Sasori, surely this isn't all you've got?

Click!

Sasori opened the panel on his right chest. Vast amounts of chakra surged from his Regeneration Core, forming hundreds of Chakra Threads that connected to the hundreds of red-robed puppets in the sky!

In an instant, the varied puppets drew their equally varied weapons and charged downward amid the distinctive clacking of their joints!

They descended like a red cloud!!!

Sasuke's gaze remained calm. "Ignore the hundreds of puppets overhead! Focus only on the caster himself!"

Click!

Susanoo drew its bow and nocked an arrow, ignoring the descending puppets as it aimed to kill their controller, Sasori!

Having already experienced the arrows' destructive power, Sasori calmly lifted a finger and hooked the first scroll off his back. After activating it, he extended black pipes from his palms and aimed them at the river beneath his feet!

Scroll: Flame Prison Formation!

Whoosh! Whoosh!

Two pillars of flame erupted, instantly boiling the river water. Steam spread outward, concealing Sasori's figure!

Sasuke frowned and decisively raised the bow, switching his target to the fiercely approaching puppet army!

With a formation packed this tightly, even a casual shot should take out quite a few, right?

But almost the instant he fired, the puppets in the sky suddenly scattered!

The arrow tore through the air, destroying barely three puppets!

Against a total of nearly three hundred, that was utterly insignificant!

Clack, clack, clack...!!

The scattered puppets closed in along winding paths.

Within Susanoo, Sasuke watched closely with his Sharingan, inwardly alarmed. He's controlling them all at once, yet each puppet seems to have its own thoughts and awareness. They work together seamlessly. Just how precise can his control get? It's hard to imagine there's only one person controlling them...

The puppet army surrounded Susanoo and, under Sasori's control, unleashed a relentless assault of countless blades!

Clack, clack, clack, clack...!

Fortunately, those scattered attacks were not enough to destroy Susanoo's defenses. Yet Sasori kept attacking tirelessly despite knowing that!

He wants to keep me from dismissing Susanoo so I'll burn through my chakra faster...

Sasuke understood Sasori's intentions perfectly.

During his battle against Danzo in his previous life, he had used a similar tactic himself, maintaining relentless pressure to keep Danzo from deactivating Izanagi and thus exhaust his supply of Sharingan...

Seeing the bigger picture, Sasuke said, "Looking back, it wasn't a particularly brilliant tactic, but it was effective. All right, let's see how this goes!"

Whoosh! The bow vanished. Susanoo formed two swords and launched into a sweeping exchange of attacks with the Performance of a Hundred Puppets!!!

Slash! Slash! Slash!

Wherever the twin blades swept, puppets shattered!

Noticing Susanoo's counterattack, Sasori curled his lips and immediately adjusted his strategy!

Whoosh!

The cluster of threads in his right chest shifted. Receiving new orders, the puppet legion avoided direct clashes and began pushing Susanoo to its limits with feints and attacks from unexpected angles!

Susanoo possessed both offensive and defensive power, but lacked mobility. Against such evasive tactics, it quickly struggled to keep up!

Concealed in the mist, Sasori used his sensory abilities to monitor Sasuke's chakra.

Even in this battle of attrition, his chakra shows no clear signs of weakening? It seems Hashirama Senju's power and his Sharingan's ocular power complement each other. In that case...

Sasori's lips curved upward. "Let's spice things up!"

Swish!

Using the Chakra Threads at his fingertips, he hooked out the scroll in the second row of the rack on his back. After activating it, he aimed both hands at Susanoo through the thick mist!

Scroll: Corrosive Flow Pillar!

The pipes in Sasori's hands discharged powerful, high-pressure blades of water that pierced the mist and struck Susanoo head-on.

The water's force pushed Sasuke back three steps. "So you've finally attacked in person..."

Sasori said, "Corrosive Flow Pillar is an overwhelming Water Release cutting technique that can erase even clouds high in the sky. Your Susanoo is no exception..."

Click! Click! Sasori rotated his hands, concentrating the water blades to their utmost limit!

Crack!! Crack!!

The water blades forcibly sliced through the outer armor of Susanoo's second form!!!

Sasuke's pupils abruptly contracted. I still underestimated him... This Water Release actually has enough power to damage Susanoo!!

Sasori shouted, "Susanoo's defenses are breached!!!!"

The red-robed puppets waiting in the sky surged toward him!!

Sasuke responded with uncanny speed. "But... that Water Release also gave away your position!!"

Whoosh! An arrow formed, and Susanoo fired immediately!

