Landing

"They came so quickly!"

Itachi's sigh contained a hint of regret, and a hint of relief.

The regret is that he didn't have a chance to properly fight Sasori. The relief comes from his burning desire to see Sasuke. Although he seemed fine when he used his Sharingan to look into the distance earlier, it would be better to have him checked properly.

He swiftly changed direction and sped towards Sasuke's location, occasionally using the Body Flicker Technique to teleport away, moving as fast as a wild horse.

Scorpion:"······"

This move completely baffled Sasori. He was all prepared to fight the Sharingan, but then Sasori ran away... just like that, he disappeared in a flash...

"What's wrong?"

Scorpion muttered something to himself, his fingers twitching slightly as he prepared to recall the puppets.

But it's not so bad, really not bad!

Scorpions have an extremely strong will to survive; they won't let go of even the slightest chance, and no matter how ugly they look, they will try to live.

Without Itachi's interference, those useless Root members would only throw Shuriken and Explosive Tag. In any other place or at any other time, he would have definitely torn those trash to pieces. This time, they were just lucky.

The most pressing issue right now is finding a way out; a safe way out is what he needs!

Originally, the best way out was White Zetsu. He had personally experienced White Zetsu's godlike ability to hide and stealth. What was hateful was that White Zetsu, that good-for-nothing, not only failed to hold out for the three minutes he had promised, but he also disappeared without a trace, which meant that his best way out had also disappeared.

Fortunately, Puppet Master are the kind of people who like to make thorough preparations before acting. He had also considered many escape routes, although they all had major flaws and the chances of a successful escape were very low.

But the struggle continues...

"Boom!"

The thunder grew clearer, and the silvery-white lightning could be seen halfway up the sky.

"What the hell? Thunder in broad daylight? Konoha must be seeing ghosts...?"

The words were barely out of his mouth when Sasori's face suddenly turned deathly pale. He abruptly recalled the records in the document: the most dangerous enemy, marked in red, had a note stating that Konoha's Calamity possessed a flying Ninjutsu. Although incredibly fast, it was extremely noisy, creating a thunderous roar as it moved...

The deafening thunder that resounded in the sky surged in like a tidal wave.

It took him about five or six seconds to understand why Itachi had suddenly abandoned him.

So that's it! Who's here?

A calamity has struck Konoha! The culprit who killed his parents has arrived!

Scorpion's heart pounded, the huge, rapid heartbeat like a drum being struck during a festival, and his body trembled involuntarily, whether from fear or excitement, it was hard to tell.

Their fingers trembled unconsciously, and the Human Puppet made all sorts of strange gestures in response.

"Boom!!!"

"Safe landing!"

A silvery-white meteor fell from the sky, causing the earth to shake violently. A fierce shockwave erupted from the point of impact, spreading in all directions.

The domineering declaration arrived along with the storm, blowing away stones the size of millstones, which rolled along the uneven ground.

The moment he heard that voice, Scorpion suddenly calmed down, and memories buried for many years vividly resurfaced before his eyes.

It was a peaceful day. Although there was fighting on the front lines, life in the village at the rear continued as usual. At least for him, who was not a ninja at the time but just a child, war was just a new word and he didn't feel anything special about it.

Until the alarm bells of an attack blared throughout the village, his parents took him to a shelter and then hurriedly left.

In that instant, watching his parents' departing figures, he experienced for the first time a fear that penetrated to the bone; his parents' gentle smiles felt like a final farewell.

The devastating news arrived soon after; his grandmother told him the heartbreaking tale herself. It was like a bolt from the blue, shattering the last glimmer of hope in his heart and plunging him into the abyss of darkness.

It must be said that the village was filled with sorrow at that time. In the past, no matter how fierce the war was on the front lines, although the people living in the rear were also worried about the war, most of them did not deeply understand the horror brought by the war.

It wasn't until that devilish boy brought the flames of war into the village that the villagers finally faced the horrors of war and came to understand the cold-blooded cruelty of this behemoth.

The village was attacked, and morale plummeted to its lowest point. The war could not continue, and not long after, Lord Kazekage announced the surrender.

After that, stepping on the corpses of his parents and many fellow Sand Ninja, Konoha's natural disasters began to be known throughout the Shinobi World. In fact, the name "natural disaster" was even spread by the Lord Kazekage himself.

The seeds of hatred were unknowingly planted in his heart. He himself couldn't explain when he started to hate Konoha, hate natural disasters, hate the incompetent Kazekage, and hate this shitty world.

But when he came to his senses, the vines of hatred had already absorbed enough nutrients to completely entangle his heart. Every time he heard news of an active natural disaster, his hatred grew stronger.

In his quest to become stronger, he went so far as to capture his fellow Human Puppet and even set his sights on the Third Kazekage, but ultimately gave up due to a lack of confidence in his abilities.

He had always dreamed of one day being able to avenge his parents by killing the natural disaster, but as time went by, his childhood memories gradually became blurred, and sometimes he couldn't even remember his parents' smiles clearly. The only thing he never forgot was the hatred that grew like weeds in his heart.

"At this moment, I thought of my parents... How awful of me!"

Scorpion jokingly mocked himself, saying how long it had been since he'd remembered what his parents looked like; his mind was filled with puppets and hatred, nothing else.

"So you are... Sasori of the Red Sands?"

A strong wind swept up from the ground, sending all the dust far away and even reducing the smell of burning.

The ground beneath her feet still retained warmth, giving a sense of how fierce the battle had been. Katsuki couldn't help but smile; she was in a good mood. Shuyuan's talent was first-rate, but even the finest rough gem needed the careful polishing of a skilled craftsman.

Sasori of the Red Sands is like a whetstone that has come crashing into my door.

Moreover, judging from the results, Scorpion was very responsible.

"Hmm, it's different from what I remember! But this feeling is quite subtle..."

Katsuki Sasori, who was hidden behind a group of puppets. Unlike his appearance frozen in childhood in her previous life's memories, Sasori now appeared to be a young man in his twenties...

With Enhanced Vision to its limit, it could see past the swaying puppets; its keen gaze could almost pierce through a person's skin. In the blink of an eye, it discerned the source of that subtle, discordant feeling.

This guy lacks normal human reactions; he's like a living doll.

Scorpion did indeed transform himself into Human Puppet, but judging from his appearance and physique, it wasn't during his childhood as remembered; the transformation must have occurred during his youth. (To be continued)