Kankuro's face showed a mix of shame and defiance as he reached up and wiped the sweat from his forehead.
"How can the gap be this huge?"
Kankuro thought back to how his puppets hadn't caused any effect at all against his opponent, and he couldn't help but clench his fists tighter.
Just who was this person across from him?
Kankuro's eyes were filled with wariness and caution as he looked at Sasori, who stood not far away.
After Temari used a jutsu to temporarily separate Sasori and Kankuro, she leaped over to Kankuro's side in a few bounds.
Baki likewise appeared in a flash before the two of them.
"Kankuro, are you alright?"
Baki glanced back at Kankuro, his voice laced with concern.
"I'm fine, Baki-sensei. But that guy is strong!" Kankuro shook his head slightly, his tone extremely grim.
Baki's gaze flickered with caution as he looked at Sasori.
Originally, after seeing the opponent's puppet techniques, the three of them had planned for Kankuro to restrain him first.
Then Baki and Temari would attack from the flanks. The plan was sound, but unfortunately they were facing Sasori, and neither of them had the slightest chance of getting close.
"If we don't defeat him, we can't move forward. Gaara is in real danger right now."
Temari's face showed clear anxiety as she gripped her fan tightly, her voice urgent.
"When did the shinobi world produce such an incredible puppeteer?"
Baki was also deeply anxious inside.
The fact that the opponent was blocking their path meant that Gaara was in extreme danger at this very moment.
But looking at Sasori across from them, Baki knew their only option was to defeat him quickly.
And for some reason, Baki felt that the puppet techniques this person used were strikingly similar to those of the genius puppeteer Sasori, who had defected from the village.
However, the figure before them wrapped in Hiruko bore no resemblance to the Sasori in Baki's memory.
"Have you finished discussing?"
"So which of you wants to die first?"
Sasori shifted his body slightly, his voice utterly flat and devoid of emotion.
With that, Sasori began walking toward the three of them, each step producing a terrifying creaking sound.
In an instant!
Baki, Kankuro, and Temari exchanged glances, and all three vanished from their positions as blurs.
Immediately after, the three of them appeared in three different directions, encircling Sasori in a pincer formation while launching their attacks simultaneously.
They hoped to divide Sasori's attention and find an opening in his defenses.
Meanwhile, on the other side.
Nagato stood alone atop a boulder, looking down at Uchiha Sasuke, who was glaring at him with fierce intensity, his expression cold and indifferent.
"So I've finally found you!"
Sasuke's voice carried a trace of suppressed emotion.
The Sharingan in his pupils had, at some point, transformed into the three-tomoe and was spinning rapidly.
"What a pity. I thought your eyes might have evolved into the Mangekyo Sharingan by the time we met."
"I didn't expect you'd still be at the three-tomoe stage."
"The genius of Konoha? Compared to Uchiha Itachi, you really are nothing."
"No wonder Itachi wanted to protect you until his dying breath."
Nagato stood with his arms crossed, his expression remaining cold, though his tone carried unmistakable mockery.
"Protect?"
Sasuke froze for a moment, then his face contorted into a twisted smile.
"What kind of nonsense are you spouting? If slaughtering the entire Uchiha clan counts as protection, then I don't want it!"
"And who do you think you are? You have no right to those eyes!"
"Give Itachi's eyes back to me!"
Sasuke launched himself forward, rushing straight toward Nagato.
As he moved, massive amounts of blue lightning gathered in his palm, producing a piercing screech like the cry of a thousand birds.
Nagato watched Sasuke's approach with an expressionless face and took a slight step back, leaping swiftly in the opposite direction.
But the moment Nagato jumped from the boulder, a smirk appeared on Sasuke's lips.
"Chidori Sharp Spear!"
Sasuke let out a low shout and thrust his Chidori forward toward Nagato.
In an instant, the blue lightning in his hand rapidly concentrated and, in the blink of an eye, transformed into a spear of thunder that shot forward!
The Chidori Sharp Spear was incredibly fast. Before Nagato could react, the thunderous attack pierced straight through his body, pinning him in mid-air.
Blood sprayed wildly!
"Is that all you've got? I thought you were actually strong."
"Turns out you're just another guy who goes down in one hit."
"Itachi's eyes on you are nothing but an insult."
Seeing Nagato pierced so effortlessly, a triumphant and excited smile spread across Sasuke's face, his tone dripping with the same mockery Nagato had used earlier.
However!
Just as Sasuke was celebrating, he heard a faint crackling sound.
Before Sasuke could process what was happening, the entire space around him fractured with countless cracks and then shattered in an instant.
When Sasuke came to his senses, he found himself still standing exactly where he had been, having not moved an inch. And Nagato, across from him, was still standing atop the boulder with his arms crossed.
"That was Genjutsu?"
Sasuke's body shuddered as he gasped for breath, his eyes flashing with disbelief.
"I thought meeting you this time might spark some interest in me. But it seems I overestimated you."
"A three-tomoe Sharingan is nothing before the Mangekyo Sharingan. This is a gap in ocular power that you simply cannot comprehend."
Nagato's voice carried disappointment, his face looking thoroughly bored.
He paused for a moment before continuing with a hint of amusement.
"That fellow Uchiha Itachi's methods may be hard to understand, but there is one thing — what I said in that Genjutsu wasn't a lie."
"If Itachi had truly wanted to kill you, you would have perished along with the rest of the Uchiha clan long ago, because you are simply too weak compared to him."
Nagato's words, combined with the overwhelming difference in their power, struck Sasuke's heart like a sledgehammer.
A boundless rage surged from deep within Sasuke. He wanted to refute Nagato's words, but for a moment, he couldn't find any to say.
The air around them grew heavy and suffocating.
Sasuke clenched his fists with all his might, his face twisting with something between rage and despair.
In this state, the Sharingan in his eyes began spinning faster and faster of its own accord.
Seeing this.
Nagato's expression shifted slightly, his eyes revealing a glimmer of anticipation.
A mere three-tomoe Sharingan was of no use to Nagato whatsoever. Only if Sasuke evolved into the Mangekyo Sharingan would that be what Nagato truly desired.
As for the matter with Gaara, Nagato couldn't care less. His entire purpose in coming here was for Sasuke.
At least in Nagato's eyes, making Sasuke's Sharingan evolve into the Mangekyo was clearly far more important than Gaara.
As time passed.
Nagato watched Sasuke struggling, especially noticing that despite his Sharingan spinning rapidly, it remained stuck at the three-tomoe stage. Nagato couldn't help but furrow his brow.
"Did it fail?"
Nagato murmured softly to himself.
He wasn't entirely certain how long it took for the Sharingan to evolve into the Mangekyo, but he knew it typically happened in a single instant.
Sasuke's current state clearly indicated failure.
"Was my approach wrong? But looking at Sasuke's earlier reaction, my method didn't seem to be the problem."
"Which means the issue lies with Sasuke himself."
Nagato's gaze flickered as he silently came to this conclusion.
Just as Nagato was lost in thought, two figures came rushing from the distance.
Uzumaki Naruto and Hyuga Neji!
[
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