Kakuzu and Hidan headed straight for the house where Sasori was hiding, without pausing for a moment.
Hyuga Shin went to a hill several hundred meters outside the village and watched events unfold from above.
He could detect the Will of the Six Paths from five kilometers away, let alone now.
Under his spiritual perception, a few hundred meters was no different from standing right in front of them.
As Kakuzu and Hidan drew closer to Sasori's hideout, Sasori, busy inside the house, seemed to sense something too.
He stopped what he was doing, his mind on high alert, a fierce glint flashing in his eyes.
At this point, Sasori had not yet transformed himself into a puppet body. He was still a living being of flesh and blood.
"Who's there?" Sasori had noticed something was amiss.
Kakuzu and Hidan, who were almost at the door, also stopped.
"Sasori, come out! We came here specifically for you!" Kakuzu got straight to the point.
Could they have found out that I killed the Third Kazekage? Sasori wondered to himself.
He put away the unfinished puppet he had made from the Third Kazekage, slung the large scroll over his back, then opened the door.
Whatever happened, he had the courage to face his enemies.
"Who are you? Why do you say you came here specifically for me?"
After opening the door, Sasori looked at the oddly dressed middle-aged man and the boy about his age standing outside, and asked in puzzlement.
Neither of them looked like Sunagakure shinobi, so it seemed his killing of the Third Kazekage had not been discovered.
He was curious how Kakuzu and the others had found him, and what they wanted.
"This isn't the place to talk. Come with us." Kakuzu glanced at the people passing through the village and invited Sasori along.
Then, without waiting for Sasori to answer, he led Hidan toward the outskirts of the village.
Kakuzu was confident Sasori would follow.
The strong had their pride, and young strongmen were even more so.
Sasori was curious about the two men's intentions, and he hadn't sensed any killing intent from them.
So he didn't think too much of it and followed them.
He wanted to see what the two of them were after.
The three of them, two in front and one behind, soon reached an uninhabited spot several hundred meters behind the village.
"Speak. Who are you, and why did you say you came here specifically for me?" As soon as the two men stopped, Sasori was the first to ask.
"We're members of the Spark Organization. We've recognized your talent, and we've come to invite you to join us," Kakuzu said, stating their purpose.
"What Spark Organization? I've never heard of it. I'm not interested!" Sasori rejected them without a second thought.
"This is your one chance to escape the cage. It will also be the start of changing your fate. I hope you'll consider it carefully." Kakuzu spoke with great seriousness.
"A cage? A chance? Fate? Hah!"
"Who could cage me? No one can control my destiny! I am eternal!" Sasori was supremely confident, and his words were a little over the top.
Another troubled kid! The leader's eye for people is frighteningly accurate. Hidan was the same when he first joined! Kakuzu couldn't help thinking.
"What you've seen is only what others have allowed you to know. The darkness of the Shinobi World is beyond your imagination!"
"You call yourself a puppet master, yet you don't realize that you're a puppet yourself! You haven't even noticed the danger you're in."
Seeing how difficult Sasori was being, Kakuzu had no choice but to bring out the big guns.
Sasori was recognized throughout Sunagakure as a genius of puppetry. Now someone was claiming he was a puppet himself!
Though he did intend to turn himself into a puppet, he could never allow anyone to say that he was someone else's puppet.
That was a trampling of the dignity of a genius puppet master!
"Are you trying to provoke me? Do you have any idea that what you just said is the greatest insult to a puppet master?" Sasori was getting angry.
"Everything I said is true. You just don't know it."
"The Shinobi World is shrouded in darkness, with no light to be seen. Do you really think you could have killed the Third Kazekage on your own?"
"It was all part of a script arranged long ago. You were nothing more than an insignificant pawn in it."
"The outbreak of the Shinobi World War also meant you had fulfilled your purpose. Otherwise, you'd still be muddling through life, with no sense of self."
