Above the vast, boundless desert, there was a scene of utter devastation. Several dilapidated mud walls were still burning, emitting thick smoke, and the air was filled with the pungent smell of charring and blood. Clearly, this place had just experienced a brief but intense conflict.
When Shisui and his group arrived on their clay dragons, this was the sight that greeted them.
It seemed someone had gotten a head start, confronting their target for this mission—Sasori of the Red Sand, the genius puppet master who had defected from Hidden Sand Village many years ago.
At this moment, Sasori had already summoned his trump card—the Third Kazekage's human puppet! That body, once symbolizing the Hidden Sand Village's highest combat power, now floated beside Sasori like the most loyal servant, emitting cold and deathly Chakra fluctuations, forming a bizarre contrast with the fervent gleam in Sasori's eyes, which saw only premium material.
"It seems my luck is quite good," Sasori's voice carried the pleasure of discovering a treasure. "Although I drew a blank in that boring village just now, failing to find suitable 'materials'... I never expected such high-quality 'materials' to deliver themselves to my doorstep."
His gaze greedily swept over the figure opposite him, as if admiring an artwork about to be completed.
"Be happy. I will turn you into a precious collection piece on par with the Third Kazekage. This is an honor countless Ninja would kill for."
Standing opposite him, facing him from a distance, was a tall, serene woman. She had unique short purple hair, a pair of indifferent amber eyes, and wore a black robe embroidered with red auspicious clouds—this iconic attire made her identity self-evident.
She was Konan, a member of the Akatsuki Organization.
Facing Sasori's confident, even arrogant, declaration, Konan's expression remained unchanged. She merely stated in her calm, unperturbed voice,
"It can't be helped. It seems I'll have to forcibly take you away."
However, before her words had fully fallen, Sasori's attack had already launched! He couldn't be bothered with pointless verbal sparring; pursuing efficiency was his style!
The Third Kazekage puppet's arm mechanisms suddenly sprang open, instantly extending two gleaming, massive blades imbued with a sinister purplish glow! The blades sliced through the air with an ear-splitting whistle, moving at astonishing speed to cut Konan in half at the waist! The potent poison on the blades, even a slight touch, would be enough to end the battle instantly!
The speed was too fast! It seemed the poisoned giant blades were about to cleave Konan's body in two!
But just as the blades touched Konan's body—the anticipated scene of flesh and blood flying did not occur.
To Sasori's slightly startled gaze, Konan's "severed" body sections, like shattered phantoms, instantly transformed into countless fluttering white papers.
These papers, as if alive, gracefully scattered, then quickly reassembled and reformed nearby, once again coalescing into Konan's perfectly intact figure, not even a corner of her clothes disheveled.
That swift, poisonous blade attack, enough to instantly kill most Ninja, had no effect on this woman.
"Again..." Sasori's voice carried a hint of impatience and inquiry. "What exactly is this bizarre Ninjutsu?"
"Never mind. After I turn you into my most perfect puppet, I'll investigate it thoroughly, at my leisure!"
Sasori's ten fingers danced precisely as if performing, Chakra threads guiding the Third Kazekage human puppet to perform corresponding actions.
"Shigure."
As the cold words fell, the black sand iron floating around the puppet began to stir! It rapidly condensed, forming countless tiny, hard black iron beads. The next instant, these deadly iron beads, like a torrential downpour, shot overwhelmingly towards Konan!
Facing this dense, rain-like assault, Konan's body once again dissipated like an illusion, transforming into countless pure white, fluttering paper pieces! These papers gracefully and skillfully weaved through the gaps in the sand iron storm, like a school of fish swimming upstream, not only perfectly avoiding all attacks but also converging into a surging paper current, sweeping towards Sasori's main body!
Sasori looked at the overwhelming surge of paper, a hint of disdain flashing in his eyes. This Ninjutsu seemed bizarre, but at its core, it was just paper! The weakness of paper was all too obvious—
He manipulated Hiruko, instantly unfolding the red scroll on its back.
"Fire Release: Flaming Hell."
