Inside the puppet formation—
Tsunade's chest rose and fell sharply. She was breathing hard.
Fighting a puppet army alone had finally started to cost her in stamina.
Sasori only needed to move his fingers to control his puppets.
But Tsunade had to fight with fists and feet—real, brutal, close-range combat.
The battlefield momentum favored Sasori.
He looked at Tsunade, full of confidence.
"When you die, I'll turn you into one of my beloved masterpieces."
"Accept your fate."
Tsunade clicked her tongue.
"You're celebrating too early."
"Who wins hasn't been decided yet."
Sasori's lips curled into a cold smile.
"You're almost out of stamina."
"Is forcing yourself like this really meaningful?"
Tsunade smiled faintly.
"My stamina is definitely down."
"But beating you…"
"…is still more than enough."
Sasori didn't believe her.
"Oh really?"
"Then I'll be watching."
Tsunade raised a hand, forming a seal posture.
"I won't disappoint you."
"Come on, brat."
That single word—brat—lit Sasori's anger again.
His fingers twitched, and dozens of puppets instantly closed in around her.
"Die!"
Tsunade sprang up, stepping onto the weapons in their hands as if they were footholds.
"Yin Seal—Release."
"Ninja Art: Creation Rebirth — Strength of a Hundred Seal Technique!"
As her calm voice fell, dense black seal markings spread across Tsunade's body like crawling ink.
Sasori's eyes flashed with confusion.
Strength of a Hundred?
What kind of technique was that?
He'd never heard of it.
And the one person who should have known—Orochimaru—looked just as puzzled.
Orochimaru licked his lips, amused.
"So I'm not the only one developing new jutsu…"
"Tsunade, you too."
Tsunade replied flatly:
"It's not really a 'new' jutsu."
"I just stored up chakra I wasn't using… for a long time."
Creation Rebirth: Strength of a Hundred.
No hand seals needed once active—wounds regenerate automatically.
In battle, it was like turning on a "locked HP" cheat.
Even lethal injuries could be shrugged off.
Until now, Tsunade couldn't go straight for Sasori's real body because the puppet army pressured her too tightly.
If she rushed in, she'd get hurt.
But with Strength of a Hundred active, that problem disappeared.
As long as she watched one thing—
Don't let blood spill and trigger her hemophobia.
Then she could tank the puppet swarm and drive straight at Sasori himself.
Sasori still hadn't realized how bad things were.
He continued pressing her with puppets.
But this time, Tsunade didn't retreat.
She charged forward.
A cold glint passed through Sasori's eyes.
All-in?
Trying to capture the leader first?
If she abandoned defense, she'd get hit—easily.
She'd avoided poisoning once before, sure—but repeated toxin attacks should be impossible to neutralize forever.
Doing one emergency "micro-surgery" in secret was doable.
Doing dozens while attacking?
That was impossible.
Tsunade had made a "stupid move."
Sasori wasn't going to waste it.
"Die!"
His chakra threads snapped—puppet mechanisms fired in unison.
"Hundred Puppets: Thousand Needles Carnage!"
Wide-area senbon barrages were already hard to dodge.
And with Tsunade not defending?
Dodging completely became almost impossible.
But Tsunade didn't even try to dodge.
With Strength of a Hundred active, she didn't need to.
She only needed to control the wounds and keep herself from bleeding.
That berserker-style approach made Sasori genuinely confused.
What was she doing?
Trying to die together with him?
From their earlier exchanges, Tsunade didn't seem like a brainless brawler.
Yet what she was doing now…
…was completely outside his expectations.
Strength of a Hundred, medical ninjutsu, raw monster strength—
All of it burned chakra.
Even as a Senju, Tsunade didn't have limitless reserves to waste forever.
So if she'd pulled out her trump card, it meant one thing:
She was aiming to finish this fast.
Sasori didn't realize that.
He assumed she was desperate and going for mutual destruction.
From his perspective, he was a "puppet body," and she was still flesh and blood.
If it came to trading hits?
He wouldn't be the one afraid.
So when Tsunade gave up defense and went full offense, Sasori chose to stand his ground and counter.
"Hundred Puppets: Venom Piercing!"
On top of the senbon rain, he added another wave of blade-and-spear thrusting.
Tsunade's footwork was excellent—she slipped past the blades easily.
But the blades were only support.
The true kill was the poison senbon that blanketed the area.
"Pfft—pfft—pfft—!"
Tsunade kept getting hit.
In the blink of an eye, she looked like a human pincushion.
And while her position kept shifting—
She was now closing in on Sasori's real body.
Sasori's mouth lifted.
You could've lasted longer.
Instead you dug your own grave.
Then he noticed something wrong.
If she'd been poisoned, she should be slowing down… collapsing… unable to move.
So why did she look completely unaffected?
Sasori trusted his poison absolutely.
Even he, the creator, couldn't whip up an antidote without the full materials list.
In this environment, in this time frame—
Tsunade shouldn't have any way to cure it.
And she didn't.
She was simply using Strength of a Hundred to delay the poison's onset.
If she could reach him, Tsunade was confident she could end it instantly.
That was her real plan.
Tsunade got closer.
Sasori still refused to believe it.
He controlled his remaining puppets to block her at all costs.
You're poisoned.
Let's see how long you can keep pretending.
Tsunade pushed through the "bullet storm" and reached Sasori.
