Tenten, standing on the second floor, saw Sasori step forward. Her eyes lit up and she instinctively raised her hand to wave.
Neji warned, "Tenten, be careful. These are ninja from other countries."
"Oh," Tenten playfully stuck out her tongue and stopped herself from saying what she had almost blurted out.
Guy asked curiously, "What's this? Tenten, do you know these three ninja with strange masks?"
"Comrades, Professor Kai," Lee eagerly explained first. "Our two squads formed an alliance during the second stage of the exams."
"Is that so? Actually thinking ahead, huh? No wonder you're my students—ha ha!"
Guy laughed heartily as he spoke.
The surrounding spectators were all drawn to Guy's loud laughter, muttering things like "What an idiot."
Sasori stood silently opposite Kankuro. Beneath his mask, his expression turned nostalgic. The puppet wrapped in bandages was Karasu—his very first combat puppet, crafted during childhood. As his skills in puppetry advanced, puppets of this level rarely crossed his path. Yet here he was, encountering it again while accompanying Anya at the Chunin Exams. Fate had brought them together. That was why Sasori had chosen Kankuro as his opponent.
At the proctor's signal to begin the match, Kankuro noticed that Sasori simply stood there motionless, wide open to attack, seemingly ignoring him completely. A surge of anger rose within him.
He unwrapped all the bandages covering his puppet, revealing a three-eyed wooden puppet that immediately fired poison needles straight at Sasori.
Facing the attack, Sasori still didn't move. Everyone present was stunned. What was wrong with him? Had he frozen in fear? Was he really going to take the hit?
Just as the poison needles were about to strike—
A 'ding' rang out through the air.
"What is that?"
Those watching widened their eyes, staring down at what had happened.
Right in front of Sasori's mask hovered a tiny mechanical wasp—a puppet—effortlessly deflecting the poison needle launched by Karasu.
Kankuro missed his shot and sneered, "What? You're a puppet master too? You think something that small can stand against my Karasu?"
"Yes," Sasori replied calmly. "It's also a puppet. Watch carefully."
With that warning, the wasp shot forward in a flash of light. Its speed was so great it produced a sonic boom, instantly piercing straight through the head of Kankuro's Karasu.
"What?! How is that even possible?" Kankuro's eyes widened in disbelief.
"That's all you've got?" Sasori said, his voice laced with disappointment.
"Tch! Don't underestimate me!"
Kankuro slightly spread his fingers, and a blade shot from Karasu's arm, stabbing directly toward Sasori.
"Ding!"
Another metallic sound rang out—the blade deflected once more by the tiny wasp—and plunged into the ground. Where it struck, purple stains quickly spread outward, clearly poisoned.
Sasori gave it a brief sniff. "Mandrake leaf poison? Predictable. It only paralyzes and won't work on someone like me."
"You bastard…"
Kankuro felt humiliated. With both hands waving furiously, the Karasu puppet's arms swung wildly, launching an all-out attack on Sasori as if it were a living opponent.
Faced with this storm-like assault, Sasori didn't budge an inch, standing firm in place. Only the Yellow Wasp darted around him, creating a nonstop symphony of clashing metal. If not for seeing it with one's own eyes, no one would believe two puppets were locked in battle.
Kankuro, still on the offensive, curled his lips into a faint smile. With a sharp motion of his arms, he launched the Karasu puppet's blade arms like arrows. At the same time, two smoke bombs filled with poisonous gas shot from hollow compartments straight toward Sasori.
"Got him," Kankuro's eyes gleamed with triumph.
In an instant, he had unleashed four consecutive attacks. He had pushed the Karasu puppet to its absolute limit. There was no way a ninja from Takigakure could withstand such an assault.
"Clang! Clang! Clang!"
"How is this possible?"
The Karasu puppet's blade arms mid-flight suddenly lost momentum, dropping to the ground. The poison gas bombs exploded prematurely, intercepted by the Yellow Wasp mid-air and redirected back toward Kankuro.
"What just happened?" Everyone present watched in shock. This seemingly fatal attack had been neutralized with such ease.
Lee turned to Neji and asked, "Do you know what happened just now?"
Neji, who had observed the entire match with his Byakugan, replied gravely, "The chakra threads controlling the puppet were severed by that Yellow Wasp. Its speed was incredible. Without the Byakugan, practically no one would have noticed."
There was something Neji didn't say—if that move had been used from the start, Kankuro wouldn't have lasted this long. The Yellow Wasp could've sliced off his head right away.
Kankuro's fingers twitched slightly as he realized the cause. After a flash of shock in his eyes, he shouted furiously, "Daring to mock me? I'll kill you for sure!"
Chakra threads connected once more to Karasu as he launched another attack. But this time, it was ineffective. That tiny Yellow Wasp moved like an iron wall, defending against all attacks with flawless precision.
A sinister smile flickered across Kankuro's face. His pinky finger subtly shifted on the chakra thread. Suddenly, the fallen puppet head on the ground sprang to life. It spat a dagger from its mouth, launching a treacherous attack from behind Sasori.
"Ahh..."
A chorus of gasps rose from the arena.
The flying puppet head missed Sasori completely.
That's right—it missed completely.
The head flew past Sasori's shoulder, accelerating rapidly. Its speed now rivaled the Yellow Wasp's. The gleaming dagger pierced straight through the puppet's body before continuing its deadly trajectory toward Kankuro himself.
Shiranui Genma, who was serving as the examiner, was about to rush forward to save him in alarm.
Suddenly, the flying puppet head came to an abrupt stop. The dagger halted precariously just inches from Kankuro's forehead. The blade's wind even sliced his hair, leaving a thin line of blood. Even more chilling was how vast the power gap between them truly was. They were supposed to be equals as puppet masters—yet he hadn't even noticed when his own puppet had been hijacked. Just who was this man?
Sasori said coldly, "Announce the result."
"Genma Shiranui regained his senses, gave Sasori a lingering glance, and said calmly, 'This one's the winner, Red Spider.'"
At the mention of that name, Kankuro, still caught in shock, suddenly snapped out of it. He shouted, "You're Red Spider—you're *the* one, aren't you? Tell me!"
Before Sasori could respond, a cold voice whispered into his ear: "Kankuro, return."
It was Gaara. Hearing that voice, Kankuro shivered involuntarily. He pulled Karasu back using the Puppet Thread and retreated unwillingly.
"That's strange," Naruto said, puzzled. "Isn't that guy just called Red Spider? Why'd Kankuro ask like that? Did the fight scare him half to death?"
In fact, all the Konoha ninja present were confused by Kankuro's question.
Sunagakure's reaction was completely different. Baki, serving as their mentor, hadn't taken his eyes off Sasori the entire time.
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