Sasori's significance in Sunagakure was, in some ways, comparable to Konoha's Yellow Flash, Namikaze Minato.
Frankly speaking, with his strength and reputation back then, if Sasori had ever desired the title of Kazekage, it would not have been difficult. He was brilliant enough, lethal enough, and infamous enough to claim the mantle.
Although the Third Kazekage was remembered as the "Strongest Kazekage", the man's fate had been nothing short of miserable. His death was not only tragic—it was desecrated. His corpse had been turned into a weapon, his remaining value wrung out to the last drop.
A puppet even in death.
It was the cruelest irony, and also the clearest proof: if Sasori had truly wanted the Kazekage's hat, the so-called strongest Kazekage would have been nothing but a stepping stone.
Hidezawa had never imagined that this mission to the Land of Wind would lead him into a nest of "sleeping dragons and phoenixes" like this. Yet here he was, staring at a man whose influence, if properly turned, could rock Sunagakure's very core.
'If I don't use this properly, it'll be such a waste.'
"Oh?"
Sasori approached slowly, his presence as steady as the storm around them. His sharp eyes scanned Hidezawa and the others before curling into a faint smile.
"I didn't expect to meet you here. I've been searching for you for days."
"Who are you?" Shisui demanded, Sharingan spinning faintly in the corners of his eyes. His instincts screamed danger.
Sasori chuckled. "At present, I am no longer of Sunagakure." He withdrew a scroll with practiced ease, the gesture almost lazy. "As for why I'm here—it's simple. I saw the aftermath of your battle. I require new 'materials'. You will do nicely."
"Materials?" Shisui frowned, confusion knitting across his face.
Hidezawa, however, understood instantly. His heart sank.
'What a lunatic. So he came back to Sunagakure just to stock up? And now he's setting his sights on me and Pakura?'
He had long known that the shinobi world was filled with madmen—idealists on one end, lunatics on the other. He glanced sidelong at Shisui. 'The Uchiha beside me is already one kind of crazy, but this Sasori… he's in his own league.'
"Enough talk." Sasori said. "Which village do you belong to?"
He unfurled the scroll with a sharp flick.
*Poof!*
White smoke burst upward.
When it cleared, a towering puppet stood before them, its limbs lined with faint seams.
"Of course," Sasori added, voice smooth, "it doesn't matter if you don't answer. I can learn after you're dead."
"Puppet Master?" Shisui muttered, eyes narrowing. With his Sharingan, he could see the chakra threads dancing between Sasori and the puppet. Ordinarily, that made a puppet master little threat to him.
But then his gaze caught the black grains drifting around the puppet, like a dark cloud of iron filings. His expression stiffened.
"…Black iron sand. This—this is the Third Kazekage?"
The strongest Kazekage, missing for years. His disappearance had sparked chaos and war, his body never recovered. And now—here he was, turned into a puppet.
The realization made Shisui's blood run cold. "Lunatic!"
"…."
Hidezawa blinked, then turned to look at Shisui in disbelief. 'An Uchiha… calling someone else a lunatic? The irony is killing me.'
"Say whatever you like." Sasori said casually. His eyes gleamed. "Now, it's time you appreciated my art."
The iron sand swirled around the puppet in a rising storm. In the next heartbeat, it sharpened into thousands of fine needles.
*Shhhhhh!*
The deadly rain tore through the air toward Shisui and Hidezawa.
But both moved like lightning. Their bodies blurred, weaving through the barrage. Not a single needle struck home.
Shisui's expression, however, grew darker. "The puppet… retains its Kekkei Genkai? This… who the hell is this man?"
Compared to Shisui, Hidezawa was much calmer, body twisting smoothly through the storm of iron. His hands flashed through seals.
"Earth Style ∙ Mud Wall!"
The desert floor shuddered and rose.
*Clang, clang, clang!*
Iron needles hammered into the wall, lodging deep in the earthen surface.
Hidezawa didn't stop. His hand seals shifted. The wall groaned, reshaping.
"Earth Style ∙ Earth Dragon Bullet!"
The wall burst forward into a dragon-shaped head, its maw opening wide. Mud bullets spat out with a roar, tearing through the air toward Sasori and his puppet.
"This variation of Earth-style…" Sasori's brows twitched. To a true master, showy techniques meant little; the foundations were what revealed true skill.
Still, he moved quickly. His puppet's arms swept wide, and iron sand surged to meet the mud projectiles.
"Magnet Style ∙ Iron Sand Wall!"
The dark barrier rose solid and thick, the bullets slamming into it with heavy thuds.
'An opening!'
Shisui lunged, body flickering forward. He knew the rule: to kill a puppet master, you must capture the man himself. Otherwise, the battle never ends.
"Naïve." Sasori murmured.
The black sand writhed like serpents, condensing into spears. They shot forward with terrifying precision.
*Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!*
Shisui's eyes widened. He spun away, retreating in a blur. He couldn't pierce that high-density Magnet-style—not without revealing more power than he dared.
"…Impossible…"
At the rear, Pakura's face had gone pale. Guarded by Yugao, she stared wide-eyed at the battle. The black sand was unmistakable. As a Sunagakure shinobi, how could she not recognize it?
The missing Third Kazekage—her village's pride and tragedy—was here before her. Turned into a puppet.
Her throat tightened. "No… it can't be…"
Memories crashed over her. The man revered as the strongest, reduced to this. And the one controlling him—
"…Sasori? It has to be him. But why… why would he do this?"
Her fists trembled, nails biting into her palms. Hatred churned inside her.
"Do you know who he is?" Yugao whispered, noticing the storm of emotions on her face.
"Give us what you know. Or else—"
"No need to threaten me." Pakura's voice was cold, hollow. "If I could, I'd rather you kill him. But I have no information on him. Not a single thing."
She despised Sasori, loathed him with every fiber of her being. If she could, she'd have ended him herself. But he had been gone from Sunagakure too long. She knew nothing of what he had become.
Even if she had known, she thought bitterly, 'What difference would it make?'
Sasori was Sunagakure's most terrifying genius. He had assassinated the strongest Kazekage in silence. Now he commanded the Kazekage's power as a puppet. Who among them could truly stop him?
Her despair deepened. 'Two monsters. One in life, one in death. Together, they're unstoppable.'
*Boom—!*
The ground convulsed, throwing Yugao and Pakura off balance. Sand sprayed as the desert itself seemed to quake.
They steadied themselves, eyes darting upward just in time to see it—a flare streaking into the sky. It burst with brilliant colors above the storm.
Pakura's face drained of blood. Her voice cracked.
"That's… my flare…"
Realization struck her like lightning. She understood what it meant.
Her body shook with rage. She screamed, voice raw.
"You damn bastard—you deserve to die!"
*****
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