Chapter 51 – First Contact
The enormous white paper crane folded its wings, whipping up a violent gust as it landed steadily on a dune thirty meters from hiruko.
"So this is the so-called Sasori of the Red Sand?"
Standing on the crane's back, Yahiko didn't hurry down. "Quite the unique taste; you look like an un-evolved reptile."
"I'll handle the negotiation. Be careful, Yahiko," Konan warned softly, then tapped her foot and drifted down like a feather.
"Sasori of the Red Sand."
Looking at the huge Puppet lying in the sand, its tail stinger still dripping blood, Konan said, "I am 'White' of the Akatsuki. We know your talents and what happened to you in Sunagakure. Akatsuki is a mercenary group dedicated to changing the Ninja World; we offer shelter to missing-nin."
Below the dune, the scorpion-shaped humanoid hiruko slowly lifted its head. From behind the stiff wooden demon mask came a voice as hoarse as sandpaper grinding.
"Change the Ninja World? A mercenary band?"
"Heh heh heh… another pack of fools who don't know their limits."
hiruko's carapace grated with a teeth-aching screech of gears as its long metal tail whipped a deadly semicircle through the air, pointing straight at Konan.
"To the me of right now, only two things matter: eternal art, and… crafting new collectibles."
There was a territorial cruelty in Sasori's voice. "Since you've ruined my hunt for Materials, pay with your bodies."
Before the words faded, hiruko's great maw snapped open.
Whoosh-whoosh-whoosh—!
Hundreds of poisoned senbon poured out like a rainstorm. Every needle glowed with a faint purple light, clearly tipped with venom that sealed throats on contact. At this range, the density of the attack would leave any Chunin a pincushion.
Facing the cloud of poisonous needles, Konan neither formed seals nor dodged.
Yet when the senbon struck her, no blood flew. The moment they hit, her body crumbled like dry leaves.
Rustle-rustle.
It was the sound of countless sheets of paper scattering.
The "Konan" pierced by the senbon dissolved into a whirl of white paper that drifted apart in the hot wind, then re-assembled in mid-air, whole again.
The poisoned senbon stood alone in the sand behind her, not a hair of hers touched.
Inside hiruko, far from angered by the miss, Sasori's hoarse voice carried a feverish excitement.
"What an interesting Ninjutsu—magnificent! Turning you into a Puppet will surpass all those common collectibles!"
Clack-clack-clack!
The hatch on hiruko's back sprang open, more launchers locking onto Konan in the sky.
To a madman obsessed with "eternal art," Konan was no longer human—just top-grade, mobile rare material.
"Hey, I say."
A sudden male voice cut across Sasori's exhilaration at the worst possible moment.
Yahiko sighed. "Konan, fall back. Let me. Reasoning with a tech geek is pointless; their brains only register winners and losers."
"There's only one way to make them understand human speech."
Yahiko lifted his head; his eyes held no tension against a Kage-level foe, only a teasing look that irritated Sasori immensely.
"And that's to let them figure out who's primary and who's secondary."
"Insolent brat!"
Sasori was enraged.
As the Genius who once assassinated the "strongest Kazekage," he was the nightmare of Sunagakure. Even the Third Kazekage, hailed as the strongest, had become his trophy.
And two nobodies dared to belittle him?
"Since you're in such a hurry to die, I'll oblige. Dying to this technique will be the greatest honor of your lives."
Boom!
The black cloak on hiruko exploded.
A shadow shot from the Puppet and hovered in mid-air.
It was a humanoid Puppet with wild dark-blue hair. Though expressionless, an oppressive aura rolled off it like a physical force.
Third Kazekage, human Puppet.
It was Sasori's strongest trump card and the current Peak of his "art."
"Die! Iron Sand Realm!"
Sasori's ten fingers danced, Chakra threads twanging like harp strings.
The Third Kazekage Puppet opened its mouth, spewing black sand like thick smoke. It wasn't ordinary sand but highly magnetic iron sand!
That wasn't all.
Under Magnet Release, the vast cloud of iron sand condensed into countless sharp spikes. They interwove mid-air, instantly forming a huge, thorn-jungle-like black cage.
It was an omnidirectional area attack.
Moreover, every grain of iron sand was laced with Sasori's special neurotoxin. A mere scratch would paralyze even a Kage in three seconds.
"This is my art! Inside this barrier even the air is my weapon!"
Sasori let out a shrill laugh. "Despair! Then, under the erosion of the toxin—"
Swish!
An orange flash suddenly lit up inside the black iron thicket.
Sasori's laughter cut short.
The two who had been trapped and doomed inside the iron sand vanished into thin air.
The next instant.
A hundred meters away, atop a taller dune.
Yahiko appeared. His left hand still in his pocket, his right arm gallantly around Konan's waist, looking as if he had just finished an effortless dance step.
"Not bad range—great for clearing mobs. However…"
He pointed at the black iron spikes filling the sky.
"Aren't your so-called 'strongest defense' and 'strongest offense' a bit too brittle?"
"What did you say?!"
Sasori felt his dignity trampled as never before. His proud Magnet Release dismissed as "brittle"?
"Don't believe me?"
Yahiko smoothed his wind-tousled red hair, the corner of his mouth curving in a cruel arc. "Since this is an interview, we have to test your durability. Don't worry—break your toy and the organization will reimburse you in full."
"Big words! I'll tear you to pieces!"
Sasori went completely berserk.
He drove the Third Kazekage Puppet, turning it into a black bolt of lightning that shot straight for the top of the dune.
This time he abandoned large-scale Ninjutsu, concentrating every ounce of Chakra into the Puppet's Magnet Release: Iron Sand Pyramid.
The iron sand formed a three-sided pyramid that rocketed toward Yahiko at a speed the naked eye couldn't catch.
Facing the certain-kill strike, Yahiko stood motionless, not even assuming a defensive stance.
"It's over."
Sasori sneered inwardly. At this distance, even Space-Time Ninjutsu couldn't be activated in time. The instant the blade's toxin touched skin, the game—
Buzz.
A weird red light flashed behind Yahiko.
Epitaph activated.
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