"Click—clack—clack—clack—clack!"
Akio stared in disbelief as Sasori's right arm folded inward with a series of mechanical snaps, reshaping itself into a rotating barrel. The cylinder spun up, and hundreds of poison-coated senbon erupted outward in a dense spray, sealing off every possible angle in front of him.
"I was joking," Akio said helplessly. "You actually transformed? Is that a Gatling gun now?"
A burst of repulsive force flared around him. The needles slammed into an invisible wall half a meter away, ricocheting harmlessly to the ground in a sharp, metallic rain.
At the same time, the toppled steel giant behind him twisted awkwardly, its intact left arm swinging down toward the back of Akio's head.
Akio didn't even turn around.
He kicked backward.
The impact boomed like a cannon blast. When the dust cleared, the automaton's left arm had shattered into scattered chunks of metal.
Nearby, an Iwagakure jōnin named Oishi wiped cold sweat from his forehead. A month ago, he'd taken that same kick.
Surviving it still felt like a miracle.
After the two probing attacks failed, Sasori leapt back again, widening the distance between himself and Akio, while pulling yet another scroll from his cloak.
Akio didn't pursue. Instead, he studied Sasori's unchanged, youthful face, a hint of complicated emotion flickering in his eyes.
Behind him, Ōnoki stepped forward.
"Elder," he said carefully, "thank you for keeping my granddaughter in line these past months."
"Hey!" Kurotsuchi jogged over and snapped to attention beside him, standing just a hair taller.
"Don't act like I didn't hear that."
Ōnoki: "..."
She turned to Akio with a grin.
"Nice to see you again! And seriously, your cooking is incredible!"
Ōnoki took emotional damage. Critical hit.
Deidara, meanwhile, looked like his worldview had been thrown into a blender confusion, disbelief, outrage, and homicidal inspiration all flashing across his face.
Akio glanced at him, then smiled and turned back to Kurotsuchi.
"Don't call me 'Elder.' Just call me 'Uncle.' I'm used to it. As for you, Ōnoki come on, say 'grandma.'"
Kurotsuchi froze, then shook her head violently.
"Nope. Absolutely not."
Ōnoki: "..."
He never planned to say it anyway!
Akio shot her an approving look, then waved a hand. The pale-blue barrier around the Hanzo puppet collapsed, and the puppet itself vanished into storage space.
"Sasori, I'm taking Hanzo's remains," Akio said calmly.
"And don't bother summoning whatever you've got in that scroll. It won't work on me, and once it's exposed, you'll regret it."
He'd guessed correctly: the Third Kazekage puppet.
Sasori's face couldn't move, but hesitation and surprise stirred beneath the surface.
"Lady Chiyo was right," Sasori said at last.
"So the one back then really was you."
"She figured it out?" Akio chuckled.
"I didn't exactly try to hide it. Be honest, my little 'click-clack' routine helped your research, didn't it?"
Sasori: …Sure.
An ANBU flashed in beside them.
"Tsuchikage-sama! The shinobi affected by the airborne poison are deteriorating, detoxification isn't working!"
Ōnoki grimaced and turned toward Akio.
"Elder… I'm going to detain this missing-nin. Any objections?"
Before Akio could answer, Kakuzu appeared beside Sasori in a blur.
"We didn't come to start a war," he said evenly.
"We were hired by the Rain's leadership to negotiate an alliance."
Then he looked at Akio.
"It's been a long time."
Akio smiled.
"It has. You're still kicking, I remember you promised to attend my 150th birthday."
"I remember," Kakuzu replied.
Then, without looking away from Sasori:
"Give them the antidote."
"Don't talk to me like I work for you," Sasori snapped but after a pause, he still pulled out a vial and tossed it over.
Akio caught it, opened the lid,
and immediately regretted it.
The stench nearly knocked him out.
"What is this?" he shouted. "This is biological warfare!"
Kurotsuchi gagged and stepped back. The others weren't doing much better.
Akio slammed the lid shut and handed the vial to Ōnoki.
"Just have them inhale it. Once is enough."
Sasori froze.
"How did you know?"
Akio only smiled. He wasn't about to explain anything.
Kakuzu, far more concerned with payment, pressed on.
"Tsuchikage, can we talk now?"
Ōnoki hesitated.
He could tell they were sincere. But the Rain was still a minor power, one he'd once treated as little more than a battleground. Even S-rank shinobi didn't change that easily.
And then there was Akio standing right there, impossible to ignore.
After a long silence, Ōnoki sighed and looked at him.
"What do you think?"
Akio waved both hands.
"Don't look at me. I'm just here watching. If I cared about politics, I wouldn't have stayed out this long. I stepped in only because Hanzo deserved better."
Ōnoki grimaced. Pretending Akio wasn't here was impossible.
He turned back to Kakuzu.
"Why Iwagakure?"
Kakuzu answered evenly.
"Yahiko and Konan went to Konoha. After this, we're heading to Sunagakure."
Ōnoki snorted.
"Trying to align with three major villages at once? Ambitious."
"Not just alliances," Sasori added quietly.
"Something deeper. But after this fight, my identity's exposed. I doubt I'll be welcome back in Iwa."
Akio frowned.
"Chiyo will come for you. Seeing you like this… it'll hurt her. I still don't understand why you abandoned your human body."
Sasori stiffened.
"Only eternal beauty deserves to be called art."
Akio: "..."
So… is that a compliment?
Deidara, who'd been spiraling internally ever since Akio's identity was revealed, finally snapped out of it.
"No," he shot back sharply.
"That's wrong. Only a fleeting explosion, that instant can be true art!"
Sasori tilted his head slightly.
"Oh?"
---
[Every 50 Power Stones = 1 Bonus Chapter Drop]
For early access to advanced chapters visit my P@treon:
P@treon/ Dexy3
Thank you so much for your support and for reading!