Rengoku had to admit that Deidara was a complete genius. Not only had he learned Dust Release, which was regarded as the hardest Kekkei Tota in the ninja world, he even managed to innovate it within just a few years, something Onoki had failed to do for decades.
Really impressive.
If he had focused completely on improving his combat strength, maybe he would have become a top expert able to stand on his own.
'No, actually, the current Deidara already counts as one.'
But things like this were hard to say. Without his artistic side, Deidara would no longer be Deidara.
Sasori had just seen all of Deidara's Dust Release and admiration also appeared in his eyes.
Whether it was destructive power, consumption, concealment, or visual effect, Deidara's Dust Explosion Technique was flawless.
Even though it was only a prototype right now, its potential in every direction was obvious.
Now that his parents had been revived, Sasori was no longer as obsessive as before. He no longer pursued eternal life.
And after working in Konoha for so long, his attitude toward art had also become calmer and more objective.
Sasori knew Deidara still acted like a child, so this was naturally a time to praise him freely.
"Deidara, your talent really is excellent. I think very highly of your Dust Explosion Technique."
Hearing both Rengoku and Sasori acknowledge the technique he created, Deidara looked extremely pleased.
He was still thinking about what Rengoku had discussed with him earlier, so he immediately said goodbye, "The Dust Explosion Technique still isn't stable enough. I still need to improve it further. I'll head back first and tell the old man about the war against Sunagakure."
"I'll come again later, hm!"
Deidara was the type who acted the moment he thought of something. He immediately molded a clay bird and flew away on it.
Sasori looked toward Rengoku, "Lord Rengoku, is it really appropriate to let Deidara handle this matter?"
Rengoku thought highly of Deidara, "At Deidara's current age, he's already able to stand on his own in Iwagakure."
"Don't let his jumpy personality fool you. He's very smart, and Onoki likes him a lot."
"And besides Deidara, he can't find a second suitable successor anyway."
Sasori nodded. Deidara had always been quick-witted. He just lacked steadiness.
After pausing briefly, he asked, "Lord Rengoku, could you help make me a body?"
"Hm?"
Rengoku looked at Sasori in confusion.
"Wasn't this body something you personally wanted to modify?"
Sasori's current appearance was the puppet body he made from himself. Setting everything else aside, that face looked exactly the same as when he was a teenager.
At this moment, a trace of gentleness appeared on Sasori's face.
"Back then, my father and mother were gone. I was afraid I wouldn't live long enough to wait for them, so I turned myself into a puppet."
"But after Mother came back to life, I realized I couldn't clearly feel her embrace anymore."
"And Mother feels sad and guilty knowing I no longer have a body."
"She thinks it was because she never came back that I ended up like this."
Rengoku lowered his eyes. Sasori thinking this way was completely understandable.
Aside from what he said about becoming a puppet so he could wait forever for his parents, Sasori also had combat needs at the time.
Turning himself into a human puppet allowed him to control the Performance of a Hundred Puppets at once.
But the current Sasori had already moved onto the elite puppet route, so naturally he no longer needed that.
As for why Sasori's mother felt sad about her son having no body, it was because puppet techniques had originally been developed for people missing limbs.
Even though Sasori was already over thirty years old now, in his mother's eyes, he was still her child.
A mother seeing her child reduced to only a "core", how could she not feel upset?
Rengoku rubbed his chin. With all the contributions Sasori had made to Konoha over the years, this kind of thing was already a small matter.
After all, with Sasori's current situation, a teenage body was enough for him. It would not require much material to grow one.
"Have Orochimaru take some of your body tissue and start cultivating it. As for what age body you want, just discuss it with Orochimaru."
Sasori slightly bowed, "Thank you very much, Lord Rengoku."
Now that Sasori's parents were alive, his killing intent had greatly faded. Every day, he just worked in the laboratory for a while before going home for meals.
The happiest part of his life now was simply being able to see his parents when he returned home.
Living in the Konoha house were Rengoku and Ebizo, Sasori, and his parents Fushi and Reiko. Three generations under one roof.
Worth mentioning was that on Gaara's side, his siblings and mother were also there.
It could be said that the entire family was already with the Uchiha.
All the elite talents related to Sunagakure had been gathered by Rengoku.
Aside from Pakura, Sunagakure no longer had any real experts left.
Even if Rengoku and Minato did not personally act, Sunagakure still stood no chance.
———
Sunagakure originally still had Rasa mining gold to support the village's finances.
But now Rasa had defected from the village and attacked Konoha.
Naturally, he could no longer be used.
If handing Rasa over to Konoha this time was enough to settle the matter of attacking Konoha, then fine.
But if not, then, sunagakure could only wait for death.
Everything was already out in the open, which was why Sunagakure was so desperate to capture Rasa and return quickly to negotiate with Konoha.
Rasa was currently wrapped like a mummy, sealed inside cloth wraps by the sealing squad as they rapidly moved toward Sunagakure.
They only waited half an hour. As soon as Rasa's injuries stabilized slightly, they immediately departed.
Although this was still within the Land of Wind, it still took a full day to return to Sunagakure.
Now they had already completed half the journey, and nothing had happened along the way.
Logically speaking, they should have been very safe in the desert region.
But Pakura kept feeling uneasy, "Speed up! Three more hours and we'll reach the village!"
After Pakura gave the order due to her unease, the group did not understand why, but they still quickened their pace again.
On a sand dune not far away, a vortex rose up as Obito appeared there.
Only by relying on the Kamui space was he able to catch up. Otherwise, he truly could not have kept pace with this group from Sunagakure traveling nonstop.
'Rasa got captured?'
'How useless.'
Obito felt somewhat speechless. Rasa was at least a jinchuriki and also the former Kazekage.
Yet he got captured by Sunagakure so quickly.
'Heh! In the end, I still have to save you.'
Obito sneered, activated the Mayfly Technique, and quickly infiltrated toward Pakura's group.
Pakura's group was moving very fast, so Obito frequently had to come out and check their direction.
The aura leaked by the Mayfly Technique was extremely faint and normally hard to detect.
But ever since Pakura had been set up back then, she had become extremely cautious whenever traveling outside.
Especially in this desert, where aside from their own group, there was not even another living thing around.
So when Obito observed her again, Pakura immediately sensed someone nearby.
"Who's there?"
Pakura shouted. The other teammates also immediately spread out and began watching the surroundings carefully.
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