After Uzumaki Naruto agreed, Kitazawa used the Flying Thunder God Technique.
When he returned, Chiyo and the others were already fighting Sasori.
Kitazawa didn't rush in right away. Instead, he stood at a distance and observed them with the Byakugan.
Naruto glanced around, scratched his head, and looked puzzled.
Without the Byakugan, all he could do was watch Chiyo's group battling Sasori and feel confused about what was going on. But because he trusted Kitazawa, he didn't ask any questions.
Sunagakure had brought eight people in total, including Chiyo—every one of them jōnin.
But their opponent was Sasori.
As the strongest puppet master, Sasori could wipe out a small country all by himself.
And he wasn't just the strongest puppet master—he was also the most dangerous poison specialist.
Before long, two of Sunagakure's jōnin collapsed after being poisoned.
In truth, they'd only suffered minor wounds by accident, but the toxin spread through the cuts and completely took away their ability to fight.
Seeing this, Chiyo quickly had the others keep Sasori busy while she went to save the injured.
But what she didn't expect was that even she was helpless against Sasori's poison.
Kitazawa thought of Kankurō in the original story.
After Gaara was taken, Kankurō immediately led a team in pursuit—and ended up poisoned by Sasori.
They carried him back to Sunagakure, and even with all of the village's medical ninja treating him, no one could neutralize the poison in his body.
Chiyo was the same.
In the end, Haruno Sakura arrived and cured Kankurō.
It was one of Sakura's standout moments in the original story.
But now, without Sakura, the situation turned grim.
Because fighting a monster like Sasori while staying completely uninjured was an unreasonable demand for Chiyo and the others.
Time slowly passed.
Sweat seeped from Chiyo's forehead.
Including her, Sunagakure only had three jōnin left standing.
The other two, though not yet poisoned, had already been beaten into losing all confidence.
And with them fighting so cautiously, getting poisoned was only a matter of time.
"You take them and leave first. I'll deal with Sasori."
Chiyo took a deep breath and made her decision.
She was prepared to sacrifice herself.
The two remaining jōnin exchanged a glance, hesitated for two seconds, then did as she said.
Sasori never tried to stop them.
He simply watched quietly as they carried away every poisoned jōnin.
"Sasori… why did you take Gaara?"
Chiyo asked, her expression complicated.
During the fight, Sasori had already emerged from the Hiruko puppet and revealed his true body.
Though "true body" was just a name—he'd long since turned himself into a puppet.
That was why his appearance hadn't changed with age. He still looked like a teenager.
"There's no reason," Sasori said coldly. "If you want to see him, then kill me. But from the look of it, you don't have the strength."
Chiyo sighed heavily inside.
She had never imagined she'd one day be forced into a fight to the death with her own grandson.
But no matter what, Gaara had to be brought back.
White Secret Technique: The Chikamatsu Collection of Ten Puppets!
Chiyo raised both hands and unsealed a scroll.
Ten puppets appeared around her.
She was going all out now.
Sasori casually opened a scroll of his own, summoning over a hundred puppets.
"What?!"
Chiyo couldn't hide her shock.
Even top-tier puppet masters could only control ten puppets at once—this was the first time she'd ever seen someone control over a hundred.
After the shock came pain.
Sasori should have stayed in Sunagakure and become the pillar that held the village up—not joined the Akatsuki and become Sunagakure's enemy.
Chiyo understood Sunagakure's current reality all too well: the village was short on talent, top to bottom.
If Sasori had been there, things wouldn't be this humiliating.
And so the puppet-master battle began.
Chiyo's White Secret Technique: Chikamatsu's Ten Puppets clashed with Sasori's Red Secret Technique: Performance of a Hundred Puppets, trading blows back and forth.
But in the end, she was old. The longer the battle dragged on, the heavier she felt.
And Sasori still had the Third Kazekage—turned into a human puppet.
Chiyo knew the Third Kazekage's strength well.
Even though he was dead now, as a human puppet he could still use every jutsu he'd had in life.
