The deadly silence within the cavern didn't just break; it was shattered by a sudden, violent surge of killing intent that felt like a localized atmospheric crash.
As Sayo's analytical gaze swept past Sasori's porcelain shoulder, his internal "HUD" suffered a total freeze. In the deep shadows of the workbench behind the rogue master sat a figure that looked as if it were merely running a sleep-mode script. It wore the familiar black robes of the Kazekage and a conical hat embroidered with the character for "Wind." Its face was tranquil but lifeless, its skin possessing that same non-human, inorganic texture that defined Sasori's new body.
But what made Sayo's blood turn to ice, what made his very soul, the mind of Logan, scream in outrage were the clearly visible chakra threads extending from the back of that body, connected directly to Sasori's ten fingers.
The Third Kazekage. The "Strongest Kazekage" in history.
Although Sayo had been mentally prepared and the vague fragments of memory from his previous life had hinted at this dark outcome, witnessing this sacrilegious scene firsthand was a different level of "Data Violation." Realizing the fate of a Kage-level powerhouse, an uncontrollable fury mixed with a bone-deep chill instantly overwhelmed his rationality. All his carefully constructed plans to stall for time or establish a "Data Link" were deleted by a surge of pure, raw emotion.
It was because of this man's disappearance that Sunagakure had suffered a "System-Wide Crash." Because of this betrayal, the village had fallen into a leaderless panic that allowed Kumogakure to execute their "Zero-Day" strike. Because of this, his father had been forced back to the front lines, the village budget had been cut, and the elderly were being denied their "Service Pensions." All the turmoil, the sacrifice, and the suffering of the Land of Wind had a "Root Cause," and that cause was sitting before him, desecrating a hero's corpse for the sake of "Art."
"You... you actually..." Sayo's voice trembled with a frequency that vibrated through the rock. He stared into Sasori's gem-like purple eyes. "You turned the Third Kazekage-sama... into a Human Puppet? You reformatted a man's life into a tool?"
Sasori slowly stood up, his black robes fluttering even though the cavern was a vacuum of wind. He was completely unfazed by Sayo's rage, speaking in a tone that was almost lyrical - a cold, high-resolution recording of a man who had long since deleted his empathy.
"Oh? You recognize the hardware? Very good," Sasori said, his voice vibrating with a metallic resonance. "This is a truly eternal work of art. It is his honor to have his most powerful combat scripts preserved permanently in this form. I have simply optimized him. I have removed the 'Human Error' and left only the power."
Those words were the final spark that ignited the "System Override."
"Art?! You're a virus in the system, Sasori!" Sayo roared, throwing all caution aside. His sense of justice and his responsibility as an engineer of the Sand's future made it impossible to remain a spectator.
Almost in the same instant, both men moved. The "Combat Handshake" was initialized.
Sasori's fingers moved imperceptibly. The grotesque Hiruko puppet, which had been crouching in the shadows like a dormant tank, suddenly sprang up. It enveloped Sasori's body like a living creature, snapping shut to form a dangerous, high-armor shell. Simultaneously, his ten fingers danced, and more high-bandwidth chakra threads shot out, connecting to the expressionless Third Kazekage puppet.
"Magnet Release: Iron Sand Drizzle!"
The Sandaime puppet raised its hand, and millions of black iron sand particles condensed instantly into a kinetic cloud. They transformed into dense, needle-sharp senbon that launched toward Sayo like a high-speed downpour. The velocity was staggering, a kinetic bombardment that far surpassed any "Ninjutsu" Sayo had witnessed on the battlefield.
Sayo's pupils contracted, his reflexes overclocked by his Natural Energy-tempered nervous system.
"MIRAGE!"
He gave a low shout, and the sealing scroll in his hand burst open in a cloud of white smoke. The Mirage platform, optimized by Chiyo's "Legacy Patches," instantly appeared beneath him. Its Mag-Lev system activated at 100% capacity, carrying Sayo in a hair's-breadth lateral shift that left a blurred afterimage where he had just stood.
Sssshhh---!
The dense Iron Sand senbon embedded themselves three feet deep into the rock wall, demonstrating their terrifying penetration power. If Sayo had been running on a standard "Human Move-Script," he would have been deleted instantly.
"Spider Legion! Deploy Swarm Protocol!"
Sayo, now hovering mid-air on the Mirage, used both hands to initiate his most complex command. Ten chakra threads precisely controlled the Mirage's vector nozzles to stabilize his posture, while the fingertips of his other hand flicked, triggering several storage scrolls simultaneously.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Dozens of "Spider Puppets" of varying sizes surged out like a digital tide, instantly covering half the cavern floor. It was a "Distributed Computing" attack.
- The Small Spiders were lightning fast, climbing the cavern ceiling to spray high-viscosity silk and neurotoxin needles from 360-degree angles, attempting to "DDoS" Sasori's sensory range.
- The Medium Spiders, acting as "Hunting Scripts," darted across the ground. They utilized built-in exploding tags for high-damage suicide runs against Hiruko's armored base.
- The Large Spiders, massive constructs of Iron-Oak and alloy were the heavy hitters. They brandished metallic pincers, charging fearlessly toward the Third Kazekage puppet with a raw torque that cracked the stone floor.
"Boring legacy tricks," Sasori's cold voice emanated from within Hiruko's belly. Facing the swarming legion, he adjusted his tactical output.
"Magnet Release: Iron Sand Wall."
A massive, heavy barrier of iron sand formed instantly, absorbing the impact of the Large Spiders and the explosions of the tags without a single "Stability Error." At the same time, Hiruko's segmented tail stabbed out with the speed of a whip-crack, piercing three Medium Spiders in a single frame. The mechanism on Hiruko's back opened, launching a "Falling Flower" spray of poison needles that cleared the Small Spiders from the ceiling.
For a moment, the cavern turned into a brutal puppet slaughterhouse. The sound of metal clashing, the roar of explosions, and the whistle of poison needles created a symphony of death.
Sayo piloted the Mirage through high-difficulty evasive maneuvers, banking and rolling to dodge the giant Iron Sand spikes. His chakra threads were redlining, simultaneously controlling the platform and dozens of spiders. His brain was operating at 100% capacity, calculating every vector and command in real-time.
Sasori, however, held the "Structural Advantage." Tucked safely inside Hiruko, his ten fingers danced with a lethal elegance, controlling two top-tier puppets with zero latency. The Third Kazekage's Magnet Release was expansive and infinitely powerful, providing an "Area Denial" script that Sayo's puppets couldn't bypass. It was a natural counter, the iron sand simply crushed the wooden frames of the spiders before they could even get within "Melee Range."
This was an unequal confrontation, a clash between the "New Era Prototype" and the "Old World Legend" who had perfected the craft through decades of murder.
Sayo gritted his teeth, his sweat evaporating in the heat of the conflict. He knew he couldn't survive a prolonged "Endurance Loop." The Mirage's Natural Energy core was stable, but his own mental "Bandwidth" was hit-limited. He had to find a "Backdoor" in Sasori's defense. He had to break the deadlock before the Iron Sand turned the cavern into his tomb.
"Logan, find me a weakness," he whispered to his previous soul. "I need an exploit!"