First Battle, Curtain Falls!

Boom!

White Kirin collided violently with the Black Sand Spear, shattering its shaft and detonating the Tailed Beast Bomb mounted on it!

The white lightning surged forward, plunged into the waves of fire from the explosion, broke through the sand defenses behind them, and finally pierced the Shukaku puppet's hard armor with overwhelming force!

"Aaaaargh...!!"

Sasuke roared. Crack! The Crow Tengu Susanoo's entire arm plunged into the Shukaku puppet. The mass of Chidori lightning condensed from White Kirin exploded, unleashing a raging thunderstorm inside the puppet and destroying its intricate internal mechanisms!

Rumble...!

With an earth-shattering roar, the Tailed Beast Colossus: Shukaku of the Sand broke into countless fragments!

Sasori darted out of the shower of debris, with no time for frustration or shock over the defeat of his greatest trump card!

He hadn't lost yet!!!

Susanoo faded, and Sasuke leaped after him, paying no heed to the searing pain in both eyes!

He hadn't won yet!!!

Faced with Sasuke's relentless pursuit, Sasori fought desperately!

—Scroll: Flame Prison Formation!

Those flames were powerful enough to instantly vaporize rock and steel!

A wave of heat struck Sasuke head-on. Blood vessels burst around the six-pointed star in his left eye!

—Amaterasu!!

Whoosh! Black flames ignited in midair, devouring the fire Sasori was so proud of!

Sizzle!

The Mangekyo in his left eye faded outright. He couldn't even maintain the three tomoe!

Crackle! After a brief adjustment, lightning shrieked in Sasuke's right hand. Using the Mangekyo he could barely maintain in his right eye, he launched one final Chidori thrust!

How could Red Sand Scorpion simply wait to die?!

—Scroll: Corrosive Flow Pillar!

Whoosh! A high-pressure blade of water powerful enough to slice through the clouds slashed toward Sasuke!

Whoosh! Sasuke dodged by the narrowest margin as he sprinted forward!

Slash!

The water blade cleaved the river where Tenchi Bridge no longer stood, instantly split the cliff at its far end where Orochimaru and Kabuto were watching, then erased the blood-red sunset clouds on the horizon!

While Sasori's missed attack swept past, Sasuke had already closed in on him!

At this distance... I can do it!!!

The two Spiral Blades on Sasori's lower back spun rapidly, and the steel cable in his abdomen swiftly wound around his body!

—Chidori Sharp Spear!

Slash!

The next moment, the expression froze on Sasori's face.

His puppet eyes widened as he stared blankly at Sasuke, who had stopped five meters away, and the lightning spear extending from his hand!

The tip of that spear had pierced precisely into the flesh core in his left chest—the core that held his life!

"That Lightning Release technique... can change its shape like this too...?"

"Urgh...!"

Blood spilled from the corner of the puppet body's mouth!

Whoosh!

The lightning spear retracted, and the Mangekyo in Sasuke's right eye faded.

Red Sand Scorpion was undoubtedly a powerful fighter, but Sasuke knew full well that he lacked Naruto's charisma—the power to turn enemies into friends.

So his approach was to put an end to the threat once and for all!

Sasori collapsed onto the water's surface, singing the praises of his approaching death.

"This feeling of life slipping away fills me with joy. Am I finally approaching true 'eternity'? An eternity called 'deathly silence'!"

As an opponent who had fought him to the death in the First Battle, Sasori received the respect he deserved from Sasuke.

"Red Sand Scorpion, do you have any last words?"

Sasori said, "Tell Orochimaru to come out. I have something to ask him!"

Sasuke looked back.

Whoosh! Orochimaru arrived through a swirling black vortex, accompanied by Kabuto Yakushi.

"Sasori, I must say, I'm surprised you managed to go this far."

Sasori said, "Heh. So you really were here. You went to such lengths to lure me here. If you wanted to kill me, you could have simply attacked alongside Sasuke. That's why I realized your purpose halfway through our fight. You wanted to use me as practice for Sasuke Uchiha, didn't you?"

Orochimaru said, "That's right."

Sasori said, "What kind of being are you trying to make him into? And what is your goal?"

Orochimaru said, "A being capable of opposing 'gods.' As for my goal... perhaps 'protection'?"

