This time, Jiraiya's trip to Hidden Sand Village was not merely for observation.
He also had to discuss the seriousness of the Akatsuki's Tailed Beast capture with the acting Kazekage, Chiyo-sama.
"Nine-Tailed?" Sasori shook his head, "No, no, no, I don't want to die."
"Our target is just you, little brat..."
"Me!?" Sakura's face was filled with disbelief.
As a commoner, with no special bloodline or grudges, how could she be the target of a terrifying organization like the Akatsuki?
Deidara, seeing Sasori still chatting with Sakura, impatiently interrupted.
"Master Sasori, didn't you just tell me to finish this quickly? Why are you wasting time now?"
"Forget it, I'll do it. I'll display my beautiful art, hm."
As he spoke, two several-meter-long clay centipedes crawled out from the large mouths on Deidara's hands.
In the blink of an eye, they wrapped around Sakura.
Sakura had originally intended to break free, then escape to find Kakashi and the others.
But while Sasori was talking, the poison had already completely permeated her body.
She was now completely powerless, unable to even move her little finger.
"Idiot, I wasn't wasting words; I was stalling for time to let my poison spread."
"This creates the least commotion and makes it harder for the others who left to discover us."
"You should learn to use your brain in battle, Deidara."
hiruko's puppet body shook its head, expressing its helplessness.
Then, it extended the steel tail from its back towards Sakura, preparing to tie her up and take her away.
"Hmph, my explosive art can instantly take care of everyone!"
"There's no need for you to be so troublesome, Master Sasori, hm!"
The young Deidara defiantly made an explosion gesture with his hand, completely ignoring Sasori's elder advice.
However, just as hiruko's tail was about to bind Sakura...
Yamato's voice suddenly rang out: "Wood Release Jutsu!"
Rustle, rustle, rustle!!!
Several tree stumps suddenly broke through the earth, propping up in front of Sakura, blocking the steel tail.
At the same time, Kakashi appeared beside Sakura.
With a swing of the Kunai in his hand, the binding clay centipedes broke into several pieces and scattered on the ground.
Deidara, who had been momentarily stunned, quickly reacted.
One hand quickly formed the hand seal for detonation: "Hmph!"
The scattered clay centipedes on the ground instantly lit up with a dazzling white light, then exploded.
Boom!
The terrifying power directly blasted a large crater in the ground.
Even the tree stumps not far away were affected and broken.
And Kakashi, in order to protect the poisoned and immobile Sakura, had a good portion of his body splattered with blood from the explosion.
"Kakashi-sensei!"
"Kakashi-senpai!"
As both shouts rang out, Yamato quickly blocked in front of Kakashi with his Kunai.
"I'm fine, just a little slow, sustained a minor injury."
Kakashi waved his hand and looked at Sasori and Deidara.
"We originally thought your target was Naruto, so we feigned leaving, then followed Naruto, waiting for you to appear."
"But we didn't expect your target to be Sakura?"
"Can you tell us why?"
Previously, Kakashi had merely played along, and after walking a distance with Yamato, he secretly snuck back using Earth Release.
Then he followed the unsuspecting Naruto, thinking Naruto was the target.
It wasn't until he felt a slight tremor in the ground that he realized something was wrong and quickly returned.
He didn't expect the enemy's target to be Sakura, who was nothing special!
"Copy Ninja Kakashi, and a Wood Release Ninja..."
Sasori did not answer Kakashi.
Instead, he cast off his cloak and walked directly out of the opening in hiruko's back.
"I just don't know if your Wood Release is as strong as that Edo Tensei puppet's Wood Release, strong enough to destroy my new Hundred Puppets!"
With that, Sasori slammed his hand on the ground.
Bang, bang, bang!!!
In an instant, countless coffins rose from the surrounding ground!
The next second, the coffin lids opened, and Edo Tensei puppets walked out of the coffins one by one.
Sasori then opened the right side of his puppet body's chest.
Countless Chakra threads extended out, connecting to nearly a hundred Edo Tensei puppets.
"Edo Tensei!!!" x2
This scene made Kakashi and Yamato exclaim in disbelief.
Sasori's puppet face also pulled into an awkward smile.
This was the incomplete Edo Tensei given to him by Feng Xu, not the perfected version like Orochimaru's.
After a year of his own research, Sasori had developed an Edo Tensei that differed from Orochimaru's approach.
