"Asura Path Sasori?"
Sasori of the Red Sand actually kind of liked his new body.
Sasori of the Red Sand understood in his heart that his puppetry skills were far from reaching this level. This kind of puppet was not something that could be achieved with simple puppetry techniques.
However, what Sasori of the Red Sand did not know was that the reason this Asura Path puppet could become a powerful puppet was partly because it contained his own heart beneath the heart area of the puppet, which still had Sasori of the Red Sand's living heart inside, providing chakra to the puppet.
There was no one in the entire ninja world more suitable to become the Asura Path than Sasori of the Red Sand.
Because Sasori of the Red Sand himself was proficient in puppetry, turning his own body into a human puppet, storing everything of himself within the puppet core of that cylindrical heart.
The puppet core of Sasori of the Red Sand was also granted Yin-Yang Release by Akihara Kagura, which could also be used to modify the Asura Path. The only problem was that life and death were controlled by Akihara Kagura.
A bunch of chakra threads flew out from Sasori's fingertips, landing on a pile of puppet parts. He quickly reassembled a new, ugly Hiruko puppet to conceal his form, and also found the Third Kazekage controlled by him.
Besides that,
All the remaining puppet parts were also collected.
Akihara Kagura did not care for these puppet parts, but for Sasori of the Red Sand, they were of great use, easily assembled and utilized.
"I'll go first."
The Hiruko of Sasori of the Red Sand slowly crawled towards the outside.
"..."
Watching the crawling Hiruko, Akihara Kagura could only nod in confusion. Sasori really liked to curl up his body and hide inside the Hiruko!
"By the way."
The Hiruko of Sasori of the Red Sand suddenly stopped. It seems that most people in the ninja world like to reveal important information just before they leave: "I forgot to tell you something. When Orochimaru left the base of the Akatsuki organization, he invited Pain to deal with Jiraiya."
"Well, I do hope he can make it in time."
Akihara Kagura laughed out, indicating that he was very much looking forward to it.
"Your relationship with Orochimaru?"
Sasori of the Red Sand voiced a hint of suspicion: "Are you one of his completed experiments? Are you really afraid of snakes?"
"Lord Orochimaru..."
"I have always been in contact with Lord Orochimaru."
"After all, I came from his laboratory initially. I always owe him a favor, and he would also send some small gifts during the holidays."
Akihara Kagura's smile remained strong, laughing lightly: "After you go back, take care of him for me in the Akatsuki organization. He always talks about wanting immortality but paradoxically likes seeking thrills and courting death. Just be careful not to let him die, that's all."
"..."
After hearing Akihara Kagura's words, Sasori of the Red Sand wondered if there was something wrong with Orochimaru's mind, and asked again, "Wait, what does this mean... Is Orochimaru your subordinate, or are you his subordinate?"
"Of course, I am a subordinate of Lord Orochimaru."
"However, Lord Orochimaru doesn't know many things about me, including the matter of the Rinnegan."
Akihara Kagura shook his head and continued, "After all, I have already informed him of everything Lord Orochimaru wishes to know. As for the things beyond his imagination, I naturally would not tell him, so as to avoid causing him undue distress."
"You really are a good subordinate!"
Sasori of the Red Sand roughly figured out the relationship between Akihara Kagura and Orochimaru, "To you, Orochimaru is just a tool to be used, right?"
"No."
Akihara Kagura did not agree with Sasori's statement, correcting him proactively, "Speak a bit more carefully to avoid misunderstandings."
"The correct way to say it would be..."
"For us, Lord Orochimaru is a tool worth utilizing."
"Lord Orochimaru's scientific technology is something both of us must admit to being inferior to. Sometimes, it's better to be humble."
"..."
Sasori of the Red Sand felt that Akihara Kagura's respect for Orochimaru was a bit too superficial, calling him 'Lord Orochimaru' while also not hesitating to use Orochimaru as a tool.
However...
Orochimaru's scientific technology indeed had something special.
Sasori of the Red Sand occasionally discovered Orochimaru researching bizarre things in the laboratory, things even he, as a puppet master, could not understand.
It seemed that Akihara Kagura wanted to ease the tension between Sasori of the Red Sand and Orochimaru, proactively reminding, "This time, Lord Orochimaru really tried to save you. Before I could destroy your human puppet body, he had already rescued your human puppet body..."
"That was kind of him."
Sasori of the Red Sand decided to accept this favor.
Looking at Sasori of the Red Sand, Akihara Kagura added, "Perhaps Lord Orochimaru did not know that your core was the cylindrical heart! Although I knew this information, it was Lord Orochimaru who hinted at it quietly during the battle..."
"!!!"
Sasori of the Red Sand hated Orochimaru to the core of his puppet parts.
