In Sun Village, the ninja Orochimaru knew best was Sasori of the Red Sand.
Though their goals were different, their actions had common ground, especially after Sasori turned himself into a puppet, achieving a different kind of immortality.
Giving up his body and preserving only his soul and chakra was more than just a skill upgrade; it was abandoning personal growth. Furthermore, it couldn't solve the problem of spiritual body wear and tear, so it wasn't true eternal life. Even so, it was a good idea to learn from.
So for a time, Orochimaru gathered a lot of information about Sasori of the Red Sand.
Sasori's parents were killed by Sakumo when he was young, and he was raised by his grandmother Chiyo. However, they didn't spend much time together.
Grandma Chiyo hadn't retired yet, and she and her brother Ebizo were both advisors to the Kazekage, holding a status equal to the combined power of Utatane Koharu, Mitokado Homura, and Danzo.
With such great power came many responsibilities, so she naturally didn't have time to play with her grandson.
Even after Sasori showed his talent for puppet jutsu, their time together became about teaching.
So for a long time, Sasori grew up alone.
Sun Village wasn't without other children his age, but Sasori was a genius, a puppet jutsu genius, and he was even taught by the foremost puppet jutsu user in Sun Village, Grandma Chiyo.
Making friends requires compromise and adjustment, but young geniuses hate to be wronged, and Orochimaru understood this feeling all too well.
But unlike him, in Sun Village, there was no one who could keep up with Sasori's pace, no one on the same level as Tsunade and Jiraiya. Therefore, Sasori not only lacked a family but also friends.
But that was not all. What was interesting was that after Sasori became powerful enough to leave Sun Village, he even killed the Third Kazekage.
This event directly led to the Third Great Ninja War, but its significance for Sasori went beyond that.
Before encountering the genie and learning about higher-level play, Orochimaru had also considered defecting from the village.
But this did not mean he held any grudges against the village or its people; it was purely due to too many restrictions.
To pursue immortality, he needed to constantly use ninja for human experiments. After many times, it was inevitable that he would be discovered by the old man and his Anbu.
This was the same for Sasori; research into human puppets was also a taboo in Sun Village.
They both had reasons to defect, but if Orochimaru were to defect, he would choose a suitable method and bid farewell to the old man and Jiraiya, never resorting to a deadly confrontation.
Sasori's choice to kill the Third Kazekage and defect in such a decisive way was clearly not just for freedom.
Simply seeking the bodies of powerful ninja, there was no need to choose the Third Kazekage.
He clearly resented the village; this was an act of release and revenge.
The origin of this hatred is worth pondering.
After understanding this, Orochimaru began to grasp why Sasori was so obsessed with puppet jutsu and transformed himself into a puppet.
The so-called 'eternal art' was just a side effect. Becoming a puppet was mainly because puppets were cold machines, lacking hearts and feeling no pain.
Sasori's pride was strong; he even refused to admit he had weak emotions, so he wanted to become a puppet to discard them.
Orochimaru found this rather laughable.
He pursued immortality and faced many difficult choices, even giving up some treasures he once cherished. But to avoid this pain by choosing to deny his own emotions was putting the cart before the horse.
Orochimaru believed this was very weak.
From this perspective, even after becoming an S-class rogue ninja, Sasori of the Red Sand was still like before, sitting alone in the giant toy Hiruko, withdrawn, no different from a child.
And after understanding Sasori of the Red Sand, when Orochimaru looked at the One-Tailed Jinchuriki of Sun Village, the sense of déjà vu was too strong.
This was clearly another monster created by Sun Village, holding power but mentally unstable.
Such children were very easy to exploit; they didn't care about the distinction between Sun Village and Konoha.
Looking at the wind and sand before him, Orochimaru asked the Hyuga ninja in the team, "How much further is it to Sun Village?"
The Hyuga ninja observed for a moment and replied, "Based on the landmarks, about five or six kilometers."
"Heh... then it won't be long before we run into Sand Ninja patrols."
Orochimaru licked his lips. "I hope they don't blame us for coming uninvited."
This visit to an ally was not announced by Konoha in advance. While preventing information leaks was one aspect, it was more of a show of force.
Only Orochimaru could do something like this; others, even Jiraiya's strength, might not be enough.
...
Sun Village, on the rooftop of the Kazekage Building.
