Fire Dance Whirlwind

Is this guy... a monster?

Orochimaru grew more alarmed with every exchange.

It is common knowledge that in the ninja world, the outcome of a battle is often decided in a single instant.

A fight lasting half an hour is already considered a rare, protracted engagement.

Those who fight for days on end, like the combatants at the Valley of the End, are not the norm in the ninja world.

Generally, one spends a few minutes gathering intelligence on the opponent and formulating countermeasures, then swiftly resolves the battle.

Orochimaru's combat experience goes without saying; through their clashes, he had already grasped most of Sakazuki's capabilities.

First, there was his inhuman strength.

This man's physical power was even greater than Tsunade's!

Furthermore, he possessed an incredibly keen sensory ability.

Fighting him felt like facing a ninja with a dōjutsu Kekkei Genkai; his every next move and position seemed to be predicted.

Most importantly...

After Orochimaru had gone to great lengths to create an opening and severed his arm with Sora's Tachi... he discovered...

This guy could turn his body into magma; physical attacks were completely ineffective!!

Everything else could be accepted...

But why, after fighting for so long, is your stamina still exactly the same as when the battle began!!

In Orochimaru's perception, Akainu's life energy consumption was not even keeping pace with his rate of recovery...

A body like a monster's, with an endless supply of energy...

Greed and apprehension flickered in Orochimaru's eyes.

He desperately wanted to study this lifeform from another dimension, but he also understood that he likely couldn't capture this guy—he hadn't even seen a chance at victory.

Let's try it...

Find a way to snatch a piece of his tissue, then immediately have the snakes from Ryūchi Cave summon me away!

Akainu was also feeling a bit annoyed.

Orochimaru's abilities were more complex than any Devil Fruit user he had ever known; it seemed he could use all sorts of elemental powers.

After hacking him to death once, another one would emerge from the corpse.

Even if he burned him to ashes, he might just crawl out of the mouth of some random snake nearby.

Through their mental link, that red-eyed brat who summoned him didn't know how to kill this snake either, only that sealing techniques and Mangekyō genjutsu were effective against him.

Akainu had never even heard of those two things.

His gaze flicked toward the other battlefield.

The chakra threads extending from Sasori of the Red Sands' chest were controlling a legion of hundreds of Human Puppets, making Akainu grit his teeth.

That guy is also unimaginably evil!!

And that brat who summoned me...

It's obvious I'm better suited to deal with that puppeteer, so why did you...

Akainu could tell that Uchiha Sora and Shisui weren't exactly good people either; despite their young age, their fighting style made it clear they had killed plenty of people.

But compared to Orochimaru and Sasori, those two red-eyed brats were at least tolerable.

Judging by the small part he could see, Akainu felt that this world might be dominated by twisted malice.

Aside from himself, there wasn't a single normal person present.

Of the five people present, every single one of them was actually thinking the same thing.

--

The Third Kazekage was an important part of Sasori's combat strength, but not his best.

The best Human Puppet was himself!

Uchiha Sora, who was battling the Performance of a Hundred Puppets, confirmed one thing.

That is, in the original timeline, the battle that led to Sasori's death was one where he had undoubtedly held back.

Sasori, who could control hundreds of puppets at once, was absolutely the pinnacle of puppeteers in history! Even if Chiyo's puppets were of higher quality, it would have been impossible for her and Haruno Sakura to win.

The combat strength he was displaying right now already exceeded everything Uchiha Sora had known!

You brat...

Only the embrace of a father and mother could make you willing to face death, is that it?

Uchiha Sora understood Sasori's tragic history well; like himself, he was someone who had lost his parents to war.

Understanding? Mutual sympathy?

He was incapable of such emotions.

A person cannot even empathize with their own self from three minutes ago, so how could one possibly empathize with an opponent?

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh—

Endless poisoned hidden weapons fell like a torrential rain.

Uchiha Sora had no antidote, but with the insight of his Sharingan, he could easily dodge such attacks.

This was one of the reasons he had to destroy the Third Kazekage human puppet first.

Once that puppet deployed the Iron Sand World Method, dodging the toxins would no longer be so simple.

With the hidden weapons proving ineffective, Sasori manipulated his puppets to launch a close-quarters strangulation attack on the two.

