Sasori? Sasori!

"Where could it be?"

In the howling sandstorms of the Wind Country, Sasori walked slowly toward the depths of the desert.

A few days earlier, after noticing a major battle, he had been searching ever since.

His purpose in returning to the Wind Country was simple: to find suitable "materials" and create more puppets.

And when he heard that the battle had likely involved Pakura and several mysterious, powerful shinobi, his interest was immediately piqued.

After all, only superior materials could be made into more perfect puppets!

Yet after searching for several days, he had found nothing.

He had even killed several search parties, but still had no reliable intelligence. That left him rather annoyed.

"Let's keep looking. There are no missions from the organization anyway. But I can't stay here too long either. Their Anbu seem to be on the move as well."

Sasori was not afraid of the Anbu, but he did not want a pack of fleas constantly trailing behind him. It was too irritating.

"Looks like I'll need to make a new puppet to conceal my identity a little."

Sasori silently mused to himself, but at that moment, he suddenly noticed what seemed to be a group moving through the desert ahead—

"Looks like you didn't get any useful information, senpai."

Walking across the desert, Hidezawa glanced at the dark-faced Shisui, then looked back at Pakura, whose spirits seemed rather low. He smiled as he spoke.

Two days had passed in a flash, and Shisui had used quite a few genjutsu techniques on Pakura.

But the outcome was always the same: Pakura truly knew nothing!

Although everyone had expected this result—after all, if they were going to sell someone out, how could they possibly tell that person in advance?

Still, having no valuable intelligence at all was disappointing.

"It was expected. Didn't you already say so?"

Yugao tilted her head and glanced at Pakura before turning to Hidezawa.

"And next time you run into trouble, tell us. Don't always quietly solve everything by yourself. We're teammates!"

"Yes, yes, I'll remember. Thank you for your concern, senpai."

Hidezawa smiled and nodded. Strictly speaking, their withdrawal this time was indeed related to him.

After all, Hidezawa still had to give Kabuto a hand. Kabuto had tricked his own people into coming here, only for Hidezawa to wipe them all out, and Kabuto still needed to remain in the village for the time being.

Therefore, he needed to report certain matters back, which meant Hidezawa and the others could not remain here any longer.

Besides, Hidezawa had plans of his own. It was time for him to make his move.

Hidezawa did not know exactly what Kabuto intended to do, but that kid's talent for espionage was completely maxed out.

However, Hidezawa had his own plans too. He wanted to help out his little brother here.

For example, make Shisui suffer a little?

Hidezawa's gaze unconsciously drifted toward Shisui, who was watching Pakura to prevent her from escaping.

Hidezawa had thought for a long time about how to make Kabuto more useful, especially how to get the Kazekage out of his office. That was even more troublesome.

After thinking it over, the best method seemed to be getting Shisui—who had most likely already awakened his Mangekyo at this point—to do some work!

After all, Shisui had the Mangekyo. If he put it to proper use, he might really be able to force the Kazekage out.

Of course, the Mangekyo alone probably would not be enough to move the Kazekage. That was where Pakura came in—she was a bargaining chip for him.

His original plan had been to plant a trap in Pakura, then use Shisui to force the Kazekage into negotiations.

Rasa might currently be negotiating with Kirigakure. Pakura was his bargaining chip, so there was a high chance he would come.

And to preserve Pakura's reputation, he might even come to negotiate in secret.

That way, Hidezawa could openly pin the blame on Danzo while also leaving a seed behind in Pakura's heart.

But now...

Now, he wanted more!

If Kabuto stole the intelligence, would that not directly allow the seed of Pakura's suspicion to take root and sprout?

And would that not let Danzo-sama's infamy truly spread through the skies of Sunagakure?

As expected, I'm the most loyal.

Hidezawa nodded. After seriously considering things for a moment, he spoke to Shisui.

"Captain, there's something I'd like to discuss with you."

"Hm?"

Shisui froze for a moment, then nodded.

"Sure. Let's go up ahead."

With that, Shisui took the lead and walked forward. Yugao quickly took his place guarding Pakura.

After the two had walked some distance and ensured Pakura could not overhear them, Shisui asked curiously.

"Do you have something in mind, Hidezawa?"

"Yes, I do."

Hidezawa nodded. Though he already had an idea, he needed to carefully consider his wording.

After all, he was going to make Shisui "suffer a little." Getting Shisui to willingly suffer was quite a challenging matter.

"Senpai, I've been thinking about something. How do you think we can secure more benefits for the village?"

"How can we secure benefits for the village?"

The moment this topic came up, Shisui, the Uchiha dove, perked right up.

"Tell me what you're thinking."

"It's actually quite simple."

Hidezawa smiled. He knew some of Shisui's little thoughts—or rather, the little thoughts shared by this group of Uchiha doves—and he did not hide them.

"Although I have my suspicions, I have no concrete evidence to prove any of it. But that does not affect one question: does the village truly want Sunagakure to weather this crisis safely?"

"Hidezawa-kun, what do you mean?"

Shisui's brows instantly furrowed. Sunagakure falling into chaos would absolutely not be good for Konohagakure, so why did Hidezawa make it sound otherwise?

"What I mean is that Sunagakure cannot be thrown into chaos. That would affect Konohagakure."

Hidezawa sighed helplessly. Shisui really was not ordinarily foolish.

"But Sunagakure must also pay a price. And if they cannot resist Iwagakure to the north, would that not benefit us even more?

After all, a whole Sunagakure would dare provoke Konohagakure, while a crippled Sunagakure would be Konohagakure's best ally. Isn't that right?"

"Uh..."

Shisui could not quite understand Hidezawa's roundabout words, but after thinking about them carefully, they did not seem wrong?

Hadn't Sunagakure started the Third Shinobi World War? Once they lost, they became allies.

But even the Hokage did not trust this ally. So if they kept Sunagakure down and denied them any chance to recover, would that not keep them as allies forever?

"Explain it in more detail!"

Shisui's little brain had finally caught up. His eyes gleamed as he asked.

"It's not difficult, really. It just requires you to give a little more, senpai."

Hidezawa spoke cautiously, but Shisui did not mind. He asked directly.

"Tell me the details. If there's no problem, I can do it for the village."

"That's good, that's good..."

A smile appeared beneath Hidezawa's mask. Since Shisui was willing, this would be easy.

"First, we—hm?"

Just as Hidezawa was about to say something, his gaze suddenly turned toward the distance. Shisui looked over as well.

Far ahead, a lone figure appeared amid the sandstorm. The raging wind and sand made the figure somewhat blurry.

He walked toward Hidezawa and the others alone, neither hurried nor slow. Hidezawa could sense dangerous, enormous Chakra within him.

"This is..."

Shisui frowned, and as the figure drew closer, Hidezawa's expression changed slightly.

The stranger wore a black robe patterned with red clouds, his short red hair fluttering in the wind.

His exposed eyes were exceptionally bright, but the look in them made one deeply uncomfortable, as if a beast were watching its prey.

This guy... is Sasori?

Hidezawa murmured inwardly, but he quickly realized something, and his eyes began to shine.

Wait, Sasori...