This wasn't a cave. The vast landscape offered more room for maneuvers; the same Ninjutsu could be used entirely differently.
Dense Iron Sand bullets filled the sky, blanketing an area over a hundred meters in diameter, leaving no room for escape.
Pain was currently performing Ninjutsu, too late to defend. He was doomed.
In his mind, Sasori concluded the battle's outcome.
But facing this dense assault, Pain merely slowly closed his eyes, opening them the moment the Iron Sand bullets neared. "Shinra Tensei!"
Attractive force instantly transformed into repulsive force.
An irresistible shockwave slammed into the Iron Sand and Sasori, sending them flying back at several times their original speed. Sasori's body disintegrated mid-air, scattering into countless mechanical parts: forearms, lower legs, thighs, torso, chest, gears, axles... littering the ground.
Pain was momentarily stunned, then returned to indifference.
He had held back. If Sasori died that easily, he wasn't worthy of joining Akatsuki.
The thought had just crossed Pain's mind when the scattered parts trembled. Then, as if controlled, they flew toward the center, assembling piece by piece like a robot, reconstructing Sasori's body.
Under the sunlight, the gleaming body revealed his nature to others.
This was a puppet.
Sasori tilted his neck, straightened his head, and looked at Pain. "To seamlessly switch between Ninjutsu mid-casting without hand seals... It seems your claim of fighting the Third Kazekage wasn't boasting."
Pain glanced at him indifferently, ignoring his words, and spoke as if to himself, "I misjudged. To think it was a puppet all along. It seems you indeed possess the strength that meets Akatsuki's requirements, as Zetsu said."
"No, you didn't misjudge."
"Hmm?"
"The Shinobi named 'Sasori of the Red Sand' is no longer human but truly a puppet!" Sasori pressed a hand to his chest. "No warmth, no heartbeat, no flesh and blood. Through soul transfer technology, the body was completely converted to machinery. Now, I have even lost human emotions. I am a true puppet."
"A puppet, huh..." Pain looked at the puppet standing in the distance, a trace of complexity flashing across his face before returning to indifference. "Puppet or human, as long as you meet Akatsuki's requirements, that's enough. Sasori of the Red Sand, I ask you again: will you join Akatsuki?"
"Hmm~"
The corner of Sasori's mouth lifted slightly. Despite being a puppet, he displayed a human-like smile.
"If you want me to join, first defeat me!"
"Then there's no choice."
Pain slowly exhaled, then stood motionless.
"?"
A question mark flashed behind Sasori's head.
While puzzled, his body suddenly tightened. Something invisible bound him, along with his hands, and lifted him up.
A green lizard appeared on the cliff behind.
It opened its large mouth, extending a long tongue that tightly bound Sasori.
"A summon, huh!"
Sasori understood. Flicking his right finger, the Third Kazekage human puppet, pulled by Chakra Threads, flew toward the lizard with arm blades extended.
Suddenly, a giant man descended from above, sitting squarely on the Third Kazekage human puppet.
Staring at this suddenly appearing giant, Sasori's eyes widened.
Before he could recover, a long-haired man abruptly appeared before him, grabbing his head and gently pulling outward. A blue soul was half-extracted before stopping.
"Still want to fight?" Pain asked calmly.
Sasori glanced at the giant man and the long-haired man, then turned his gaze to Pain. "Calling for hidden ambushers? With such skills, you want me to join?"
"They are all one entity."
Pain spoke indifferently. Three more figures appeared within Sasori's line of sight.
"Let me introduce myself properly. I am the Deva Path. They are the Human Path, Hell Path, Preta Path, Animal Path, and Asura Path. Together, we six form the complete Pain. If you don't understand, you can think of them as clones."
"The Six Paths, Pain... The Six Paths of Pain, huh... I never imagined such a terrifying individual existed in the world."
Sasori took a deep breath.
After all, he was an unprecedented puppeteer. Though he didn't understand the specifics, he roughly grasped what Pain was.
Though ambushed without prior knowledge, the opponent managed to ambush him… that was their skill. He accepted the loss wholeheartedly.
Hearing this, the Human Path released his right hand. The giant lizard also returned Sasori to the ground and retracted its tongue.
Sasori moved his body, ensuring his puppet form was undamaged, then looked at the Deva Path Pain. "So, what must one do after joining the organization?"
"The priority goal is to gather ten members. Currently, you are the third." As he spoke, the Deva Path Pain took out a ring inscribed with the character 'Jade' and handed it over. He continued, "Sasori of the Red Sand, from now on, you are a member of our Akatsuki organization. Codename: Jade Maiden."
"Jade Maiden, huh..." Sasori repeated the codename, taking the ring and turning it over in his hand before casually putting it on. "Understood. So, are there targets for the other seven members?"
"Only one for now." The Deva Path Pain handed Sasori the information scroll Black Zetsu had given him. "This is an individual who has lived nearly a hundred years. Do you have confidence in recruiting him?"
Sasori opened the scroll, saw the information, and couldn't help but widen his eyes slightly.
'Active as a Shinobi since the Warring States Period, still possessing the bodily vitality of a youth... This was undoubtedly another monster.'
Akatsuki already had Pain, who could easily defeat me, and myself, who had killed the Third Kazekage. Now they wanted to recruit such monsters... What exactly did this organization plan to do?'
Thinking this, Sasori quickly looked up at Pain. "Must the remaining members be recruited to this standard?"
"Correct!"
Receiving this answer, even without a physical body, Sasori couldn't help but suck in a breath.
'Nine members at least at Kage-level, one leader capable of easily defeating Kage-level opponents... Such an organization was terrifying.'
'Kureno Ryuji, now I finally understand why even a genius like you arranged for me to infiltrate this organization as a spy.'
Sasori, as a puppeteer, possessed unprecedented talent, surpassing even the puppet art's founder, Chikamatsu Monzaemon.
Such Sasori was undoubtedly proud.
And for Ryuji, who possessed talent rivaling or even surpassing his own, he felt jealousy, envy, and admiration.
Thus, for the past half-year, he couldn't understand. With Ryuji's talent, strength, and the backing of Sunagakure, why fear an obscure organization enough to send him, a major criminal, as a spy.
But now he understood.
If this organization truly gathered ten members of such caliber, none of the Five Great Shinobi Villages could afford to ignore it.
No, it wasn't just about raw power.
An organization needing so many elites surely had grand ambitions.
Perhaps this was what Ryuji truly worried about.
As for whether Akatsuki could gather ten such members, since Ryuji was worried, it seemed certain they could.
Only—
'How did he know?'
Sasori was curious.
Although deducing clues could allow predicting the future.
But this Akatsuki had shown no prior signs; deduction alone couldn't explain it.
'Is it a future-predicting Ninjutsu, or do you possess intelligence channels unknown to me?'
For a moment, the already towering figure in his eyes grew even taller and more mysterious, surpassing even the deep impression Pain had just left in his heart.
…
(A/N: Regarding the previous chapter's mention of an 'explosive tag sub-space', that's an original setting. The original work provides no explanation for the summoning principles of Mutually Multiplying Explosive Tags or the Exploding Sword. This is an original setting to avoid power system inconsistencies.
Otherwise, if one could infinitely summon explosive tags arbitrarily, with the protagonist's technology, mass-producing infinite explosive tag cannons would be trivial.)