"It's over, brat."
"Eat this!"
Sasori's attention was on controlling the puppets—he had no time to dodge.
With a cracking sound, his puppet body shattered on the spot.
Looking down at his broken form, Tsunade finally exhaled.
It was decided.
The fight was over.
She turned to leave—
And then Sasori's "new body" moved again.
"The fight isn't decided."
"Are you trying to run away mid-battle?"
Tsunade spun around sharply.
His body was in pieces.
And he still wasn't dead?
Sasori twisted his neck, expressionless.
"That punch just now… you put everything into it, didn't you?"
"But unfortunately…"
"This body doesn't feel pain."
Tsunade sneered.
"So proud you turned yourself into a doll?"
"You're just a walking corpse."
Sasori didn't get angry.
"Eternal beauty."
"That is the art I pursue."
"Fragile life is worthless by comparison."
Tsunade clicked her tongue.
Talking to a lunatic was pointless.
No more words.
Just keep hitting.
Sasori stared at her, eyes flickering.
Poison wasn't working.
His puppets were almost gone.
Taking down Tsunade was becoming extremely difficult.
Tsunade also analyzed him.
Even as a puppet body, he still had to retain some kind of chakra-storage core to control everything.
If she crushed that core, she won.
Sasori didn't give her time to think.
After having one body destroyed, he was genuinely scared now.
If Tsunade discovered his real weak point, it could be instant death.
Dozens of puppets—each not weaker than elite jōnin—rushed in together.
Tsunade had no choice but to meet them head-on.
By now, both sides had burned through more than half their chakra.
If no one found a way to break the pattern, it would turn into a pure endurance match.
"Hundred Puppets: Poison Spray!"
Even at the edge of his limits, Sasori's pressure stayed vicious.
Tsunade wasn't losing either.
She lifted a long leg and stomped the ground hard.
"Monster Strength: Heavenly Foot of Pain!"
They traded blows.
Neither could finish the other.
The battle had gone on so long that Sasori had completely betrayed his own "time rule."
He laughed bitterly.
"Heh… I've really become a joke."
Tsunade shot him a flat look.
"That's nothing."
"I'm going to turn you into a joke today."
After careful observation, Tsunade seemed to have found his "signature spot."
A bright red marking right on his chest—hard to miss.
The moment Tsunade's gaze locked there, Sasori felt a massive surge of danger.
Did she… figure it out?
Tsunade inhaled—and drove a punch forward.
Sasori's blood ran cold.
Damn!
My weakness is exposed!
Under the threat of death, Sasori forced every remaining puppet into full defense.
But Tsunade's straight punch was too violent—too fast.
"BOOM!"
Her fist smashed through the puppet wall.
Seven or eight puppets were destroyed instantly.
Behind that heavy shielding, Sasori barely escaped—by a hair.
But his puppets were now essentially wiped out.
A puppet master without puppets was an exposed throat.
Sasori couldn't hold it in anymore.
"Damn it!"
"I really got careless!"
Tsunade's strikes were sharp and trained—not sloppy power swings.
If he hadn't dodged, he'd already be dead.
And now she was relentlessly targeting his weak point—without an ounce of mercy.
If this continued, he was going to die.
Tsunade's heavy blows drove Sasori backward again and again—
Right to the edge of a cliff.
Asking his partner for help?
He couldn't bring himself to do it.
He already resented Orochimaru for looking down on him.
There was no way he'd let that snake watch him beg.
"One Shot Mechanism!"
"Spiral Slash!"
"Needle Rain Senbon!"
Sasori unleashed everything, trying to cling to life.
Tsunade clicked her tongue.
Even completely outmatched, he still refused to surrender.
Akatsuki members really did have hard bones.
The outcome looked clear.
Orochimaru's mouth curved into a smile.
"So puppetry… only goes this far?"
"To push Tsunade this much… you're not bad."
Orochimaru murmured:
"The leader says partners should help each other…"
"And I'm not ready to leave Akatsuki yet. It's too interesting."
"So what should I do…?"
Hearing that, Genma and the others turned pale.
What did he mean?
Was he going to вмешаться—interfere?
Genma immediately drew a kunai and stepped in front of Orochimaru.
"With us here, you won't lay a finger on Lady Tsunade!"
Orochimaru's eyes turned vicious.
"Move aside, insects."
"Don't overestimate yourselves."
Genma's team broke into cold sweat.
Orochimaru was too strong.
They couldn't even stall him.
Still—this was the Third Hokage's order.
Protect Tsunade.
Even if they couldn't stop him, they would make it as hard as possible.
They started forming hand seals—
But Orochimaru was faster.
"Hidden Shadow Snake Hands!"
Giant snakes burst from his arms and wrapped them up instantly.
Orochimaru smiled at the three Konoha ninja.
"Now do you understand the difference in our strength?"
They struggled helplessly, faces full of frustration.
Orochimaru was simply on another level.
They couldn't even buy time.
With the three Konoha ninja restrained, Orochimaru leapt into the battlefield.
His sudden entry made Tsunade pause her assault on Sasori.
Orochimaru looked at Sasori with a playful grin.
"Famed Sasori of the Red Sand… why are you so pathetic?"
"Well?"
"Need me to help?"
Sasori exploded in humiliation.
"You filthy snake—get lost!"
"Don't ruin my fight!"
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