Orochimaru's required living sacrifices.
But Sasori's Edo Tensei used puppets as sacrifices.
Orochimaru used cursed seals to suppress and control the consciousness of the Edo Tensei subjects.
Sasori, however, needed to connect his own Chakra threads to control the Edo Tensei targets, just like manipulating puppets.
"It seems you all recognize them. Then come and witness my eternal art, the immortal puppets!"
Chapter 218: Capture Successful!
As Sasori's words fell.
Nearly a hundred Edo Tensei puppets swarmed forward, all rushing towards Kakashi and Yamato.
"Earth Release, Earth-Style Wall!"
Looking at the rapidly approaching Edo Tensei puppets, Kakashi quickly formed hand seals and slammed his hand on the ground.
Three giant earth walls carved with dog heads rose from the ground, forming a circular enclosure in front.
He then said to Yamato, "We're no match. Yamato, take Sakura and find Naruto, then evacuate from here!"
"No, Kakashi-senpai, you evacuate, I'll cover your retreat!"
Seeing Kakashi intending to cover the retreat himself, Yamato's face showed determination.
"Although it's not good to say this, in terms of strength, I, being stronger, am more suitable to cover the retreat than you, senpai!"
"You're really not holding back, are you?" Kakashi gave Yamato a deadpan look.
Then he pulled up his forehead protector, revealing his crimson Sharingan.
"I'm confident I can cover the retreat without dying, but you might not be."
"So stop talking nonsense. I'll cover you two to break out later."
With that, Kakashi grabbed Sakura by the collar and tossed her to Yamato.
At this moment, the surrounding earth walls collapsed with several violent roars.
Several Edo Tensei puppets, holding explosive tags and with half their bodies blown away, were seen.
They were simultaneously regenerating their Edo Tensei bodies and drawing Kunai and blades.
They all simultaneously stabbed at the exposed Kakashi and Yamato.
At the same time, in the distance behind, the Edo Tensei puppets who couldn't push through also finished their hand seals.
Immediately after, a large amount of Fire Release, Water Release, and Wind Release, with massive momentum, unleashed indiscriminate firepower towards their location!
After all, these were Edo Tensei bodies.
Aside from sealing, any other damage they sustained would automatically regenerate!
Therefore, Sasori didn't need to worry about friendly fire like before.
He just needed the Edo Tensei puppets in front to hold the enemy with taijutsu, and then the Edo Tensei puppets in the back would bombard them with Ninjutsu!
They couldn't die anyway, and their Chakra was infinite!
Although the power was much lower, no different from what a Chunin would release.
But their sheer numbers and endurance made them a hundred times more formidable than Sasori's previous Hundred Puppets!
"Struggle all you want, let me see how you'll deal with this immortal puppet army!"
Sasori's lips curled into a triumphant smile.
Now, he alone was an entire Ninja army!
Screech!!!
Kakashi, who was being ganged up on in front, had a piercing Chidori light up in his hand.
Immediately after, a blue arc of lightning flashed, and Kakashi appeared on the other side.
All the surrounding Edo Tensei puppets were sent flying, their chests scorched black by the lightning.
Taking advantage of the pause in their actions while their Edo Tensei bodies regenerated.
Kakashi, whose peripheral vision caught sight of the many Ninjutsu heading their way, shouted anxiously.
"Yamato!"
Yamato, who was called, was also sweating profusely.
Taking advantage of the lack of disturbance from the Edo Tensei puppets, he rapidly moved his hands in front of his chest, creating afterimages.
"Wood Release, Wood Golem Jutsu!"
"Wood Release, Wood Locking Wall!"
Slap!
With the final clap of his hands.
A curved row of wooden pillars instantly rose from the ground, forming a curved arch that enveloped the three of them.
And around this wooden arch, countless deeply buried vines and roots broke through the soil and grew wildly.
In a single breath, they intertwined and wrapped around each other, forming a surrounding vine shield!
The moment Yamato's Wood Release was completed, numerous Ninjutsu arrived as expected.
Bang, bang, bang!!!
Water invasion, fire scorching, wind cutting!
The vine shield of the Wood Golem Jutsu only lasted less than two seconds before it exploded and collapsed!
However, it still fulfilled its mission, successfully delaying the damage from the first wave of Ninjutsu bombardment.
But just blocking the first wave was useless.