The Fourth Kazekage, Rasa, looked down at the village, his expression shifting with emotion, lost in thought.
Grandma Chiyo, who had long since retired, suddenly appeared on the rooftop, gazing at Rasa. "Have you really decided to do this?"
Tonight, the Fourth Kazekage planned to conduct a test on the One-Tailed Jinchuriki to gauge Gaara's mindset, to see if he could control Shukaku when his emotions were in extreme upheaval.
This was not a sudden impulse but a premeditated act, a reluctant choice after the One-Tailed Shukaku had rioted in the village multiple times, causing significant losses in personnel and resources.
But what surprised and even made Grandma Chiyo wary was that Rasa planned to have Gaara's uncle, Yashamaru, assassinate him.
Yashamaru was the brother of Rasa's wife and currently the person Gaara was closest to, so it was not surprising to call him his emotional support. They both knew what would happen if Yashamaru died at Gaara's hands.
Either Gaara would become a cold-blooded ninja weapon, or he would meet his death.
"When Karura was pregnant, it was Elder Chiyo who forced this to happen."
Rasa coldly glanced at Grandma Chiyo. "You could have predicted this situation back then. What... have you grown soft now that the moment has arrived?"
His emotions were not as calm as his cold face; however, Gaara's fate was sealed from the beginning. If he couldn't become a weapon to protect the village, his end would be death.
Both as Kazekage and as a father, Rasa naturally wanted Gaara to live, even if it was as a weapon.
But now, Chiyo, who had facilitated this, was here speaking irrelevant, meaningless nonsense, feigning concern, which was truly hateful.
"Yes... it's just my old woman's babbling."
Grandma Chiyo said so, but her heart sighed.
The notorious poison master of Sun Village, who had poisoned a thousand people, was now just a sentimental old woman on the brink of old age. Looking back on the past, she couldn't help but feel a lot of regret.
Regarding Gaara's situation, she had been somewhat unreasonable back then.
On the rooftop of the Kazekage Building, the atmosphere became suddenly oppressive. They had nothing to discuss about Gaara's situation.
At this moment, after a sound of wind cutting through the air, the captain of the Sun Village patrol force appeared, looking somewhat flustered.
"Kazekage-sama, Konoha has sent two envoy teams, saying they want to discuss important matters with you."
"Konoha, envoys?"
Rasa recalled the current situation and thought that Konoha had not contacted them in advance and did not take these "important matters" seriously.
He waved his hand absently. "Have them wait at the guesthouse first. We'll discuss matters later."
"But, but..."
The patrol captain's face fell. "But among the Konoha envoys is that Orochimaru."
"Orochimaru, why is he here too?"
Rasa suddenly looked up, his brow furrowed tightly, his eyes flashing with apprehension.
The destructive power of a ninja of this level was too great. Coming unannounced could even be considered an act of war.
At this moment, a loud explosion echoed through the village, and a powerful gust of wind raged outward from a certain point.
"Not good!"
Rasa's heart leaped, and he finally remembered what they were doing tonight.
Gaara going berserk and Orochimaru's sudden visit, two events happening at the same time, made him even suspect if there was a Konoha spy in the village.
Rasa immediately ordered, "Elder Chiyo, you will be responsible for stopping Orochimaru, and I will go suppress Gaara."
"Okay!" Grandma Chiyo knew that poison and puppets were not very effective against tailed beasts, only against ninja. She did not refuse the dangerous task and immediately flashed away.
Rasa took a deep breath and ordered the Sun Village captain beside him, "Have the Anbu deployed around Gaara go assist Elder Chiyo."
"Yes!"
...
Sandstorms swirled all around, like rolling black clouds, surging in all directions.
And in the center of the howling sandstorm stood a red-haired boy with dark circles under his eyes, as if he had applied a thick layer of dark eyeshadow.
Around and beneath him, the sand seemed to come alive, turning every place it touched into the center of a quicksand, constantly eroding the surrounding civilian homes.
"Die, all of you, die!"
As inhuman roars echoed, the sand stretched out like tentacles in all directions. Sturdy walls crumbled like tofu as they were pierced, as if struck by a violent sandstorm.
Unexpectedly, yet also understandably, in the center of the sandstorm above Gaara's head, it was exceptionally calm. A sand tentacle pierced through a ninja, as if to punish betrayal, not giving him a clean end, but tormenting him to death in the most painful way.