In other words, whether alive or dead, his combat power hadn't changed much.
Just then, Sasori suddenly stopped his hands and pulled all his puppets back two steps.
Chiyo froze, not understanding why.
But quickly she noticed two figures approaching in the distance.
Reinforcements from Sunagakure? Kirigakure shinobi?
A dozen thoughts flashed through her mind, but she didn't feel much joy.
In her view, unless the Fifth Mizukage Terumī Mei had come in person, Kirigakure had no one who could beat Sasori.
And Sunagakure was the same—the only way out would be if the badly injured Fourth Kazekage Rasa somehow showed up in perfect condition.
But when the two figures came closer, Chiyo went still.
Not Sunagakure. Not Kirigakure.
Konoha.
"Kitazawa?"
After sizing him up twice, Chiyo blurted the name out.
The moment Sasori heard "Kitazawa," his guard went up.
Kitazawa's reputation was simply too famous—especially as the second Wood Release user in the shinobi world since Hashirama Senju.
"Granny Chiyo, nice to meet you. I bring you greetings on behalf of my teacher, Tsunade."
Kitazawa smiled lightly.
"Y-You… why are you here?"
Chiyo asked, stunned.
"I just happened to be passing by," Kitazawa replied.
"I'm not a three-year-old. You think I'd believe that?"
Chiyo shot back.
"The priority right now is saving Gaara," Kitazawa reminded her.
Chiyo's expression stiffened and she fell silent.
Earlier, she'd thought only Rasa or Mei arriving personally could resolve this crisis.
But in theory, Kitazawa's arrival was even better than either of them.
The only problem was that he was a Konoha shinobi.
And at present, Sunagakure and Konoha weren't allies.
Still… he was right. Saving Gaara mattered most.
"Kitazawa," Chiyo said sincerely, "I'd like to ask for your help. Once we bring Gaara back, Sunagakure is willing to offer appropriate compensation."
A veteran through and through—she knew when to bend and when to stand.
Kitazawa nodded, accepting.
After all, he'd come today for Sasori in the first place.
With those words from Chiyo, he now had a legitimate reason.
Sasori didn't retreat.
He had great confidence in his strength.
Kitazawa's fame was one thing, but fame didn't equal real power.
Sasori believed that with the Third Kazekage, even if he couldn't win, he could escape.
The Third Kazekage had Magnet Release—he could carry Sasori and fly.
Neither Chiyo nor Kitazawa would be able to catch them.
"Naruto," Kitazawa said, "he's your mission target today. Just defeat him."
"Yes, Kitazawa-sensei!"
Naruto answered excitedly.
He hadn't seen the earlier fight, but the sight of over a hundred puppets told him this wasn't some ordinary ninja.
"Wait."
Chiyo widened her eyes. "You're not going to fight?"
"I don't need to," Kitazawa said calmly. "And neither do you."
Chiyo's first thought was that Kitazawa had lost his mind—thinking some brat could defeat Sasori.
Even Sasori, for the first time in a long while, felt irritated.
This was the first time anyone had looked down on him so blatantly.
"His name is Uzumaki Naruto—son of the Fourth Hokage, and my student," Kitazawa introduced.
Chiyo froze for a moment, but her expression still looked awful.
Namikaze Minato was indeed incredible—but that didn't mean his son would be.
More importantly, Naruto looked far too young.
Even Minato had been unknown at eleven or twelve.
But Sasori was a monster who had killed the Third Kazekage—an outright Kage-level threat.
"You—"
Chiyo had barely spoken one word when she abruptly stopped.
At the same moment, Sasori's heart jolted.
Dark red chakra burst skyward from Naruto, condensing into four tails in the blink of an eye.
"He's… the Nine-Tails jinchūriki?"
Now Chiyo understood where Kitazawa's confidence came from.
"The Nine-Tails jinchūriki…"
Sasori also guessed Naruto's identity.
His first instinct was to capture him and bring him back to the Akatsuki.
But doing that in front of Chiyo and Kitazawa wouldn't be easy.
