The Aesthetic Debate

"Sasori!"

Pakura shouted angrily. She was about to use Scorch Release to attack Sasori of the Red Sands when Jiang Feng pulled her back.

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

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

"I can't," Jiang Feng replied, shaking his head.

Techniques like Sand Clone, Shadow Clone, and Lightning Clone were almost impossible to distinguish from the real person before they actually made a move.

"If you can't tell, how do you know I'm not the real me?"

"Even if I can't tell, I know you're definitely afraid of dying."

Nearly all of Sunagakure's powerful fighters were in this office. If Sasori of the Red Sands had come in person to poison them, he might have succeeded—but if he didn't, he would certainly be beaten to death on the spot.

"I'm not afraid of dying. I'm only afraid of dying for nothing."

Sasori of the Red Sands kept his expression placid, but a spark shone in his eyes as he argued, "If you live only for the sake of living, wouldn't that be a terribly dull life?

A person should have something more important to them than their own life. It might be another person, a goal, or an ideal. Whatever it is, they need something like that.

For me, that something is eternal beauty. Wouldn't it be a terrible waste to die before creating something truly eternal?"

Jiang Feng said nothing. He only laughed scornfully. His laughter made Sasori of the Red Sands uneasy—and made him want to rush forward and tear that face apart.

"What do you mean by that laugh?"

"I'm laughing because you're saying one thing and believing another. You keep insisting you're not afraid of death, but isn't your research into Human Puppets and your pursuit of so-called eternal beauty just a fancy way of dressing up your fear of death and your refusal to accept it?"

Sasori of the Red Sands flew into a rage. How dare Jiang Feng insult his artistic values and aesthetic sense?

Sasori of the Red Sands didn't think he researched Human Puppets because he feared death. His aesthetic principles and aspirations weren't that lowbrow. His art was lofty, even metaphysical.

But if he had to explain his artistic values and aesthetic principles in words, he couldn't do it.

First of all, Sunagakure didn't yet have a ninja academy, let alone classes in the humanities. Sasori of the Red Sands wasn't well educated; his vocabulary and ability to put his thoughts into words were limited.

Besides, that was the nature of art. It was neither completely abstract nor completely concrete, but a combination of the two dimensions. No art could be fully expressed in concrete terms.

That was why artists tended to form little cliques and revel in their own work, unable to pull themselves away from it. Sasori of the Red Sands was just like that.

"Sasori, was it you who killed Lord Kazekage!?"

Rasa shouted angrily. He didn't care about art. All he cared about was clearing his own name and then beating Sasori of the Red Sands to death.

Sasori of the Red Sands turned his icy gaze on Rasa. It was so cold it seemed to seep into the flesh and bone. If a look could kill, Rasa would have been killed by Sasori of the Red Sands at least a dozen times over.

What a boor, utterly ignorant of art and elegance!

Even though Jiang Feng had torn Sasori's art to shreds, Sasori still thought that he and Jiang Feng were discussing art, exploring their differing aesthetic ideals. It was refined, it was brilliant, it was downright high-class.

The two of them were artists discussing art. What business did a crude oaf like Rasa have butting in?

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

Chiyo and Ebizo felt as if their hearts had plunged into an icy abyss. Until now, they had still clung to the fantasy that Sasori of the Red Sands was innocent, that he was a good kid.

Rasa, who wanted nothing more than to beat Sasori of the Red Sands to death, asked, "Lord Kazekage worked tirelessly for Sunagakure, giving everything he had to the village. In private, he treated you with immense kindness, like his own nephew. You ungrateful wretch, why did you kill him?"

Yes, why had Sasori of the Red Sands killed the Third Kazekage?

Many of the elders present wanted to know the answer too.

"Because of him."

Sasori of the Red Sands suddenly pointed at Jiang Feng, who hadn't moved an inch.

Jiang Feng froze. What did the Kazekage's death have to do with him?

The others were just as baffled. How had Jiang Feng suddenly become involved?

"I heard you once created a sword technique hailed as peerless, called Heavenly Flying Immortal?" Sasori of the Red Sands asked.

"That's right."

Jiang Feng nodded, beginning to piece together Sasori of the Red Sands' reasoning.

"I heard your Heavenly Flying Immortal is the most beautiful sword technique in the world, dazzling to the extreme. No one can describe the brilliance of that one strike, and no words can capture its splendor?"

"Lots of people say that, and I think they're absolutely right," Jiang Feng said, nodding again.

Heavenly Flying Immortal really was a stunningly beautiful sword technique. If it weren't beautiful enough, Jiang Feng wouldn't have neglected all his other martial arts to devote himself to it, constantly refining and improving the technique.

Ever since Jiang Feng first used Heavenly Flying Immortal, rumors had spread throughout the Ninja World that it was the most beautiful sword technique.

After the battle in Tanzaku Town, thanks to the two great ninja villages of Kumogakure and Konoha, Heavenly Flying Immortal's fame had reached its peak. It had even become Jiang Feng's nickname.

Naturally, people in Sunagakure talked about Jiang Feng and the most beautiful sword technique in the world.

"They have no idea what beauty is!"

Just thinking of those ignorant fools discussing Jiang Feng and praising Heavenly Flying Immortal as the most beautiful sword technique made Sasori of the Red Sands feel as if ants were crawling all over him. He was furious.

"No matter how beautiful the sword light is, it vanishes in an instant. What good is a moment of glory, however dazzling?

Only what is eternal is truly beautiful. Only what can endure forever deserves the highest praise for its beauty..."

Sasori of the Red Sands rambled on, boasting about his art.

Rasa and the others understood now. So Sasori of the Red Sands was Jiang Feng's obsessive fan.

"So, to prove that eternity is true beauty, you killed the Kazekage and planned to turn him into a Human Puppet, so you could surpass my Heavenly Flying Immortal?"

"That's right. The Third Kazekage was hailed as the strongest Kazekage in history. A Human Puppet made from his corpse would surely prove the beauty of eternity.

"As for your Heavenly Flying Immortal? Why would I need to surpass it? Once you're dead, Heavenly Flying Immortal will disappear too. Then people will know that nothing that can't last forever deserves to be called beautiful."

What a fucking lunatic.

Jiang Feng was speechless. He urgently needed a term on the level of "amateur scientist" to describe Sasori of the Red Sands' mental state and thought process.

Sasori of the Red Sands' aesthetic sense was completely at odds with his own.

Was a Human Puppet made from the Third Kazekage beautiful?

The only kind of beauty you could associate with it was the beauty of strength.

But Heavenly Flying Immortal was different. It truly was a resplendent sword technique of unsurpassed beauty, and that had nothing to do with its power—or with whether Jiang Feng lived or died, or even with the lives of those killed by that strike.