Hearing the commotion, Pakura immediately began running toward the source of the disturbance. Before leaving, she ordered her disciple, Maki, to notify the others.
Maki nodded and departed with a face full of anxiety. She looked back at Pakura's receding figure and made a silent vow to gather reinforcements and fight alongside her teacher.
...
"What happened?"
Fujūro woke with a start, staring into the distance. A Hidden Sand Anbu knelt before him to report.
"Lord Fujūro, according to information from the sensory ninjas, Kiyoshi Uchiha of the Leaf has clashed with Sasori!"
"What?"
Fujūro's voice was heavy, and fury rose across his craggy, rock-like face. Had the Leaf become so arrogant?
He immediately ordered the Hidden Sand Anbu to assemble the troops. This time, the visiting party included Tsunade of the Sannin; they had to treat this with extreme caution, as a single mistake could bring immense losses to Hidden Sand.
"Yes."
The Anbu nodded instantly at Fujūro's grave tone. This man was one of the highest-ranking figures in the Hidden Sand Village, rivaled only by the Third Kazekage, Chiyo, and Ebizō. Despite his muscles beginning to atrophy and his hair and beard turning snow-white, the tall old man remained active in various missions.
...
"Third."
Chiyo and Ebizō, the siblings, led a group of ninjas into the Kazekage building, but they found no trace of the Third Kazekage. In the room, there were only scattered drops of blood on the floor.
"Sister..." Ebizō's face was grim.
If a village's Kage disappeared, the consequences would be unimaginable. Ninjas who had previously coveted the position and the factions behind them would all jump out to fight for the title of Fourth Kazekage!
"This is..."
Unlike Ebizō, who was prone to deep deliberation and was already pondering the chaotic aftermath, Chiyo focused more on the present. She crouched down, her fingertips enveloped in chakra. After lightly touching the blood on the ground, her expression changed drastically.
There was poison in this blood! She was very familiar with this toxin; it was the one she had taught...
Behind her, Ebizō noticed his sister's body suddenly stiffen after touching the blood and realized the truth. Most likely, there was a traitor in the village.
...
"Something happened in Hidden Sand."
Tsunade's closed eyes snapped open. Releasing her sensory focus, she felt a large number of ninjas rushing toward her location. She pushed the door open. Before long, Asuma and Kurenai also emerged, clearly having heard the noise.
"Lady Tsunade, what's going on?" Kurenai was the first to ask. She immediately rushed into Kiyoshi's room to check, only to find to her surprise that he wasn't there!
"Kiyoshi is gone!" Kurenai cried out. Asuma looked over and saw that it was true.
Tsunade knit her brows tightly. She possessed the [Yang Attribute] and had once learned sensory ninjutsu from her second-grandfather. She began to sense with full effort; aside from the dense clusters of Hidden Sand ninjas, there was a cold, ominous chakra that was very conspicuous. She opened her eyes; the direction was... the place where a fire had started.
"Let's go. There."
Tsunade hadn't even removed her armor to sleep. She leapt onto the eaves and began to run. Kurenai and Asuma followed suit immediately.
...
*Swoosh, swoosh, swoosh!*
A dense rain of senbon needles was fired from the Gatling gun in [Hiruko]'s left arm, like falling raindrops. Two tomoe spun in Kiyoshi's eyes, and every senbon became incredibly slow in his sight. At this point, Sasori had already used a corpse to create [Hiruko], though it hadn't yet been modified to the "beautiful" extent of the future.
Flames erupted from the katana in Kiyoshi's hand, intercepting all the senbon and dropping them to the ground.
"Just stay here quietly, Leaf ninja." A hint of ruthlessness flashed in Sasori's eyes.
He only remembered that after poisoning the Third Kazekage, he had come to find Kiyoshi, intending to use him as a scapegoat.
"Aren't you afraid of starting a war between Hidden Sand and Hidden Leaf?" Kiyoshi asked, his face showing a calculated amount of surprise.
If he was going to act, he had to go all the way. Currently, aside from the push Kiyoshi had given him, everything Sasori was doing was a manifestation of his true nature!
"Heh, there is no point in staying in a village like this. I will turn you into one of my artworks as well," Sasori said flatly. A puppet made from the Uchiha clan would surely be far more special than an ordinary one.
Sasori flicked the chakra threads connected to his fingertips and pulled out a scroll, summoning a humanoid puppet once again. The puppet's wrist was covered in summoning seals; in an instant, thousands of puppet arms were summoned, lunging toward Kiyoshi. The speed was so fast that one could only see a blurred afterimage!
"It's useless." Kiyoshi shook his head.
Currently, Sasori was going all out, throwing out every move he had. But it wasn't enough. In the next moment, the flames on Kiyoshi's katana surged violently, and a hurricane wrapped around it. This was the [Wind Style: Chakra Blade Film] given to him by Orochimaru!
With the addition of his Traits, the wind and fire became intertwined. Kiyoshi held a long, fierce line of flame in his hand like an extended fuse.
"What... what kind of ninjutsu is this!" Sasori's pupils shrunk. A combination jutsu? No, that wasn't right.
