Sasori of the Red Sand slowly extended all ten fingers, chakra threads lifting the puppet into the air.
The Third Kazekage puppet pried open a broken plate on its chest—then blue chakra surged out like a fountain.
"Prepare to die."
"This is a move you absolutely cannot dodge."
"Iron Sand World Method!"
Sasori delivered those words with flat, emotionless calm.
The instant his voice fell—
Dense iron sand exploded outward like branching limbs, spreading at terrifying speed.
Its range was massive, and its growth was relentless.
Like the First Hokage's Deep Forest Emergence, no matter how agile you were, once it unfolded, there was nowhere left to run.
Against the Third Kazekage's Iron Sand World Method, even Tsunade couldn't evade everything.
Black iron-sand spears rained down like a storm.
Tsunade avoided the vital points—but she was still grazed.
When the dust settled, Tsunade was kneeling with her eyes shut, a clear wound visible on the back of her shoulder.
Sasori's lips curved into a smile.
"Konoha's number one medical-nin…"
"In the end, you still fell to me."
"You're hit by my poison. Right now, you should be unable to move."
Tsunade didn't answer.
She simply stayed there, motionless on one knee.
Seeing that, Sasori's smile deepened.
Accepted your fate?
Looks like you've already seen your ending.
Sasori guided the puppet forward. Genma and the others couldn't help shouting—
"Lady Tsunade! Are you alright?!"
Sasori glanced at them coldly.
"Stop wasting your breath. It's over."
With a flick of his finger, the Third Kazekage's blade snapped out—charging straight at Tsunade.
Genma's team tried to rush in, but at this distance, it was too late.
And besides—
Orochimaru stood nearby like a coiled predator, watching.
At this moment, the famous Tsunade of the Sannin…
Seemed to have reached a dead end.
Just as Sasori moved to finish her—
Tsunade moved.
No flashy technique.
No feint.
She simply drove a punch straight into the Third Kazekage puppet.
Crack!!
With a single thunderous impact, the Third Kazekage puppet shattered—just like Hiruko before it.
Sasori's eyes widened sharply.
…No.
I got played.
With the puppet destroyed, its Magnet Release chakra support vanished—and the iron sand in the sky immediately lost control, raining down to the ground.
Sasori froze for a heartbeat.
Why can she still move after being poisoned?
Impossible.
This is absolutely impossible!
Sasori's poisoncraft had long surpassed even Granny Chiyo's. He trusted his toxin completely.
But Tsunade was doing something outside his understanding.
She had been hit—there was no question.
So why wasn't she poisoned?
As Sasori's mind churned, Tsunade finally spoke—cutting through his confusion.
"Confused?"
"Wondering why I'm not poisoned…?"
Sasori nodded.
"I really don't understand."
"You didn't fully dodge that attack."
Tsunade's mouth lifted slightly.
"I didn't dodge the hit."
"But I dodged the poison."
Sasori frowned.
"What… does that even mean?"
Tsunade cleared her throat and explained calmly.
"It's simple."
"The moment I was struck, I temporarily stopped blood circulation in the injured area."
"For ordinary people, that's difficult."
"For someone who's mastered medical ninjutsu… it's nothing."
"For poison to spread, it needs blood flow."
"And I sealed it in place before it could diffuse."
"That level of precise chakra control… only top-tier medical-nin can do."
"And unfortunately for you—I'm exactly that kind of person."
Hearing that, Sasori's doubts finally vanished.
He had expected Tsunade's medical ninjutsu to be top-class—
He just never imagined it could be used like this.
But Sasori didn't lose his composure.
A Kage-level fighter's mental fortitude didn't crack so easily.
Tsunade's medical skill was shocking—
Yet Sasori still hadn't used his true ace.
He smiled.
"Earlier, when I said I'd fight with my own body… it was just a joke."
"I didn't expect it to become a prophecy."
"To force a puppet master to this point…"
"You should feel proud."
Tsunade's eyes flashed with suspicion.
Puppet users were usually weak in close combat—
And he was saying he'd fight with his body?
Was it a trap?
Tsunade applied medical ninjutsu to seal and heal her shoulder wound.
Because of her hemophobia, she deliberately prevented even a single drop of blood from spilling.
Keeping the toxin inside would cause some damage, sure—
But for Tsunade, it wasn't a big problem. Once she returned to Konoha, a simple procedure would fix it.
What mattered now was capturing this mysterious puppet master.
He was Akatsuki—meaning he likely held valuable intel.
If she extracted that information…
She could finally stomp down Uchiha Yusuke's arrogant swagger.
Just imagining Yusuke grinding his teeth while being unable to do anything about it made Tsunade's mood brighten.
The Senju are stronger than the Uchiha.
If you don't like it—hold it in.
Sasori tore off his cloak.
When Tsunade saw his body, she froze.
He had turned his own body into a puppet?
This guy was insane.
Sasori's face was filled with fanatic pride.
"How can life be compared to art?"
"My eternal body… is perfect."
Tsunade raised an eyebrow.
Yup. A lunatic you can't reason with.
In that case—let's settle this.
Sasori pulled out a scroll from behind him—
And then sprayed flames at Tsunade.
"Flame Prison: Caress Formation!"
Tsunade tried to dodge, but the fire kept pouring without end.
"Heavenly Kick!"
She stomped up a sand wall as a shield.
Sasori abruptly cut the flames—then transformed the weapons in his palms into high-pressure water cannons.
The sand wall was blown apart.
Tsunade couldn't help muttering inwardly—
Fire, then water… are you trying to act like a kid?