"Not good!!!" Sensing danger, Sasori instantly aimed both hands downward. Swish...! The water blades struck the surface, and the recoil propelled his body to one side!!

Boom...!!!

The hurtling arrow... sent waves surging skyward!!!

Though Sasori had dodged in haste, his control over the puppet army inevitably lapsed for a moment!!

Ignoring the damage to Susanoo's outer armor, Sasuke moved to form another arrow and pursue Sasori!

But a sudden burst of agony in both eyes forced Sasuke several steps back!!

"Ugh... Even the White Cursed Seal can't completely cancel out the Mangekyo's side effects?"

The bow vanished, and Susanoo reverted from its second form. Sasuke lowered the hand covering his eyes, his bloodshot Mangekyo maintaining Susanoo in its skeletal form!

"That was a close call. Fortunately, your ocular power has clearly weakened. At the very least, it looks like you can't use that troublesome bow anymore. I won't give you room to breathe..."

The mist dispersed, and Sasori's Performance of a Hundred Puppets regrouped!

"..." Sasuke silently gazed at the red cloud overhead. Suddenly... he crossed four fingers before his chest.

Ninja art: Multiple Shadow Clone Technique!

Poof, poof, poof...!

Sasuke's shadow clones appeared amid the white smoke—only ten of them!

Watching from the sidelines, Kabuto Yakushi was puzzled by the sight. "Multiple shadow clones!? Sasori is clearly trying to exhaust Sasuke-kun's strength, and it's working. Yet Sasuke-kun chose to use a technique that divides his chakra so much?"

Orochimaru smiled instead. "If Sasuke-kun is doing the opposite of what's expected, he must have found an opening!"

Red Sand Scorpion said coldly, "Trying to counter numbers with numbers? Yours are pitifully few! A brat after all, are you? The moment you're at a disadvantage, you lose your judgment..."

Sasuke offered no reply. His ten shadow clones... launched a suicidal charge against a puppet legion that outnumbered them dozens to one!

At that moment, Kabuto noticed a hidden detail with his Sharingan!

"Ah... The Steel Wire carried by the shadow clones... Could it be?"

"Steel Wire!" Orochimaru instantly understood Sasuke's intent and praised him sincerely. "He knows how to gain the greatest return at the smallest cost. Even with power entirely different from what he once had, he hasn't changed his essential nature. Yes, that's Sasuke-kun's true advantage—a quality far more precious than Hashirama's power or even the Ōtsutsuki..."

As he spoke, reminiscence filled Orochimaru's eyes. "Back in the Forest of Death during the Chunin Ninja Exams, it was this very technique, 'Sharingan Windmill Triple Blade,' that showed me the potential within his immature Sharingan. Now, just how far can those eyes, weathered by so much, go?"

Poof, poof, poof...!

In less than ten seconds, the shadow clones were wiped out by the puppet army!

"It's over..."

Yet Sasuke calmly raised Susanoo's skeletal hand, certain of victory.

Through their suicidal attacks, those ten shadow clones had left imperceptible strands of Steel Wire on every puppet. The ends of all those wires were tied to Susanoo's hand!

Susanoo: Sharingan Windmill Triple Blade!

Shing...!

Susanoo pulled its hand back. As the Steel Wire tightened, the "red cloud" formed by the red-robed puppet legion across the sky abruptly collapsed into a single cluster!

Red Sand Scorpion exclaimed in shock, "What!?"

Whoosh!

At that moment, Sasuke leaped up with Susanoo, blood streaming from his left eye as he focused on the red cloud!

Amaterasu!!!

Whoosh!

Black flames ignited and rapidly spread, turning the red cloud black!

Crack! Crack! Crack!

Amid the sounds of bursting destruction, the Performance of a Hundred Puppets burned to ashes!

Splash!

Sasuke landed on the water, and Susanoo faded away. He gazed intently at the crestfallen Sasori.

"Sasori, surely this isn't all you've got?"

Indeed, the final scroll Orochimaru had mentioned—the one Sasori had never used in Sasuke's previous life—was his true trump card... and the real focus of this First Battle!

Everything Sasuke had done so far had been preparation to force Sasori to use that scroll and give him a genuine battle to the death, maximizing the White Cursed Seal's absorption!

Sasuke said gravely, "If... you have any hidden power left, don't hold back. Use it all!"

"All right. Then I'll... grant your wish..."

After a long silence, Sasori finally reached out and removed the Fourth Scroll—the one he had once refused to use even in the face of death!

"This is a power I've never used against anyone, and the greatest reason I joined the Akatsuki...!"