The next moment, special pipe devices suddenly extended from Sasori's palms, and incredibly violent flames, after extreme compression, transformed into two colossal, dragon-like jets of fire, carrying scorching heat, fiercely meeting the surging torrent of paper!
The scorching flames instantly devoured a large amount of paper. The paper ignited upon contact with fire, crackling, and seemed about to be incinerated completely.
However, the sneer of disdain that had just appeared on Sasori's face suddenly froze!
Because he clearly saw that among the papers swallowed by the flames, a significant portion, before burning, instantly revealed familiar, destructive rune markings on their surfaces, emitting dazzling light!
They were explosive tags! Had he been set up?! Sasori instantly understood his predicament!
How could Konan not know that the biggest weakness of Paper Release was water and fire? She had already thoroughly reinforced against these two points!
By immersing special paper in oil, the weakness to water was overcome... And as for fire? She had transformed it into the most deadly trap—mixing a large number of explosive tags into ordinary Paper Release! The more violent the Fire Release used by the opponent, the more terrifying the resulting explosion would be. This fire would instead become the fuse that would bury the user himself!
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
The next moment, deafening chain explosions erupted violently in front of Sasori! Flames shot skyward, and shockwaves mixed with scorching hot air currents spread wildly in all directions, instantly engulfing the remaining paper and triggering even more intense explosions!
After a series of violent explosions, the flying paper and smoke began to reassemble, gradually semi-condensing into Konan's serene figure. She entered the Dance of the Shikigami form, floating in mid-air, coldly looking down at the center of the explosion.
However, as the smoke and flames of the explosion gradually dissipated, not a hint of surprise was revealed in Konan's calm amber eyes.
In the center of the explosion, an incredibly thick defensive shield, condensed from dark sand iron, slowly dispersed, revealing the unharmed scene below.
The perfectly intact Sasori of the Red Sand still stood in place, but his eyes clearly showed he had become incredibly serious and wary.
He clearly hadn't expected the opponent's counterattack to be so ruthless and precise, almost causing him significant harm.
It seemed he couldn't underestimate her.
Sasori completely put away his initial playfulness and contempt. The opponent's tactics were bizarre and deadly; a slight misstep, and even he could stumble.
He made up his mind not to engage in pointless probing anymore, and the speed at which he manipulated the Chakra threads in his hands suddenly increased.
The Third Kazekage human puppet floating in the air subsequently produced a violent Chakra reaction. Above its head, a large amount of dark sand iron surged out, rapidly condensing and deforming. Half transformed into an enormous triangle with incredibly sharp edges, while the other half condensed into a heavy, thick cuboid!
These two massive geometric shapes made of sand iron, under Sasori's exquisite manipulation, began to accelerate and collide with astonishing speed!
Boom! Bang!
Each violent collision erupted with the clang of metal and scattered sparks! And in these successive furious impacts, countless incredibly sharp black iron spikes, like thorns, wildly grew, spread, and lengthened from the surfaces of the two geometric shapes!
In the blink of an eye, a vast forest of death, composed of countless sharp iron spikes, had formed, sweeping and engulfing the airspace where Konan was, indiscriminately, with an aura of destroying everything!
"Sand Iron World Method."
This was the ultimate technique for creating a large-area attack using sand iron; there was no escaping it!
Konan looked at the sky-obscuring forest of iron spikes, which contained terrifying piercing power and magnetism, almost sealing off all evasion space, and her eyes narrowed slightly. Under such a wide-range saturation attack, relying solely on the dispersion and recombination of the Dance of the Shikigami to dodge would likely be extremely difficult, and she might even be affected by the magnetism... It seemed she had to end this quickly.
Konan, in her Dance of the Shikigami form, raised one of her hands. Chakra surged like a tide, and the countless papers swirling around her received the command, rapidly converging towards her raised palm!
These papers did not simply stack; instead, under the infusion of Chakra, they rapidly hardened, deformed, and molded—transforming into countless incredibly hard paper spikes and sharp long spears!
At the same time, more papers wildly converged and extended behind her, finally forming a pair of pure white and sacred paper wings!
She floated in the air, paper wings spread behind her, and tens of thousands of arrows ready to fire in front of her.
"Dance of the Shikigami: Angel's Judgment."
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