The Akatsuki's New Recruit First Battle

The border of the Land of Wind, a desolate land scorched by yellow sand and a blazing sun.

The distortion in the air did not stem from heat waves, but from a vortex that had appeared out of thin air. Lin Feng stepped out from it, his feet landing on the scorching gravel. The ancient armor of the Warring States period he wore looked entirely out of place in this environment.

He sensed his surroundings slightly; several familiar chakras were clashing violently not far away. One of them was cold and eerie, clearly not belonging to any of his "juniors."

"It seems they've run into trouble."

Lin Feng walked toward the center of the conflict without haste.

Center of the Battlefield: Iron Sand Cage

Only when he truly stepped to the edge of the battlefield did Lin Feng see the full picture.

Black was the primary color here.

The Third Kazekage's Magnet Release: Iron Sand, under the terrifyingly precise control of Sasori's chakra threads, had been shaped into a massive cage that split the battlefield in two.

Nagato, Konan, and Yahiko were trapped in the center of the cage.

"Shinra Tensei!"

Nagato unleashed a repulsive force once more, bloodshot veins appearing in his purple-black Rinnegan. An invisible spherical force field expanded, violently pushing away the encroaching Iron Sand prisms. With a deafening roar, several prisms snapped and scattered.

But the next second, more Iron Sand surged from the ground, spewed from the mouth of the Third Kazekage puppet, instantly filling the gaps. The cage contracted with even greater speed.

"It's useless." Sasori's cold voice came from within Hiruko. The sound, filtered through the puppet's amplification device, carried an inhuman, metallic quality. "The essence of Magnet Release is to control the 'field.' Your repulsive force only acts upon 'objects,' while I am controlling the 'rules' of this entire space."

He was right. Cold sweat beaded on Nagato's forehead. Every time he unleashed Shinra Tensei at full power, his chakra consumption was like a bursting dam. What was more terrifying was that the Iron Sand itself possessed magnetism; after being scattered by the repulsive force, most of it wasn't destroyed, but instead reorganized faster under Sasori's control to strike again.

This was a war of attrition, a precision strike targeting the Rinnegan's weakness of "high burst, low sustainability."

"Konan!" Yahiko swung a kunai, attempting to sever an incoming Iron Sand spike, but only sparks flew, and the webbing between his thumb and index finger split. "Can Paper Release open a gap?"

"I can't!" Konan's face was equally pale. The paper fluttering around her body would be firmly pulled and shredded by the powerful magnetic force the moment it neared the Iron Sand. "The magnetism counters my jutsu!"

Outside the cage was another battlefield.

Earth Grudge Fear vs. Shadow of a Hundred Puppets.

Kakuzu's situation looked slightly better, but it was actually perilous.

He was not facing Sasori's main body, nor even the fearsome Third Kazekage puppet, but three strange, dark-red humanoid puppets.

[Red Secret Technique: Three-Machine Dance]

This was a transitional work Sasori developed before the "Shadow of a Hundred Puppets," and also the core of his "collection" that he truly used for slaughter. Each human puppet had possessed a special Kekkei Genkai or unique secret technique while alive. Under Sasori's modification, they retained some of their original abilities and were granted the absolute loyalty and fearlessness of a puppet.

The first puppet had high-speed rotating chainsaws for arms, emitting a piercing shriek as it lunged—in life, it had been a mechanical ninjutsu expert from the Land of Lightning.

The second puppet could open its chest to spray viscous acid covering thirty meters—in life, it had been a wielder of corrosive secret techniques from Amegakure.

The third puppet's limb joints could twist in reverse, popping out poisoned blades from any angle—in life, it had been an assassination master from Kusagakure.

Three puppets, three distinct methods of slaughter, controlled by Sasori's distributed chakra threads, coordinated perfectly like a killing machine with three bodies and one brain.

For the first time, Kakuzu felt it was tricky.

"Earth Style: Earth Spear!" He hardened his right arm and punched the lunging chainsaw puppet, sending wood shards and springs flying. But a stinging pain immediately came from his left rib—another puppet's poisoned blade had grazed his skin. Although it failed to break through the Earth Spear, the eerie blue luster on the blade made his eyelids twitch.

