couldn't penetrate Copper Fox's defense at all.
Truly worthy of Copper Fox, who possessed the Absolute Defense secret technique.
Apart from his torn clothes, Yōkō had no injuries.
He was demonstrating his margin for error in this way.
Your techniques are ineffective against me.
The Third Kazekage immediately switched his attack method.
A Magnet Release cylinder appeared before him, ten meters long and three meters thick. The cylinder, carrying a peculiar whistling sound, slammed towards Yōkō.
The impact of blunt weapons could indeed threaten Yōkō.
A dragon's claw grew from the maple rainbow bridge.
The Wood Release: Wood Dragon Technique was the strongest Wood Release technique Yōkō currently mastered.
If he couldn't use the Wood Human Technique that could catch a Tailed Beast Ball with one hand, then he would strengthen the Wood Dragon Technique.
With his current Chakra reserve, the Wood Dragon Technique wasn't weak either.
The dragon's claw grabbed the Magnet Release cylinder and exerted force violently.
Yōkō had wanted to crush the Magnet Release cylinder, but failed.
Failed attempt at showing off. Fortunately, no one else could tell, no one knew of Yōkō's embarrassment.
He threw the Magnet Release cylinder back.
Standing on the head of the wood dragon, Yōkō manipulated the wood dragon to charge towards the Third Kazekage.
The Magnet Release cylinder returned at high speed, but under the influence of the magnetically generated Chakra force, it gradually slowed down and finally hovered in front of the Third Kazekage.
The Third Kazekage formed hand signs, and the Magnet Release cylinder transformed into a Magnet Release triangular prism, increasing its attack power and preventing it from being grabbed by the wood dragon again.
Simultaneously, the Magnet Release formed wings, carrying the Third Kazekage into the sky.
On the ground, Sasori emerged from the maple forest left by the Advent of a World of Flowering Trees and looked up at the large-scale battle between the Third Kazekage in the air and the wood dragon.
The Magnet Release triangular prism was caught by the wood dragon's claw. The Chakra within the prism was absorbed by the wood dragon, unable to maintain its form, and it shattered into iron sand.
The iron sand shattered, then reassembled into the Magnet Release triangular prism, striking the wood dragon and breaking it in half.
Both Wood Release and Magnet Release demonstrated extremely high flexibility and strength.
This battle lasted a full half hour.
Konoha's Copper Fox's Chakra seemed endless, forcing the Third Kazekage to retreat repeatedly.
Sasori quickly circled around in a wide arc, staying hundreds of meters away, following from a distance.
It wasn't until a large number of Suna-nin appeared in the rear, with Granny Chiyo and others bringing support into view, that Konoha's Copper Fox ceased his attack.
Standing on the head of the wood dragon, Yōkō said to the Third Kazekage, "Do not touch the nobles of the Land of Rivers again. Otherwise, the next battlefield will be inside Sunagakure itself, and you will be utterly incapable of protecting the village."
The Third Kazekage looked at the Wood Release maple forest stretching for hundreds of meters, wanted to say something, but ultimately didn't speak, allowing Konoha's Copper Fox to leave.
***
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(End of Chapter)