Chapter 57: Carrying "Explosion Is Art" to Its Ultimate Conclusion
Unlike Sasori's dismissive attitude, Orochimaru could not so easily brush the matter aside.
Though he had long since lost interest in the title of Hokage, his pride had never truly healed.
The fact that he had once lost to a blond brat—Jiraiya's disciple, no less, and his own junior—still gnawed at him.
"…Perhaps I'm overthinking it."
Shaking his head, Orochimaru watched as Sasori split off several puppets and sent them charging toward Oda Nobunaga. The strange sense of unease in his chest slowly subsided.
After all, the Flying Thunder God Technique was something only the Second Hokage had created—and in the present age, only the Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze, had truly mastered and applied it in combat.
Even Orochimaru himself, who had studied the technique in depth, had failed to grasp it.
Let alone Oda Nobunaga, a man with no conceivable way of ever coming into contact with that jutsu.
And yet—
What Orochimaru believed impossible had already become reality.
Through the power of making the unreal real, Nobunaga had manifested several secret training methods for ninjutsu within his study. Then, under his own name, he had published wildly popular serialized stories in the newspapers of the Land of Fields.
As his personal prestige skyrocketed following the defeat of the Cloud Village, the power of that ability had grown exponentially.
After all—
Back in another world, during a certain extraordinary era, a national leader had once publicly claimed that drinking disinfectant could kill bacteria.
And countless people had believed him.
Some even recorded themselves drinking it and posted the videos online.
Even after many of those fools were rushed to hospitals for emergency treatment, faith in that absurd claim still persisted.
If such nonsense could be believed—
Then why wouldn't the masses believe the exaggerated, heroic stories written by Oda Nobunaga, now a victorious daimyō whose reputation was at its peak?
After all, martial-arts novelists had long been regarded by many as true masters of kung fu.
And thus—
As belief strengthened Nobunaga, his growing power allowed him to spin even greater "truths," which in turn drew more belief.
A perfect, self-reinforcing cycle was born.
---
Of course, all that was for later.
Right now—
As Sasori's puppets rushed toward him, Oda Nobunaga merely smiled faintly.
In a world where ninjas ruled by strength, without power of one's own, it was impossible to truly command their loyalty.
If he didn't show something real—
Sasori might very well start looking for a chance to turn him into a puppet.
Just like he had done to that childhood companion long ago.
"…Time to show you."
Whoosh—!
Sasori's puppets rushed in, blades snapping out from their arms as they closed on Oda Nobunaga.
Under Sasori's control, they were only a heartbeat away from restraining him—
"…How is that possible?"
The casual indifference vanished from Sasori's face.
Right before his eyes, several blades were already about to press against Nobunaga's throat—
And yet, Nobunaga vanished from his sight entirely.
"It really is that technique!"
Sasori, caught off guard, hadn't seen how Nobunaga disappeared.
But Orochimaru—who had been uneasy from the very beginning—saw it clearly.
At the exact instant Sasori's puppets were about to strike, the daimyō everyone had assumed was physically powerless flicked out several kunai—
And in the next instant, his figure slipped into the void itself.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
As Sasori frantically searched for Nobunaga's position, the man reappeared—
Not in one place, but simultaneously beside multiple puppets, as though several clones had manifested at once.
Nobunaga even had time to flash a meaningful smile toward Sasori inside Hiruko.
Only then did he calmly pull out several explosive tags and slap them onto the puppets.
"Bastard!"
It felt as if someone had slapped him across the face.
Sasori's expression darkened as he watched his puppets vanish in explosions under Nobunaga's hand.
This humiliation was different from anything Orochimaru had ever inflicted on him.
Orochimaru, at least, was one of the legendary Sannin.
But Oda Nobunaga?
He was nothing more than the daimyō of a small country.
Sasori had once earned the lifelong achievement of destroying an entire nation.
Before this moment, how could he ever have taken a mere daimyō seriously?
"Die!"
Crushing humiliation drove Sasori's full attention onto Nobunaga—especially after he noticed Orochimaru showing signs of holding back.
Reassured, Sasori sent even more puppets surging forward.
"Your hidden agendas are why you'll lose," Sasori sneered coldly from within Hiruko.
"And do you really think the Flying Thunder God Technique is invincible?"
Others might fear that jutsu—but Sasori did not.
Yes, the blond-haired Minato Namikaze had built the legend of the Yellow Flash with it.
Yes, the shinobi world had once issued orders stating that encountering Minato meant immediate mission abandonment, with no penalties.
But Sasori, now wielding the Third Kazekage puppet and its Magnet Release, was supremely confident.
"The Flying Thunder God is terrifying," he admitted coolly.
"Instantly jumping between kunai used as spatial markers, making it impossible to track you."
"But what gives you victory… is also what ensures your defeat."
"If those kunai are destroyed—if the spatial anchors are gone—then the Flying Thunder God collapses on its own."
Sasori had studied Konoha's shinobi extensively.
His parents had died at their hands. Revenge had once consumed him.
And Minato Namikaze had been a prime subject of his research.
The theory was simple:
Flying Thunder God relied on marked kunai.
Destroy the kunai, and speed no longer mattered.
Others couldn't clear a battlefield of countless kunai instantly—
But Sasori, commanding the Third Kazekage's Magnet Release, believed it would be effortless.
Orochimaru's eyes flickered.
He had once considered Minato a hypothetical enemy himself—and he shared the same conclusion.
"So… how will you respond?" Orochimaru murmured, watching closely.
"Heh."
Unmoved by Sasori's declaration, Nobunaga continued flashing between puppets.
Every appearance of his form was accompanied by an explosion—and another puppet's destruction.
So far, the Third Kazekage's Magnet Release hadn't slowed him down in the slightest.
"How can this be?!"
Sasori grit his teeth.
By all logic, Magnet Release—capable of controlling all iron-based metals—should have been the perfect counter.
"Can't… control them?"
Fury mounting, Sasori finally noticed something off.
As Nobunaga's figure appeared again and again beside his puppets, Sasori seized one of the kunai used as a Flying Thunder God marker.
He snapped it in half.
"…It's not iron."
Magnet Release had limits.
If the kunai weren't forged from iron, then Magnet Release was useless.
"This daimyō…!"
Never had Sasori imagined such meticulous foresight.
But before he could react—
Nobunaga's figure abruptly appeared beside the broken kunai.
Before Sasori's widened eyes, dozens of explosive tags were slapped directly onto his body.
"Mutually Multiplying Explosive Tags."
With a sharp grin, Oda Nobunaga formed the hand seals.