"Wind Style: Pressure Damage!" He opened his mouth to spew a high-pressure wind sphere, blowing away most of the sprayed acid. But a few stray drops landed on his Earth Grudge Fear tentacles, immediately emitting a "hissing" corrosive sound as black smoke rose.

"Tch." Kakuzu's gaze darkened; he finally stopped holding back.

[Earth Grudge Fear: Mask Split]

The stitches on his back burst open, and a swarm of pitch-black, twisted tentacles surged out. Four core nodes quickly condensed and transformed into four eerie masked monsters—Wind, Fire, Lightning, and Water—detaching along with a portion of the tentacle body.

"Fire Style: Searing Migraine!"

"Wind Style: Pressure Damage!"

Combined Ninjutsu—Storm Fire!

The scorching sea of fire was propelled by the high-pressure storm, forming a flaming tornado that swept across the battlefield, temporarily swallowing the three approaching puppets. The puppets' shells crackled in the high heat, and their movements stalled instantly.

Did I get them? The thought had just crossed Kakuzu's mind.

Hiss, hiss, hiss—!

Within the flames, several purple-black laser beams suddenly pierced the fire curtain, shooting precisely at his masked monsters! It was another puppet hiding in the rear; its shoulder had opened, revealing a device similar to a chakra cannon.

"Lightning Style: False Darkness!" The Lightning Style masked monster immediately countered. A thick lightning spear collided with the laser beam, exploding into a blinding ball of light in the air.

"Useless." Sasori's voice came again, this time with a hint of faint mockery. "My collection has all been specially treated. Ordinary fire and lightning cannot easily destroy 'eternal art.'"

Sure enough, the puppets scorched by the flames only had charred shells and smoke rising from their joints, but they soon lunged forward again under the control of the chakra threads, moving with a slightly stiff but still lethal posture. They felt no pain and feared no damage; as long as the core mechanism remained intact, they could fight forever.

Kakuzu's heart sank. Although his five-element ninjutsu was comprehensive, facing this group of puppets with diverse traits and no fear of attrition, he felt like one man facing a well-trained, complementary ninja squad. Most importantly, he could not retreat. Behind him was the gradually contracting Iron Sand cage, and inside that cage—the "leader" of the organization.

"It seems I have to use some real skill." Kakuzu's eyes were gloomy, his Earth Grudge Fear tentacles writhing more violently. "At least I must hold on until that 'leader' brings out something real... or until that person arrives."

His gaze inadvertently swept over the thin, trembling back of Nagato inside the cage.

The Iron Sand cage had already shrunk to less than ten meters in diameter.

Nagato's breathing was as heavy as a bellows. His chakra was nearing depletion; using the Rinnegan was far more taxing on his spirit and stamina than he had imagined. That sensation of wielding the "power of a god," under such constant, high-pressure extraction, had become a crushing burden.

"Nagato!" Yahiko blocked a stray shard of iron sand with his body. A deep gash, exposing bone, opened on his arm, but he didn't even notice, his eyes locked onto Nagato. "We can't give up! We promised each other we would change this world!"

Konan's paper wings were already tattered. She channeled her remaining chakra into a spear of hardened paper, attempting to pin down a node of the contracting cage, but the spear was quickly twisted and shredded by the magnetic force.

Despair, like cold iron sand, seeped into their hearts bit by bit.

Just then—

Perhaps it was the sight of Yahiko's blood, the sound of Konan's wings tearing, or the heavy grunt from Kakuzu (as a puppet's stinger finally found a gap in his Earth Spear hardening and pierced his shoulder)... a taut string in Nagato's mind snapped.

It was not the snapping of fear, but the shattering of a barrier.

"Aaaahhh—!"

He let out a low, inhuman roar, his frail body trembling violently. It wasn't from exhaustion, but because something vast and terrifying within him was uncontrollably trying to surge out!

Hum—

A fluctuation, far more obscure, chaotic, and unstable than any before, radiated from him as the center.

This time, it was not a conscious "Shinra Tensei."

It was the Rinnegan, sensing the dual crisis to its host's life and spirit, instinctively and brutally attempting to repel "everything"!

The invisible force field was no longer spherical; it was twisted, irregular, like an inflated sea urchin covered in spikes!

Bang! Bang! Bang! Crack—!

