Finding a specific individual in the vast desert was incredibly difficult.
Leaf Monkey released the Anbu's Ninja Hawk, which flew out to search for Konoha's spies.
The Ninja Hawk flew over the desert. When it encountered places with many Suna-nin, such as border fortresses of the Land of Wind or large towns, it would circle in the sky in a special pattern.
Highly vigilant spies would notice the Ninja Hawk.
One spy left the town at night, raised his arm in the desert, and let the Ninja Hawk land on it.
Seeing the small scroll on the hawk's leg, the spy knew the village wanted intelligence on the Suna-nin Sasori.
The spy returned to the town and began contacting his handler and his contacts.
While waiting for the spy to send back intelligence, Yōkō and the Leaf Monkey Squad waited patiently.
Unless absolutely necessary, Yōkō would not infiltrate Sunagakure to confront Sasori.
Sunagakure currently had several powerful shinobi; it wasn't as weak as in the original story during Gaara's time as Kazekage. It wasn't wise to act recklessly.
After waiting four or five days, they finally received a message.
The Ninja Hawk brought back precious intelligence from the spy: the young Jōnin Sasori was recently in the southwestern part of the Land of Wind, searching for hard meteoritic iron to use as puppet materials.
Luck was on their side; Sasori was traveling outside Sunagakure.
A puppeteer's growth required consuming vast resources; excellent puppeteers had to find their own puppet materials.
The desert was vast, with sand and wind filling the sky.
The Leaf Monkey Squad fanned out ahead, disguised as travelers, searching for traces of Sasori in nearby oasis towns.
Stimulated by his parents' deaths in battle, Sasori had graduated early from the ninja academy. He was only 10 years old, a Suna-nin traveling alone—such characteristics were very distinctive.
Indeed, many people had seen Sasori. Leaf Monkey quickly found out that Sasori had obtained the materials he needed and was returning to Sunagakure.
Yōkō and his group quickened their pace.
In the desert, a young boy traveled alone.
A puppet his own height was wrapped in bandages on his back, and the puppet Salamander followed behind him.
The Salamander crawled on all fours like a crocodile, carrying a piece of meteoritic iron on its back, moving slowly through the desert.
The meteoritic iron was very heavy, excellent material for a puppet.
Sasori walked on, his eyes vacant, his mind pondering how to process this meteoritic iron.
The wind around him suddenly changed direction.
A figure abruptly landed about a dozen meters in front of Sasori.
Sasori saw an Anbu shinobi wearing a fox mask.
His heart tightened, his gaze swiftly shifting from distraction to seriousness and tension.
Fox? The most famous fox Anbu in the shinobi world was Konoha's Copper Fox.
Could it be an Anbu from Konoha Village?
Yōkō glanced at the Salamander behind Sasori—that was one of Kankurō's later puppets, and the Sasori before him was its creator.
"Sasori, according to Konoha intelligence, you stole Lord Mitokado Homura's weapon treasury," Yōkō said. "Hand over the weapon treasury."
Sasori remembered the scene when he obtained Mitokado Homura's weapon treasury.
Uchiha Madara's subordinate, Tobi, had battled Mitokado Homura, altering the river's terrain.
A large lake had been blasted in the middle of the river.
Sasori was self-aware; he knew he couldn't defeat Mitokado Homura or Tobi. But what right did a single Anbu shinobi before him have to throw his weight around?
Sasori shrugged his shoulders, and the puppet wrapped in bandages behind him fell to the ground.
"Copper Fox! I've read the battle reports from the Second Shinobi World War! Konoha's White Fang killed my father, and you, you killed my mother!"
The bandages on Sasori's back loosened. Two puppets' joints made clacking sounds as they charged the Konoha Copper Fox from two directions.
Yōkō had almost forgotten he had a mother-killing grudge with Sasori.
Yōkō let the two puppets get close, then raised his hand, using it like a blade to chop at the puppets.
A reddish-copper hand-chop split one puppet open; the parts inside scattered everywhere.
Springs, gears, steel wires—these intricate things were useless to Yōkō.
The other puppet, thinking it had an opportunity, thrust a poisoned longsword towards Yōkō's lower back.
However, Yōkō raised his other hand and caught the poisoned longsword bare-handed.
He exerted a little force, crushing the longsword.
With one punch, he shattered the second puppet, then tossed away the fragments of the ninjato in his palm.
Looking at Sasori, Yōkō thought this boy would grow into a Kage-level shinobi in the future. Killing him now would be a pity.
He could farm him for Chakra Reserve after he grew stronger.
Yōkō said: "I don't like waiting... Since you won't hand over Lord Homura's Five Shinobi Blades, it seems I have no choice but to take them by force."
Sasori looked at the fragments of his two puppets, feeling unease and powerlessness.
His meticulously crafted puppets couldn't even scratch the Konoha Copper Fox's skin.
Yōkō said: "Sasori, I've heard you have a reputation as a genius.
But no amount of genius can sculpt mud into art.
Puppetry is garbage, like mud.
In the Second Shinobi World War, your father and mother died on the battlefield because they practiced garbage like puppetry.
And you, remember this, you are also garbage."
Yōkō channeled his inner Uchiha Madara, activating taunt mode and spewing trash talk, hoping to put some pressure on Sasori and make him grow stronger faster.
If Sasori didn't grow to Kage-level, how could Yōkō comfortably farm him for Chakra Reserve?
Hearing the Konoha Copper Fox's insulting taunts, Sasori took out a scroll, staring death at Copper Fox:
"I will never allow you to insult my parents, or the puppetry they cherished and developed! You and Konoha's White Fang will both die by my hand!"
After a puff of white smoke, four brand new puppets appeared.
One puppet was tall and imposing, holding the Senju Broadsword.