And as the Nine-Tails jinchūriki, Naruto's raw potential was arguably the greatest of all jinchūriki.
Still, he was young—he shouldn't be that strong.
As Sasori's thoughts raced, he didn't hesitate. He raised both hands.
All the puppets around him surged toward Naruto.
With so many of them, Naruto was instantly surrounded from every direction.
Chiyo instinctively tried to control her ten puppets to break him out.
But seeing Kitazawa standing there unbothered, she stopped again.
"Multiple Shadow Clone Jutsu!"
Naruto formed hand seals.
In an instant, over two thousand shadow clones appeared and launched a counterattack against the hundred-plus puppets.
Chiyo's face went blank.
She'd seen many jinchūriki—but she'd never seen one use Multiple Shadow Clone Jutsu like this.
Bang! Bang! Bang!—the sounds echoed nonstop.
Some were Naruto's clones being destroyed into smoke.
Others were Sasori's puppets being smashed apart.
Puppet-master battles were always about winning with numbers—using multiple puppets to overwhelm a smaller force.
But today, the situation was reversed.
Sasori's gaze sharpened as he immediately changed tactics.
Behind him, the Third Kazekage formed seals and flew up into the air.
"Watch out for his Magnet Release!"
Chiyo shouted urgently.
"What's Magnet Release?"
Naruto asked.
"…"
Chiyo reflexively looked at Kitazawa.
"Ahem," Kitazawa explained. "He hasn't graduated yet, so he doesn't know much about Magnet Release."
"…?"
Chiyo's face filled with question marks.
Magnet Release: Iron Sand Drizzle!
While they were talking, the Third Kazekage's attack had already fallen.
Waves of iron sand rose around him, then transformed into a torrential downpour of needle-like projectiles.
The cracking impacts rang out again and again.
Many shadow clones vanished into smoke under the onslaught.
"So strong!"
Naruto exclaimed, then shouted, "Wind Style: Gale Palm!"
The remaining clones slammed their palms forward together.
A raging wind surged into existence, spiraling outward and blowing the iron sand needles away.
And it didn't stop there—like a translucent dragon, the gale slammed straight into the Third Kazekage.
Magnet Release: Iron Sand Wall!
The Third Kazekage hurriedly formed seals.
A wall of iron sand rose in front of him.
Even so, the endless wind bent the wall into a terrifying arc, as if it might snap any second.
Chiyo stared, dumbfounded.
A C-rank Wind Style: Gale Palm… had this kind of power?
Sasori said nothing, but he finally became serious.
His fingers moved again, controlling the Third Kazekage once more.
Iron Sand Gathering Assault!
A massive spinning top dropped from the sky, aiming at Naruto.
There were many clones present, but only the original had entered a partial tailed-beast state—so there was no need to guess which one was real.
"Konoha Sword Style!"
Naruto threw out a scroll.
A giant blade—Samehada—appeared.
He gripped Samehada with both hands and charged in.
Boom!
Samehada collided with the spinning top.
The tremendous weight created a terrifying shockwave.
Naruto roared, and in his hands Samehada swung like a tennis racket—swatting the spinning top back.
Chiyo's mouth twitched.
So this was "big strength solves everything"?
Magnet Release: Iron Sand Cylinder!
The Third Kazekage quickly formed a cylinder to block the top.
Magnet Release: Iron Sand Wings!
Wings sprouted from the Third Kazekage's back.
With a burst of speed, he appeared above Naruto.
Then he flapped his wings, and countless feather-like projectiles slammed down at extreme speed.
"Wind Style: Vacuum Shuriken!"
Naruto and his clones threw shuriken.
The dense shuriken and the falling "feathers" detonated in midair in a chain of explosions.
Chakra turbulence surged in every direction.
"The Nine-Tails jinchūriki really is a headache…"
Sasori raised his hand thoughtfully.
Flamethrower!
Fire burst from his palms.
The moment it touched the ground, it spread rapidly, turning into a sea of flames.