The moment the iron sand cage made contact with this chaotic repulsion field, a bizarre reaction occurred. Some iron sand prisms were violently deflected, even shot back toward Sasori's position; others were twisted and bent by the chaotic field, colliding with one another; and some were even captured by a deeper, more primal embryonic gravitational pull within the field (a disordered preview of Bansho Ten'in), briefly hovering around Nagato to form a twisted, dangerous vortex of metal!

"What?!" For the first time, there was clear astonishment in Sasori's voice. He felt his control over a portion of the iron sand falter for a split second! It was as if a giant boulder had been thrown into a calm lake, the ripples disrupting all precise manipulation.

But it lasted only an instant.

Pfft!

Nagato coughed up a mouthful of blood, and the chaotic force field vanished as abruptly as a popped balloon. His eyes rolled back, and he collapsed backward, caught by a screaming Konan. Forcing out power beyond his limits had triggered a backlash that nearly cost him his life.

The contraction of the iron sand cage stalled for a moment, but only a moment. More iron sand surged forward, quickly repairing the damage, and the cage began to shrink even faster!

"A pity." Sasori's voice returned to its icy tone. "Instinctive resistance is, in the end, nothing more than a beast's death throes. Now, the game should end."

[Magnet Release: Iron Sand Shower]

The Third Kazekage puppet pressed its palms together. The iron sand filling the sky ceased to maintain the cage form, instantly dispersing into countless iron sand senbon, as fine as cow hair but harder than steel! Like a black rainstorm, it shrouded every inch of space inside the cage! This time, it was a finishing blow!

Yahiko's eyes split with rage; he instinctively tried to shield the unconscious Nagato and Konan with his own body.

Kakuzu roared, ignoring the puppet's attacks. All his mask monsters and tentacles retracted frantically, attempting to condense into a defensive wall in front of him, even though he knew it likely wouldn't stop such dense, piercing attacks.

Konan closed her eyes, clutching Nagato tightly.

Just as the black rain of death was about to drown everything—

Time seemed to have been pressed on pause by an invisible hand.

Every iron sand senbon, mid-flight, hovered eerily in the air, less than three inches from Yahiko's nose, Kakuzu's tentacles, and the tips of Konan's hair.

An indescribable, ancient, and heavy aura, like a dormant volcano awakening, descended upon the battlefield.

A figure, appearing from nowhere, now stood before Nagato, his back to everyone.

He raised a hand, his five fingers slightly spread, aimed at the black rain of death.

No hand seals, no incantations.

He simply, calmly, uttered a few words.

"Wood Release: Deep Forest Emergence."

Rumble—!

Beneath the dry, scorching desert floor, a roar like a giant beast awakening erupted. Countless thick, vibrant wooden vines and trunks burst from the earth, forming massive wooden dragons that intertwined and coiled, instantly constructing a lush, dense forest of wood above their heads!

The next second, time resumed its flow.

Clatter, clatter—!

The dense, drum-like sound of impacts exploded against the wooden dome! The iron sand senbon, capable of piercing steel, shot into the life-filled wooden barrier, but it was like mud oxen entering the sea; they only sank a few inches before being firmly lodged, and then... wrapped and absorbed by the wooden fibers.

The black rain was silenced before the massive, verdant forest.

The battlefield fell into a deathly silence.

There was only the faint sound of the wooden forest slowly growing and stretching, and the dark, shimmering luster on the armor of that back.

Inside Hiruko, Sasori froze.

Kakuzu's mask monsters stopped their roaring.

Yahiko and Konan forgot to breathe.

Lin Feng slowly turned around. His gaze fell first on the face of the unconscious Nagato, and he shook his head, his disappointment plain to see.

Then, he lifted his eyes to look at the ugly Hiruko puppet in the distance, and the Third Kazekage human puppet behind it, which radiated powerful chakra.

His voice was calm, yet it drowned out all the lingering echoes of the battlefield, clearly piercing into everyone's ears.

"Sasori of the Red Sand."

"Is your eternal art..."

"Really just this much?"

Facing the massive forest composed of Wood Release before him, and witnessing the changes that had occurred in the blink of an eye, Sasori, inside the Hiruko puppet, let out a sound of shock for the first time.

"What is happening?"

Wood Release?!

How is this possible! Isn't this the technique of the First Hokage, Senju Hashirama?!

What horrified him even more was yet to come.

Lin Feng's figure vanished from the spot like a ghost. In the next second, he had already appeared before the Third Kazekage human puppet.

