Making Him Go Mad

Was Sasori a rational person or an emotional one?

In The Birth of Tragedy, Nietzsche put forward a philosophical idea, dividing ancient Greek mythology, culture, and art into two opposing forces.

The Dionysian Spirit represented irrational impulse, uninhibited instinct, and the primal release of vitality, while the Apollonian Spirit represented rational order, formal beauty, and the principle of moderation.

The two spirits were both opposed to and unified with each other.

The same was true of aesthetics and people. Even the most rational person had an irrational side, and even the most emotional person had rational moments.

Sasori was rational the vast majority of the time. He was cautious, always planned before he acted, and rarely did anything irrational.

But precisely because he was always so calm and rational, he had now reached the point where things turned to their opposite, and an irrational side emerged.

Because his reason and intelligence told him that neither his reason nor his intelligence was of any use anymore.

Should he run?

Sunagakure was packed with powerful shinobi, and he had lost his greatest trump card for threatening the village. Escaping would be incredibly difficult. Even if he somehow got away, what then?

Neither Rasa nor Jiang Feng would let him go.

However he looked at it, he didn't have long to live.

Of course, it wasn't quite true that his death was inevitable. There were still plenty of low-probability events that might let him survive—for instance, if Sunagakure and Konoha suddenly plunged into an all-out war before his pursuers killed him...

But a truly rational person would never pin his hopes on such a remote possibility.

By any rational assessment, he was at the end of the road.

If that was the case, then he would go mad. He would dance. Before the curtain truly fell, he would take revenge on the village the Third Kazekage had loved, and on this utterly disgusting world.

Sasori of the Red Sands' eyes turned blood-red, dazzling and bright. He suddenly raised his hand, sending out hundreds of Chakra Threads that curled toward the spectators around him.

Jiang Feng had already seen through Sasori of the Red Sands' intentions with his Heavenly Son's Qi Observation Technique. He flicked his fingers, sending out a steady stream of force like spring rain, each strike precisely hitting one of the Chakra Threads and stopping Sasori's last-ditch counterattack.

Rasa also promptly used Magnet Release: Gold Dust, shielding the ordinary spectators near Sasori of the Red Sands or moving them out of harm's way.

Both Jiang Feng and Rasa knew Sasori of the Red Sands was certain to die today. Instead of rushing to attack him, they focused on protecting the ordinary spectators in the arena.

"Let's see how many of them you can save!"

Sasori of the Red Sands sneered. At the end of his rope, he finally played his last trump card. He raised a hand and released a Human Puppet from a Sealing Scroll.

The Third Kazekage, master of the Iron Sand Technique and hailed as the strongest Kazekage in history.

"Sasori!"

"You really did turn the Kazekage's body into a Human Puppet! You could die ten thousand times and it still wouldn't be enough!"

"Lord Kazekage!"

"How dare you desecrate Lord Kazekage's corpse! I'll kill you!"

Rasa, Chiyo, Ebizo, and the many Sunagakure Ninja in the arena all glared in fury when they saw the Third Kazekage's Human Puppet.

They had long suspected that Sasori of the Red Sands had turned the Kazekage's corpse into a Human Puppet, but seeing the puppet with their own eyes still filled them with rage.

Desecrating the dead had always been considered loathsome and contemptible in the Ninja World. That was precisely why forbidden techniques like Impure World Reincarnation and Human Puppets were forbidden.

Several Sunagakure Ninja who had been evacuating spectators nearby charged at Sasori, their fury blazing.

"Kill me ten thousand times?

Too bad I've only got one life. Even if you killed me ten thousand times, you could only take that life once. But there are far more than ten thousand lives in Sunagakure!"

Magnet Release: Iron Sand Drizzle!

Sasori of the Red Sands controlled the Kazekage Puppet and used the Third Kazekage's technique. In an instant, a vast sea of Iron Sand filled the sky, forming countless needle-fine spikes that rained indiscriminately over the entire arena.

The Sunagakure Ninja who had charged at Sasori of the Red Sands were instantly riddled with holes, dead beyond any doubt.

They had all been chosen by Sunagakure's leadership to guard the Chunin Ninja Exams. Each was an outstanding shinobi, with an impressive record and formidable strength.

But none of them could have been stronger than the Third Kazekage.

So they died.

Rasa manipulated the Gold Dust once more, raising a canopy that blocked the Iron Sand raining down from above and protected most of the spectators who hadn't yet managed to escape.

Sasori of the Red Sands was about to launch another attack when a figure as swift as the wind and hot as fire suddenly came charging at him.

"Sasori, you traitor! You finally showed your face! I'll avenge Lord Kazekage!"

Several "little fireballs" circled Pakura as she returned to the arena, murder in her eyes. Without a word, she charged at Sasori of the Red Sands like a shooting star.

Sasori of the Red Sands had repeatedly outmaneuvered her, the Kazekage she respected had been assassinated, and her beloved village had been invaded by him. Pakura had been seething with rage for ages, and now she finally had a chance to face him in battle.

A fight—now that was exhilarating!

Sasori frowned slightly. He used the Kazekage Puppet to fend off Pakura, lengthened his Chakra Threads, and kept retreating to widen the distance between them.

He had no intention of letting Pakura get close.

Perhaps Sasori was stronger, or perhaps Pakura had the edge. Either way, there wasn't enough difference between them for one to defeat the other in a short time.

In a flash, Pakura exchanged more than a dozen blows with Sasori, who controlled the Kazekage Puppet. Sasori had the upper hand but couldn't defeat her—and Rasa was the one who suffered for it.

Pakura might still have considered the spectators in the arena, but Sasori had no such qualms. If anything, he wanted to make the chaos as bad as possible and harm as many innocent people as he could.

Rasa used Gold Dust to stop all the Iron Sand that Pakura dodged or shattered, sending it flying in every direction.

Jiang Feng wasn't idle, either.

Perhaps to everyone else, Jiang Feng was simply standing quietly on the viewing platform, guarding the Daimyo and the nobles beside him, and watching for any sudden attack from Sasori of the Red Sands.

But in truth, Jiang Feng had already joined the battle—using his Heavenly Son's Qi Observation Technique.

From the moment Pakura and Sasori of the Red Sands began fighting, Jiang Feng had been observing and analyzing Sasori's aura, bearing, personality, emotions, Chakra flow, puppet-control methods and techniques, and fighting style...

Flawless.

In theory, Sasori's puppet-control skills and battle sense were nearly flawless. In his hands, the Kazekage Puppet's overall combat strength was hardly inferior to that of the Kazekage himself.

Even now, at the end of the road, Sasori's technique and tactical thinking showed few obvious flaws.

If so, then he would have to create a flaw.

Jiang Feng used his Heavenly Son's Qi Observation Technique to manipulate the energy and momentum of the surrounding world and infuse them into Sasori. The entire area—and even the flow of the air—seemed to subtly place Sasori at its center.

To bring about someone's downfall, you must first drive him mad.

Sasori still wasn't deranged enough, wasn't mad enough. The fire within him wasn't burning hot enough yet.

[It's the start of the month, and it's Monday, so the new book rankings have reset. Brothers, please vote with your monthly tickets! The traffic boosts they give out during the early promotion period are useless, so we're relying entirely on monthly tickets to climb the new book rankings and gain more followers.]