"…Though it's not like there's no solution," Shimizu Uzuki murmured, his gaze settling on the red-haired youth before him.
If he killed him and seized the remaining notes, that would be enough.
However, Sasori seemed to have already anticipated his thoughts. With a casual motion, he revealed a handful of fine powder.
"The thing you want… is right here."
The notebook—
Had already been destroyed.
"If you're truly interested in that technique," Sasori said calmly, "then show some sincerity. Stop trying to play these little tricks."
Shimizu dismissed the water barrier, his cold eyes locking onto Sasori.
No words were needed.
The blade in his hand gleamed under the moonlight, radiating a deadly chill—that alone was his answer.
Sasori merely smiled, unfazed. "If you insist…"
"Then become part of my collection."
"Consider it an honor to witness—"
Before he could even finish speaking—
Shimizu had already vanished.
In the next instant, he appeared behind Sasori, a streak of blue light slashing toward his left arm.
But the moment Shimizu disappeared, Sasori—already on high alert—reacted instantly, his arms moving in a blur.
"Is sneak attacking all you can do?"
More than a dozen poison-coated blades swung into motion, forcing the streak of light to retreat.
Yet just as Sasori turned—
That figure vanished again.
A heartbeat later, a second flash of blue struck from behind, once more targeting his left arm.
This attack was even faster than the last—so fast that the poisoned blades couldn't return in time to defend.
Just as the strike was about to land—
A burst of white mist suddenly erupted, spreading rapidly and engulfing the surrounding area.
In an instant, the battlefield was shrouded.
"You're quite annoying, you know that?" Sasori said as he slowly turned, his tone filled with disdain as he looked toward the figure now caught within the poisonous fog. "Like a rat, always scurrying around in the shadows."
Behind him, a dark silhouette began to rise.
"Then die… at the hands of my latest—and greatest—masterpiece."
"Iron Sand: Drizzle!"
The floating iron sand instantly fragmented into countless fine particles, scattering like shotgun pellets and blanketing the entire mist-covered area.
A dull thud echoed.
The Konoha shinobi collapsed to the ground.
"Heh… such bold words, and yet this is all you amount to," Sasori remarked as he slowly approached, almost contemplative. "The human body is so fragile… like a piece of art already on the verge of decay."
"Only my puppets… can be called true, eternal art."
Suddenly—
Two glowing blue hands burst out from the ground beneath him, moving with lightning speed as they severed both of Sasori's legs in an instant.
"You—!"
Losing his balance, Sasori immediately attempted to summon his puppets for support.
But it wasn't over yet.
From beneath the earth, a spiraling torrent of water surged upward, rapidly expanding until it completely enveloped the area around him, forming a tightly sealed aquatic prison.
At the same time—
Two streaks of lightning shot forth like arrows, aiming straight for his eyes.
"AAH—!"
The eyes were the most vulnerable point. Even Sasori could not perfectly defend them.
And now—
Shimizu stood before him, completely unharmed.
He glanced briefly at the water clone that had already dissolved into a rippling pool, then shifted his gaze toward the flying puppet trapped outside the water barrier.
It resembled a massive bird, wings spread wide as it hovered in midair, relentlessly bombarding the barrier with waves of iron sand.
Each impact sent ripples racing across the surface of the blue wall.
Then—
Two flashes of blue light streaked past.
Slash. Slash.
Sasori's arms fell cleanly to the ground.
Moments later, the flying puppet lost all control and crashed helplessly from the sky.
But Shimizu wasn't finished.
Not even close.
Several more streaks of blue light flashed through the air in rapid succession…
At last, Sasori's body was completely torn apart.
The puppet shell had been reduced to scrap—its mechanisms shattered, its components scattered across the ground in a lifeless heap.
Without hesitation, Shimizu Uzuki slowly drove his chakra-forged blade into Sasori's core, his expression cold and detached.
"So what if you turned the Third Kazekage into a puppet?"
"This time… can you still stop my blade?"
"To rely on external tools—so-called strength like that is nothing."
Even blinded, Sasori still retorted hoarsely, "What do you understand… you crude shinobi… puppets are the true—"
This time—
The blade met no resistance.
It pierced straight into the heart.
"Cough—cough—!" Sasori's body convulsed as he began to cough violently.
"Do you feel it?" Shimizu asked calmly. "The call of death?"
Yet he did not finish him off immediately. Even now, he hadn't forgotten his original goal.
"Give me the full version of that technique, and I'll spare your life."
He had already spent too much time—and too much chakra—here.
After paying such a price, walking away empty-handed…
That was something he simply couldn't accept.
"I… don't believe you…" Sasori rasped, his body now reduced to little more than his upper torso and head, struggling weakly.
"Don't move," Shimizu said flatly, pushing the blade a few centimeters deeper into the core. Blood began to seep out slowly. "I know your heart can still control puppets."
"But before you can summon another one… you'll already be dead."
He paused, then added in a low voice, "I'm faster than you. You should understand that by now."
Sasori fell silent.
"The technique," Shimizu pressed, his patience thinning. "My patience has limits."
"…I can give it to you," Sasori finally said, "but how can you guarantee you won't go back on your word?"
"You can only choose to trust me."
A long silence followed.
At last, Sasori seemed to abandon resistance, his voice weakening. "…There's another set of notes… on the puppet outside."
Shimizu glanced toward the motionless figure of the Third Kazekage puppet.
It was powerful—no doubt about that.
But as long as Sasori wasn't given the chance to control it, it posed no threat.
"Tell me where it is. I'll retrieve it myself."
As he spoke, Shimizu formed a water clone.
"The puppet is coated in deadly poison," Sasori warned. "Your clone won't withstand it."
"Simple," Shimizu replied without hesitation. "I'll just dismantle the puppet."
With that, he dismissed the water barrier.
At the same time, his focus sharpened entirely on Sasori's core.
If Sasori made even the slightest move—
The blade would plunge through without hesitation, ending him for good.
"It's useless," Sasori continued. "If you touch it carelessly, you'll trigger traps. And the notes are hidden inside the puppet's body…"
Shimizu fell silent for a moment, a trace of exasperation flickering across his face.
So in other words—
Only Sasori himself could retrieve it.
"…Then what are you suggesting?" he asked coldly.
"Install my core into that puppet," Sasori said. "Once I regain control, I'll hand over the notes."
For a brief moment, Shimizu simply stared at him.
Then—
He laughed.
"Do you think I'm a fool?" he said, his tone turning icy. "Or do you just think you're that clever?"
His voice dropped, filled with killing intent.
"If you don't have another solution… then I'll have no choice but to kill you."
The blade sank deeper into the core once more, drawing more blood from the regenerative nucleus.
"Compared to taking that kind of risk, I'd rather just end you here… understand?"
But before Sasori could respond—
A faint disturbance echoed from the distance.
Shimizu's senses flared instantly.
Dozens of Sunagakure shinobi—
Were approaching.
...
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