As Byakuya and Kakuzu tracked Sasori, the latter also noticed the two figures following him and a complex smile appeared on his face.
During his trip to the black market, Sasori had clearly sensed that several ninjas had been watching him with suspicious eyes. These individuals were clearly interested in him, perhaps seeking to make a name for themselves by stepping over his corpse.
But making a name for oneself comes at a price.
Over the years, Sasori had killed many ninjas who came after him and turned these attackers into human puppets, adding them to his collection.
The two ninjas trailing him now would be no exception.
Upon reaching a canyon surrounded by mountains on three sides, Sasori vanished from his previous location and appeared behind Byakuya and Kakuzu, blocking the only exit.
Seeing Kakuzu, Sasori instinctively narrowed his eyes.
Kakuzu's reputation in the black market was comparable to that of the Five Kage. How had such an old monster-level rogue ninja come after him? His bounty in the black market was not high.
After a moment's contemplation, Sasori asked calmly, "Kakuzu, did you take the black market's bounty to kill me?"
Kakuzu shook his head and said, "I have no interest in you, but my boss is interested in you. If you have any questions, you should ask him."
"Boss?"
Sasori frowned slightly and turned his attention to Byakuya.
If Kakuzu hadn't mentioned it, he would have almost forgotten that there was another ninja nearby. However, he didn't recall ever meeting Byakuya; they should have no enmity.
At this point, Byakuya stepped forward and said, "Nice to meet you. I'm Byakuya from the Akatsuki organization. I'm here to invite you to join us as a member."
"Join you?" Sasori sneered and asked, "Why should I become your subordinate?"
Sasori's response left Byakuya momentarily stunned. It seemed he really had no compelling reasons to persuade Sasori. What had led Sasori to join Akatsuki in the original story?
Was it because Akatsuki could fulfill Sasori's ambitions? Or was there another reason?
After pondering for a moment, Byakuya finally recalled that Sasori had joined Akatsuki simply because Konan had convinced him, and he had started working on the tailed beast collection plan.
However, there might be deeper reasons…
Before Byakuya could provide an answer, Sasori had already taken out a scroll, bitten his finger, and instantly summoned ten puppets that hovered between them.
"Just ten puppets?" Byakuya expressed his disappointment. Controlling ten puppets was the limit for a puppet master, but it wasn't Sasori's maximum ability. It seemed Sasori hadn't shown his true strength.
Upon hearing this, Sasori's expression darkened slightly.
He then commanded his puppets to attack Byakuya. These puppets, made of steel, were more agile than regular ninjas under the control of chakra threads.
With a whoosh, as Byakuya dodged a slicing attack, he heard the sound of kunai being launched.
These fine needles seemed harmless and could only injure a ninja's skin, but they were coated with various deadly toxins. A slight mistake could lead to poisoning and death.
This was a common tactic of Sand Village's puppet masters, using toxins to compensate for insufficient killing power.
However, in front of Byakuya, these puppets were still too slow. Even without using Body Flicker Technique to dodge, he could suppress the puppets with his paper jutsu's built-in flight ability.
Moreover, these metal puppets lacked agility and couldn't even resist basic Fire Style and Water Style attacks.
After experiencing the high temperatures of Fire Style and the cooling effects of Water Style, the joints of these puppets began to deform and malfunction.
Seeing this, Sasori's expression grew extremely serious.
Byakuya's strength exceeded Sasori's expectations. The recent attacks were so devastating that any ordinary ninja would have been killed many times over.
Byakuya not only reacted promptly but also took measures to exploit the puppets' weaknesses.
On the other hand, Kakuzu was equally astonished. Byakuya's method of dismantling the puppets seemed simple, but the environment here was very different from the water-rich Land of Rain. Being able to use Water Style in a dry setting indicated that Byakuya's chakra control was beyond that of many high-ranking ninjas.
Kakuzu, who had initially been interested in rescuing and profiting, was now intensely curious about Byakuya's true strength.
Seeing that ordinary puppets couldn't deal with Byakuya, Sasori took out a second scroll. This scroll contained the powerful human puppets he had collected and created over the years.
"Fire Style: Fire Ball Jutsu!"
"Water Style: Water Dragon Jutsu!"
Taking advantage of Byakuya's momentary pause, Sasori manipulated the human puppets to attack him. However, Byakuya dodged the attacks effortlessly.
This time, Byakuya didn't use jutsu; he directly destroyed Sasori's puppets with sheer force.
In the face of hundreds of explosive tags, the human puppets were like flowers in a torrential rain, having no chance to attack. The chakra threads were also overwhelmed by the explosions.
When the explosions ended, Byakuya approached the nearby puppet, saying, "Sasori, stop hiding your strength and bring out the Third Kazekage puppet. Otherwise, you have no chance of winning against me. Or you could surrender and join my ranks. I won't mistreat you."
Upon hearing the mention of the Third Kazekage puppet, a blood seemed to be fuming in Sasori's eyes.
While he had never hidden the fact that he had assassinated the Third Kazekage, he had never mentioned it to other ninjas. How did Byakuya know he had killed the Third Kazekage?
If word of this got out, it would bring him a lot of unnecessary trouble.
Thinking of this, Sasori took out his final scroll, preparing to summon the Third Kazekage puppet and eliminate Byakuya and Kakuzu to forever conceal this secret.
However, in the next moment, Byakuya vanished from his position and, using his levitation technique, appeared right in front of Sasori.
Before Sasori could react, he was bound by a sealing technique, unable to move or channel chakra. He could only watch as a kunai pierced his body.
With a thud, the kunai pierced through Sasori's body, blood flowing from the wound.
Seeing this, Byakuya was slightly taken aback. Wasn't the Hiruko a puppet Sasori used to conceal his identity? Why was it bleeding?
Had Sasori not undergone mechanical ascension yet and was still in his flesh-and-blood form?
Pulling out the kunai and examining Sasori's wound, Byakuya sighed. It confirmed that Sasori was indeed still flesh-and-blood. No wonder Sasori's movements had slowed significantly during the bombardment with explosive tags.
Byakuya had initially thought Sasori was feigning weakness, but it seemed he had actually been stunned by the explosions.
Reluctantly, Byakuya decided to first take the scroll containing the Kazekage puppet and then use medical ninjutsu on Sasori. He couldn't let this valuable technical talent die.