Sasori watched their exchange as the scroll fully unfurled in his hands.
"You're very noisy." He looked at Shin-chan. "Once you're turned into a puppet, you'll be quiet. You won't talk, move around, or ask those boring questions. You'll be the perfect addition to my collection."
"Wouldn't a collectible be more fun if it could talk?" Shin-chan tilted his head. "The stuffed toys Hima collects don't make any sounds. They're really boring."
"I don't collect stuffed toys."
"Then what do you collect?"
Sasori's fingers paused on the scroll.
"Eternity."
"Is eternity something really big? Bigger than a ramen bowl?"
"Physical size is meaningless when discussing a concept."
"Then it's neither big nor small?"
Sasori did not answer again.
A burst of white smoke exploded across the desert, and ten humanoid puppets emerged from within it.
"Ten against two." Shin-chan counted them. "That doesn't seem very fair."
"A puppet master's strength lies in numbers," Kakashi warned. "Be careful. Those puppets have hidden mechanisms."
The instant he finished speaking, all ten puppets moved simultaneously, their motions perfectly smooth.
Kakashi turned his short blade and used its spine to deflect the arm blade of the first puppet. When his blade scraped across the puppet's body, it produced a piercing grinding sound.
The impact jolted Kakashi's wrist. He immediately leaped backward, avoiding the poisoned needles fired from the puppet's mouth.
The needles struck the sand, instantly turning the surrounding grains dark purple.
"Watch out for the poison," Kakashi warned briefly. "And these things aren't afraid of blades—"
Before he could finish speaking, a tremendous crash sounded beside him.
Shin-chan had punched a puppet squarely between the chest and abdomen. His monstrous strength directly blasted the puppet's upper body into pieces.
The scattered components rolled several times across the sand.
"What did you say?" Shin-chan turned his head. "It was too noisy just now, so I didn't hear you."
Kakashi was silent for a moment. "...Nothing."
Shin-chan's figure blurred, and he appeared in front of another puppet. His right fist swung upward from below.
The puppet shot straight into the sky, flipping dozens of times through the air before becoming a tiny black dot and disappearing into the clouds.
"Home run!" Shin-chan placed a hand above his eyebrows and gazed into the distance. "It flew out of the stadium. Too bad there's no audience to applaud."
Sasori's fingers tightened slightly around the chakra threads. Three puppets immediately retreated to create distance.
"Those punches weren't ordinary taijutsu."
"Oh, you mean this?" Shin-chan waved his fist. "It's the monstrous strength Big Sister Tsunade taught me. The principle is to gather chakra in your fist, then make it go 'bang.'"
"'Bang,'" Sasori repeated without comment.
"That's right." Shin-chan shook his fist. "For example, imagine the chakra as a fart you've been holding in for a long time."
"There's no need to explain."
"But you were the one who asked..."
"I no longer want to know."
Shin-chan lowered his fist in disappointment. "But you asked first."
"You're more interesting than I expected." Sasori looked at Shin-chan. "You're perfect material, comparable to the Third Kazekage."
"Material?"
Sasori took out another scroll. "Once I turn you into a puppet, you'll become my finest work."
"Will the finished puppet be able to talk?"
"No."
"Can it eat ramen?"
"No."
"Then it won't be perfect at all."
Sasori unfurled the scroll, and another burst of white smoke exploded.
A humanoid puppet emerged from the smoke, floating stiffly in midair.
Its face had been preserved perfectly, but its eyes were empty and lifeless.
Kakashi's movements froze. "That's... the Third Kazekage."
"The Third Kazekage who disappeared from Sunagakure?"
"Yes." Kakashi tightened his grip on his blade. "The current war between Kumogakure and Sunagakure also started because of his disappearance."
"He didn't disappear," Sasori said calmly. "He's right here."
Kakashi suddenly looked at Sasori. "You killed him?"
"A puppet master's supreme masterpiece naturally requires the strongest material. The Third Kazekage was the strongest Kazekage in Sunagakure's history and the most perfect material."
The desert fell silent for a moment.
"After that, I spent two full days removing all of his internal organs..."
Sasori looked at the Third Kazekage puppet, speaking like an old craftsman describing the process of creating a masterpiece he took pride in.
Veins bulged on the hand Kakashi used to hold his blade.
Shin-chan said nothing.
He stared at the Third Kazekage's empty face for a long time.
How would the people of Sunagakure feel if they learned that their Kazekage had been killed and turned into a puppet?
Shin-chan tried to imagine that feeling, but discovered that he couldn't.
The closest experience he had ever had to the concept of "loss" was when Misae confiscated the chocolate sticks he had hidden beneath his pillow.
That alone had made him so sad that he rolled around the tatami more than a dozen times.
But if someone was killed, hollowed out, and turned into a puppet, how many times would someone have to roll around to make that sadness go away?
He didn't know.
But he knew that he felt very uncomfortable right now.
Shin-chan withdrew his gaze and looked at Sasori again.
"You killed a living person and turned him into a toy."
"Not a toy," Sasori corrected. "A work of art."
Shin-chan shook his head. "I don't understand art, but I know you're not a good person."
"What do you intend to do?" Sasori placed his fingers on the chakra threads again. "Kill me?"
"I don't kill people, but I'm going to beat you up." Shin-chan took out a kunai marked with the Flying Thunder God formula.
Kakashi tightened his grip on his short blade.
The appearance of the Third Kazekage puppet exceeded every expectation for this mission.
Their mission was to monitor Sunagakure's movements, not fight a rogue ninja capable of killing the Kazekage.
Sasori moved his fingertips slightly.
Black Iron Sand began pouring from the Third Kazekage puppet's mouth. More and more gathered until it formed a flowing black curtain in midair.
"Iron Sand was the Third Kazekage's unique kekkei genkai," Sasori's voice came from behind it. "He could convert chakra into magnetic force and freely control Iron Sand for both offense and defense. In my hands, it is even more powerful than when he was alive, because puppets never hesitate or make mistakes."
Sasori curled a finger.
The Iron Sand split into dozens of sharp spears, every tip aimed at Shin-chan and Kakashi.
The Iron Sand spears tore through the air.
Kakashi repeatedly slashed with his short blade, its edge colliding with the Iron Sand and producing dazzling sparks.
But there were too many Iron Sand spears. No matter how fast his blade was, it could not surpass dozens of simultaneous attacks.
One Iron Sand spear grazed his shoulder, instantly tearing open his combat uniform. Blood flowed down his arm.
"Kakashi!" Shin-chan shouted from the side.
"Worry about yourself."
Shin-chan flicked his wrist and threw the kunai bearing the Flying Thunder God formula.
It passed through a gap in the formation of Iron Sand spears and embedded itself in the sand five meters behind Sasori.
Sasori glanced at the kunai from the corner of his eye, his fingers moving slightly.
Shin-chan disappeared from where he stood.
In the next instant, he appeared beside the kunai, his right fist wrapped in chakra-enhanced strength as it smashed toward Sasori's back.
Sasori did not turn around. He merely pulled lightly on a chakra thread, and the Third Kazekage puppet appeared behind him as if it had teleported.
Boom!
Iron Sand instantly condensed in front of the puppet, forming a thick shield.
~~~
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