Such a bizarre move caught Sasori completely off guard. By the time he tried to react, it was already too late.
The Chakra Threads linking him to his Human Puppet had snapped because of the distance, leaving him unable to control the Third Kazekage Human Puppet.
Smack!
Lan pulled the Third Kazekage Human Puppet into his hand. Looking over the finely crafted puppet, he nodded in satisfaction.
This naturally infuriated Sasori. Enraged, he immediately shouted at Lan.
"You damned bastard! Give me back my puppet!"
With that, Sasori took out a Crimson Scroll. As it unfurled, dozens of puppets flew out from within.
After linking to them with Chakra Threads, Sasori began controlling his puppet army, sending it surging toward Lan in a massive assault.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh...
Some of the puppets launched hidden weapons, others unleashed ninja tools, and some extended and retracted their limbs to reveal all kinds of mechanical weapons. They swept toward Lan like a ninja army.
Facing the barrage of hidden weapons, ninja tools, and puppet attacks, Lan merely raised his other hand with a casual gesture.
Thud!
A sound like a heartbeat echoed in everyone's hearts.
In an instant, a powerful, invisible repulsive force erupted around Lan and surged outward.
Trees were uprooted in its path, and the ground piled up in rippling waves.
The weapons flying toward Lan, along with the puppets, were all hurled backward by the invisible force.
The repulsive force reached so far that Sasori, who was controlling the puppets nearby, was caught in it too. He had to stumble back several meters before he could stop.
When the dust settled, everything within dozens of meters had been transformed. The ground had been flattened into a circular crater, leaving a round, empty clearing in the middle of the dense forest.
Seeing the outrageous destruction Lan had wrought with a wave of his hand, Sasori stood gaping, too stunned even to spare a glance at his scattered puppets.
"H-How can this guy use that kind of power too?"
Sasori had joined the Akatsuki only recently. Konan had been the one to invite him, and her abilities had been a bad match for his. He'd lost their fight, and his interest in the Akatsuki had led him to accept her offer.
After joining, he learned that the leader, Pain, possessed the legendary Sage's Eye. Awed by the Rinnegan's power, Sasori had set aside his other concerns and begun following the organization's orders.
In other words, Sasori was one of the few people in the current shinobi world who had witnessed the power of the Rinnegan.
That was why seeing Lan wield the same power shook him far more than it did the others.
Could that masked guy have the same eyes as the leader?
Before joining the Akatsuki, Sasori had always thought the Rinnegan existed only in legends. So why had it appeared time and again all of a sudden?
Since when had the Sage's Eye become so common?
Sasori couldn't help glancing at his companion, hoping to hear what he thought.
Beneath his mask, Obito looked grim. If the repulsive force that had struck Lan during their earlier ambush had only raised suspicions, then seeing Lan wield both attractive and repulsive forces left no room for doubt.
As far as Obito knew, controlling attraction and repulsion was a power unique to the Rinnegan. Since the man before him could use it, he must possess the Sage's Eye too.
How had this guy gotten a Rinnegan?
Obito's limited knowledge kept him from realizing that the Tenseigan, like the Rinnegan, could also control attractive and repulsive forces.
But whether it was the Tenseigan or the Rinnegan, its power far surpassed that of other Kekkei Genkai. Obito and Sasori had both witnessed the Rinnegan's power, and Lan's calm confidence only made them more wary. Neither dared attack him again.
"Hand over Pakura and the Kaguya Clan Head. Otherwise, you won't escape me today."
Obito paid no heed to Lan's threat.
No matter how powerful the Rinnegan was, Obito could still get away with his Dōjutsu, Kamui.
"How about this? Let's make a trade. I'll give you Pakura, but you give me that puppet in return. One for one—a fair deal."
Lan rejected Obito's offer without hesitation.
"You're in no position to make demands. Either hand over my people, or I'll kill you first and rescue them myself."
With that, Lan infused the Human Puppet in his hand with his Tenseigan chakra.
Soon, after a series of twitches, the puppet stood up on its own and bowed respectfully to Lan. Its movements were so fluid that it seemed almost alive.
The puppet then used Iron Sand to guard Lan. Its behavior was like that of a loyal bodyguard, leaving its former master, Sasori, both furious and shocked.
The power behind this feat shattered his understanding. The Puppet Technique he had always prided himself on was nothing compared to a power that seemed to create life.
So this was the power of the Sage's Eye?
It truly was an incredible thing!
With the numbers now even at two against two, the situation was increasingly unfavorable for them. Lan was even more arrogant than Pain, and Obito knew there was no point in continuing to negotiate.
He also wanted to use Pakura to learn more about Lan so he could figure out how to deal with him. He had only proposed a trade to quash Sasori's hopes of getting his puppet back. Now that he'd achieved that, and with Lan's abilities still a mystery, the cautious Obito had no desire to fight him again.
So he went over to Sasori and said,
"This guy's no ordinary opponent. Only the leader might be able to handle him. Let's retreat for now."
Sasori's gaze remained fixed on the Third Kazekage Human Puppet. It was the work he was proudest of, the culmination of his efforts, and now it had become someone else's prize.
Though Sasori was unwilling to let it go, he knew he would have a hard time taking the Third Kazekage Human Puppet back from Lan.
His teammate was also wary of the Rinnegan's power and wanted to avoid a direct fight, so Sasori had no choice but to agree.
That left him with no choice but to pin his hopes of reclaiming the Third Kazekage Human Puppet on the leader.
After shooting Lan a resentful, hateful look, Sasori followed Obito into the space-time vortex. Just before disappearing, Obito called out a final threat:
"Don't get too full of yourself! You can't imagine the strength of our organization. Making an enemy of us will be the worst decision you've ever made..."
Obito and Sasori appeared together inside the Kamui Dimension.
Sasori curiously surveyed the strange pocket dimension, impressed by how extraordinary his companion was.
Then his attention was drawn to Pakura and the Kaguya Clan Head nearby.
Looking at Pakura, whose mind was clouded by poison, a flash of malice crossed Sasori's eyes.
"I'll make you my next Human Puppet. That'll satisfy my grudge against you."
As he spoke, Sasori started forward, but Obito grabbed him and held him back.
Just as Sasori was wondering what was going on, a yellow glow appeared behind Pakura.
The glow suddenly flared and transformed into a golden vortex.
The vortex rapidly expanded, revealing a seemingly bottomless space-time passage.
Hiss!
Seeing this, Obito and Sasori sucked in a sharp breath.
Then came the voice that both of them least wanted to hear. It rang out from within the passage, growing louder and clearer as it approached.
"I told you, you can't escape!"
Thud!
A foot crossed the exit of the space-time tunnel and came down hard on the ground of the Kamui Dimension...