"Is that all you've got? And you dare lecture me about art?"
Naruto slowly descended from the sky.
In his hand was a severed hand of Deidara's, complete with a tongue and a mouth.
Flower Tree World.
Sasori was already on the brink of defeat.
Under the assault of Wood Style, Gaara, and Grandma Chiyo,
Naruto had taken complete control of the situation.
"Do I have to use the third scroll?"
Sasori had been forced into his true form.
Sasori of the Red Sands, who would never grow old.
Sunagakure's former strongest puppeteer.
"I didn't expect you to still be alive."
Naruto looked down at Sasori of the Red Sands.
"You who command Wood Style are already the strongest in the world. I admit defeat."
Sasori saw the hand of Deidara in Naruto's grasp.
He knew that the mad artist who only knew how to unleash explosive attacks had been thoroughly defeated by Naruto.
Alone and without backup, he would probably die, too.
"Before I die, there's something I want to ask you. With your strength, why help Sunagakure? Or do you know more about Akatsuki's secrets?"
Sasori's soul was probably the only thing left intact.
"Help Sunagakure?"
Naruto gave a derisive smile.
"That's just what you want to believe."
"I only want to finish you two off here."
"So I can catch Amegakure off guard and wipe you all out."
Two coffins rose from the vines beneath Naruto's feet.
He tossed Deidara's hand into one of them.
"Impure World Reincarnation!"
Rumble!
The coffins opened.
The person who stepped out was none other than Deidara, whom Naruto had just defeated!
"Ahahahaha! I'm not dead! I knew a Tailed Beast couldn't kill the greatest artist in the Ninja World!"
Deidara roared with laughter.
But when he saw the looks on everyone else's faces, he realized something was off.
"Sasori, why are you looking at me like that?"
Deidara stared at Sasori, while his hands, as usual, spat out Explosive Clay.
"This is my newly improved Impure World Reincarnation. Once summoned, the reanimated are not only stronger, but also easier to control!"
"Of course, if you don't have my level of skill, you'd better not try this, or things could easily get out of control!"
Deidara had been Naruto's first test subject.
"What?!"
Deidara's eyes darted around.
He couldn't believe he was really dead!
And that he'd become a summon who had to obey Naruto's orders!
"So I've become a puppet? Sasori! Is this for real?"
Deidara claimed he didn't believe it.
But his hands had already thrown out Explosive Spiders, which scuttled toward Sasori.
"Even subconsciously, you want to attack me. I can see that."
Sasori looked at Naruto coldly.
He asked warily, "Are you planning to turn all of Akatsuki into puppets you can control with Impure World Reincarnation?"
"Too bad you won't get your way. There are plenty of monsters in Akatsuki who can shatter your illusions!"
"From a god who commands attraction and repulsion, to an absolute master of genjutsu, and even an immortal monster—any one of them could make sure you die without a place to be buried."
Sasori had a great deal of respect for the abilities of the others in Akatsuki.
Unfortunately, both he and Deidara had glaring weaknesses.
One relied on Explosive Clay, while the other needed time to prepare his puppets.
"As for me, even if I die, there's no need to use Impure World Reincarnation. Without my puppets, I'm just an ordinary ninja."
Sasori was being modest.
But even without puppets, a puppeteer had plenty of ways to survive.
Their control over chakra and their skill at making ninja tools for summoning were both extraordinary.
"Puppets really are useful."
Naruto pointed to the puppet parts scattered across the ground, smashed to pieces by Wood Style.
"If every puppet had its own intelligence, it could replace people in all kinds of tasks and jobs."
"Sasori!"
"You shouldn't waste your talent."
Naruto had already prepared another coffin.
If Sasori refused, Naruto would kill him and use Impure World Reincarnation on him at once.
"Hey! Does anyone know how I actually died?"
"This makes no sense. What happened after I got hit by that black ball the Tailed Beast spat out?"
Deidara still couldn't believe it. He'd always loved playing around with explosions.
How could he have been defeated by a Jinchuriki?
It made no sense!
"You were too weak. Your death made perfect sense."
Naruto patted Deidara on the shoulder.
"Damn it! I can't even argue with that!"
Deidara clenched his fist in frustration, then pointed at Sasori, whose expression remained stern.
"So this guy's stronger than me?"
