The Aesthetics Dispute

"Sasori!"

Pakura shouted sharply. Just as she was about to unleash her Scorch Style to strike at Sasori of the Red Sands, Jiang Feng held her back.

Jiang Feng sat quietly, as if everything happening in the Kazekage's office had nothing to do with him. He said calmly, "That is only a Sand Clone."

Sasori of the Red Sands couldn't help but look at Jiang Feng. "You can see the flaw in my Sand Clone?"

"I cannot." Jiang Feng shook his head.

Techniques like the Sand Clone, Shadow Clone, or Lightning Clone were nearly impossible for anyone to distinguish from the real body before the fighting actually began.

"Since you cannot tell, how do you know I am not the real one?"

"Though I cannot tell, I know you are certainly afraid of death."

Almost all the heavy hitters of Sunagakure were in this office. If Sasori of the Red Sands had come in person to poison them, it would be fine if he succeeded, but if he failed, he would undoubtedly be beaten to death on the spot.

"I am not afraid of death; I am only afraid of dying without meaning."

Sasori of the Red Sands kept a flat expression, though a glimmer of light appeared in his eyes as he argued, "If one lives only for the sake of living, wouldn't such a life be too dull?"

"A person lives for a lifetime, and there must always be something in their heart more important than their own life. Perhaps it is a person, perhaps a goal, or perhaps an ideal—in short, there must be such a thing."

"For me, that thing is eternal beauty. To die before creating true eternity—wouldn't that be a great pity?"

Jiang Feng said nothing, merely sneering. He laughed until Sasori of the Red Sands felt flustered, laughed until Sasori of the Red Sands wished he could rush forward and tear that face to shreds.

"What do you mean by that laugh?"

"I am laughing because your words do not match your heart. You claim repeatedly that you are not afraid of death, yet isn't it precisely because you fear death and resist it that you have euphemistically labeled your research into Human Puppets as the pursuit of 'eternal beauty'?"

Sasori of the Red Sands was furious. How dare you insult my artistic vision and aesthetics?

Sasori of the Red Sands did not believe he was researching Human Puppets because he feared death. His aesthetic concepts and his pursuits were not that low; his art was something lofty and metaphysical.

Yet, if he were asked to fully articulate his artistic views and aesthetic concepts in words, he could not do it.

First, Sunagakure did not yet have a Ninja Academy, let alone cultural classes. Sasori of the Red Sands did not have a high level of education, and his vocabulary and ability to organize language were not sufficiently rich.

Second, art is just that kind of thing—neither completely abstract nor completely concrete, but a synthesis containing both dimensions. No art can be fully expressed through concrete forms.

Therefore, those who engage in art are always accustomed to forming small circles to indulge themselves, sinking into their own art and unable to extricate themselves. This was exactly the case with Sasori of the Red Sands.

"Sasori, did you kill the Kazekage!?"

Rasa shouted sharply. He did not care about art or lack thereof; he only cared about whether he could wash the filth off himself and then beat Sasori of the Red Sands to death.

Sasori of the Red Sands turned his icy gaze toward Rasa. It was a cold that bit into the skin and chilled the bones; if looks could kill, Rasa would have been slain by Sasori at least a dozen times over.

A fellow who understands neither art nor elegance!

Even though Jiang Feng had dismissed Sasori's art as utter garbage, in Sasori's eyes, he and Jiang Feng were still discussing art. They were engaging in an artistic exchange regarding different aesthetic concepts—it was elegant, it was badass, it was very high-class.

But when two artists are discussing art, what business does a boor like you have butting in?

"Isn't it already obvious whether I killed the Kazekage or not?" Sasori of the Red Sands sneered.

Chiyo and Ebizo felt their hearts plummet into an icy abyss. Before this moment, they had still harbored the fantasy that Sasori of the Red Sands had been framed and was still a good child.

Rasa, who was itching to beat Sasori of the Red Sands to death, asked again, "The Kazekage worked tirelessly and gave his all for Sunagakure in his public duties, and treated you with immense kindness in private, looking upon you as his own flesh and blood. You ungrateful wretch, why did you kill the Kazekage?"

Indeed, why did Sasori of the Red Sands kill the Third Kazekage?

Many of the elders present were also dying to know the answer to this question.

"Because of him."

Sasori of the Red Sands suddenly pointed at the motionless Jiang Feng.

Jiang Feng was taken aback. Whether you kill the Kazekage or not, what does that have to do with me?

The crowd was also confused. How did this suddenly involve Jiang Feng?

"I heard that you once created a peerless swordsmanship technique called the Heavenly Flying Immortal?" Sasori of the Red Sands asked.

"That is correct."

Jiang Feng nodded, vaguely beginning to grasp Sasori's logic.

"I heard that your Heavenly Flying Immortal is the most beautiful swordsmanship in the world, so brilliant and magnificent to the extreme that no one can describe the splendor of that strike, and no language can capture its glory?"

"Many people say so, and I also agree that they are quite right," Jiang Feng continued to nod.

The Heavenly Flying Immortal was indeed a breathtakingly beautiful swordsmanship technique. If it weren't beautiful enough, Jiang Feng wouldn't have ignored other martial arts to obsessively refine and improve this single move.

Ever since he first unleashed the Heavenly Flying Immortal, rumors had spread throughout the ninja world that it was the most beautiful sword technique in existence.

After the battle at Tanzaku Town, thanks to the two great ninja villages of Kumogakure and Konoha, the fame of the Heavenly Flying Immortal reached its peak, and it even became Jiang Feng's moniker.

The people of Sunagakure naturally discussed Jiang Feng and this most beautiful of sword techniques as well.

"They don't understand the meaning of beauty at all!"

Just recalling the scenes of those ignorant fools discussing Jiang Feng and praising the Heavenly Flying Immortal as the most beautiful technique made Sasori of the Red Sands feel as if his heart were being clawed at; he was absolutely livid.

"No matter how beautiful the sword light is, it is but a fleeting moment. What is the use of such brilliance, even if it reaches the pinnacle of splendor?"

"Only eternity is true beauty. Only that which can exist forever in this world is worthy of the ultimate praise of beauty..."

Sasori of the Red Sands began to mutter and boast about his art once again.

Rasa and the others finally understood: so Sasori of the Red Sands was a fanboy of Jiang Feng.

"So, in order to prove that eternity is the true form of beauty, you murdered the Kazekage and intended to turn him into a Human Puppet, all to surpass my Heavenly Flying Immortal?"

"Correct. The Third Kazekage is hailed as the strongest Kazekage in history. A Human Puppet crafted from his corpse will undoubtedly prove the beauty of eternity."

"As for your Heavenly Flying Immortal? Why would I need to surpass it? Once you are dead, the Heavenly Flying Immortal will cease to exist, and the world will know that anything incapable of eternity cannot be called beautiful at all."

What a goddamn lunatic.

Jiang Feng was speechless. He desperately needed a term equivalent to "backyard scientist" to describe Sasori of the Red Sands' mental state and logical reasoning.

Sasori of the Red Sands' aesthetic sense was poles apart from his own.

Was a Human Puppet made from the Third Kazekage beautiful?

The only beauty it could possibly be associated with was the beauty of raw power.

But the Heavenly Flying Immortal was different. It was truly a glorious, brilliant swordsmanship that reached the pinnacle of beauty—it had nothing to do with power, nothing to do with Jiang Feng's life or death, and nothing to do with the lives of those who perished beneath its blade.