"Turn back?"
Sasori of the Red Sand repeated the word from Shisui's statement, full of doubt. Shisui nodded gravely, clearly stating his conditions.
"That's right. Turn back—meaning if you are willing to give up the forbidden art of creating puppets from living people now, and stop wantonly taking others' lives for your so-called 'art'... I will not kill you here."
The next moment, his tone became incredibly sharp and cold. "But, if you choose to continue down this twisted path, stubbornly insisting on using others' flesh and lives to fill your collection... then, I will show no mercy whatsoever."
Sasori's puppet face, indistinguishable from a living person's, showed no expression, only staring coldly at Shisui.
Shisui's Sharingan was locked onto Sasori, his mind highly focused—Sasori's next answer would directly determine whether his next action would be to subdue... or to destroy.
This time, the leader, Menma, had other important matters to attend to, and had fully entrusted them with the mission of recruiting, or rather, dealing with Sasori of the Red Sand. Before they left, Menma had specifically instructed him.
"The 'eternal art' that Sasori of the Red Sand pursues is built upon the sacrifice of countless innocents. If he is willing to abandon this path centered on slaughter and plunder, his puppet artistry itself might still have other value... then, we can try to bring him back."
"However, if he remains unrepentant, or even enjoys creating slaughter and pain, believing that others' lives are merely expendable materials for his art... then, for such a fellow, there is no need to waste any more words."
"Kill him."
This was the ultimate price Sasori would pay for choosing "not to turn back."
Of course, the premise of this ruthless decision was—Sasori was still a normal human who could be "killed."
Although he didn't know where the leader's intelligence came from, or why he seemed to know Sasori so well, Shisui was fully prepared at this moment, just waiting for Sasori to give his final answer.
Suddenly! He moved! He fiercely manipulated Chakra threads, rapidly drawing out and throwing a never-before-used, specially made scroll from his back into the air like lightning!
The scroll unfurled completely with a whoosh in the air. The next moment, a spine-chilling sight appeared—innumerable figures surged out of the scroll like a breached dam!
At the same time, the device in Sasori's chest opened, instantly ejecting countless, densely packed blue Chakra threads, which, like living tentacles, precisely and swiftly connected to every figure that burst from the scroll!
In an instant, the figures floating in the sky almost blotted out the sun! There were well over a hundred of them!
Shisui, Deidara, Zabuza, and Haku looked at this nightmarish scene before them, unable to hide the terror on their faces.
In the sky, those hundred-plus figures, each one a human puppet of different design, wielding different weapons! They hovered in the air, lifelessly locking onto the four people below, exuding a suffocating sense of pressure.
This was Sasori of the Red Sand's ultimate hidden trump card, the forbidden secret technique of controlling a hundred puppets by himself—
Red Secret Technique: Puppet Show of a Hundred Skills!
"Won't kill me?" Sasori's voice came through the puppet swarm, carrying cold mockery and immense confidence, "I really have been completely underestimated."
He controlled the vast puppet army, slowly expounding his philosophy.
"Forbidden? Living itself is just a slow and inevitable process of decay. Fragile, fleeting, ultimately returning to dust."
"And I free them from this destined death, transforming them into eternal, immortal art, giving them an eternal meaning that transcends their short lives! This is true compassion!"
"Your 'not killing' and your 'killing' are worthless to me, even laughable. My art needs no one's approval, nor is it threatened by anyone!"
"Witness it well! My Red Secret Technique: Puppet Show of a Hundred Skills!"
"It's completely different from when I was a kid... Now, I am strong enough to rival a nation."
The situation instantly reversed!
Just moments ago, it was Shisui, Deidara, Zabuza, and Haku ganging up on Sasori. In the blink of an eye, it became the four of them facing an onslaught of a hundred-plus killing puppets, precisely controlled by Sasori alone, fearless of death and pain!
In other words... Deidara looked at the despair-inducing numerical disparity before him. After his initial surprise, there was no fear, but rather a flash of understanding in his eyes. Since this guy had also transformed himself into a puppet... then if he could just get his hands on the core device hidden in his chest, the battle could end, right? Hmm!
Based on the information received from the leader before departure, Deidara grasped the key to completing the mission!
It seemed that a major free-for-all was coming! How exciting!
Deidara looked at the puppet army surging like a tide, and far from retreating, his eyes burned with an even fiercer fighting spirit.
The mouths on his hands once again greedily devoured explosive clay, but this time, the clay did not form into birds or dragons, but transformed into tough clay threads.
The next moment, these clay threads rapidly intertwined and wrapped around each other as if alive, finally forming two strangely shaped, clay humanoids!
They had no facial features, and their body lines were smooth and eerie. This was a new technique Deidara had specially developed after learning the puppet master's fighting style!
Explosive Clay: Soul Manipulation Technique!
To avoid accidentally harming his close-combat teammates with large-scale explosions, Deidara decisively chose to use these precisely controllable clay humanoids for battle!
On the other side, Shisui's hands had already become a blur.
Accompanied by a flurry of illusions, dozens of solid Shadow Clones, identical to Shisui's original body, instantly appeared on the battlefield! All the Shisuis—both original and clones—simultaneously drew the sharp short swords from their backs!
The next moment, dozens of figures vanished like ghosts, charging fearlessly towards the overwhelming puppet army at a terrifying speed that the naked eye could not possibly catch!
Sword light flashed, instantly clashing with the puppets at the very front!
Zabuza also fiercely drew his long sword again, his expression grave. Water Release: Hidden Mist Technique was clearly unusable in this situation... it seemed he could only rely on taijutsu and Water Release.
"Haku, stay close to me, don't stray too far!"
"Yes, Zabuza-sensei!" Haku immediately nodded in response, following closely by Zabuza's side. At the same time, he quietly formed hand signs, and the ambient air temperature began to drop sharply at a visibly perceptible rate. A bone-chilling cold rapidly spread out from him like a domain, and even the sandy ground beneath his feet began to crystallize with tiny ice shards!
The two, like interdependent fangs, rushed into the puppet frenzy together, bringing with them biting cold and resolute killing intent!
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