Shisui was a representative of traditional Uchiha swordsmanship, his movements renowned for their brilliance.

Now accustomed to coating his blade in Fire Release chakra, combined with his exquisite Body Flicker Technique, he flickered through the swarm of puppets like a butterfly dancing among flowers, each strike claiming a human puppet.

Compared to Shisui, Uchiha Sora was a pragmatist.

Slashes, horizontal chops, direct thrusts—not a single movement was superfluous; everything was clean and efficient.

The strength of the human puppets was still insufficient; if they were sent in one by one like this, they would sooner or later be wiped out.

Sasori tugged at his chakra threads, pulling ten puppets in front of him, and after a series of mechanical clicks, they combined into three larger puppets.

The three large puppets formed a triangular formation, and the mechanisms on their bodies opened.

Whoosh!!

As Sasori poured in his chakra, a violent tornado erupted at the center of the triangular formation, exerting a powerful suction force on Uchiha Sora, first dragging the broken puppets around him into the vortex to be crushed!

Puppet Technique: Three Treasures Suction Crush!

Sasori's puppet techniques were taught to him by Chiyo.

He was the most talented puppeteer in history; everything Chiyo knew, Sasori knew as well... well, except for the Forbidden Technique: One's Own Life Reincarnation.

That was a ninjutsu Chiyo had developed to resurrect Sasori's parents, capable of granting life to puppets or reviving the dead.

Unfortunately, Sasori had defected before the technique was ever completed.

Shing!

Uchiha Sora drove Ryuzuki diagonally into the sand layer, which had been vitrified by high-heat scorching, to anchor himself against the suction.

The gale tore the cord from his hair, and his messy black hair whipped wildly in the wind, sweeping across his sharp, angular brow bone.

Staring at the rapidly flying hair ribbon, Uchiha Sora's gaze turned cold; he actually abandoned his resistance, leaping forward to tightly grasp the ribbon, which was stained with specks of dark brown blood.

Noticing Uchiha Sora's irrational action, Sasori sensed something.

That is...

A memento of someone important to you?

"Sora!!"

Shisui cried out in alarm, watching Uchiha Sora, who was about to be pulled into the center of the triangular formation, and rushed forward at top speed.

Click—

Sasori increased his chakra output, and the suction intensified.

Obsessing over such meaningless things will be the cause of your defeat, Uchiha Sora!

Just as he was about to be pulled into the center of the Three Treasures Suction Crush, Uchiha Sora thrust Ryuzuki forward, a faint smile appearing at the corners of his mouth.

His body spun along with the tornado, faster and faster.

A scorching flow of flames erupted from his body, rushing into the gale and rapidly forming a massive conflagration.

The fire spun at an incredible speed, as if intending to drag everything in the world into its terrifying embrace.

The faint, looming shape of a giant dragon roared within the fiery hurricane.

Kanzaki Kaori: Modified.

Fire Dance Whirlwind!

BOOM, BOOM, BOOM!!!!

The Three Treasures Crushing Formation, which should have absorbed and pulverized all matter, was pierced through and shattered by a massive pillar of orange-red flame!!

The remaining force of the fire dragon did not diminish; after smashing through three large puppets, it charged straight toward Sasori of the Red Sands!

Swish, swish, swish—

The Spiral Slash on Sasori's lower back spun at high speed, slicing through the fire dragon layer by layer, yet it was not fast enough.

BOOM!!!!

His body was violently knocked backward, and only by firing a steel cable that struck a puppet was he able to bring himself to a halt.

With deep, dark eyes, he looked up at the youth atop the sand dune.

Half of Uchiha Sora's clothing had been burned away by the flames, revealing a torso covered in countless scars.

He took a deep breath, steadying his ragged breathing.

He retied his messy black hair back with a ribbon and looked down at Sasori of the Red Sands.

He said with a smile, "Wind Style is the best at amplifying the power of Fire Style; we have great synergy, don't we? The power of a combined ninjutsu isn't bad, is it?"

Click, clack...

Sasori looked down at his shattered chest plate and spoke indifferently.

"Ah... it's alright."

Swish!!

A steel cable shot out, a flash of cold light appearing.

Uchiha Sora raised his blade and charged forward, his eyes like tempered cold steel, his robes snapping in the wind, fully displaying his sharpness.