"It broke? Brother Sasori's most prized human puppet was smashed just like that?"
Deidara was utterly shocked.
He knew Kimimaro was strong, perhaps even stronger than himself.
But he hadn't expected that in such a short span of battle, Kimimaro would shatter the puppet that Sasori of the Red Sand took so much pride in.
On one hand, he was amazed by Kimimaro's strength; on the other, his worry deepened.
Breaking the Third Kazekage, though repairable, had completely enraged Sasori.
The fight between the two was bound to escalate further.
"Heh, not bad."
Sasori laughed out of extreme anger, his laugh cold and chilling.
Deidara, familiar with Sasori, knew this meant he was absolutely furious.
*Clap!*
*Clap!*
*Clap!*
Sasori unbuttoned his Akatsuki cloak one by one, revealing his body.
It wasn't a normal human body anymore but a puppetized shell.
His abdomen opened up, not revealing organs, but instead coils of metal chains.
On his back were iron wings, formed from numerous blades, not only allowing him to fly but also capable of taking lives with ease.
In addition, there were four scrolls on his back.
Of course, what caught Kimimaro's eye the most was the regeneration core embedded in Sasori's left chest.
"Brother Sasori! You're taking this too seriously!"
Deidara wanted to intervene, but a single look from Sasori silenced him.
"Shut up!"
Deidara was frustrated, feeling completely helpless.
What had he done to deserve this? It seemed like he was stuck in the middle, unable to please either side.
"Kimimaro, no one can save you today!"
Sasori's killing intent grew more intense. Any ordinary ninja would have been paralyzed by fear at this point.
But for Kimimaro, it was nothing more than a mild appetizer.
His eyes were locked on Sasori's regeneration core—that was the prize he sought.
"Kill me? I doubt you have what it takes," Kimimaro said disdainfully.
It wasn't that he looked down on Sasori.
It's just that everything Sasori excelled at was hardly worth mentioning in Kimimaro's eyes.
With his medical ninjutsu on par with Tsunade's, Sasori's poisons posed no threat to him.
And the puppet techniques? Kimimaro could block or dodge those easily.
He simply couldn't see how he could lose.
"Hmph, a disciple of Orochimaru, arrogant just like him. But not even Orochimaru could speak with such confidence! Let me show you the true secret of a puppeteer!"
Sasori twitched his right index finger, pulling one of the scrolls from his back with a chakra string.
As he opened the scroll, clusters of red shadows flew out.
*Whoosh!*
*Whoosh!*
The red shadows hovered in midair.
It was a hundred puppets!
Chakra strings shot out from Sasori's regeneration core, connecting to each of the red puppets.
The sight of countless puppets in the sky was enough to make anyone's skin crawl.
"Oh no, Brother Sasori is really furious this time. He's even using the Hundred Puppet Performance. The last time he used this technique was to wipe out a small country. Kimimaro's in trouble now. It's like a hundred Chūnin attacking at once."
"And it only gets worse. As the number of puppets decreases, Brother Sasori's control becomes more precise, and the remaining puppets grow stronger. When only fifty remain, it's like fighting fifty Special Jōnin. At ten, it's like ten Jōnin attacking together. And if only two are left, they'll be as strong as two Kage-level puppet masters working in unison.
And this is a war of attrition. By the time only two puppets remain, Kimimaro will likely be completely exhausted.
Not to mention, Brother Sasori still has three more scrolls to unleash. I've never even seen what the last one does."
Deidara had witnessed Sasori's terrifying strength before and was all too familiar with the Hundred Puppet Performance technique.
Seeing this now, he couldn't help but break out in a cold sweat for Kimimaro.
"Kimimaro, you'd better hold on. Otherwise, I'll have no choice but to step in, even if it means angering Brother Sasori."
Deidara didn't want to see his newfound comrade die like this.
So, if Kimimaro couldn't handle it, Deidara was prepared to intervene, even at the risk of displeasing Sasori.
"Impressive."
Kimimaro gazed at the sea of red puppets in awe.
Sasori of the Red Sand truly was a formidable opponent.
"Kimimaro, you shattered my human puppet. I'll use your body to make up for it. I've never made a puppet from someone with your Shikotsumyaku before—it should be quite powerful."
Sasori, feeling confident in his victory, began to taunt.
Kimimaro, however, simply raised his bone sword and pointed it toward Sasori in the distance.
"Thinking about that now is a bit premature. As for your human puppet technique, I'm more interested in you becoming my experiment. That odd thing in your chest will look good in my lab."
Seeing the look in Kimimaro's eyes, as if he were sizing him up for dissection, Sasori's anger flared even hotter.
"Hmph, just like Orochimaru. Enough talk—die!"
Hundreds of red puppets charged forward.
They moved in perfect sync—who would strike first, who would follow up, who would attack, who would defend, who would go for ranged strikes, and who would go in close—all decided in an instant.
At this moment, they were like a well-trained army of ninja experts in team combat.
The first puppet, wielding twin blades, rushed at Kimimaro, the blades glowing faintly.
No doubt they were coated with poison.
If struck, an ordinary person would lose their ability to move in an instant.
This was the terrifying thing about puppet masters.
Every one of their attacks could be fatal.
In this way, puppet masters could be even more dangerous than someone like Hidan.
At least with Hidan's abilities, you had a chance to react. But with a puppet master's poison, a single mistake could mean instant death.
Though, Hidan's power was much more mysterious.
Before figuring out the secret to it, his technique always worked without fail.
With a puppet master, at least people knew to watch out for poisoned blades.
Next to the dual-blade puppet was a shield-bearing puppet.
One attacked, one defended—a perfect combination.
Meanwhile, long-range puppets were already firing senbon, blocking off Kimimaro's escape routes.
Kimimaro was genuinely curious. How was Sasori able to split his focus among a hundred puppets?
And where did he get the kind of vision required to track every puppet's movement?
Even the Hyuga clan, with their Byakugan, would struggle to cover such a wide field of view.
How was Sasori doing it?
"Interesting."
Kimimaro's lips curled into a faint smile, and then, with his left hand, he summoned another bone sword.
"Stardust Stream Slash!"
(End of Chapter)