Blood stained the sand tentacle, leaving dark red marks.
"Heh... is this a celebration? Good thing I didn't miss it."
On the outskirts of the sandstorm, Orochimaru looked at Gaara in the center, his eyes filled with interest.
Before a Jinchuriki grows to a sufficient level, they are heavily guarded by any ninja village, and ninja from other villages have absolutely no chance to see them.
Therefore, upon arriving at Sun Village, Orochimaru had the genie help him scout ahead to confirm the target's condition.
But even so, he truly didn't expect to see one of his targets for this trip in this manner.
Shisui looked around and reminded him in a timely manner, "Orochimaru-sama, the Sand Ninja are surrounding us."
After encountering the Sun Village patrol team, they did not follow the normal diplomatic procedure but instead rushed here directly under Orochimaru's lead.
Strictly speaking, this was already a forced entry.
However, neither the Sun Village Anbu who were already there nor the patrol ninja who followed them had any intention of attacking first.
With the One-Tailed Jinchuriki currently rampaging, deciding whether or not to add more enemies was beyond their scope of decision.
"It's fine."
Orochimaru smiled indifferently. As if hearing something, his gaze fell on the ninja above Gaara, and he spoke,
"Shisui, save that ninja."
Shisui was stunned for a moment. Without any hesitation, he transformed into a shadow and charged straight at Gaara.
In his half-tailed beast form, Gaara's senses were extremely sharp. He instantly detected Shisui's approach and let out inhuman roars, determined to eliminate the threat before him.
Boom boom boom!
Yellow sand surged up, like whips and spears, shooting towards Shisui.
However, no matter how fast the sand was, it was always a step too slow, only hitting the afterimage Shisui left behind, completely unable to stop his rapid approach.
"Damn it! Damn it! Damn it!"
Gaara, with only a sliver of reason left, gathered all the sand he could control and formed a giant sand wave, covering the sky and slamming down towards Shisui.
Shisui's eyes narrowed, but instead of retreating, he charged forward towards Gaara, his eyes flashing with crimson light.
Boom!
The giant wave roared, hitting the bull's-eye precisely, stirring up a cloud of dust and smoke.
"This..."
The Fourth Kazekage Rasa and Grandma Chiyo arrived at the scene and coincidentally saw this. They exchanged glances, not knowing what to say.
It was only right for them to think that the Konoha envoy, instead of staying at the designated reception area in Sun Village, went towards danger. But this was not how things should be judged, especially when 'Konoha's Sannin', Orochimaru, was present.
"Kazekage-sama, there's no need to worry."
As if sensing their thoughts, Orochimaru smiled at the two of them.
And in the midst of the battlefield, a dark green sword light flashed, clearing away the dust, and severed the tentacle above Gaara's head, who was somewhat exhausted.
The next moment, a large dark green hand enveloped the heavily injured ninja within the Susanoo.
"Ahhh! Give him back to me!"
Gaara let out an angry roar, and the sky filled with yellow sand surged again.
But this time, Shisui had already retreated with Yashamaru, and the dark green Susanoo, like a shield, blocked the sand's invasion once more.
"Well done."
Orochimaru took Yashamaru's body from Shisui, simply sealed the wounds, and without regard for Rasa's troubled expression, he began to treat him.
"Ah! Give him back to me!"
At this moment, the rampaging Gaara's hatred for the betrayer did not diminish, and with the sky covered in yellow sand, he rushed directly over.
Seeing this, the Fourth Kazekage Rasa stopped paying attention to Orochimaru's treatment and met him head-on. "Magnetic Release: Sand Burial!"
The fierce wind and sand were blocked by finer gold sand, even pushed back.
Their control over power was in completely different leagues. Both manipulated magnetic release, but Rasa was far more skilled than Gaara, the latter merely using brute force.
In the past, they would have been locked in a stalemate for a while, and it would have been enough for Gaara to regain his consciousness. But tonight, Gaara had suffered too much mental shock, and he had not completely dealt with Yashamaru. The hatred in his mind continued to swell.
After exceeding a certain limit, he directly passed out. The consequence of this was the automatic activation of the 'False Sleep Technique.'
"Hahaha, I'm out again."
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