Still refusing to accept it, Deidara circled around his teammate.
"It's uncomfortable being circled by a dead man."
Sasori couldn't resist reminding Deidara that Naruto had defeated him.
"What was I supposed to do? Who could have taken that last attack?"
Deidara pointed at the sky.
"It dispelled the sandstorm and left clear skies for thousands of miles. What kind of destructive power! If only I could make an explosion like that!"
He then looked at Naruto with admiration.
"Hey, is there any way to make my Explosive Clay imitate that kind of destructive power?"
Deidara kept talking.
Sasori couldn't take it anymore and attacked.
"Shut up!"
Sasori ran a long blade through Deidara, but Deidara merely glanced at it and let his body slowly regenerate.
"Have you made up your mind?"
"Sasori of the Red Sands, the path of puppetry hasn't reached its end."
Naruto's silver-white body was enveloped in golden light.
Every so often, lightning flashed around him.
He looked less like a human standing before Sasori and more like a god.
"I don't care about any of that," Sasori said coldly.
"What if I can open the Gate of the Pure Land?"
Naruto traced the shape of a door in the air.
"Even a powerful technique like Impure World Reincarnation can only return the dead to the world of the living, like Deidara."
"But what I want to do is truly break through the Gate of Life and Death and gain the ability to travel freely between the worlds of the living and the dead."
"If a soul can be brought back to the world of the living with Impure World Reincarnation, then I believe the living can also travel to the world of the dead."
"There must be a way to open the door between the two!"
"I call it the Gate of Life and Death—the Path of Eternal Life!"
"Sasori, help me! I need more puppets and stronger reincarnated bodies!"
The Gate of Life and Death!
Sasori had transformed himself into something no longer human, and had once wondered if he could use that to live forever.
If that day really came,
wouldn't it mean Sasori could travel freely between the worlds of the living and the dead?
"What Gate of Life and Death? I don't understand a word you're saying."
Deidara blew his bangs aside.
He placed a clump of Explosive Clay at Naruto's feet.
Boom!
The explosion went off, but it couldn't even break the vines, let alone affect Naruto himself.
"I told you, Deidara. You're too weak right now."
Naruto punched Deidara on the spot.
"If the Gate of Life and Death exists, and souls can fight and grow stronger, then there'd be no need for Impure World Reincarnation. You could control the souls of the dead directly and make them fight."
"Likewise, opening the Gate of Life and Death would mean unraveling the Ninja World's ultimate mystery, allowing every known path to stretch out without limit!"
Ever since mastering Katsuyu's Senjutsu, Naruto had become even more certain of this.
As long as he kept strengthening himself and used all kinds of forbidden techniques to find a way to cross the boundary between life and death, and travel between the Ninja World and the Pure Land,
he could completely change everything people in the Ninja World believed!
"Cross the Gate of Life and Death. May my puppets be able to storm into hell that day!"
Sasori of the Red Sands knelt on one knee.
"Put your original rings back on. You don't need to change out of those clothes, either, because I'll soon take over all of Akatsuki!"
Naruto had turned the unruly Deidara into a reanimated body and subdued Sasori with the promise of the Gate of Life and Death.
He had won his first battle against Akatsuki.
"Goodbye."
Sasori looked at the puppets shaped like his parents.
Then he turned and followed Naruto away.
On the back of the Giant Bird,
Deidara, Sasori of the Red Sands, and Orochimaru were all eager for action.
"What? You were impersonating the Feudal Lord of Sunagakure!"
When Deidara saw Orochimaru, he wanted to feed the snake some Explosive Clay.
"I hate him."
Sasori was just as disgusted with Orochimaru as ever.
"It doesn't matter," Orochimaru said with a smile.
"Say whatever you like. As long as I can follow Naruto-sama's path, you can hate me all you want."
With his hands tucked into his sleeves, Orochimaru looked very meek and harmless.
"Get ready."
"Our target is the Ninja World's strongest Ninja Village in the truest sense of the word: Amegakure!"
Naruto saw a mass of dark clouds ahead.
Thunder rumbled, and rain fell without pause.
"Let me go first! I've been wanting to fight Itachi again! I'll blow up Akatsuki!"
Deidara was raring to go.
"Doesn't matter. I can take them all."
Naruto was bringing Akatsuki to attack Akatsuki!