As White Zetsu left the cave, the entire cavern fell silent once again.
Only the unconscious Gaara's breathing grew ever weaker, while the One-Tail Shukaku's chakra within him drained away at an even faster rate.
A moment later!
Several chakra dragons were drawn out from Gaara's body and reabsorbed into the mouth of the massive, sinister Gedo Statue.
"It's done."
Uchiha Madara glanced at Gaara, who had lost all signs of life, and murmured softly as he withdrew his gaze.
As the words fell.
Uchiha Madara's chakra-formed projection began to slowly dissipate.
The Gedo Statue, accompanied by a thunderous boom, transformed into a plume of white smoke and completely vanished from the cave.
Outside!
Sasuke's body jolted as he was released from the Tsukuyomi mental space. He dropped to one knee on the ground, panting heavily.
Drops of sweat fell from Sasuke's forehead, dampening the ground beneath him.
Though only a brief moment had passed in the outside world, Sasuke had endured an entire day within the Tsukuyomi space.
If his own Sharingan hadn't also evolved into the Mangekyo Sharingan, granting him a degree of resistance, he would likely have lost consciousness by now.
Fighting through the dizziness surging from his brain, Sasuke looked ahead with slightly blurred vision, but inwardly let out a deep sigh of relief.
Blurred vision!
It meant his eyes had not been taken by Nagato.
BOOM!!
A violent collision erupted ahead, instantly drawing Sasuke's attention.
"Sasori?"
Sasuke hurriedly looked up, and when he saw the figure standing protectively in front of him, understanding finally dawned.
"Hiruko — Senju Thousand Needles!"
Sasori manipulated Hiruko's left arm mechanism, firing a barrage of cylindrical canisters each loaded with ten poisoned needles.
With a sharp click, a dense storm of poisoned needles shot from the cylinders, sweeping toward Nagato like a dark cloud.
"Susanoo!"
Nagato's expression was cold. Crimson chakra erupted from his body, instantly coalescing into the upper body of a warrior deity.
Against the formidable defense of Susanoo, Sasori's attack was easily deflected.
Nagato did not stop moving. He controlled Susanoo's two massive arms and slammed them toward Sasori's position.
Despite its enormous size, Susanoo moved with extraordinary agility under Nagato's command. The arms struck through the air, leaving two streaks of crimson afterimages.
BOOM! BOOM!
Susanoo's two enormous palms smashed into the ground where Sasori and Sasuke had been standing, creating two massive craters!
Nagato's icy gaze swept over the area, but there was no sign of either of them in the craters.
"They dodged?"
The Mangekyo Sharingan in Nagato's eyes slowly rotated, and he quickly caught sight of Sasuke and Sasori's figures.
Sasori was using chakra strings to bind Sasuke, rapidly retreating to put distance between themselves and Nagato.
As a puppet master, fighting in close quarters with an enemy was never a wise choice!
Landing on the ground, Sasori tossed the weakened Sasuke aside and gazed at Nagato across from him with a heavy heart.
Even without the Rinnegan, Nagato's strength was not to be underestimated. Moreover, the eyes in his sockets belonged to Uchiha Itachi!
Furthermore, as a former member of Akatsuki, Nagato had a solid understanding of every member's abilities.
In battle against Nagato, any Akatsuki member would find him an exceedingly troublesome opponent!
"This is getting complicated. I wonder how much longer they'll need on the other side."
Sasori watched Nagato rapidly approaching and thought to himself inwardly.
CRACK! CRACK!
A crisp sound suddenly came from Sasori's body. Looking at the cracked Hiruko, Sasori's expression remained calm as he gave a slight flick of his fingers.
Hiruko detached from Sasori's body and was casually tossed aside.
Before Sasuke's astonished gaze, a red-haired, delicate youth appeared before him.
"So this is the real Sasori..."
Looking at Sasori before him, then at the discarded Hiruko, Sasuke was clearly stunned.
At that moment, Nagato's Susanoo had already appeared not far ahead of the two.
Just as Sasori and Nagato were about to resume fighting, several sounds of slicing air came from behind, with figures approaching their position at extreme speed.
Both Nagato and Sasori paused mid-action. Nagato furrowed his brow and turned his head to look behind.
As these figures drew near, they soon came into everyone's view.
It was Grandma Chiyo and the Sunagakure shinobi she had brought with her!
In a matter of breaths, Chiyo and the others had appeared at Nagato's side.
"So this is the power of the Mangekyo Sharingan?"
Chiyo studied Nagato, who was now enveloped by Susanoo, her eyes narrowing as a sharp glint flashed across them.
Just as Chiyo was about to ask Nagato about Gaara's condition, she suddenly caught sight of Sasori in her peripheral vision.
In an instant, Chiyo's entire body trembled. A look of shock flashed through her eyes.
"It's been a long time."
"It seems you've already dealt with Yura and Otsuiki."
Sasori looked at Chiyo, his voice as flat and detached as ever.
No one noticed, however, that beneath that usual indifference, there was a trace of emotion unlike anything before.
"Sasori!"
When Chiyo heard Sasori speak, whatever uncertainty she had felt vanished in an instant.
Looking at Sasori, who appeared exactly as he had when he defected all those years ago, disbelief washed over Chiyo's face.
But she quickly recovered upon hearing his second statement.
"So that means! Yura and Otsuiki defected because of you!"
Chiyo seemed to understand everything at once. A sudden clarity washed over her.
Yura's defection had always puzzled Chiyo, but now she finally understood the whole story.
Yura's life had been saved by Sasori's parents in the first place!
"That's right. Both Yura and Otsuiki were spies planted in Sunagakure."
Sasori spoke with the same indifference, as though discussing the most ordinary matter in the world.
Chiyo's face was a tapestry of complex emotions as she looked at Sasori. Just as she was about to speak again—
Nagato, standing to the side, had already begun to show signs of impatience.
"Leave this to me. Gaara should be in a cave at the bottom of the valley right now."
"There isn't much time for you two to catch up."
Nagato reminded them in a cold voice.
Sasori had stopped him from gouging out Uchiha Sasuke's Mangekyo Sharingan, and that had thoroughly enraged Nagato.
[
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