Takamagahara, beneath Mount Hiba, in the Heaven-Piercing River region, Chika Island.
Sasori and Kankuro now faced the strongest enemy in their own field!
The man was tall and slender, with shoulder-length gray hair. His horns grew downward from the back of his head, and a faceplate covered the lower half of his face. His right eye was a red, protruding prosthetic eye, strikingly similar to an emergency stop button!
He was the Heavenly Puppet Operator, the Ōtsutsuki Clan's strongest puppeteer, one of the Four Hidden Corpses of the Branch Family: Ōtsutsuki Juexin!
Sasori and Kankuro studied Juexin, and Juexin studied them as well. But his method of observation was rather unusual—he used the Divine Scanner built into his right eye to conduct a comprehensive analysis of them both!
Juexin was not some aloof god. He was full of interest in things unknown!
"Interesting. Two mech men armed to the teeth. You have attached your souls to those mechs in a marvelous way. How were those bodies made? I truly want to capture you and 'research you thoroughly'~!"
Research us thoroughly?? Did that mean turning us into balls and kicking us around?!
Having caught the key point, Kankuro's chatterbox side emerged. "There's no need to make things so complicated. I can tell you right now: as long as you sign a contract with the Soul Guardian Deity, you can gain the ability of Soul-Body Unity. Then you won't need internal organs for metabolism, nor a brain for thought. You'll be free to modify yourself however you wish. There's no ability better suited for a puppeteer..."
Juexin asked in amazement, "Oh~! Then how does one sign a contract with the Soul Guardian Deity~!?"
Kankuro looked at him as though he were an Indigenous tribesman and said incredulously, "You... don't know about the