The red-haired young man was named Sasori, a rising star who emerged in Sunagakure after the Second Shinobi World War. Sasori of the Red Sand was the moniker he had carved out for himself.
However, none of this was the main point. The real point was the chakra core he held in his hand; if he successfully fabricated it, it would bear a new name: the Core of Rebirth.
This item was the key that allowed a living person, after being transformed into a puppet, to still retain their original consciousness and control their body.
This was also Sasori's next goal after completing the Third Kazekage Puppet. He was going to turn himself into a living puppet, a supreme masterpiece created with his own hands, eternal art.
Clearly, however, Sasori's progress did not seem to be going smoothly. He was stuck at the most crucial and important step: the Core of Rebirth.
Yet misfortune never came singly, and he was troubled by this. Sasori, who had been failing for half a month, had just welcomed a major psychological blow. Just when he was about to see the hope of success, just when he felt he was about to grasp that most crucial flash of inspiration, as luck would have it, a loud crash suddenly came from above.
Not only did it make his body jolt and damage the chakra core in his hand, but it also interrupted his impending flash of inspiration.
Sasori was currently in a state of extreme anger.
Glancing at the strongest human puppet he had crafted half a month ago, Sasori made a move.
He was going to go up and see what kind of person had caused that commotion just now. How dare they disturb his most important research.
Meanwhile, directly above the underground space where Sasori was located.
"I really have to thank you kids, a bunch of brats who don't know the immensity of heaven and earth." Closer, even closer, a ferocious grin appeared on the face of this elite jonin of Sunagakure.
"Hell Stab: One-Finger Nukite."
A short figure rushed over rapidly, and the sudden turn of events shocked the Sunagakure elite jonin.
It was one of those three brats, but how could he possibly erupt with this kind of speed.
Ambushed under completely unexpected circumstances, it was also very difficult for him to avoid it.
Besides, the technique the brat shouted out... was he serious?
Although he firmly believed in his heart that a Konoha brat could never possibly use that kind of Nintaijutsu passed down by the Raikage, the extreme speed the brat had erupted with, and that single finger he held up, still made the Sunagakure ninja's eyelids twitch wildly.
Quickly adjusting his body, he attempted to dodge Kawaki Aoba's attack.
However, Kawaki Aoba, who had been lying in ambush off to the side all along and had paid a huge price to carefully prepare this move for him, was hardly going to let him succeed easily.
A series of afterimages were left in his wake, and the force gathered on his forefinger exploded the moment it contacted the Sunagakure elite ninja.
The brute force pierced through the Shinobi Flak Jacket, striking straight at the Sunagakure ninja's waist.
Blood blossomed, and the sensation at his fingertips reminded Kawaki Aoba that he seemed to have smashed some internal organs. This location... was a kidney, no doubt about it.
"Hmph!" The Sunagakure ninja let out a muffled groan due to the intense pain.
Although he found it hard to believe, he had indeed been injured by a brat, and not with an ordinary injury either.
With a nimble flip of his hands, a kunai was gripped in his hand and slashed down toward Kawaki Aoba's neck.
Damned brat, go to hell.
Kawaki Aoba read the meaning conveyed in his eyes.
The opponent had tragically lost a kidney after all. Personally, he expressed sympathy for this and deeply understood the bone-deep hatred that made the other party wish they could tear him limb from limb.
Understanding was one thing, but letting the opponent find him for revenge was quite out of the question.
His feet stepped repeatedly on the ground, and Kawaki Aoba once again displayed the extreme speed he had erupted with earlier, disappearing before the Sunagakure ninja's eyes.
Shave, one of the Six Powers from the One Piece World, was a technique for high-speed bursts over short distances. Using it demanded very high physical fitness.
This venture led Kawaki Aoba to reveal yet another hidden card.
The move used during the ambush just now was also one of his previously concealed trump cards.
Naturally, that was not Nintaijutsu from those brutes of Kumogakure, but the Finger Pistol, which belonged to the same Six Powers.
After a single strike, hit and run, Kawaki Aoba had already distanced himself from that Sunagakure elite jonin.
Glancing back, very well, that guy was not coming after him.
"Pfft."
Suddenly, a mouthful of fresh blood gushed out from his mouth without warning.
Kawaki Aoba was injured.
Using Shave from the Six Powers placed extremely high demands on the body. In the One Piece World where everyone was a HP sponge, any random commissioned officer could use it without any pressure.
But this was the Shinobi World where everyone was a glass cannon. Kawaki Aoba did not bear the surname Uzumaki, Senju, or Kaguya; it would be a wonder if he didn't get injured after forcibly using the ultra-high-speed burst of Shave.
The Finger Pistol was the same. Without matching physical fitness, the price of forcible use was a fracture.
It was fortunate that Kawaki Aoba had the miraculous energy of chakra inside his body, otherwise, had he used the Six Powers three times consecutively without meeting the physical fitness standards, he reckoned he would already be lying flat in a coffin by now.
Even with chakra, however, Kawaki Aoba was not having a good time. Leaving aside the strained muscles all over his body and the fracture of his right index finger, the place where his injuries were heaviest was his internal organs; otherwise, he would not have been driven to vomit blood.
This was why Kawaki Aoba treated these two moves as trump cards. A trump card, as the name implied, was something that could not be deployed lightly.
If a move could be easily used without paying even the slightest price, what could it even be called a trump card for? It would just be something used to deal with small fries.
White Lightning: Are you being polite?
Fortunately, these injuries were all small matters to him. Mere internal organ damage—they didn't even count as fatal wounds.
One red and one blue vial of medicine appeared in his hand, and Kawaki Aoba drank them down without the slightest hesitation.
Well, besides his injuries, Kawaki Aoba's chakra had also bottomed out.
At the tender age of 10, the chakra he could refine was truly limited, probably not even amounting to half a Kakashi. Just one burst emptied his blue bar completely; could anything be more miserable?
Oh, right, there were mana potions too. Then it was fine.
Yet energy like chakra was truly miraculous when you thought about it. If it was used just for traveling, a day and a night wouldn't use it up, but if you used ninjutsu, a few techniques and it was gone.
On Kawaki Aoba's side, after those two small vials of red and blue medicine went down, his state basically recovered. Contrast that with that Sunagakure ninja.
With his kidney heavily battered, he naturally hated Kawaki Aoba to the extreme, but that kid's speed and the previous "One-Finger Nukite" were simply too bizarre, causing him to dismiss the thought of pursuit and instead set his sights on the other two brats.
"Run, I'll cover your retreat." Kawaki Aoba directly intercepted them sideways, blocking the inevitable path of pursuit for the Sunagakure ninja.
Yet by the time he turned around, he discovered that his two companions had already abandoned him and run quite far away.
Damn it!
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