Amegakure Assembly

After a furious outburst, Sasori felt his mood improve significantly.

Then, he hunched his back and began to gather the scattered parts of his puppets.

Although most of these puppet components were beyond repair, they were still worth salvaging; Sasori had always been a thrifty and industrious young man.

Hearing Sasori's question, Sigurd scratched his head in embarrassment; the leader hadn't actually specified what to do after recruiting Sasori.

While he could make the executive decision to bring Sasori to Amegakure for a welcome party right now, he knew better.

As a good employee, one must never take action on tasks without explicit instructions from management.

After all, if something went wrong after acting on his own, the blame would fall squarely on his own head.

But if the leader had given clear instructions for future work, you could proceed with bold confidence.

After all, if something were to go wrong, you could simply shift the blame onto the leader.

This is the essential survival guide for the modern corporate cog, and it is highly recommended that all friends about to enter the workforce study it.

Sigurd was a semi-capitalist who deeply understood the way of the worker, and he would certainly never allow himself to be the scapegoat.

Thus, Sigurd immediately channeled a surge of chakra into his ring and said, "Hey, Leader, Sasori of the Red Sands has been successfully recruited. What should I do next? Please provide clear instructions."

Soon, a response came from within the ring, with Deva Path Pain speaking first to offer praise: "Well done, Suzaku!"

To this, Sigurd could only roll his eyes; what was the point of mere praise? Could he provide something practical?

Just as Sigurd was grumbling inwardly, the instructions continued from the ring: "Bring Sasori of the Red Sands and gather at Amegakure. Do you understand?"

Hearing the leader's command, Sigurd replied solemnly: "Understood, Leader. This Humble One will bring Sasori-kakka back as quickly as possible."

Sigurd always responded with great seriousness regarding the boss's specific work arrangements.

But once the reply was given, he began to act unprofessional again.

Sigurd instantly changed his tone and asked the ring again: "By the way, Leader, since I've completed this mission, can you finally approve the vacation I requested last time?"

Nagato, on the other end of the ring, felt speechless at Sigurd's words.

"Get lost!"

The ring, which had been silent for a long time, finally transmitted only this one word from Nagato before falling silent once more.

Hearing this, Sigurd curled his lip in dissatisfaction.

He had once submitted a petition to the Heavenly Path, asking for a six-month vacation, and the message had been returned that very same day.

It was actually denied!

I see how it is, Deva Path Pain. Seeing that I work hard without complaint, you're deliberately trying to squeeze out my remaining value.

Sigurd had protested countless times, but every request had been dismissed on the grounds of being unreasonable.

This left Sigurd feeling very dejected; he only wanted a vacation, what was wrong with that?

Just then, Sasori, who had finished collecting his parts, interjected: "What is that ring of yours?"

Sasori was very interested in such a device capable of long-distance communication.

Although the Ninja World had things like radio, they were limited to communication within a certain range.

The ring on Sigurd's hand was clearly different; its communication range must be vast, as evidenced by the conversation just moments ago.

Moreover, Sasori had sensed that when the other party used the ring, they had explicitly channeled a surge of chakra into it.

In other words, this thing was driven by chakra.

For that reason alone, this device was far more useful to them as ninjas than those electronic gadgets.

If his future puppet bodies had this function, it would be incredibly convenient to contact the spies he had planted everywhere.

"Oh, you mean this?" Hearing Sasori's question, Sigurd shook the ring on his finger: "This is a ring made by our leader."

"It has many functions, but its primary use is long-distance communication."

"Of course, in case of emergencies, we can also project our phantoms into the organization's base for meetings."

After hearing Sigurd's explanation, Sasori became even more interested; he now desperately wanted to get his hands on a ring to study it.

As if seeing through Sasori's thoughts, Sigurd said: "Don't worry, although you aren't as good as me, with your current strength, I'm sure the leader will issue you a ring as well."

Sasori was actually quite similar to Orochimaru; both were talents in the field of research, though one leaned toward the biological side and the other toward the technological side.

Therefore, in the original work, after Orochimaru defected from Konoha and joined the Akatsuki, he was paired with Sasori—one can only say that the author really understood the dynamics.

But now that he thought about it, if Sasori joined, who would Nagato pair him with? It couldn't be him, could it?

That wouldn't do; he still had to worry about the business affairs of the merchant guild and had no time to drag a teammate around the world doing bounty missions.

It seemed he would have to find a time to lure Orochimaru or Deidara over and have them team up with Sasori, while he continued to operate alone.

Just as Sigurd was deciding Sasori's future partner, Sasori, hearing Sigurd say he wasn't as good as him, immediately flew into a rage and cursed: "You only beat me by luck! Once I complete my supreme art, you will certainly be no match for me!"

Sigurd shrugged helplessly and said: "Yes, yes, let's talk about that after your so-called supreme art is finished!"

"Bastard!"

Hearing the dismissive tone in Sigurd's words, Sasori gritted his teeth in renewed fury.

He had not yet converted his own body into a puppet, so his emotions remained incredibly volatile.

Seeing that Sasori was genuinely angry, Sigurd hurriedly waved his hands and said, "Alright, Lord Sasori, the Leader's patience is not exactly infinite. We had best be on our way."

"Hmph!" Sasori let out a cold snort at these words, then continued, "You destroyed my Hiruko shell; I need to craft a new one."

Sigurd could only shrug helplessly and replied, "Fine, just be quick about it."

With that, Sigurd found a relatively flat boulder, lay down upon it, and began to take a short nap.

Sasori, meanwhile, produced a Space Scroll and withdrew various puppet components, setting to work with a rhythmic clatter.

These parts were things he had collected bit by bit ever since he defected from Sunagakure.

Looking at the pile of materials that had suddenly appeared, Sigurd felt there was enough there to assemble two more Hiruko shells.

Right in the middle of Sasori's reconstruction process, he suddenly asked, "Hey, tell me, the Leader told us to rendezvous at Amegakure, right?"

Sigurd nodded, puzzled, and asked, "And what if he did?"

Sasori pondered for a moment before voicing the question weighing on his mind: "If it's Amegakure, could our Leader happen to be Salamander Hanzō?"