Orochimaru didn't know he had saved the wrong person.
It's really not Orochimaru's fault, even Akihara Kagura could guess that Orochimaru had tried his best to rescue Red Sand Sasori.
The members of the Akatsuki Organization couldn't trust each other, and none of them knew the secrets of the others. Naturally, Orochimaru was no exception in not knowing the true identity of Red Sand Sasori.
Orochimaru rarely had the chance to see Red Sand Sasori's true form, believing that the body of the red-haired boy was Sasori's real body, and there was a hollow where the heart should be.
The result…
This led to an unexpected situation.
Orochimaru looked at the puppet, devoid of intelligence and Chakra, with an empty heart area, and vaguely sensed the truth: Red Sand Sasori had turned his body into a Human Puppet!
"Hehehehe…"
A smile crossed Orochimaru's lips as he suddenly came up with an amusing idea. He planned to go back and search for Red Sand Sasori's hidden true body.
Perhaps…
He could control this Puppet Master!
However, when Orochimaru returned, he was slightly late. White Zetsu Awei, like a diligent cleaner, had already gathered all the puppet parts.
"Has that guy already escaped?"
Orochimaru's eyes narrowed as he saw no trace of puppet fragments.
Clearly.
According to Orochimaru's guess, Red Sand Sasori had pretended to be dead and had left, otherwise there would be no one cleaning up the puppet debris.
Elsewhere.
A small town in the Land of River.
Jiraiya took Akihara Kagura for a cup of pear juice and, upon seeing a beautiful young girl on the road, immediately abandoned his disciple to chat her up.
This Instructor Jonin had some odd quirks; one didn't have to worry about him messing up important matters, but couldn't count on him to handle minor ones well.
It must be said, this was one of the perks of training under Jiraiya.
Perhaps for others, Jiraiya seemed irresponsible; but for Akihara Kagura, this moderate freedom was just right.
Akihara Kagura was the first to discover the heart that was the true body of Red Sand Sasori on the battlefield after the fight had ended. It was he who instructed White Zetsu Awei to gather Red Sand Sasori's body along with other miscellaneous puppet parts.
White Zetsu Awei took Akihara Kagura to a cave where it stored things.
"These are all the things I've collected…"
White Zetsu Awei pointed to a pile of puppet parts gathered at the top of the mountain, then revealed the cylindrical heart: "This thing is a bit peculiar, it always wants to hop around…"
"Because this is the Puppet Master's true form, right?"
Akihara Kagura reached out to take the cylindrical heart and couldn't help but laugh: "Awei, help me find a strong corpse, we might have a spy to plant in Akatsuki…"
"A spy in Akatsuki?"
White Zetsu Awei seemed confused and curiously asked: "Aren't we both members of Akatsuki? Just temporarily undercover in Konoha…"
Technically speaking, Uchiha Obito's subordinates were indeed members of the Akatsuki Organization.
"Members of Akatsuki, huh?"
Akihara Kagura glanced at the heart in his hand and murmured: "If we can't be the ones in charge of the Akatsuki Organization, how could we consider ourselves its members?"
Akihara Kagura looked at White Zetsu Awei, chuckling: "Even someone like Uchiha Obito can't be the leader in Akatsuki, let alone us, his subordinates…"
"Then…"
White Zetsu Awei glanced at the cylindrical heart in Akihara Kagura's hand: "Then… control him?"
"No."
Akihara Kagura shook his head, looking at the violently trembling heart in his hand, and spoke solemnly: "This isn't control, it's finding a like-minded companion."
"..."
White Zetsu Awei was greatly shocked.
This White Zetsu quickly sank into the ground, searching for a nearby strong body.
However, Akihara Kagura didn't actually need it, he just wanted a reason to send it away, as the pile of Human Puppet parts in front of him was enough, even finding a red-haired head.
Akihara Kagura wasn't skilled at making puppets, but with the ability to create Six Paths Puppets using Rinnegan (Lin), he could barely reach the level of a Super Puppet Master.
"Outdated artwork…"
Akihara Kagura said while picking up an arm and removing the blades within it: "The era has already changed…"
While speaking, Akihara Kagura raised his hand and formed a Chakra Black Rod, pushing it into the arm to serve as a Chakra Receiver.
Akihara Kagura was constructing his Asura Path Puppet.
Compared to creating Heavenly Dao Shisui, creating the Asura Path was easier because he only needed to complete the framework, leaving Red Sand Sasori to make improvements later.
While Akihara Kagura was assembling the Asura Path Puppet, the cylindrical heart on the ground was trembling intensely, desperately searching for a puppet to possess!
Akihara Kagura pieced together a Human Puppet resembling the red-haired boy, embedding Chakra Receivers all over it, before picking up the cylindrical heart from the ground and slowly placing it inside the Human Puppet.
"Finally, a body to use…"
This Human Puppet instantly gained Red Sand Sasori's consciousness.
Yet when Red Sand Sasori attempted to take control of the Human Puppet's body, he discovered that the body was not obedient to him—it was already controlled by a stronger individual using Yin-Yang Release!