Sasori sneered. "Protection? Someone like you, who toys with other people's lives at will, has something to protect?"

Orochimaru smiled. "Perhaps, surprisingly enough, I do..."

Red Sand Scorpion said, "Heh. Now that's the joke of the century."

His obsession with eternity had made Sasori hate Orochimaru, who pursued immortality. But now, on the brink of death, he desperately wanted to confirm an answer—an answer that perhaps only Orochimaru could give.

With unprecedented solemnity, Sasori asked, "Orochimaru, answer one question for me. What is eternity?"

After pondering for a long time, Orochimaru said in a low voice, "In the past, I saw 'never perishing' as eternity. I pursued eternal life, even reincarnating my soul to replace my body."

"You were precisely the opposite. You saw 'never living' as eternity, going so far as to destroy your body and turn yourself into a lifeless object so you could endure forever."

"But both forms of eternity were incomplete, and so we both met with failure!"

Sasori said, "Then what is true eternity?"

Orochimaru said, "Neither living nor perishing—that is true eternity."

Sasori said, "Neither living... nor perishing?"

Orochimaru said, "Not living doesn't mean never having existed. It means never having disappeared. Not perishing doesn't mean never decaying, either. It means decaying without being destroyed!"

Sasori said, "Does such a thing... really exist?"

Orochimaru said, "It does. And there can only be one answer, can't there? The 'heart.'"

Sasori said, "The heart?"

Orochimaru said, "Sasori, have you erased your own heart?"

Sasori said, "A heart... I have no heart."

Orochimaru said, "Then that absence of a heart is your heart."

Sasori said, "Wordplay...?"

Orochimaru said, "Perhaps. But think about it. To erase your heart, you went so far as to turn yourself into a 'puppet.' Yet ironically, the very reason you can move as a puppet is that your powerful will inhabits it. Your regenerative core is the source of your life, but it isn't the anchor of your 'heart.' So where is your heart anchored? Only you know the answer..."

"..." Sasori closed his eyes. Memories of his childhood surfaced in his mind, settling on the embrace of Father and Mother.

He truly hated to admit that the person who understood him best was the very man he hated and had been so determined to kill.

Opening his eyes, Sasori sighed mockingly at himself. "Orochimaru, I really can't share an era with you. Could you... do something for me?"

Orochimaru said, "Go ahead."

Sasori said, "Tell Granny Chiyo of Sunagakure to pass down the 'Father' and 'Mother' puppets before she dies..."

Orochimaru nodded. "Gladly."

At the very end, having found the true art of eternity, Sasori peacefully closed his eyes, as though he had returned to Father and Mother's embrace.

Kabuto Yakushi stepped forward. "Aren't you going to use Impure World Reincarnation on Sasori?"

Orochimaru shook his head. "There's no need. Once someone has fulfilled the wish they held in life, their soul cannot be bound by Impure World Reincarnation."

He bent down and picked up the last scroll Sasori had left behind, then asked Sasuke, "This scroll seems to contain blueprints for the other Tailed Beast Colossi. Interested, Sasuke-kun?"

Sasuke pondered. "I don't know the first thing about puppet techniques. Even with the blueprints, I probably couldn't recreate Sasori's designs. But once I awaken the 'Rinnegan' again in the future, with the abilities of the 'Asura Path,' that will be another matter..."

"That's what I thought too..."

Smiling, Orochimaru tipped back his head and opened his mouth, swallowing the Scroll before wiping the slime from the corner of his lips.

"Well, then~ Let's leave before those... people come to confirm Sasori's death..."

Whoosh!

Within the Vortex of Blade Reversal, Sasuke, Orochimaru, and Kabuto Yakushi departed, their task accomplished!

The First Battle came to a close!

In the desert of the Land of Wind, Deidara had reached the rendezvous point later, after completing his mission to destroy a nation. When Sasori still failed to return after a long wait, he urgently contacted the Leader of the Akatsuki!

Whoosh!

Above the ruins of Tenchi Bridge in Kusagakure, a murky black Vortex swirled. A masked man arrived under cover of night, surveyed the devastated battlefield, and fell silent as his Sharingan gaze settled on Sasori's remains...