Deep in the vast desert under a blazing sun, a fierce battle raged.
On one side stood the Third Kazekage of Sunagakure. He raised both hands, and the sand around him boiled like water. Massive amounts of iron sand ripped free from the ground and rushed toward him.
On the other side was the S-rank missing-nin from Sand—Sasori of the Red Sand—along with his ten prized creations: human puppets.
At a flick of his fingers, five of the puppets lunged forward. Kunai, senbon, and poison-coated weapons erupted from their mouths, hands, and chests, raining toward the Kazekage.
The other five stayed back and unleashed a barrage of ninjutsu—wind blades, fireballs, lightning nets, water arrows, earth spears—every element imaginable.
But to the Third Kazekage, this was child's play. He had come alone because he was confident in his own power. His Magnet Release naturally countered Sasori's puppets, and the desert itself gave him an overwhelming home-field advantage.
With a casual wave, the iron sand swirling around him hardened into a massive metallic wall that gleamed coldly in the sunlight.
Clang! Clang! Boom! Splat!
Every physical attack and most of the ninjutsu slammed uselessly into the unbreakable iron barrier. Sparks flew, lightning crackled, and the wind blades and earth spears barely left scratches before vanishing.
"Useless," the Kazekage sneered. He thrust his right arm forward.
The giant iron-sand wall shattered apart like clay in an invisible giant's grip. Thousands of razor-sharp black iron-sand spears formed in an instant and screamed through the air like a black storm, aimed straight at Sasori and his puppets.
Sasori's expression finally changed. His fingers danced rapidly, repositioning the puppets in a defensive formation.
The five close-combat puppets leaped in front, weapons raised to block the incoming spears. The five long-range puppets fell back and raised thick earth walls to shield themselves.
The spears hit like a hail of black lightning—dense, relentless, and impossibly sharp.
Two of the lead puppets slammed their arms together, transforming them into overlapping shields coated in blue chakra.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
The puppets only managed two steps before the sheer force of the iron spears stopped them cold. A second later came the sickening crack of breaking metal. The shields shattered, and the spears tore straight through the puppets, turning them into pincushions before continuing toward the ones behind.
The remaining three close-combat puppets learned from their comrades' mistake. They swung their weapons frantically, trying to deflect the spears instead of blocking head-on. But it was too late—tiny iron-sand particles had already drifted into their joints and seams, magnetized and jamming their movements. They slowed, then froze, and the spears finished them off.
The five long-range puppets fared better. They kept their distance, blocking and countering while maintaining a steady barrage.
"Damn it, I knew it would come to this!" Sasori muttered. Three more scrolls flew from his sleeve. This time he summoned ten ordinary puppets and five more human puppets—no close-range units this time. They spread out immediately, surrounding the Kazekage, and unleashed a nonstop storm of ninjutsu.
The Kazekage didn't even flinch. Iron sand condensed into shields or solid blocks the instant any attack came close. Behind him, the desert sand continued to surge upward, forming even larger, deadlier conical spikes aimed directly at Sasori's real body in the distance.
"Puppets are nothing but tools," the Kazekage said coldly. "No matter how skilled the puppeteer, absolute power makes them a joke."
Sasori's grin widened with mad excitement instead of fear. "Kazekage-sama, such incredible power… If I turn you into one of my human puppets, that power will belong to me forever. It will never age, never fade. Just thinking about it thrills me. Human puppets… the ultimate art… eternal beauty!"
"You're nothing but a deranged lunatic!" the Kazekage spat.
He stopped talking and poured everything into the fight. The iron-sand storm grew fiercer, and the massive conical spikes overhead finally finished forming.
One kilometer away, Taiichi watched the entire battle through his sensory jutsu, heart pounding with excitement. The Kazekage's overwhelming Magnet Release and Sasori's eerie, venomous puppet style were both masterpieces of destruction. He couldn't help wondering what the outcome would be if he faced either of them himself.
He scratched his head and chuckled. Honestly? He probably wouldn't lose. His abilities seemed tailor-made to counter both of them.
At that exact moment, the tide of battle shifted dramatically.
The once-invincible Third Kazekage suddenly staggered. His stance faltered; he could barely stay on his feet. The iron-sand spikes overhead stopped forming and began crumbling, sand raining down.
"You… poisoned me!" The Kazekage clutched his chest. Blood trickled from the corner of his mouth. "You coward!"
Sasori laughed mockingly. "How funny, Kazekage-sama. What puppeteer doesn't use poison? Has the entire Sand Puppet Brigade suddenly decided to stop using it?"
The Kazekage desperately pulled out Sand's special antidote pills, trembling as he swallowed one, then another handful. His face twisted in disbelief. The poison wasn't neutralized at all.
A bitter smile crossed his lips. After a lifetime of hunting others, he had finally been caught.
He knew he wasn't walking away from this.
