Chiyo whispered his name, her voice barely audible.
"Sasori…"
The puppet beside her lay shattered across the ground.
Towering above her, Sasori's youthful face had been magnified several times over, staring down at her from an impossible height.
Akio froze for a moment, then it clicked.
After turning himself into a human puppet, Sasori had retained a living core. Now, he had embedded that core inside an enormous construct, using it as a control unit. A puppet body on a completely different scale.
Akio scanned the area. There was no sign of Sasori's smaller body, it had likely been stored away.
The thunderous crash earlier had been Sasori smashing Chiyo's puppet apart. No wonder it had woken the others.
"Lord...Elder!"
Kimimaro and Haku rushed to Akio's side.
On the other side, Deidara stumbled out of his room, rubbing his eyes.
"Isn't that the idiot who won't shut up about 'eternal art'? Why is he that big now, hm?!"
Karin arrived last, yawning.
"Elder, it's the middle of the night. Do you mind explaining why there's a giant metal monster outside my room?"
"…Human puppets," Akio murmured, finally snapping out of it. "So this is how far you can push the concept."
He smiled faintly and gestured for the children to fall back.
Chiyo's face was filled with sorrow. With a flick of her fingers, the scattered remains of her puppet reassembled themselves.
"Sasori, why would you do this?" she demanded. "A puppeteer avoids close combat; that's the first lesson I ever taught you! Turning yourself into something like this… do you intend to fight enemies head-on?"
"Grandmother," Sasori replied calmly, "how many puppets like this could you control at once?"
Chiyo hesitated.
"One is already pushing the limit. I could manage two, but the strain outweighs the benefit. That said… with your talent, controlling two wouldn't be impossible."
Sasori fell silent.
Then...boom, boom, boom, boom.
Four massive constructs materialized around him.
Panels opened across his upper body. Thick, visible chakra threads extended outward, linking him to each towering puppet.
"Grandmother," Sasori said evenly, "could a human body control four at once?"
At his command, the four giant puppets charged.
Chiyo's eyes widened. She took a sharp breath, her expression hardening as she began to move, her hands blurring as her puppet met them head-on.
"A puppeteer's strength isn't measured by numbers alone," she said firmly. "Let this old woman teach you one last lesson."
Nearby, Karin tugged on Akio's sleeve, half-awed, half-dazed.
"…Am I still dreaming?"
Five ten-meter-tall steel giants clashed, tearing into each other with crushing force. The sheer scale alone should have been overwhelming, but none of the onlookers were normal.
Kimimaro watched with barely restrained battle hunger.
Deidara scowled, still convinced explosions were superior.
Karin stared, stunned yet excited.
Haku simply smiled, calm as ever.
"…I think I accidentally kickstarted the age of giant puppets," Akio muttered with a wry scratch of his head.
Despite her confidence, Chiyo was quickly overwhelmed. Sasori's control wasn't as precise as when handling a single puppet, but four-on-one was still an insurmountable advantage.
"So his ultimate art has changed," Akio observed lightly. "Not Red Secret Technique: Performance of a Hundred Puppets anymore… more like Four Pillars of Heaven."
Chiyo relied on decades of experience, her puppet spinning and weaving, barely holding the line.
But her opponent wasn't just four puppets.
Sasori's colossal body appeared behind her without warning.
Her hands froze.
With a bitter smile, she released her chakra threads.
"Grandmother," Sasori said calmly, "you've lost."
"I told you long ago, only eternity is true art."
"That's nonsense!" Deidara shouted from afar. "Art is an instant explosion! Hm!"
Sasori slowly turned his massive head, eyes gleaming.
"Oh? You again, kid?"
"That texture feels off," Akio's voice suddenly came from beside Sasori's ear. "A wig? You really went all out for realism."
At some point, Akio was standing on Sasori's shoulder, on his toes, casually ruffling the puppet's hair.
Sasori tilted his head. A recess opened in his shoulder, trapping Akio's feet.
"…You even built in locking mechanisms?" Akio muttered flatly.
The air screamed as Sasori's massive arm snapped backward to strike.
Akio yanked his feet free, riding the momentum to drift cleanly to the ground.
The four giant puppets immediately surrounded him.
"What, beat your grandmother and now you want a round with me?" Akio asked, smiling.
"Sasori—!" Chiyo cried, reaching out.
"You wanted to see transformations," Sasori said evenly. "Then watch closely."
Clack—clack—clack—clack—
All four puppets folded and reconfigured, each shifting into a different combat form.
One transformed into a massive cannon, spewing dense poison gas.
Another opened countless ports, firing an indiscriminate barrage of weapons.
The one on the left twisted its arm back, releasing hundreds of wooden limbs that lashed toward Akio.
The one on the right opened its chest, unleashing roaring flames.
Akio stared.
"…This is all just noise, isn't it?"
He kicked off the ground and shot skyward, stopping level with the puppets. Every attack halted two meters from him, repelled by invisible force.
The cannon-form puppet reverted instantly and threw a punch. Akio raised a hand to meet it.
Boom.
"…That strength's close to Tsunade's raw power," he noted calmly.
Before the next wave of attacks could land, he vanished.
When he reappeared, Akio was sitting cross-legged on Sasori's other shoulder.
"Alright," he said casually. "I've heard enough metal grinding. Pack it up."
Sasori ignored him and looked down at Chiyo.
"Grandmother, what do you have left to stop me?"
Chiyo's expression was torn.
Akio chuckled from above.
"But I'm still flesh and blood, you know. You can't beat me."
Sasori tilted his head slightly.
"One day, I'll add you to my collection."
"Sasori!" Chiyo cried in alarm.
"Akio!"
Akio just laughed.
"Plenty of people want me dead. You'll have to get in line."
---
[Every 50 Power Stones = 1 Bonus Chapter Drop]
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