Setting aside the two men who looked at Sasori as if he were a guiding light, Sasori himself was equally excited.
Ever since he had started following Kakuzu's trail toward the Land of Lightning, he had discovered one thing:
He was lost.
It was understandable. Before poisoning the Third Kazekage, Sasori had been a shut-in puppeteer in Sunagakure, meticulously researching new technologies. He had rarely left the Land of Wind. Even after killing the Third, he mostly lingered near the border. Traveling this far to kill someone was a first-time experience for him.
Because of this, shortly after leaving the exchange in the Land of Frost, he realized he had lost the trail of Kakuzu, whom he had intended to eliminate. He felt a bit of regret for dismissing the turban-wearing ninja he had controlled with his Brainwashing Sand; at the very least, he should have asked about the local geography first.
Fortunately, unlike the two men staring blankly at each other by the fire, Sasori had a map. Following it, though he had strayed from the main road, he was generally heading in the right direction. Soon, he had arrived at this dilapidated town along the path between Frost and Lightning.
However, just as Sasori was preparing to recalibrate his direction and bypass the town, a violent surge of chakra erupted from the center. A beam of blazing light shot into the sky.
The quality of that chakra—the sheer heat and power contained within—surpassed most of his collectibles. It could even rival the top-secret contents of the second scroll bound to his waist!
His eyes narrowed. He judged instantly: This is absolutely a premier Fire Style user of the shinobi world!
Then, to his surprise, a second, frigid chakra signature rose. A fierce battle quickly broke out in the town center. Sasori felt his heart skip a beat—this was the feeling of being in love with a new potential puppet. Without hesitation, he rushed toward the source of the conflict.
Now, the two sides finally met.
"What an unexpected delight!" Sasori smiled, looking at the two strange figures across from him.
One was a young man dressed in a vintage style, looking as if he'd wandered off a Warring States period movie set, yet wearing a pair of fashionable sunglasses.
The other looked a few years younger than himself, with handsome features that rivaled his own, but his eyes were covered by a black cloth—a blind brat.
Sasori's eyes flickered as he made an instant judgment. Without hesitation, he drew his flintlock pistol with his left hand, lowered his body, and charged forward at high speed! His other hand flicked a long, straight iron spike from his sleeve. He raised the gun, aiming it directly at En Oyashiro!
The tall one looks more difficult; I'll kill him first! Then I'll poison and interrogate the blind kid for information before finishing him off!
Whoosh!
The wind from his charge tossed Sasori's short red hair. His gaze lit up with a heartless, murderous intent.
En Oyashiro blinked in surprise, watching the "guide" rush toward him with a ravenous hunger, clearly intent on killing him. He focused on the iron spike, his body tensing to dodge.
At the same time, the Ketsuryūgan flared beneath his shades! The moment he made eye contact with Sasori—
Genjutsu: Ketsuryūgan!
The ocular power shot straight through Sasori. Yet, despite making direct eye contact, Sasori showed no signs of being controlled and continued his charge!
"What?!" En Oyashiro was stunned. "Genjutsu is ineffective against him?"
Right then, Ren Uchiha's startled voice rang out from the side:
"Holy crap! This kid has a gun???"
Immediately after, Ren warned with a strange expression, "Hey, Oyashiro! Watch out for the weapon in his left hand! And watch the strings!"
En Oyashiro froze for a second. A gun? Strings? What is he talking about?
Just as he was about to ask—
BANG!
The gunshot rang out! A beam of light, too fast for the average eye to track, shot toward En Oyashiro.
However, the Ketsuryūgan was anything but average. Forewarned by Ren, En had already focused on the odd weapon. In the vision of the Ketsuryūgan, the speed of the light bullet was still something that could be tracked.
En Oyashiro performed a lateral leap, narrowly dodging the light beam. Simultaneously, remembering Ren's warning, his gaze fell upon the faint, almost invisible threads trailing behind the red-haired boy.
He immediately formed a seal with his hands.
"Water Style: Water Hail!"
He gripped his left wrist and opened his right palm. A dense spray of water bullets erupted, tearing through the red-haired boy's body while severing the chakra threads behind him.
As the threads snapped, the boy who had been charging at En Oyashiro suddenly stiffened and collapsed into a pile of sand.
Clatter!
The finely crafted pistol fell into the sand alongside the remains of the clone.
"Those were... chakra threads? And a Sand Clone?"
"The technique this kid used... is the Puppet Mastery of the Kazekage's lineage?"
En Oyashiro's heart chilled. He finally understood why his genjutsu had failed. The boy before him wasn't the real body, but a Sand Clone controlled by chakra threads.
The real body was hidden, using threads to operate a clone to avoid the heavy chakra drain of a standard Sand Clone, all while using a weapon that fired rapidly and could attack without seals. This hidden ninja was cunning, cautious, and understood the art of combat perfectly.
En Oyashiro wanted to curse out loud. His Chinoike clan had been imprisoned in Hell Valley for a hundred years; had the ninjas of the outside world evolved to be this devious?
So, where is the real body?
While En Oyashiro was feeling the headache, Sasori, hidden in the shadows, also frowned.
"The eyes behind those shades are a bloodline dōjutsu I've never seen before. He can actually track the trajectory of the light bullet?"
"This guy is troublesome..."
"Furthermore, he clearly hadn't seen my tactics before. It was only because the other kid shouted a warning that he dodged the third stage of my attack!"
Thinking of this, Sasori's gaze fell on Ren Uchiha, who was currently trotting over with a look of awe, bending down to pick up the fallen pistol.
"Then I'll kill you first!"
Sasori acted immediately! Using Earth Style: Hiding Like a Mole, he moved silently through the ground, rapidly closing the distance to Ren.
The moment the distance dropped to within seven paces—
"Now!"
Sasori burst from the ground, leaping into the air. He drew two pistols from his waist and aimed them directly at Ren's head!
"Even if you have a bloodline that can see the trajectory, at this range, it is an impossible attack to dodge!"
Sasori's gaze fell on the black cloth covering Ren's eyes, and he let out a cold sneer.
"Especially for a blind brat like you!"
BANG! BANG!
Two violent gunshots exploded in an instant!
"Brat, times have changed!"
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