But if he was going to die, he would drag this traitor down with him.
With renewed will, the Kazekage redirected every ounce of chakra he had been using to suppress the poison back into the fight. The crumbling iron-sand spikes reformed at terrifying speed. The sand around him whipped into a black storm once more.
Sasori's smug expression vanished. He realized the Kazekage was now fighting with everything he had left.
The iron-sand rain intensified. Sasori had to split his focus between controlling the puppets and dodging the lethal barrage. Wounds quickly covered his body. When the first massive iron-sand spike finally launched and screamed toward him, the sheer pressure of the colossal projectile forced Sasori to flee in panic.
Boom!
The ground shook violently. Sand exploded into the sky and rained back down like a sandstorm.
One after another, the giant spikes slammed into the earth. The entire battlefield trembled.
When the dust finally settled, the sky cleared.
Every puppet lay broken on the ground.
The Third Kazekage still stood tall, but his eyes were empty. Only his unyielding posture showed he had fought to the very end.
Underneath one of the fallen spikes, the tightly packed sand shifted. A hand clawed its way out, followed by the rest of a body. It was Sasori—bloodied, left arm twisted at a grotesque angle, clothes torn to shreds.
Yet his face showed nothing but victorious ecstasy.
He had survived.
Sasori struggled to his feet, ignoring the pain, and staggered toward the Kazekage's corpse. The closer he got, the wider and more deranged his grin became.
Human puppets… eternal art… all his now!
He reached out with his good right hand, fingers trembling with anticipation as they neared the perfect material.
At the last possible instant, his hand froze.
A short sword had pierced straight through his back and out his chest, skewering his heart.
Sasori didn't even have the strength to turn around. Countless memories flashed before his eyes—human puppets, eternal art, everything vanished. In the end, only the image of his parents' final moments remained… another short sword, just like this one. Was this fate?
Behind him stood Taiichi—the same person who had been watching from a distance. He had used Earth Release to tunnel underground and waited for the perfect moment, striking the instant Sasori let his guard down in triumph.
The entire process was so simple it almost felt unreal.
Taiichi didn't waste a second. He pulled out a storage scroll, sealed both the Kazekage's and Sasori's bodies inside, and grabbed a few of the human puppets for good measure. Then he dove back underground with Earth Release and fled toward the Land of Earth at full speed. After two kilometers he surfaced and changed direction, racing toward the Land of Rivers.
The Third Kazekage was dead. Even though Taiichi hadn't killed him personally, he now had both bodies. He needed to report this to Jiraiya immediately so the village could prepare.
In the original timeline, Sand had used the Kazekage's disappearance as an excuse to attack Konoha. That could not happen here.
Less than ten minutes after Taiichi vanished, a large Sand search party arrived.
They didn't even need to investigate. One glance at the battlefield told them everything. The iron sand, the colossal spikes—there had been a life-or-death fight here. But who had the Kazekage been fighting?
"Sir, look at this!" a Sand chunin shouted.
The lead jonin appeared instantly at his side. What he saw made his pupils shrink.
It was a puppet that looked disturbingly human.
As a high-ranking Sand officer, he knew exactly what this was—and exactly who in the village could create them. That person was now a missing-nin.
"Seal the area immediately," he ordered. "No one speaks of what you saw here. Anyone who leaks even one word will be treated as a traitor."
The soldiers obeyed without question. This was clearly bigger than any of them.
Meanwhile, after two days of hard travel, Chiyo and her group finally reached the Leaf forward camp in the Land of Rivers, escorted by Leaf ANBU.
With direct orders from the Hokage and ANBU present, Jiraiya could no longer ignore them.
Inside the main command tent, Jiraiya received Chiyo's delegation, along with Nara Shikaku and the two new "advisors."
When Jiraiya took the scroll from Chiyo—the Hokage's order to release all the Sand prisoners—he could hardly believe it.
Under what circumstances could Konoha's leadership possibly make such a humiliating decision?
This was throwing away the lives of every shinobi who had fought and bled on the front lines.
Jiraiya took a deep breath to steady himself and looked at the accompanying ANBU.
The masked operative gave a slight nod. The order was genuine.
"Elder Chiyo, releasing the prisoners will take some time and paperwork," Jiraiya said smoothly. "You've traveled all the way from the Leaf without rest. Please go and recover while we handle the formalities. I'll send for you when everything is ready."
Chiyo studied Jiraiya for a long moment, then said meaningfully, "Then I'll trouble you to move quickly, Lord Jiraiya. Those children have been away from home far too long."
"Of course, of course," Jiraiya replied with a polite smile.
As soon as Chiyo and her group were escorted out, Shikaku spoke first.
"Lord Jiraiya, what is going on? Why are we releasing the Sand prisoners? Did they pay the ransom?"
Jiraiya stared at the scroll in silence, his expression dark.