The desert shook.
Iron Sand slammed into the ground again.
Another deafening explosion echoed across the wasteland as the compressed mass pierced deep beneath the surface before erupting upward in a violent spray of earth and stone.
Sasori's fingers moved to control his strongest puppet once more.
The Third Kazekage puppet hovered silently behind him while another needle of Iron Sand formed above the battlefield.
The gigantic Iron Sand needle descended.
BOOM!
The earth buckled once more.
Hundreds of tons of sand and shattered rock were hurled into the air before crashing back down across the desert.
Sasori wasn't a sensory type shinobi and as such should normally be unable to sense Shinra's chakra signature underground. So he opted to the most destructive route; he repeatedly strikes the ground with the Iron sand, making it difficult to remain underground.
"You can't remain underground forever."
Deep underground, Shinra's entire body lurched violently as the surrounding earth convulsed.
He immediately altered his direction.
The compact soil surrounding him continuously softened into fine sand as the Hiding Like a Mole Technique carried him forward, only to solidify again the instant he passed.
Another impact.
BOOM!
The earth compressed from every direction.
The pressure nearly crushed the layer of softened earth surrounding his body before the jutsu forced it apart once more.
Sweat rolled down Shinra's forehead.
'He's trying to force me out, my chakra won't be able to last long in this situation.'
BOOM!
Another spear struck.
The vibrations became even stronger.
Every explosion robbed him of another burst of chakra simply to maintain the technique.
'I can't stay underground much longer.'
Shinra decided to gamble with his life once more, but this time Sasori wouldn't be apprehensive in his approach, there was a high chance it would only waste what little chakra he had left.
Sasori watched the desert erupt over and over beneath the Third Kazekage's assault.
Anyone using an earth-moving technique continuously while enduring repeated impacts would eventually exhaust their chakra.
Before the next barrage descended, a thick cloud of smoke suddenly billowed across the battlefield.
Without hesitation, Sasori raised the Third Kazekage's arm.
Hundreds of Iron Sand bullets erupted into the smoke, tearing through it without mercy.
For several seconds, only the sound of steel tearing through dust echoed across the ruined desert.
Just then within the smoke a figure gradually took shape, his figure was quite blurry allowing Sasori to only clearly see a shadow moving slowly in his direction. It walked calmly toward Sasori while holding four kunai, its sword still resting inside its sheath.
Looking at this unfamiliar figure who stepped out of the smoke, Sasori was mildly annoyed— annoyed by the fact that he had been played by a brat causing him to miss out on getting his hands on the Byakugan.
Shinra silently shifted his gaze towards Sasori, whilst clenching the kunai in his hand.
Sasori also looked at him and readied the Third Kazekage's puppet, there is no need to waste anymore time on an insignificant unknown gēnin.
In the face of the strongest puppet user Shinra launched 4 kunai in rapid succession.
The Third Kazekage puppet moved at the same time Sasori reacted.
Its blade-like arm intercepted three projectiles effortlessly.
The final kunai missed completely, burying itself harmlessly nearly twenty meters behind Sasori.
The exchange lasted less than a heartbeat.
Seeing his own attack accomplish absolutely nothing, Shinra smiled instead.
His hand reached toward the sword hanging from his waist.
The blade left its sheath.
Lightning burst across the steel with a deafening screech.
Instead of slashing…
He lowered the blade into a thrusting stance.
Then disappeared.
It was a technique Shinra had developed over the previous four weeks, and this was the first time he had ever used it in a real battle.
The sword pierced the air before him, splitting the wind itself and reducing nearly all resistance.
For a brief moment Shinra had surpassed his own limit and moved at a speed that even a Joūnin would consider to be fast, the only issue was that in exchange for this boost in speed his body needed to move to where the sword was thrusting.
It is quite unfortunate that his opponent was a man who fought others from a distance and could use Iron sand to target him from far away; that is exactly what Sasori had done, a massive barrage of sand bullets flew towards the speeding Shinra in an uncontrolled manner.
Shinra's expression changed immediately.
'Damn it.'
He released the Lightning Stream.
His body twisted sharply sideways.
Dozens of Iron Sand bullets passed close enough to tear through his clothes.
The instant they missed…
Lightning exploded around the blade once more.
His speed surged again.
The pattern repeated over and over.
Deactivate.
Dodge.
Reactivate.
Accelerate.
Every burst of speed consumed carried the risk of being hit by a stray iron sand bullet.
'I can't afford to be hit by these at any cost or else I will truly have no other option but death.'