After seeing Sasori's puppet body, Tsunade understood his age was definitely not what it looked like.
In close quarters, she held a crushing advantage.
But if Sasori kept his attacks continuous, closing the distance wouldn't be easy.
Under the water-cannon barrage, Tsunade rolled and evaded, forced backward a long distance.
For puppet masters—
Distance was advantage.
Because most puppet users weren't good at melee.
Tsunade frowned.
Up close, she could drop him in minutes.
But in a drawn-out fight…
This could drag on.
However—
Even if Tsunade was willing to wait, Sasori was already getting impatient.
He hated waiting.
He hated making people wait.
Wasting time wasn't Sasori's style.
He put away the fire-and-water emitters and said flatly:
"This back-and-forth is annoying. Let's end it."
"Let me show you my true secret art."
"A mechanism puppet… capable of destroying an entire country."
Tsunade's eyes narrowed.
Granny Chiyo taking a city with puppets was already legendary.
This "kid" was claiming he could wipe out a whole nation?
Either he had the power—
Or he was bluffing.
But since he dared to say it, Tsunade became fully alert.
He killed the Third Kazekage. He might truly have a terrifying kill move.
Sasori slowly pulled out another scroll from behind him.
With a light flick—
Red puppets erupted out in a flood.
Clack-clack-clack-clack-clack…!
With a violent roar of movement, the puppets covered the sky—filling the air until it felt like the world had turned red.
Sasori declared proudly:
"A puppet master's strength is measured by how many puppets he can control."
"This is my strongest secret art."
"Red Secret Technique: Performance of a Hundred Puppets!"
"No one can resist this."
"You should surrender now."
Tsunade's expression turned solemn.
Even Granny Chiyo, a legend of puppetry, could reportedly only control about ten at once.
This number… was absurd.
But Tsunade didn't feel fear.
Trash mobs were still trash.
They looked intimidating, sure—
But how strong were they really?
Trying to make her surrender with this alone was insulting the Sannin.
Tsunade cracked her knuckles, joints popping.
"Come on, brat."
"Let me see what your puppetry can do."
Sasori's eyes darkened.
He looked like a child, but within Akatsuki he always saw himself as the "senior."
"Brat" was a title he refused to accept.
Trying to provoke me?
How childish.
Tsunade, of course, was just doing what she did best—
Her trash talk was always elite.
Jiraiya had suffered plenty of it, and even Naruto would fall for it later.
Sasori snapped.
"Taste the dance of death!"
With a furious shout, his fingers danced—hundreds of puppets drew blades and entered a killing stance.
Tsunade swept her gaze over them and clicked her tongue.
Poison weapons again?
Do you people have anything else?
Sensing the contempt at the corner of her mouth, Sasori's anger spiked even higher.
You dare look down on my trump card?!
Die!
With a sharp pull of his fingers, hundreds of puppets surged toward Tsunade.
Tsunade calmly shrugged off her outer coat.
A trash-mob battlefield?
It's been a while since I worked my body properly.
Time to loosen up.
Crack-crack-crack…!
The moment they clashed, Tsunade shattered several puppets in an instant.
With such massive numbers, Sasori's average puppet strength hovered around chūnin level.
Against Tsunade, that meant only one thing—
Massacre.
Still…
To control hundreds at once and still maintain chūnin-level combat performance?
That level of control was horrifying.
Even Granny Chiyo in her prime might not have managed it.
At this moment, Tsunade acknowledged Sasori's strength.
With a puppet army like this, wiping out smaller nations in the shinobi world really wasn't hard.
But destroying one of the Five Great Nations?
Yeah—dream on.
Tsunade went all out, tearing through the puppet swarm like a storm.
Sasori's losses were heavy—
But Tsunade was also burning through stamina at a brutal rate.
The battle became a grinding stalemate.
Orochimaru watched with amused interest.
Two Kage-level monsters going all out—
You didn't get to see that often.
On Konoha's side—
Genma's three-man team stood frozen, minds blank.
Hundreds of puppets at once?
What kind of monster was that?!
And Tsunade—
Charging through the puppet army like she owned the battlefield.
Gods in human skin.
After witnessing Tsunade's power, Genma's team started questioning reality.
They'd always heard the Sannin were insane—
But they hadn't realized it was this insane.
They couldn't help thinking—
Did the Hokage assign the wrong mission?
This woman… really needs us to protect her?
Back on the battlefield—
Sasori's puppet count kept dropping, while Tsunade's movements grew heavier.
But as the puppet count fell, Sasori's control precision rose sharply.
At the start, most puppets were around chūnin level.
Now they were creeping toward tokubetsu jōnin—
And even trending toward true jōnin.
By Tsunade's estimate, if the number dropped below twenty, each puppet's combat power might reach elite jōnin level.
Facing twenty elite jōnin at once—
Even a Kage-level fighter would have to take it seriously.
At this point, Tsunade had to admit—
This "young puppet master" was genuinely powerful.
She couldn't completely steamroll him.
She had to focus.
He was a real Kage-level threat.
If she didn't have some natural advantages, this fight might have been even harder.
After fighting for so long, Sasori was also beginning to respect Tsunade.
More than half his collection had been destroyed—
and in his entire career, he'd never suffered losses like this.
But the thought of turning one of the Legendary Sannin—
Tsunade—
into a new masterpiece…
Filled him with fresh excitement.
The Third Kazekage, plus a Sannin.
Tell me—
Who else could challenge the title of the #1 puppet master in the shinobi world?
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