It was naturally aimed at Naruto's countless shadow clones.
Caught off guard, many clones were swallowed by the fire.
"Wind Style: Gale Palm!"
Naruto shouted.
The howling wind blasted toward the firestorm, immediately halting its spread.
Sasori's mind shifted, and the Third Kazekage in the sky launched another attack at the same time.
Magnet Release: Giant Iron Sand Needles!
Eight spear-like iron sand lances shot down like arrows.
Naruto instinctively looked up and saw them aimed at his vital points.
His reaction was fast—he thrust out his hand.
"Yang Release: Rasengan!"
Naruto drew on more than half his chakra in one go.
A dazzling light flared.
A blue Rasengan like a miniature sun formed in front of him.
The eight lances struck—and were instantly knocked away.
Maintaining the enormous Yang Release Rasengan, Naruto charged straight at Sasori.
Sasori hurried to block with puppets.
But the moment a puppet touched the Yang Release Rasengan, it shattered into dust with crisp cracking sounds.
"Is that… still a Rasengan?"
Chiyo whispered in a daze.
Sasori yanked his hands downward.
The Third Kazekage dropped in front of him.
Thousand Hands Manipulation Force!
The Third Kazekage raised his left arm. Seals activated along it, and a thousand arms erupted outward.
Like a massive dragon, they slammed into the Yang Release Rasengan.
A collision thundered.
Arms snapped one after another.
But there were too many—forcing a deadlock.
Water Stream Shooters!
Seizing the opening, Sasori raised his hands.
Openings in his palms widened, blasting out high-pressure water cannons.
Some puppets couldn't dodge in time and were destroyed—reduced to fragments.
"Leaf Gust!"
"Violent — Leaf Adamantine-Strength Whirlwind!"
"Leaf Rock-Destroying Rise!"
While Naruto maintained the Yang Release Rasengan, his shadow clones attacked the high-pressure water.
But the instant they made contact, they screamed.
The extreme poison in the water dropped them one by one, collapsing as they writhed in agony.
Still, their interference slowed it down somewhat.
"AAAAAH!"
Naruto strained with his entire body. The tails behind him surged from four to six.
The Third Kazekage's thousand arms were crushed like they'd been run through a grinding mill—pulverized into pieces.
Sasori's eyes tightened. He immediately had the Third Kazekage carry him up into the air.
Naruto lost his target, and the massive Yang Release Rasengan smashed into the ground instead.
BOOM!
The earth shook violently, and an unfathomably deep crater was carved out.
Sasori fell silent.
A human puppet wasn't flesh and blood anymore, but it still had a core—its regeneration core.
If that core was destroyed, he would die for good.
If he hadn't dodged just now, he would likely have been torn apart by the Yang Release Rasengan—and the core would probably have been destroyed as well.
He had to admit it: Naruto was stronger than he'd expected.
Even without Kitazawa and Chiyo, Sasori wasn't confident he could capture him.
Still, Akatsuki's other members had already left.
Sasori should have left too—Shukaku had already been successfully absorbed by the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path.
But when he heard Chiyo was the one chasing, he chose to stay behind alone.
Even so, it wasn't time to give up yet.
Sasori moved his hands again.
Behind him, the Third Kazekage released him, formed seals midair—
Magnet Release: Iron Sand World Method!
A violent wind rose, the sound of chakra overflowing.
Iron sand compressed to the extreme spread outward from him.
In a blink, a dense web formed in the air.
The web continued extending downward, and wherever it passed, Naruto's shadow clones were pierced and dispersed into smoke.
"Rasengan!"
Some clones tried to use Rasengan on it, but it did nothing.
"This is the Third Kazekage's strongest Magnet Release," Chiyo said gravely. "Within this barrier, he can control everything."
As she spoke, the ground cracked and the iron sand stabbed deep underground.
The iron sand barrier fully formed.
The Third Kazekage waved his hands, and the barrier moved with him, turning into countless needle-like thrusts aimed at Naruto and his clones.
In moments, more than half of Naruto's clones vanished.