Originally, the Sasori of the Red Sand thought that even if Orochimaru saved the wrong person, it would still count as saving a physical puppet body, ultimately judging by actions rather than intentions.
As a result...
The information leaked by that bastard Orochimaru?
That bastard must have coveted his powerful puppet body!
"I'm leaving!"
Sasori of the Red Sand left the place in a huff.
In the Land of Rain.
Inside a dark cave.
Konan told Pain about Orochimaru's hope for them to take care of Jiraiya.
Naturally, Pain did not approve of this. He believed that it was not the time for the Akatsuki organization to be exposed and that they needed to continue accumulating manpower for the organization.
"We know the difficulties with Teacher Jiraiya."
Pain shook his head, expressing his concern: "If we want to kill Teacher Jiraiya, we must find a way to stop him from passing on information. Once the information is leaked, it will only lead the Akatsuki organization to be besieged by the Konoha Village."
Konan frowned, expressing her worry: "I'm still concerned that Orochimaru might leak information about the Akatsuki organization..."
"Don't worry."
Pain interrupted her, confident in his control over Orochimaru: "As long as we are strong enough, Orochimaru will behave... Orochimaru is a dangerous person, keeping him at the base and not letting him go out on missions anymore."
"Yes..."
Konan thought about the situation of the Akatsuki, her brow furrowed, but it did not hinder her beauty and cold demeanor: "Uchiha Obito is hiding somewhere..."
"If Orochimaru cannot go on missions, the one responsible for monitoring him, Sasori, must also stay at the base to prevent Orochimaru from causing problems at the base..."
"Kakuzu's team can often go out on missions, but Kakuzu always kills his teammates for bounties, even before we can find replacements for him..."
"Did Kakuzu's teammate die again?"
Hearing this, Pain felt this subordinate was truly troublesome.
"Yes."
Konan nodded, adding: "Kakuzu's teammate had a bounty of seven million ryō on him. He turned that person's body into money and brought it back, along with the Akatsuki's ring, claiming it was cleared during a mission."
"This is the fourth time this year..."
Thinking about recruiting manpower, Konan felt it was troublesome: "There are too few S-rank rogue ninjas in the ninja world," even the number of rogue Jonin is not many, making it difficult to find suitable teammates for him."
After Konan finished discussing Kakuzu's troubles, she naturally had to mention Kakuzu's achievements as well: "However, the bounty Kakuzu executed this month amounted to at least thirty million ryō, even though a quarter of that came from the teammates he killed..."
"..."
Pain found himself at a loss for words for a moment.
Since the formation of the Akatsuki, only Kakuzu was skilled at gathering funds. Sasori of the Red Sand and Orochimaru disliked undertaking missions, and there was a disagreement with Uchiha Obito, who often liked to assume the role of a guide.
"Continue to find teammates for Kakuzu."
Pain could only give this helpless order.
While they were discussing this, Sasori of the Red Sand and Orochimaru returned to the Akatsuki base one after the other, with Sasori arriving a bit faster.
"Give me back my things."
Sasori raised his hand to demand his human puppets back from Orochimaru.
"..."
Orochimaru handed over a scroll to Sasori with a light laugh, "I originally thought I wouldn't be able to save you in time. By the time I returned, you had already left..."
"..."
Sasori didn't reply.
At that time, he hadn't left but was captured!
If it weren't for Orochimaru, that bastard, informing Akihara Kagura of his whereabouts, he wouldn't have been captured by that guy's subordinates!
However...
There was also no chance to become the most powerful puppet!
Sasori took the scroll, mentally noting Orochimaru's debt, planning to settle accounts with Orochimaru when he became useless.
"..."
Orochimaru watched Sasori with a silent smile.
This battle brought Orochimaru no small gain, taking the opportunity to pass his orders to Akihara Kagura and even obtaining Sasori's weakness...
This puppet master...
Had even turned his own body into a human puppet!
Although this method could indeed achieve immortality, there were still some drawbacks, making it easy for others to seize his weakness.
In the future...
Perhaps there would be an opportunity to control Sasori.
"Orochimaru!"
Upon seeing the two return, Konan approached them, opening with praise: "The task you two completed was well done. The employer this time is very satisfied."
"Right."
After Konan finished speaking, she mentioned the previous matter: "Pain did not agree with your proposal. Now is not the time for Akatsuki to be exposed…"
"Is it really impossible to kill Jiraiya?"
"However, Jiraiya might already know of Akatsuki's existence."
Orochimaru glanced at Sasori of the Red Sand, seizing the opportunity to shift the future blame onto Sasori: "Jiraiya attacked one of my bases. When Sasori encountered Jiraiya, he wanted to turn Jiraiya into a puppet. We were forced into a fight with Jiraiya, and it might have exposed the existence of the Akatsuki organization…"
It couldn't be more suitable!
