The cave was filled with the smell of scorched ash.
Sasori crouched on the ground, picking up the shattered remains of the exploded puppet piece by piece and sorting them by part.
The chest fragments were piled on the left.
The limb joint components were piled on the right.
The remains of the Energy Core were placed separately in the center.
He took a magnifying glass from his toolbox, brought it close to each fragment, and carefully examined the patterns along the fractures.
"Sasori, are you seriously planning to keep working on this thing?"
Deidara walked in from outside the cave, holding a small clay chick in his hand.
"Konoha's technology is a trap. Can't you see that?"
Sasori did not look up.
"Shut up."
"I'm saying this for your own good." Deidara walked over and crouched beside him. "Look at these fragments. They blew apart so completely. That means this path is impossible."
Sasori finally looked up.
"What do you know?"
He rose and walked to the workbench, spread out a sheet of white paper, and began sketching on it with charcoal.
"When the Energy Core operated under a high load, the chakra circuits produced resonance."
Sasori's pen raced across the paper, outlining an intricate circuit structure.
"The resonance caused energy to accumulate at a certain node, eventually triggering a backflow."
He stopped writing and stared at the diagram.
"As long as I find a way to suppress the resonance, I can achieve truly stable output."
Deidara looked at the dense tangle of lines Sasori had drawn and curled his lip.
"Whatever you say."
Sasori turned and stared directly at Deidara.
"Go to the nearby towns and contact every underground information broker you can find."
"For what?"
"Tell them I need complete technical documentation." A restrained fervor colored Sasori's