"A Root ninja?"
Rasa recognized the other party's style at a glance.
After that, he immediately lost interest in capturing the ninja alive.
Last time, when Danzo had joined forces with Shirasuna Koichi and led Root ninja to infiltrate Sunagakure for an attack, Rasa had captured quite a few of them for interrogation.
But the results had been extremely poor.
It had been a complete waste of time.
Might as well kill them directly.
"Other than the Cursed Tongue Eradication Seal, Danzo's brainwashing ability with Root ninja is also extremely strong."
Just then—
The enormous sphere absorbed enough energy.
However, the Sun Disc's energy storage module had not been completed yet. There was no place for the energy to be stored.
Therefore, the energy could only be expelled from the giant sphere.
A highly compressed mass of energy appeared.
It was not chakra.
But compared to a chakra sphere, it was not inferior in the slightest.
This was the energy of the sun.
Rasa's thoughts moved.
"Flowing Sand Shift: Guide!"
It was a ninjutsu usage modeled after Flying Thunder God: Guiding Thunder.
Flying Thunder God: Guiding Thunder was the technique Minato Namikaze had used when facing a Tailed Beast Ball. At the instant of contact with the Tailed Beast Ball, he used the Flying Thunder God Technique to send it somewhere else.
The power remained unchanged.
But it no longer threatened the target.
Now, Rasa's Flowing Sand Shift: Guide sent the energy gathered by the giant sphere straight to the location where the Root ninja was hiding.
In an instant, it arrived.
The Root ninja had no time to react at all.
Boom!
A violent explosion rang out.
Countless grains of sand flew into the air.
It was like a wave had been formed.
Scorching heat spread outward, melting even the sand.
As for the Root ninja's body, under that intense heat, it was burned into charcoal.
When a Sunagakure ninja saw the Root ninja's corpse, his expression changed drastically.
"Kazekage-sama, forgive me!"
He came before Rasa and did not dare raise his head.
Rasa had emphasized the importance of the Sun Disc more than once or twice.
But now, someone had gotten this close, while he, the ninja captain responsible for defense, had known nothing.
Rasa glanced at him.
"This is indeed your fault."
"The Sun Disc is extremely important. Even if the other ninja villages don't know what we're doing, once they see us mobilizing so many people here, they will definitely become interested."
"Before construction is complete, we absolutely cannot allow them to learn any intelligence about the Sun Disc."
"Even more, we cannot allow the construction process to be interrupted."
"This concerns the future fate of Sunagakure."
The Sunagakure ninja slapped himself twice, hard.
Rasa turned toward Chiyo.
"Senior Chiyo, I'll leave the defense here to you personally."
Chiyo nodded.
"I will arrange puppet traps. No one will be able to approach."
Setting aside the Sun Disc's importance to Sunagakure—
Just the fact that Chiyo herself had already poured so much effort into it meant she did not want it to fail.
Nor did she want its secrets stolen by other ninja villages.
Chiyo was looking forward to the moment the Sun Disc was completed more than anyone.
The Sun Disc was art.
With Chiyo's assurance, Rasa could finally feel relieved.
Puppets combined with poison—
Even for ninja with powerful infiltration abilities, getting close would not be easy.
And Chiyo's experience was extremely rich.
She was an old ninja who had lived through multiple great wars.
If she said she would do it, then she would definitely do it.
As for her personal strength, Chiyo was very strong.
White Secret Technique: The Chikamatsu Collection of Ten Puppets.
One finger controlled one puppet.
And the puppets could cooperate with one another.
One plus one was greater than two.
Two plus two was greater than four.
And so on.
During the Second Great Ninja War, she had once given even Hanzo of the Salamander of Amegakure quite a headache. He had called Chiyo an old puppet hag. In itself, that was a form of recognition.
Just like how Hanzo had called Jiraiya and the others the Sannin.
For most ninja, fame came from their opponents.
After watching Rasa leave, Chiyo withdrew her gaze and turned back toward the Sun Disc.
She had invested most of her energy here.
Her determination to retire had gradually dissolved under the temptation of technology.
But what Chiyo did not notice was that in the distance, a puppet eye was watching this place from afar.
Its gaze first fell on the Sun Disc under construction, then shifted toward Chiyo.
"The Sun Disc… how interesting. Who created something like this?"
"The old hag?"
"No. It doesn't seem like something the old hag could make."
"Then… Rasa?"
Sasori of the Red Sand narrowed his eyes.
"That guy who learned Magnet Release from the Third old man?"
"He looked utterly mediocre before. I didn't expect him to have hidden himself so deeply."
"How interesting."
"Stronger than the Third old man."
"If he were made into a puppet, he would certainly be stronger than the puppet I made from the Third old man's body."
"If the Third old man knew Rasa had achieved this much, he would probably be very happy."
"But I don't want him to be happy."
"It was because of him that Father and Mother died."
"Because of his selfishness."
"Ninja are all boring things."
"Kage are even more boring."
"Only puppets are eternal."
Sasori's gaze returned to the Sun Disc.
"But what exactly is that thing?"
Sasori felt an intense curiosity toward the Sun Disc.
But he did not dare approach recklessly.
No one understood Chiyo better than Sasori.
And right now, Sasori did not want to meet Chiyo.
Sasori's expression was blank, but a strange light flickered in his eyes.
"Still, I buried a few pieces inside Sunagakure before. I can try using them."
"Nothing like this has ever appeared in the shinobi world before."
"If Rasa obtained it, where did he get it from?"
"This has nothing to do with Magnet Release."
"And it certainly isn't something belonging to the Third old man."
A gust of wind swept past, and that eye was quickly covered by sand.
But at that moment, a voice suddenly sounded.
"Sasori, enjoying the view?"
Sasori was suddenly startled.
Another puppet eye appeared in the opposite direction. Only then did he see that at some unknown point, Rasa had arrived near his puppet.
"Rasa?"
"When?"
"How did you notice?"
"Even Grandmother didn't notice!"
Sasori was shocked, and his entire body instantly entered combat readiness.
If Rasa made even the slightest move, he would use his full strength.
But deep down, Sasori felt uneasy.
He was not completely ignorant of the shinobi world's current situation.
He also had some understanding of Rasa's strength.
In fact, he had estimated it on the higher side.
But Sasori had never imagined that he would be discovered like this.
Nor could he understand how Rasa had appeared beside him without making a sound.
"Don't be so tense."