Sasori of the Red Sands Takes Action

The image in Chiyo's mind overlapped with the zombies she had glimpsed from afar. After much thought, it unexpectedly overlapped with the secret Human Puppet technique sketches she had secretly shown her grandson.

That night, five-year-old Sasori had clutched the newly made [Father] and [Mother] puppets and asked, "Grandma, is there any technique that can make Dad and Mom truly move?"

"If Human Puppets could be fused with a Dead Soul Technique of that level to develop an entirely new technique... true Human Puppets would surely be born. They wouldn't need to be remotely controlled with chakra threads. Puppet Masters could stand somewhere safer and command corpses to carry out missions."

By then, the corpses could be fitted with all kinds of mechanisms to boost their combat power, stuffed with ninja tools coated in deadly poison, and coupled with their emotionless, deathless nature, they would be destined to become killing machines.

Puppet Masters would then become the most perfect system, with no weaknesses left.

Sunagakure would also truly emerge from its barren desert and survive upon the fertile lands of the Land of Fire. Perhaps it could even break free from those damned Land of Wind aristocrats.

Because of financial strain, the Land of Wind always found excuses to withhold military funding allocated to Sunagakure. This was no secret in the ninja world, and it had indeed left many of Sunagakure's radicals dissatisfied.

Sunagakure's position was already extremely passive. If its funding was cut again, how could it compete with the other villages?

Under normal circumstances, after a few more years—especially after the Third Great Ninja War—the Land of Wind would go even further, proactively packaging large numbers of domestic missions for Konoha to complete. There was no helping it; Konoha's ninjas were cheap and efficient. They could get the job done beautifully for less money, and the Land of Wind simply could not refuse.

To the point that Sunagakure, unable to endure any longer, joined forces with Orochimaru to launch the Konoha Crush Plan. They tried to prove to the Land of Wind's aristocrats by destroying Konoha that Sunagakure was not a bunch of useless parasites living off the national treasury. It had genuine capability, Konoha was not that strong, and it did not deserve so much of the Land of Wind's money.

"As long as we can get that Kaedeji's technique, it would be best to tie up the whole person and bring him here, so he can further develop it." Chiyo had completely set her sights on Kaedeji.

If the new fused technique were used on [Father] and [Mother], coupled with that forbidden technique she had been secretly developing... her son and daughter-in-law would live again in another form. Sasori would have parents once more and would not grow increasingly gloomy and withdrawn.

Before long, Kaedeji's name began spreading among Sunagakure's ninjas. Anyone with even a little knowledge realized Kaedeji's value. Many had already begun seriously studying intelligence related to Kaedeji and drafting battle plans to hunt him down.

Having lost his intelligence advantage, Kaedeji's deterrent power was cut by more than half.

As for the intelligence that Kaedeji was a Genin, many simply ignored it. What a joke. No one would genuinely evaluate Kaedeji by Genin standards when he could develop the Dead Soul Technique and use corpses to the point of briefly holding off a Chikamatsu Puppet. For all they knew, he might already have been promoted to Chunin.

A few days later.

In a three-story building in Sunagakure's southwestern district, Sasori stood expressionlessly at the window, watching the sandstorm outside. After looking for a long while, he turned, descended the stairs, and headed straight into the basement.

Sasori was assembling the skull of a puppet.

The Chakra Scalpel precisely removed the rotten flesh, exposing the neural synapse ports used to connect the puppet. When he fitted the final cheekbone into the puppet's face, the puppet soaking in preservative fluid suddenly twitched a finger.

"Human Puppets at this level are Far From Enough... The technique is inadequate, and there are not enough Materials for experimentation."

Sasori's pupils contracted in the dark-blue liquid. He opened his experimental log and frantically scribbled revisions over it, while scenes of his parents' deaths replayed endlessly in his mind: Hatake Sakumo's short blade slicing open his father's chest, his mother exposing an opening in order to protect him...

"If they had been Human Puppets, this would not have happened. Even if Konoha's White Fang attacked them many times, it would not have caused fatal wounds." There was without any emotional fluctuation in Sasori's voice. His entire world contained only the Human Puppets before him.

If he could obtain that Konoha Ninja's Dead Soul Technique, it might greatly advance Human Puppet research and bring him one step closer to eternity, Sasori silently thought.

Of all the recent reports from the Front Lines, only Kaedeji interested him.

Chiyo did not want him to come into contact with Human Puppets too early, but it was useless. Sasori's attainments in puppetry were too high, and the village needed him to put his talents to use in this field.

What, you ask whether this would warp Sasori's character?

There was absolutely no need to worry. The ninja world lacked nothing more than crazed people with twisted minds. There were far too many ninjas whose parents had been killed, whose children had been killed, whose friends had been killed—too many to count. Rather than worry about such a trivial matter, it was better to squeeze every last bit of value from talented people early, lest they suddenly die one day. That would be a true loss for the village.

At that moment, the door to the secret chamber suddenly slid open. Cold light reflected off the maid's glasses. "Lord Sasori, I've brought you tea."

Sasori's puppet threads instantly wrapped around her throat. He said coldly, "Where is my original attendant?"

"Have I been discovered? How impressive."

Yakushi Nonō, disguised as a Sunagakure Medical Ninja, let out that sigh. A Sunagakure deployment map was drawn on the scroll in her arms. At the first-floor entrance lay the real maid—the bloodstains from the cut in her throat had been cleverly concealed, and she had been posed as though she had dozed off while slacking.

"Your infiltration technique is good, but your disguise is too crude. Your heartbeat and scent are both wrong, and my attendant would never enter the basement." Sasori spoke coldly.

"Is that so? It seems I can't treat you like an ordinary child... I apologize for the disguise. I was pressed for time and could be surrounded by your village's ninjas at any moment. I had no energy to carefully handle every detail."

Yakushi Nonō sighed as she looked at the large number of puppets around her, the few corpses, and the several half-finished Human Puppets standing in front of Sasori.

"It seems my mission to take you away has failed. I cannot defeat you in an instant, much less take you away quietly. But I did not expect Sunagakure to have researched Human Puppets to this extent. They already possess a certain degree of practical combat value. I will relay this important intelligence back to the village."

Yakushi Nonō was somewhat regretful, but these gains were already enough.

If she delayed any longer, even she would be unable to leave. She could not die yet; those War Orphans still needed her protection.

"Wait. I have not yet permitted you to leave."

Sasori of the Red Sands suddenly tightened the chakra threads in his hand, but The Next Second, his expression changed. Yakushi Nonō used her Chakra Scalpel to sever every chakra thread wrapped around her.

"A Medical Ninja?"

Yakushi Nonō replied, "Then you should know that many of your techniques are useless against me. It would be better to let me leave quietly. Otherwise, I can only take you hostage... I do not like using force against children."

Sasori of the Red Sands said coldly, "Since you are a Konoha spy, there is even less reason to let you leave. There is something I need to ask you clearly. Do you know The One skilled in using the Dead Soul Technique? I am very interested in him. We can exchange intelligence."