One puppet was entirely black, holding the Assassination Black Blade.
One puppet's body was covered in tubes that shot Senbon steel needles, with a Giant Fūma Shuriken on its back.
Another puppet held a Chakra Metal Ninjato.
Yōkō thought, Good, they're all here, saves me the trouble of looking for them. He said:
"Garbage is garbage. It doesn't change just because your parents died in battle.
What shinobi fear most is walking down the wrong path, growing more and more desperate the further they go.
Since you don't believe me, I'll demonstrate for you. Your puppetry, like you, is garbage.
Wood Release: Advent of a World of Flowering Trees!"
In the distance, the members of the Leaf Monkey Squad were somewhat confused. To deal with a Jōnin, even if he was a genius boy and the Third Kazekage's disciple, was Wood Release necessary?
Sasori looked around in panic, finding the surroundings had suddenly transformed from desert into a maple forest.
Thick tree trunks blocked his view; Sasori could even smell the unique fragrance of the leaves.
Sasori suddenly remembered his teacher, the Third, instructing him: Wood Release was not only powerful but also cunning; the toxins of Wood Release users were no worse than Suna-nin poisons.
Sasori didn't even dare to smell the air, feeling only that those scents were filled with danger.
He waved his hands, and the four puppets flitted through the forest, charging at Copper Fox.
The puppet carrying the Giant Fūma Shuriken shot dense, rain-like poisoned needles at Copper Fox.
However, a large tree grew in front of Copper Fox, easily blocking all the poisoned needles.
"These weak, soft steel needles... are you an acupuncturist from Sunagakure?"
Hearing Copper Fox's taunt, Sasori grew even angrier, his hand movements faster.
Many wooden vines suddenly drooped down in the maple forest.
There were too many vines, like countless spider webs. These vines successively bound the four puppets.
The puppets tried to break free from the vines using weapons and mechanisms but found the vines exceptionally tough and impossible to cut.
Not only could they not be cut, the vines could also absorb chakra. The chakra strings controlling the puppets were quickly drained.
Tree trunks surged forward, swiftly crushing the four puppets.
Sasori stood on the ground, looking up in despair.
No resistance at all. Why such a swift defeat?
The puppet shells made of Yellow Hardwood were crushed into splinters by the Wood Release. The iron mechanisms inside the puppets made cracking sounds.
The four elite puppets crafted with the full support of his grandmother, Chiyo, were destroyed so easily?
Was puppetry really garbage?
Should he switch to training in Wind Release ninjutsu instead?
No!
Sasori shook his head. He had seen his grand-uncle Ebizō's Wind Release. Even Wind Release would be helpless here.
If Copper Fox was this strong, how powerful was Konoha's White Fang, who was rumored to be even stronger than Copper Fox?
His parents died at the hands of these two... it must have been agonizing, right?
Just like he was now, facing Copper Fox...
Iron Vines coiled around the four weapons, delivering them before Yōkō.
"Why is one missing? Why only four? Where is the Nine-Sectioned Staff? Sasori, are you hiding Lord Homura's weapon?"
Sasori couldn't answer; he took out a new puppet scroll.
Yōkō said: "Foolish Sasori, Lord Mitokado Homura's Five Shinobi Blades are not meant to be used like that.
Now, I'll demonstrate for you what true Senju weaponry looks like!"
Four Iron Vines coiled around the four weapons like flexible tentacles, swinging them to provide terrifying kinetic energy.
The Senju Broadsword drew an exaggerated large arc through the air, carrying a terrifying whooshing sound straight towards Sasori.
It was rumored the Senju Broadsword was the First Hokage's favorite weapon, possessing the property of being indestructible.
Sasori hurriedly made the puppet Salamander drop the meteoritic iron and block in front of him.
In the original story, when Sasori faced Kankurō's Salamander, he had to find its weak point with a scorpion tail.
Yōkō didn't need to go to such trouble.
Facing the Salamander with its raised shield, the Senju Broadsword directly and fiercely chopped down at it.
Crack!
Sasori, hiding behind the Salamander's thickened shield, watched as this shield, which his grandmother Chiyo had called top-tier in defensive capability, was cleanly split in two before his eyes!
This was a specially made secret technique iron plate for puppets, nearly ten centimeters thick!
The Senju Broadsword cleaved through the shield and smashed the Salamander's entire head into a pile of components.
Sasori stared in horror at the Konoha Copper Fox standing on a distant maple tree bridge.
Was this the difference?
Was puppetry so utterly vulnerable before true power?
Just as Sasori was terrified, a black blade suddenly thrust up from the ground, aiming straight for Sasori's heart.
At that moment, Sasori's adrenaline surged. His mind had the thought to dodge, but the black blade's attack angle was tricky, its speed extreme; his body simply couldn't react in time.
The wooden vine holding the Assassination Black Blade had hidden underground at some point.
Clang!
The black blade was sent flying, deflected by Iron Sand that suddenly appeared!
Sasori saw the familiar black iron sand—it was his teacher, the Third's, Magnet Release secret technique!
The Third Kazekage had arrived outside the maple forest.
Magnet Release: Iron Sand Gathering!
The Iron Sand formed large, long spikes in the air, creating a barrier for piercing attacks.
Dense Iron Sand spikes pierced through all the maple tree trunks and Iron Vines.
The growing tree trunks, the swinging Iron Vines, could no longer move.
Yōkō turned his head. He had noticed the newcomer long ago.
The Third Kazekage, reputedly the strongest Kazekage in Sunagakure's history.
This was troublesome. How did this person get lured out of Sunagakure?
He hadn't finished his trash talk. He missed Uchiha Madara a little. Next time they met, he would have to properly study the art of Uchiha Madara's trash talk.
***
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(End of Chapter)