Kakuzu continued laying out the terrifying truth.
On the way there, he had spoken with Hyuga Shin and learned plenty about Sasori.
Hearing that a member of the Spark Organization knew he had killed the Third Kazekage, Sasori was shocked.
Even the people of Sunagakure didn't know he was responsible. How had someone from the Spark Organization found out?
And the Shinobi World War had broken out?
What had happened over the past few months?
Sasori was hit with so much information at once that he could hardly process it.
"How do you know I killed the Third Kazekage? And what do you mean by a script and a purpose?"
"And why do you say I've lost my sense of self?" Sasori sorted through the information, then asked his questions with a grave expression.
"I told you, the darkness of the Shinobi World is beyond your imagination!"
"As for what happened to you, our Spark Organization knows the details inside and out. Otherwise, we wouldn't have come all this way to invite you."
"If you want to know the truth, join us."
"You'll escape the cage of the Shinobi World and learn the truth about this twisted world shrouded in darkness!"
Kakuzu began tempting Sasori to join by dangling the truth before him.
Sasori frowned at Kakuzu's words. He didn't know what this organization was really after.
They spoke in vague terms, yet refused to give him answers.
Still, they had certainly aroused his curiosity.
"What's the purpose of your Spark Organization?" When Kakuzu didn't answer, Sasori asked.
He wanted to see what this organization, which knew so much about him, was really after.
"Our mission is to establish a unified, perfect Shinobi World and overthrow the mastermind who has been manipulating it for over a thousand years!" Kakuzu answered.
"A unified Shinobi World? A perfect world? A mastermind?" Sasori was taken aback.
From what he could sense, the middle-aged man speaking to him was definitely powerful!
And the man spoke with such conviction that there seemed to be something to it.
Was there truly a side of the Shinobi World that no one knew about?
Sasori's curiosity grew even stronger.
At the same time, he trusted the Spark Organization a little more.
If they truly wanted to keep him in the dark, they wouldn't have told him such an implausible ideal!
Even the God of Shinobi hadn't managed to unify the Shinobi World.
And a perfect world? That seemed even more far-fetched to Sasori!
As for a mastermind, he thought that was at least possible.
If everything they said was true, had I really lost my sense of self?
Was that so-called script and the talk of pawns true?
Was I really someone else's puppet?
He fell silent for a while, turning over all the possibilities in his mind.
Kakuzu and Hidan didn't interrupt him. They waited quietly.
Hidan, however, was a little annoyed. When he joined, he'd taken quite a beating.
Yet Kakuzu was talking ideals with this kid, who was about his age! He was even inviting him politely.
And this guy wasn't even grateful!
If Kakuzu hadn't warned him beforehand, he would've shown the kid the might of Lord Jashin already.
Kakuzu's words kept surfacing in Sasori's mind as he thought back over his past.
There really was something suspicious: killing the Third Kazekage had been far too easy!
Looking back, it did seem unbelievable.
Though he trusted the poison he'd made, the Third Kazekage, a Shadow-Level Ninja, had noticed it far too late!
It was as if he'd been playing along with Sasori!
Sasori recalled Kakuzu's words about scripts, pawns, and losing his sense of self. A chill ran through him, and cold sweat poured down his face!
"Have you figured it out? Join us. You'll escape the mire you've been trapped in and the cage that holds you, gain true freedom, and learn everything you want to know!"
Kakuzu saw the cold sweat on Sasori's forehead and knew he'd begun to suspect something, so he urged him once more to join the Spark Organization.
Sasori had made up his mind. Since he wasn't sure, he could join and find out. If they were lying, he could always leave.
But if they were telling the truth, it was terrifying!
"Although I'm very interested in your organization's ideals, I still need to test your strength."
"After all, achieving so-called unification and a perfect world won't be easy. Without enough power, you won't convince me!"
Sasori no longer hesitated. He decided to put them to one final test.
Before you continue