Huff... huff...
Gasping heavily, his clothes soaked through with cold sweat, Sasori came back to his senses. Before him stood silent bookshelves, as though everything that had just happened had been an illusion.
"No, that's not right!" Sasori's heart skipped a beat as he looked at his fingers. Transparent chakra threads emerged, connected to his three puppets. The humanoid puppet stood to his left, while the tiger-like puppet on his right had been completely destroyed. The third puppet he had summoned stood before him, bearing some resemblance to himself.
Everything told him that what had just happened was real.
"I... I actually lost to a little girl about my age, and lost this badly!" He looked ahead with mixed emotions. The girl named Konan was wearing a smug expression before the man in black, as if asking for praise.
Shin praised her a few times before turning to Sasori. Sasori was looking over with a complicated expression. Shin understood how he felt. A young man who had been called a genius since childhood possessed pride beyond imagination.
When someone his own age could defeat him so easily, it was equivalent to ruthlessly shattering all his previous arrogance beneath their feet. Shin had seen many geniuses fall into decline after suffering such blows, unable to escape the shadow of defeat.
"You're weaker than I imagined," Shin said calmly. "I thought you could last a few more minutes. Looks like I overestimated you."
Hearing those mocking words, Sasori's hand clenched into a fist, indignation surging within him. He clearly still had strength he had not shown. He clearly had many more techniques that could be used together. He had even refrained from using his third puppet at the start, saving it as his trump card...
As if he had seen through Sasori's