Right arm broken, body incomplete, parts of the body turned to stone… This human puppet's condition was worse than ever.
However, its power didn't decrease but instead increased. Before, it was just a dead puppet, but now it seemed to have come back to life.
Manda didn't dare to be careless. After mastering Sage Art, his animal instincts had become stronger again. Right now, they were clearly warning him about how troublesome the enemy was.
He immediately spat out a stream of dirty liquid.
The Third Kazekage instinctively started to fly and dodge. Compared to when Sasori controlled him, he was much more agile.
But after all, he had been changed from flesh and blood to metal, so this body was unfamiliar even to him. The dirty liquid still hit his lower legs, and a gray shine spread upward along his thighs.
The Third Kazekage spun in the air, and after steadying himself, he calmly looked down at his body. A huge blade popped out of his left arm, and he directly chopped off his petrified legs.
After doing all this, he seemed a little uncomfortable with these extra parts in his body. The Third Kazekage casually swung the blade once, and then turned his eyes to the enemy who had attacked him.
His gaze skipped past Manda and stopped on Orochimaru above its head. He said,
"Orochimaru, I know you. Did you kill me and then turn me into this?"
The voice was cold, raspy with a bit of magnetism, but it wasn't coming from his throat. Orochimaru could see clearly that the puppet's gaping mouth only contained machinery, with no parts for speaking. That Sasori wouldn't have kept any useless parts.
Then where the voice came from was interesting to think about.
No, more than that, the Third Kazekage's current state was also worth considering.
A look of interest appeared in Orochimaru's eyes. "Third Kazekage, it wasn't me who killed you and turned you into a human puppet. It was a ninja from your village, Sunagakure Village, Chiyo's grandson, Sasori of the Red Sand."
"Sasori..."
The Third Kazekage repeated the name once, and his voice didn't have much surprise in it. "He tried to kill me three times. So he finally succeeded..."
"Tsk, tsk... three times. You guys really spoiled him."
Orochimaru laughed. "However, this rogue ninja from Sunagakure Village has caused a lot of trouble for Konoha. You know, Sunagakure Village and Konoha are allies now, so these things need to be explained."
"Oh, is that so?"
The Third Kazekage was silent for a moment, then sighed. "But I'm already dead, so let the current Kazekage worry about these things."
The connection of the chakra core to his spirit was already very weak. The reason he was still here was because he wanted to understand how he died.
But unlike what Sasori expected, the Third Kazekage was more open to death than he thought. He didn't fly into a rage, full of resentment, and start attacking everyone randomly.
However, even so, Sasori's goal had already been achieved. Orochimaru was indeed attracted by the Third Kazekage and stopped paying attention to whether he lived or died.
"Third Kazekage-sama, you don't care about the things in Sunagakure Village, but what about your own situation?"
Orochimaru licked his lips. "I saved you from Sasori, so how do we settle this?"
In a short time, he had figured everything out.
A human puppet is made using the corpse of a dead person, and it can retain the powers it had when it was alive...
But normally speaking, after the soul goes to the Pure Land, the body is just a pile of rotten flesh. Even if someone controls it, it can't compare to a machine made of steel, so how could it use a ninja's powers?
But looking at the Third Kazekage's current state, Orochimaru thought that maybe human puppets were similar to Impure World Reincarnation, but just used different containers.
"You saved me..."
The Third Kazekage said slowly, "Although that wasn't your intention, in reality, that is the truth."
As a Kazekage, one of the top people in the ninja world, the Third Kazekage's pride wouldn't allow him to deny that.
He glanced at Kakuzu fighting Tsunade in the distance. "I'm about to die, and there's nothing else I can help you with, so I'll repay your kindness with his life."
"You don't need to do that."
Orochimaru also glanced at Kakuzu and smiled. "I don't care about some rogue ninja. I have other things I need you to help with."
The Third Kazekage's gaze was fixed on Orochimaru. At this moment, he suddenly felt a trace of malice and asked, "What kind of help?"
"You'll know when the time comes. Until then, I'll have to ask Third Kazekage to wait for a while."
Orochimaru's words were polite, but he showed a cruel smile on his face. Manda under him was like an arrow ready to be released, shooting straight towards the Third Kazekage.
"You want to trap me like Sasori did?"
A sharp look flashed in the Third Kazekage's eyes, but his tone was still calm. "Then let me see your skills."
In an instant, countless grains of black Iron Sand poured out from under the ground, and strands of iron wire weaved together to form a huge cage.
Manda's attack was more like walking into a trap. It immediately fell into the trap.
It was clear that the Third Kazekage hadn't been doing nothing before this. As a strong person in the ninja world, how could he leave his safety to others?
Even though he was dead, habit made him keep a trick up his sleeve.
"Sage Art: Inorganic Reincarnation!"
Trapped again, Manda let out a shriek. Powerful natural energy flowed into the surrounding environment, giving life to inorganic things and starting to fight with the Third Kazekage for control of the Iron Sand.
Actually, it could have used this move to get out of the situation before, but to create a chance for a surprise attack, it used a more conservative method.
"Sage Art?"
The Third Kazekage made a soft sound of surprise, seemingly thinking of something. His voice was a bit unsteady. "Impressive Sage Art. The snakes of Ryuchi Cave, huh? But I used to have a snake like that too."
On the ground, Iron Sand surged like a wave. Although the structure of the cage had been destroyed, the art strengthened by natural energy couldn't be completely suppressed by the Third Kazekage.
The saying of the Strongest Kazekage wasn't just empty words. Not to mention that he was in a spirit state now, so he didn't have to worry about using up chakra.
But seeing this, Orochimaru's interest only grew. While the other was battling with Manda, he jumped up and charged straight at the Third Kazekage. With Sage Art and Breathing Technique working together, his speed directly approached the level of the Fourth Raikage.
The Kusanagi Sword cut through the Iron Sand defense and cut off the Third Kazekage's head with one blow. But a leisurely voice sounded at the same time,
"Fast speed, impressive Sage Art. But you seem to have forgotten that I'm already dead."
As soon as the words fell, the torso, which only had one right arm left, instantly turned into a spiky sea urchin. Countless black spears shot out, piercing through Orochimaru's body as well.
However, with a bang, Orochimaru turned into a puff of white smoke and disappeared.
The Third Kazekage 'looked' at the circles of black markings that appeared in front of him and said, "The sealing art of the Uzumaki clan, so that's how it is."
The sword skills seemed fierce, but they were just to attract his attention and cover up the sealing art.
He was just a step too slow. He wasn't frustrated and muttered to himself,
"But when did he use that Shadow Clone?"
"Or was it a Shadow Clone from the very beginning?"
No one answered, only the sound of the wind.
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