Akihara Kagura receiving the news would surely join Jiraiya in investigating Akatsuki's intelligence. This will inevitably cause chaos within Akatsuki, and Sasori of the Red Sand can help bear this blame!
"..."
Konan immediately felt a headache coming on.
"..."
Sasori of the Red Sand remained silent, seemingly at a loss for words.
Just then, a will suddenly took over Sasori's body, and with Sasori's voice, he snorted coldly: "If it wasn't for your insistence on going to that base regardless of the mission, we wouldn't have appeared before Jiraiya. I just wanted to eliminate those who have seen Akatsuki…"
As Sasori spoke, he even became more animated: "If it wasn't for your refusal to join the fight against Jiraiya, wanting to watch from the sidelines, we would have already dealt with him, and his reinforcements wouldn't have arrived in time!"
"..."
Orochimaru realized the trouble.
Sasori could actually argue so eloquently?
A blame was being squarely placed on him out of nowhere?
"Alright."
Seeing Orochimaru wanted to argue with Sasori over this issue, Konan spoke up firmly to stop them, continuing: "For now, you two stay at the base to conduct experiments. When the organization's manpower is fully assembled, then go out to carry out missions."
"Okay."
Orochimaru nodded with a smile.
If intelligence were leaked again in the future, it would inevitably raise suspicions from Konan and Pain. He just needed some time to properly conduct experiments.
"I can do that too."
Sasori was even more indifferent to this.
Because the Sasori of the Red Sand gained a lot from this journey, he needs some time to digest his gains, repair his puppets, and try to modify his own body.
"Regarding the leak of intelligence..."
Konan was somewhat displeased but couldn't bring herself to openly criticize, only managing to say coldly, "As long as no information about Akatsuki can be found outside, they will naturally give up."
Normally, this would indeed be the case.
Even if Jiraiya saw Orochimaru wearing a robe adorned with auspicious clouds, and saw the Sasori of the Red Sand wearing the same attire, knowing that there was such an organization in the ninja world, he still had no means to investigate further, not even knowing the name of the organization.
Fortunately,
Jiraiya also had a good disciple.
Just as Jiraiya was lamenting his inability to find information on the robe adorned with auspicious clouds and lingering in a tavern, someone in the tavern mentioned something.
"I heard that a noble spent five million taels to have someone eliminate his rival, and many people were killed by two individuals wearing robes adorned with auspicious clouds, only the palanquin bearer who lay in a puddle managed to escape by a fluke!"
"..."
Jiraiya's ears perked up immediately, and he threw down a hundred thousand taels to have that woman sit beside him and elaborate on this hearsay story.
"Do you like listening to such a terrifying story?"
"Hahaha..."
Jiraiya laughed as he drank a cup of wine and gestured for her to pour another: "I'm just curious about what kind of expert someone would hire for so much money..."
Five million taels!
Such a price was exceedingly high!
Even in Konoha, it would be considered an S-rank mission or higher, involving tasks between nations, and carelessness could easily trigger a war!
"I heard it was due to a dispute over land and property, there has been ongoing conflict between two nobles, and one of them hired someone to take out his rival..."
The woman serving Jiraiya poured the wine, her words all hearsay, seemingly just recounting a rumor she had heard occasionally: "I heard that the two murderers wearing the robes adorned with auspicious clouds didn't notice, allowing the palanquin bearer to escape..."
"But that poor fellow was already scared witless, telling everyone that it was the demons in the robes adorned with auspicious clouds who did it, and later, that palanquin bearer was also killed, his body left in a puddle. As for the talk of spending five million taels, it's all hearsay, we don't know if it's true or not..."
"Oh? This story is quite interesting..."
Jiraiya stroked his teacup, pondering for a moment, and looking at the young and beautiful waitress in front of him, suddenly blushed and asked, "By the way, beautiful lady, do you have a husband?"
"Yes..."
The waitress nodded.
"..."
Jiraiya instantly lost all interest, waved his hand to leave a tip, and then left, the drunken haze in his eyes disappearing without a trace as he stepped out of the doorway.
"The young man's teacher... really is generous..."
The waitress collected the tip she received tonight, her face now taking on the appearance of White Zetzu Awei, as its body sank into the ground.
After a moment.
In a room of an inn.
White Zetzu Awei quietly emerged, looking at Akihara Kagura who was still refining chakra, and took the initiative to report: "Young man, I have done everything as you asked. This is the money your teacher gave me. He seems to have a lot of money..."
"..."
Akihara Kagura glanced at a stack of coins, his eyes twitching: "Usually, everyone is stingy when buying a cup of pear juice, but when going to a tavern, they become quite generous..."
"Since he's so wealthy, he should hire the Akatsuki organization!"