Sasori dismissed the answer. Combination jutsu weren't something that could be used casually; they required exquisite chakra control. Given this exaggerated scale, it would require a massive amount of chakra to sustain. Kiyoshi was just a Chunin; even if he could defeat Pakura, he couldn't possibly have such a chakra capacity at this age!
Sasori flicked his fingers. Just before the long line of flame could strike him, he had the dozen puppets surrounding him open their palms simultaneously, spewing out torrential flames.
[Scroll: Fire Sealing Wall]!
Sasori had pre-planted fire scrolls in each puppet. Using these scrolls, the pipes in their palms could spew flames with powerful melting capacity and heat. Even against a B-rank Fire Style ninjutsu, they could hold their own!
*BOOM!*
The flames from both sides intertwined, reflecting the area like a sea of fire. Under the intense heat, the dust on the ground melted into red liquid glass, winding beneath their feet like a network of blood vessels. It reflected in Kiyoshi's Sharingan like a strange, bloody light.
"Hiss..."
Sasori retreated clumsily, blood trickling from both ears. He was a puppet master and was not skilled in close combat. His skin was toasted red by the heat, emitting white steam. Meanwhile, the boy in front of him appeared far more at ease.
"It seems you can't handle this heat," Kiyoshi smiled faintly.
As long as he wasn't in direct contact with the very core of the flames, he could withstand the high temperature. His current talent in [Fire] Style far exceeded others. The high percentage bonuses meant Kiyoshi didn't have to struggle for progress like everyone else. A ninja's strength is not just about hard work; it's about what you harvest.
[Fire] + [Wind] = [Scorch].
Although Kiyoshi couldn'yt directly synthesize a Bloodline yet, increasing his own resistance to fire wasn't much of an issue. During their standoff, Kiyoshi saw the approaching newcomers through the power of his Sharingan.
Pakura had arrived. A trace of a smile curved Kiyoshi's lips.
"Sasori, I'm curious. Why are you attacking me? Aren't you afraid the Third Kazekage will punish you severely?" Kiyoshi quickly retracted the smile and asked with feigned confusion.
"You don't need to know."
Talk too much and you're bound to slip up; Sasori didn't want to waste time on Kiyoshi. It would be foolish if someone heard him. Just as he was about to manipulate his puppets, a red glow flickered in his eyes.
The final bit of ocular power Kiyoshi had left in him began to take effect. It didn't change his perception but rather amplified the hatred in his heart. A forceful change in perception would be too obvious, making him realize he was under Genjutsu. But if it was strengthened slowly, Sasori would believe it was his own true intent. Such a Genjutsu was extremely difficult to see through.
Only a Byakugan would have a way to detect it. Just as Mei Terumi suspected the Fourth Mizukage was under Genjutsu and ordered Ao to use the Byakugan to check; once confirmed, Ao used the stolen Byakugan to dispel the illusion. Most importantly, Kiyoshi's overt two-tomoe Sharingan couldn't possibly possess such massive ocular power! This was the information gap—and Kiyoshi's advantage.
Furthermore, when Kiyoshi gave Sasori the suggestion to follow his heart and poison the Third Kazekage, he left a little insurance. That was: after the kill, don't worry about anything else and come to him immediately. Most likely, the Hidden Sand Anbu going to the Kazekage building had already seen the traces in the room. Even poisoning leaves tracks. Those tracks were enough to prove Sasori was the culprit.
"Hmph. You won't live to see that old man punish me. He is currently a prop for my puppet-making. If not for the Third Kazekage, how would my parents have died?" Sasori's words were thick with hatred. As much as he craved his parents, he loathed the Third Kazekage.
"Sasori, you..."
In the distance, Pakura's voice approached. Her face was full of disbelief. How could Lady Chiyo's grandson do such a thing?
"!"
When? Sasori's expression changed slightly as he turned to look. When had Pakura arrived? He shouldn't have been so careless. Confusion rose in Sasori's heart.
*Drip.*
Blood slowly dripped from both his ears. Sasori looked at the blood on the ground and realized instantly—the clash of flames between him and Kiyoshi just now had caused his ears to take damage from the pressure! Sasori didn't know if this was a coincidence or a result Kiyoshi had specifically arranged. He could only give Kiyoshi a deep look, retract all his puppets, and run quickly toward the outskirts of the village. In just a second or two, Sasori's figure disappeared into the night.
Kiyoshi watched Sasori's figure, guessing the boy had modified his legs or used some other external puppet mechanism. While Sasori hadn't performed a full-body modification on himself yet, some small modifications were inevitable.
"Did you use Genjutsu on Sasori?" Pakura trusted Sasori more than an outsider like Kiyoshi. Sasori's shocking words just now had filled her heart with doubt.
"An investigation will reveal the truth. Do you think I have the strength to control Sasori for so long?" The two-tomoe Sharingan in Kiyoshi's eyes spun slowly.
The Sharingan's Genjutsu was powerful, but it wasn't invincible. The more chakra the victim had, the harder they were to control. Sasori's Intelligence value in the databooks was 10, whereas even Jiraiya was only a 9. If you look for the pattern, people with this high value almost always possess [Yin] attribute chakra.
.