Loose Foundations

After leaving Mount Sumeru, Kakuzu did not rush to find hearts.

Instead, he made a special trip to the Bounty Brokerage.

Upon learning that Sasori had already come by once,

he immediately headed to their meeting place and, sure enough, found Sasori of the Red Sands already waiting there.

"Sorry to keep you waiting."

Kakuzu knew Sasori did not like waiting for people.

Sasori sized Kakuzu up a few times before Kakuzu spoke first.

"Don't worry. I've already shaken off the surveillance. Otherwise, how could I negotiate with them?"

Only then did Sasori say, "I only arrived not long ago myself."

Although all of Sasori's equipment had been restored, the two thousand puppets were not in his hands.

Sasori had made them and left them with Obito.

Many of those Humanoid Puppets contained Obito's Black Rods.

As a top-tier puppeteer, how could Sasori not know what those Black Rods were for?

On the surface, he was working for Obito and creating those puppets.

But in truth, he knew Obito did not trust him.

He and Obito were merely using each other. The price Obito had offered now was the Impure World Reincarnation of his parents.

The Impure World Reincarnation was not exactly widely renowned, but no one had specifically developed the technique.

It was only because Obito's actions all bore traces of the Impure World Reincarnation that the technique had truly come into public view.

The ability to resurrect the dead was an enormous temptation for people burdened by obsessions.

Such as Sasori.

But Sasori was no fool either. If he could not be said to have trusted Obito before,

then he trusted him even less now. How great were the risks of the Impure World Reincarnation?

He didn't know how much information there was outside, either.

Under those circumstances,