Human Puppet

Sasori's pupils contracted sharply, and his hair stood on end!

The stench of death wrapped tightly around him, like a python coiling around its prey.

What was this?!

How could this guy break through his puppet defenses?

And appear here in an instant?!

This made no sense!

It defied all common sense!

This couldn't be real!

Was this Genjutsu?

In an instant, Sasori's thoughts raced.

He couldn't understand why someone could be standing perfectly normally one moment...

Then appear right here in the blink of an eye!

As if he'd leaped from one space into another!

Wait...

Just then, a flash of insight struck Sasori.

Space-time movement?

"I see!" Sasori's consciousness emerged from his fleeting thoughts. He exclaimed in realization, "A technique like a miracle! But..."

The corner of Sasori's mouth curled into a cruel smile.

He continued in a haughty tone, "Don't you think you're underestimating me?"

Click, click, click!

Mechanisms roared inside Sasori's body.

Shunk—!

Mechanical arms burst through the clothes on Sasori's back, extending outward one after another.

The palms of the arms opened, revealing tubular mechanisms.

With a hum!

Those tubes

spewed out a fierce blast of Wind Style chakra!

Under Sasori's control,

that chakra became a hurricane!

The hurricane surged forward with incredible cutting force, propulsion, and repulsive power.

With a force that could topple mountains and overturn seas, it swept toward Yuzhen as he charged in...

And pushed him back!

"I knew it wouldn't be that simple." Uchiha Yuzhen's Sharingan narrowed as he marveled at Sasori's transformation.

Just a moment ago,

he'd thought his surprise attack had worked.

He'd thought that before Sasori could show his true abilities,

he'd use the Flying Thunder God Technique Formula...

to achieve the feat of an Elite Jonin killing a Kage Level powerhouse—a classic underdog victory!

As the hurricane was about to slam into him,

Yuzhen cut off that train of thought. With a single thought,

his figure disappeared from the spot.

He dodged Sasori's hurricane attack.

Now that Sasori had revealed his puppet body,

he was ready to go all out!

"Behold, Uchiha brat. Since I completed this research project..."

"you're the first person to see me in this form!"

Sasori stood in the middle of the battlefield, his expression arrogant.

This was his Human Puppet Secret Technique!

In pursuit of eternal art, once he believed he'd fully understood the subject of human puppets,

the first person he modified

was himself!

The moment Uchiha Yuzhen saw Sasori like this,

he knew the guy intended to take him seriously.

In his human puppet state,

Sasori could control

puppets by the hundreds!

"Hah..." Yuzhen breathed out, gripping the Flying Thunder God Kunai in his left hand. "Is that so? I'm truly honored to be the first to see it!"

Then his eyelids lowered slightly.

His scarlet, bewitching Sharingan trembled faintly.

The three Tomoe in his pupils began spinning faster.

Great Fire chakra began to flow through the Ninja Blade in his hand.

He knew full well

that Genjutsu from his Sharingan wouldn't work on Sasori, who had turned himself into a human puppet.

You couldn't expect Genjutsu to fool someone with a steel head, could you?

Since Genjutsu was useless, he'd increase his chakra output.

He'd make the Uchiha Style Nintaijutsu hit even harder!

He didn't need to worry about his chakra reserves.

Over this period,

[Uchiha (Purple)] and [Natural Energy Affinity (Blue)] had pushed his body to grow even stronger.

His chakra reserves had increased dramatically.

After all, aside from the Senju and Uzumaki,

the Uchiha's chakra reserves weren't inferior to anyone else's in the Ninja World.

Add in the boost from Natural Energy Affinity,

and he wouldn't say anything too outrageous...

but he had the chakra reserves of 'twenty Kakashis'!

Now...

he'd fight a powerhouse on par with a village's Kage like Sasori.

He'd put the results of his training and hard work over the past few months to the test.

Just how good

was his chakra's purity?

Sasori studied the expression on the boy's face and knew his opponent was ready to fight to the death.

As Sasori stared at Yuzhen's scarlet eyes in his human puppet mode,

he smiled calmly.

"The Sharingan... A fine addition to my collection. I've decided..."

"I'll make you my first 'weapon' besides myself!"

Human puppets could retain their Kekkei Genkai.

Sasori thought it would be fitting for his first human puppet weapon

to be a renowned Uchiha from across the Ninja World...

Not bad at all!

With that, Sasori spread his hands and slowly unfurled the scrolls he held.

Then, chakra surged within his heart.

The blue chakra began to writhe, splitting into countless threads.

As the scrolls fully unfurled,

with a bang,

hundreds of puppets appeared out of thin air.

The many Chakra Threads splitting off from Sasori's heart immediately connected to them.

This was Sasori's ultimate technique—

[Red Secret Technique: Performance of a Hundred Puppets]

Facing the vast sea of puppets, Uchiha Yuzhen replied calmly, "If you can, then bring it on!"

Then he gave the hilt a slight twist, pointing the blade straight at Sasori's heart.

He didn't know much else, but he did know where Sasori's Core was.

His memories of the early Shippuden story were still fresh!

There might be a lot of puppets, but against someone like him, who had the Flying Thunder God,

they might not be all that useful.

After all—

if they couldn't hit him, the puppets were nothing but dead weight.

It seemed there'd be no pressure

as he carried out his mission to keep Sasori occupied!

Once the two had finished trading taunts, they stared each other down.

Killing intent flickered in their eyes.

With a ripping sound,

Yuzhen's figure vanished in an instant.

And so, the two began to clash.

While Uchiha Yuzhen and Sasori were locked in battle,

Kakashi and Shibi Aburame had already made it into the main hall.

They'd also managed to

find the Daimyo of the Land of Rivers and his son.

"Thanks to Yuzhen's Fire Style, which scattered those Sand Ninja. Otherwise, we wouldn't have had such an easy time." Kakashi stepped out of the hall and turned to look toward the battle between Yuzhen and Sasori.

He remarked with some admiration.

Who hadn't heard of Sasori of the Red Sands?

As one of Sunagakure's few prominent figures,

this genius puppet stylist led the Sunagakure Puppet Corps.

Sasori of the Red Sands had long since made a name for himself throughout the Ninja World.

Once a person's fame reached a certain point, people naturally began to compare them to the Kage of a village.

The same was true of Konoha's Sannin.

Now, Kakashi was watching Yuzhen fight a Kage Level powerhouse for real—not like when the two of them sparred.

There was no way he wasn't shaken!

Yuzhen had grown too fast!

It made no sense at all!

Deep down, Kakashi had wanted to catch up to Yuzhen in strength.

Given how quickly Yuzhen had grown over this period,

could he really do it?

But when Kakashi saw the Sand Ninja around them recovering from Yuzhen's Fire Style attack

and beginning to gather around them,

he forced those thoughts aside!

Now wasn't the time to think about that.

They'd rescued their target. Now it was time to retreat.

With that in mind, he said to Shibi Aburame, "Fire a signal flare to tell them we're retreating. I'll go see if Yuzhen needs help."

Then he leaped forward

and raced toward the clash between Yuzhen and Sasori.