"Leaf Dragon God!"
Naruto used his strongest taijutsu without hesitation.
Nearby clones immediately reached out.
Chakra surged, wrapping around the spinning body, and green dragons began to form—
But in the next second, even more violent chakra erupted skyward.
Compared to the green dragons, this one was larger—covered in blood-red chakra, like a monster crawling out of hell.
"Full Tailed Beast Transformation? No—wait, that's not it!"
Chiyo's pupils trembled.
This blood-red dragon was already not smaller than an ordinary tailed beast.
Kitazawa smiled faintly.
This was Naruto at six tails.
Combined with Leaf Dragon God, and setting aside Tailed Beast Bombs, he could already fight many tailed beasts to a standstill.
When the blood-red dragon and the green dragons started moving, the world itself shook.
The ground split. Dust roared upward.
The strongest Magnet Release technique—Iron Sand World Method—couldn't even last one second under the violent impact.
Iron sand fragments and chakra shockwaves sprayed outward like ripples.
And Sasori's Red Secret Technique: Performance of a Hundred Puppets wasn't spared either—his puppets were torn to pieces in the storm.
Everything within sight was flattened beneath the dragons' rampage.
Chiyo stood there with her mouth open, unable to recover.
So this was the power of the strongest Nine-Tails jinchūriki…
Kitazawa activated the Byakugan and locked onto Sasori.
Against so many Leaf Dragon Gods, Sasori couldn't withstand it.
But he was a human puppet—damage to his body didn't matter much.
The only thing that mattered was the regeneration core.
Kitazawa narrowed his eyes and vanished from where he stood.
In an instant, he appeared in front of Sasori.
Byakugan: Pressure!
Sasori saw him and tried to raise a hand to attack—but felt a terrifying pressure crash down on him.
Caught completely off guard, he was slammed to the ground and couldn't move.
As stunned as he was, Sasori was even more shocked.
What kind of technique was this?
Kitazawa immediately formed hand seals.
Cursed Seal of Heaven!
With Sasori pinned under Byakugan: Pressure and unable to resist at all, black curse marks spread across his body.
Kitazawa stepped in for two reasons.
First, to complete his system mission.
The mission said "defeat Sasori." It didn't specify who had to do it, but to be safe, he wanted to be involved.
Second, to save Sasori.
A living Sasori was obviously more valuable.
And besides Sasori, there was also the Third Kazekage—Kitazawa took him as well.
Even though the Third Kazekage was dead, as a human puppet his combat power was still impressive.
Kitazawa had Byakugan: Puppet Control—he was a legitimate puppet master.
He could use the Third Kazekage in battle himself.
"Stop, Naruto!"
Kitazawa shouted.
Naruto, happily spinning away, immediately dismissed Leaf Dragon God and the Multiple Shadow Clone Jutsu.
"Where's Sasori?"
Chiyo hurried over and asked.
"Sasori was defeated by Naruto," Kitazawa said with a smile. "By shinobi-world rules, he belongs to Konoha as spoils of war—including his puppets."
Chiyo looked like she wanted to speak, but in the end she didn't dare say anything.
After all, she couldn't possibly snatch Sasori and the Third Kazekage back from Kitazawa and Naruto.
They could negotiate later.
"Let's find Gaara first," Chiyo said, quickly returning to what mattered.
"I know where he is," Kitazawa nodded. "Follow me."
He had already seen Gaara the moment he activated the Byakugan.
[Current Mission: Defeat Sasori.]
[Mission Reward: Red Secret Technique: Performance of a Hundred Puppets.]
[Mission Completed. Reward Granted.]
Kitazawa glanced at it and ignored it.
For him, the most important thing now was publicizing Naruto.
He'd already prepared the headline:
The Fourth Hokage's son defeated Sasori of the Red Sand—the man who killed the Third Kazekage.
As for Naruto being the Nine-Tails jinchūriki—at this point, there was no need to hide it anymore.
After all, there were only a few enemies left in the shinobi world who could still beat him.
~~~
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