The barrage continued, despite the boost Shinra was unable to close the distance between himself and Sasori.
'Damn it.'
'There's no opening.'
Every route forward disappeared beneath the relentless rain of Iron Sand.
Even getting within striking distance seemed impossible.
Sasori's fingers shifted once more. This time it wasn't the Third Kazekage that moved. The hundred-puppet formation came alive simultaneously, converging from every direction until every avenue of escape disappeared.
Shinra slowly loosened his grip.
The lightning around the blade faded, his chakra had almost ran out.
His sword slipped from his fingers and buried itself point-first into the sand.
There was nowhere left to run.
'If I survive this… I'm demanding an S-rank mission bonus from the village.'
As dozens of blades descended simultaneously—
Shinra calmly formed a single one-handed seal.
Inside his jacket…
Dozens of explosive tags waited.
The gesture…
Was identical to the final hand seal Yamanaka Yogi had attempted before being interrupted.
Sasori recognized it instantly.
His fingers twitched.
The surrounding puppets withdrew slightly.
But—
They were already too late.
BOOOOOOM!!
A blinding explosion erupted from the center of the puppet formation.
Fire swallowed the battlefield.
The shockwave ripped across the desert, launching shattered puppets, burning timber and clouds of sand hundreds of meters into the air.
For several long seconds…
Nothing remained visible except smoke.
Around two kilometers away…
A lone figure suddenly stumbled out of thin air before collapsing onto one knee.
Shinra violently gasped for breath.
"…It worked."
Every muscle throughout his body trembled uncontrollably.
Repeatedly forcing Body Flicker beyond his physical limits had nearly emptied the last of his chakra.
His gamble…
Had succeeded.
Just before exposing himself, Shinra had created a single Shadow Clone using the little chakra he still possessed.
His real body had transformed into the fourth kunai.
The clone threw all four projectiles.
Three were intercepted.
The transformed Shinra landed exactly where he needed to.
The Shadow Clone then charged Sasori while carrying every remaining explosive tag.
When the puppets surrounded it…
The clone detonated itself.
During the confusion…
The real Shinra released the Transformation Jutsu…
And escaped before Sasori realized what had actually happened.
He didn't want to cross paths with any S-rank ninja ever again, the mental gymnastics he had to endure to formulate a proper plan to escape from Sasori's grasp without dying wasn't something that he would have been capable of accomplishing without prior knowledge of Sasori's abilities and personality.
Yet despite all of these advantages he was unable to even scratch his clothes, that is how big the difference in strength was, but at least he had managed to buy enough time for his teammates to escape.
Shinra stood up from the ground and started running towards the Land of Rivers to meet up with his team, he couldn't even body flicker anymore due to how much he had exhausted himself.
Back at the battlefield, Sasori stood in the middle of the desert surrounded by most of his puppets.
Sasori slowly picked up one of the shattered puppet arms.
His fingers tightened.
Years…
It had been years since someone had forced him to replace part of his collection.
That final explosion had managed to destroy seven of his puppets and damage even more and to add salt to the injury that blue haired brat had managed to escape from his grasp.
The urge to hunt down a strong shinobi to improve his damaged collection was burning within him.
As if responding to his desires, a single sheet of paper drifted across the battlefield.
Sasori's eyes followed it.
Another landed beside it.
Then another.
Soon hundreds of white sheets spiraled through the desert sky, folding together into a pair of enormous wings.
A woman descended slowly from the sky.
"The villages in this section of the Land of Wind were destroyed in a single night or so the rumor has it."
Floating up in the sky was a figure wearing a black cloak covered in red clouds with countless sheets of papers forming a pair of wings behind the floating figure.
"It was you who was behind that wasn't it. Sasori of the Red Sand? And judging by the current state of the area you were locked in a battle with someone."
Sasori clicked his tongue and brought the Kazekage puppet closer to him once more.
"I have come here to invite you to join the Akatsuki. You can think of it as a home to rogue-nin such as yourself."
"Akatsuki?"
Sasori's expression didn't change.
"Never heard of it."
"But it looks like I am in luck, I was throughly annoyed by that brat destroying some of my art, but now it appears that I have a great material standing right in front of me."
Thousands of chakra threads spread through the air once more.
Every remaining puppet slowly raised its weapon.
The desert, which had only just fallen silent…
Was about to witness another massacre.
——
[A/N: Thank you to everyone who continues to support this fic, it means a lot to me and hopefully I continue to receive your feedback.]