"Is this the 'eternal art' you are so proud of?"

Lin Feng threw a punch, striking the puppet's forehead.

"It is nothing more than a pile of scrap metal."

Crack—!

A crisp sound rang out.

The human puppet of the Third Kazekage, hailed as the strongest Kazekage in the history of Sunagakure and possessing the ultimate weapon, "Magnet Release," had its indestructible body begin to show spiderweb-like cracks starting from the point where Lin Feng's fist had struck.

The cracks spread rapidly across its entire body.

Bang!!!

With a deafening explosion, the entire human puppet, along with the complex mechanisms and poison systems inside, shattered into pieces, turning into a sky full of debris.

Sasori let out a muffled groan as his true body tumbled out from the broken Hiruko, landing on the ground in a disheveled state.

He finally revealed his true appearance—a red-haired youth with delicate features but an exceptionally gloomy gaze.

He stared fixedly at Lin Feng, his eyes filled with disbelief.

His strongest work, the "collection" he had spent countless efforts on, had just been... shattered by a single punch?

"You... who exactly are you?!" Sasori's voice trembled slightly.

Lin Feng slowly turned around, finally revealing his face with its deep nasolabial folds and indifferent expression, as well as those magnificent and eerie purple Rinnegan.

He looked down at Sasori, like a god gazing upon a mortal.

"Me?"

A mocking arc curled at the corners of his mouth.

"Someone prepared to reshape the ninja world and bring peace to it."

"As for your art..." Lin Feng's gaze swept over the puppet fragments on the ground, and he shook his head. "In the face of absolute power, it is as fragile as a sandcastle."

"Now, you have two choices."

"One, join us and become a cornerstone of the new world order."

"Two, become a part of the sand beneath my feet."

Lin Feng's words carried no emotion, yet they were filled with an irresistible pressure.

Sasori's body stiffened.

He felt an unprecedented fear from this man before him. It was not a fear of ninjutsu, but a trembling from the depths of his soul, caused by being crushed at the level of existence.

His pride, his art, and the eternity he pursued seemed incredibly ridiculous at this moment.

After a long while, he squeezed a few words through his teeth.

"I... will join."

Lin Feng nodded with satisfaction and did not look at him again, as if subduing a powerhouse of Sasori's caliber was no more significant than swatting a fly.

He turned his head to look at Nagato, his eyes becoming stern.

"Nagato, I am very dissatisfied with your performance."

"The Rinnegan in your hands is not a tool for defense. It represents the will of a 'god,' the power of creation and destruction."

"If you cannot even crush a mere puppeteer, how will you make the world feel pain?"

Nagato was scolded into silence, burying his head even lower.

Lin Feng tossed a Black Red-Cloud Robe in front of Sasori.

"Put it on."

Then, without paying any further attention to anyone, he turned to leave.

"Wait!"

Yahiko, who had been silent all this time, finally could not help but speak up. "What exactly are you trying to do? Can peace really be brought about through such violence and fear?"

Lin Feng stopped in his tracks.

He did not turn back, only leaving behind a remark heavy with meaning.

"Peace is never something you 'beg' for."

"It is something you 'fight' for."

"Strike one blow to ward off a hundred more!"

His figure was swallowed once again by a spatial vortex, vanishing from sight.

The scene was left in shambles, with the members of the Akatsuki plunged into silence.

Kakuzu looked at the puppet fragments on the ground, then at the new recruit Sasori, and finally let his gaze rest on Nagato. For the first time, he felt that following this group might truly lead to "big money."

As for Sasori, who had just submitted, he picked up his black cloak from the ground, his eyes flickering with uncertainty.

He had joined not out of fear, but because he had glimpsed in that man a form of "eternity" that transcended his own understanding.

Just then, Black Zetsu emerged from Sasori's shadow, a mocking, sinister grin on his face.

"Congratulations, Sasori. You have made a wise choice."

Black Zetsu turned to everyone, conveying the final order Lin Feng had left behind before departing.

"Lord Madara says that since the recruitment process has been so inefficient, we shall change our target."

"We are going to a place... where the ripples run deeper."

Nagato looked up, a flicker of doubt crossing his red Rinnegan: "What place?"

Black Zetsu let out a cackling laugh, spitting out a name that sent a jolt through everyone present.

"Kirigakure."