This person was none other than Konan.
The owner of White Ring of Akatsuki.
And today, the reason she appeared above the desert of the Land of Wind, was entirely due to the orders of that mysterious masked man.
She was here to recruit him for the Akatsuki.
This time, her target was precisely the S-Rank Missing-nin from Sunagakure who had assassinated the Third Kazekage —
the renowned genius puppeteer, Sasori of the Red Sand!
Since Sasori often operated shrouded within his puppets, his tracks were rarely found in ordinary places.
After spending several days, Konan finally ascertained that Sasori had attacked a few villages on the border of the Land of Wind.
So, following Sasori's trail, Konan finally found this place today.
However, she had only just caught sight of Sasori and hadn't even had a chance to go down and talk to him, when she suddenly witnessed that scene just now.
The infamous Sasori, for some unknown reason, had suddenly started fighting with that brown-haired youth.
Even more absurdly, in an instant, he was directly one-shot by that brown-haired youth using an incredibly fast blade...
There wasn't even a fight to speak of.
Konan was completely dumbfounded.
'The supposed Kage-level powerhouse, just like that... got one-shot???'
'And besides, wasn't the distance that blade's light extended a bit too far?!'
Looking from the air, just the distance Konan could estimate was at least ten kilometers!
'A blade that could extend ten kilometers???'
A series of baffling question marks appeared in Konan's mind.
However, more terrifying than the length was the extension speed of that blade.
The moment that terrifying flash of blade light appeared, it seemed the blade had already returned to his hand, as if nothing had happened...
After hesitating for a moment, Konan decided to go down and check the situation.
No matter how she thought about it, the scene just now was just too strange...
Although there might be a risk of combat, with her Dance of the Shikigami, she could perfectly nullify all physical attacks.
No matter how terrifying that person's blade was, she naturally wouldn't fear it.
Moreover, she didn't want to have come all this way for nothing.
After all, her mission was to recruit people.
While Sasori might not be recruitable now, perhaps she could recruit an existence for Akatsuki far stronger than Sasori...
Thinking along these lines, Konan spread her wings and flew downwards.
...
Meanwhile, in the desert.
Looking at the fallen Sasori ahead, a system notification immediately chimed in Kyo's mind.
[Ding, congratulations host, side mission successfully completed.]
[Defeated the genius puppeteer, Sasori of the Red Sand (1/1). Reward: Hoho experience +100; Kido experience +200; Spiritual Pressure +1000.]
[Cumulative defeat of three Kage-level powerhouses (1/3). Reward unknown.]
As the notification faded, Kyo's eyes immediately lit up.
'Besides the bonus experience for Hoho and Kido, there was actually the rare reward of Spiritual Pressure increase?'
'Excellent!'
He had to know, in these ten years, among the rewards he had drawn from the system, most were for Zanjutsu, Hakuda, Hoho, and Kido. There were very few that could directly boost Spiritual Pressure.
So much so that until now, his Spiritual Pressure was only at LV.3.
As for the importance of Spiritual Pressure, it needed no further elaboration.
To quote Aizen, it was—
The fights between Shinigami are essentially fights of Spiritual Pressure!
When the gap in Spiritual Pressure is too large, one can even completely ignore the enemy's attacks;
Furthermore, a strong individual only needs to release their Spiritual Pressure to cause a weaker one's soul to scatter on the spot, without even needing to fight.
In fact, Kyo had just tried releasing his Spiritual Pressure in front of Sasori, and the result was merely strengthening his own aura, not enough to intimidate the other.
Therefore, obtaining a reward that increased Spiritual Pressure, Kyo was naturally overjoyed.
However, just as Kyo was pondering this, suddenly, within his Spiritual Pressure Perception, a target was approaching at high speed!
"?"
Kyo's mind stirred slightly. He immediately narrowed his eyes and looked in the direction of his perception.
And there, in the sky above.
A woman clad in a black robe with red clouds was spreading angelic wings made of paper, looking down from on high.
The distinctive blue-purple short hair, and the paper floating around her, all undeniably indicated her identity.
The moment he saw her, Kyo was momentarily stunned, then couldn't help but reveal a smile.
From this angle, Konan's admirable figure was fully displayed, unable to be hidden even by the wide black robe.
'Truly worthy of being the Seventh Path of Pain, the Bountiful Path indeed.'