Anya made Sunagakure his home and studied the mechanical army created by Sasori. It was impressive, but still had room for improvement. In his previous life, Anya had been a thief who researched modern weaponry from various nations, so he knew how to better utilize this combat system. Just the powerful anti-air capabilities alone were practically unbeatable. A surprise assault from such an army would undoubtedly inflict heavy losses upon the Hidden Villages of the Five Great Countries.
Still, Anya's focus had already moved on to something else.
Mabui remained by Anya's side, faithfully serving as his true secretary.
As Anya had predicted, randomly approving documents didn't cause any chaos within the village. Life continued on as usual for everyone. Thinking back on all those years she'd worked diligently without rest, Mabui couldn't help but feel regret. At the same time, she had to admit that some people were simply born leaders.
After wrapping up the day's paperwork, Mabui turned to Anya and said, "Tenten hasn't seemed very happy lately."
"Why not?"
Shaking her head, Mabui replied, "I asked, but she wouldn't say. She just kept asking me where Sasori had gone."
"Isn't that obvious then?" Anya sighed. "She must have developed feelings for Sasori."
"What? How is that possible?" Mabui couldn't believe it. "With Sasori's personality, how could any girl like him? Besides, there's such a big age gap between them."
Anya chuckled. "Sasori possesses Ryumyaku energy. After all these years, his appearance hasn't aged much—he doesn't seem much older than Tenten. Moreover, who can ever figure out what's going on in a girl's head?"
"No way. I have to talk her out of it. I can't let Sasori ruin her life." Mabui resolved firmly.
Anya looked puzzled. "Sasori seems fine to me."
"Fine? What do you mean fine? Have you forgotten what he did to me..." Thinking back to the day she was bound captive, anger surged uncontrollably within Mabui.
Anya, feeling somewhat guilty, forced a smile. "Come on, we promised not to bring that up again. We both apologized already, right?"
"Hmph. Anyway, they're not suited for each other. Tenten's a good girl." Mabui held firmly to her belief.
"Love should let it run its course. Outsiders rarely understand or should interfere."
Actually, Anya was quite pleased with how things were turning out. He hoped Sasori wouldn't end up lonely forever, surrounded only by lifeless puppets.
Thinking for a moment, Anya pulled out several illustrations and handed them to Mabui, saying, "These are illustrations from my book. Ask Tenten to organize them into the book in order, then send it to the bookstore for printing. We'll give her a cut of the profits — it'll give her something to focus on."
"You actually write books," Mabui said after recovering from her shock. "Wait, why would you even bother writing books when you don't need the money?"
Anya answered naturally, "Who ever turns down extra income? And it passes the time. You can read it too if you're free."
"All right."
As expected, the Illustrated Edition of Ultraman Oub quickly became popular throughout Sunagakure. In fact, due to limited availability, prices soared. Rumor has it that even the son of the Daimyo from the Land of Wind had someone sent to purchase one at an extremely high price.
Tenten, looking for something to keep herself occupied, ended up practically babysitting Anya, pushing him to keep updating his artwork and stories without fail.
Anya had only taken writing as a way to kill time. How could he possibly become a full-time author? So he kept avoiding Tenten. Unfortunately for him, Tenten was extremely popular in the village, and with Mabui as her insider, he simply couldn't escape.
Luckily, Sasori returned just in time. With one sentence, he sent Tenten away obediently, sparing Anya from the tragic fate of being cornered in his room churning out updates daily.
Anya gazed at Sasori eagerly and asked, "Well then, did you learn it?"
Sasori nodded slightly. A teal-blue chakra erupted across his body, hidden within it were sounds resembling roaring dragons. A majestic dragon horn erupted from his forehead, radiating overwhelming momentum. Just by looks alone, he was already far superior to Anya's Wood Release Clone.
"Excellent," Anya praised. Having mastered [Sage Art], Sasori's strength had advanced significantly. Combined with the power of Ryumyaku and his mechanical army, it wasn't exaggerated to say that Sasori now stood unrivaled atop the ninja world—unmatched and invincible.
Sasori himself felt satisfied with this recent cultivation progress. Rarely showing excitement, he said, "[Big Brother Kurotsuchi], as you suspected, the Ryumyaku energy is indeed a type of natural energy. It perfectly resonates with the [Sage Arts of Ryuchi Cave]. The [White Snake Sage] even offered me immortality if I stayed there."
Anya responded with astonishment, "Such a grand offer!"
"I refused," Sasori didn't care much about it. "Then they asked me to sign a contract with their summoned creatures, but I don't like snakes."
Anya understood, "So you turned them down again. I bet the [White Snake Sage] must've gotten really angry."
"Exactly. He smacked me with his tail and threw me straight out of Ryuchi Cave," Sasori's eyes turned serious. "That creature's [Sage Art] power is extremely strong—I felt it matched my own Ryumyaku energy. Honestly, I never expected someone this powerful still existed in our world."
"It's normal. After all, that's a serpent demon who's lived over a thousand years. If it weren't formidable, someone would've caught it and turned it into snake soup ages ago."
Just then, Mabui walked in pushing the door open, handing two documents to them solemnly. "One comes from Konoha, another from Otogakure. I believe you must personally review these."
This was the first time Mabui had personally delivered documents since she'd seen how fast Anya could handle paperwork—proof enough that this was serious business.
He grabbed the Konoha file first. The moment he opened it, memories rushed in—it was the start of this year's Chunin Exams. That made sense—Naruto had already graduated, so it was time for the exam. This also happened to be a turning point in Sasuke's fate. Should I involve myself?
After hesitating briefly, Anya grabbed the other file. Marked with the words 'Top Secret' and sealed shut, its contents were clearly classified as top secret.
He casually released the seal and upon opening it, bold characters immediately leaped out: [The Konoha Destruction Plan].
Just as expected. Orochimaru—no, correction—he corrected himself mentally, this time it should probably be called Auntie Snake now—was making his move against Konoha.
Sasori frowned while reading the document: "Orochimaru wants to destroy Konoha Village? With just that small shinobi village he secretly built? What makes him think he's worthy to stand with us?"
There was deep disdain in Sasori's tone toward Orochimaru.
Anya asked curiously, "From your tone, it seems like you really dislike him."
"Yes."
"Scorn evident in his voice, Sasori said, 'He once joined Akatsuki Organization but later betrayed us. He lusted for Itachi Uchiha's Sharingan and attacked his comrade, only to be killed by Itachi in return. After that incident, he abandoned Akatsuki Organization. Pain wanted to hunt him down, but Konan stopped it afterwards.'"
After hearing this, Anya figured, "His real purpose has nothing to do with destroying Konoha. Otherwise, his first move would've been killing Jiraiya and Tsunade while they were separated from the village. With his abilities, killing them wouldn't have been difficult. I think there are three reasons: first, it's about Itachi Uchiha's younger brother, Sasuke. Second, an insecure student desperate to prove himself to a teacher who seemed to have abandoned him. Third, pulling Sunagakure into this conflict to trigger a chain reaction across the Ninja World."
"What tremendous ambition. Big Brother Kurotsuchi, let him perform his solo act. We don't need to get drawn into this."
"It's time for Tenten to take the Chunin Exams too."
"Huh? Then...are we going too?"
Seeing how easily Sasori flipped sides, Anya sighed and said, "Fine."
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