Hearing Sasori's cold reprimand, Uchiha Yuan raised an eyebrow and chuckled lightly.
"Seems like you care about her quite a bit."
The moment his words fell—
His figure flickered.
A faint whistling sound cut through the air as a steel needle shot past where he had just been standing.
Sasori had raised his right hand—
From his palm extended a metal tube.
The needle had been fired from it.
As Yuan's figure continued to blur—
A series of mechanical clicks sounded from Sasori's arm.
His entire hand flipped and detached, instantly transforming into a multi-barreled mechanism, resembling a rapid-fire weapon.
The barrels spun.
Dozens of nearly three-inch-long steel needles burst forth, chasing Yuan's movements.
Yuan suddenly halted midair.
A needle flew past directly in front of his face.
He even caught a faint, sweet scent—
Poison.
Without hesitation, he used Moon Step, sharply reversing direction.
Then—
He changed trajectory several times in rapid succession, dodging the incoming barrage.
After more than ten seconds—
The mechanism finally exhausted all its ammunition.
Yuan landed lightly atop a tree that had been overturned by the flood earlier.
Looking at Sasori's right hand as it folded back into its original shape, he thought:
He's already begun modifying his own body…
At that moment—
A soft groan came from his arms.
Pakura slowly opened her eyes.
Her gaze was dazed—
Then a flash of red hair entered her vision.
It felt familiar.
As her focus sharpened—
Her eyes widened in shock.
"Sasori!"
During the Third Shinobi War, Sunagakure had initiated the conflict—
The trigger being the mysterious disappearance of the Third Kazekage.
At the same time, the one who vanished alongside him—
Was his most trusted subordinate and disciple:
Sasori.
If Sasori is here… then what about the Third Kazekage…?
Just as Pakura was about to speak—
Her head tilted.
She lost consciousness again.
Yuan withdrew his hand from the back of her neck.
He had just pressed a pressure point to knock her out again.
Then he smiled faintly at Sasori.
"You should thank me."
"You're probably not ready to face her yet, are you?"
Sasori frowned slightly.
There was something meaningful in Yuan's words.
It felt as though Yuan was hinting at something—
But recalling the "material" sealed within his scroll, Sasori was certain:
No one should know.
"What was that technique just now?"
Sasori asked.
In the ninja world, shinobi could use chakra to walk on water, climb trees, or burrow underground—
But true flight was extremely rare.
As far as Sasori knew:
The Light-Weight Rock Technique from Iwagakure allowed flight—but only Onoki could use it.The Peacock Mystic Art from the hidden Star Village also enabled aerial movement.
But Yuan's movement—
Wasn't flight.
It was closer to walking through the air itself.
Even more shocking—
Sasori hadn't sensed any chakra fluctuation.
That meant it was a purely physical technique.
"Moon Step."
Yuan replied calmly.
"My own creation."
Sasori stared at him deeply.
"A self-created technique…"
"As expected of Konoha. So many geniuses."
Then his killing intent surged.
"But unfortunately—"
"Konoha is about to lose one today."
Yuan let out a soft chuckle as he felt the killing intent.
"You are Sasori of the Red Sand…"
"And I—"
He smiled faintly.
"Am known in your Sunagakure…"
"As the Konoha Ferocious Tiger."
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