"As long as…"
Sasori spread out the dozen remaining human puppets, sending them charging at the earth dragon from different angles without regard for their own safety.
In order to deal with the two reanimated dead (the summoned souls), his puppets were wiped out in large numbers by the combined forces of Fire Release and Wind Release—ten were destroyed in one go.
Even though having fewer puppets would allow him to control them more precisely and thus increase their individual combat strength, could ordinary human puppets alone truly defeat Link?
He didn't know how many more shadows Link could still command or what other invisible "summoned creatures" he might have up his sleeve.
Boom!
The ground began to writhe, instantly turning to desert. Waves of sand rose, churning toward the sky.
In that moment, the once-nimble human puppets froze, unable to move, and the sand engulfed them all.
Gaara formed a seal with both hands, and the sand waves then slammed back down to the ground. Torn puppet parts scattered everywhere under the crushing force.
Kankurō's face twitched at the sight—even the two puppets he had painstakingly reassembled at great cost were among the shredded remains.
Could it be that Sasori really came here empty-handed, just acting crazy? Link wondered.
He sensed that the time for his Stand was nearly up. Even so, it was shocking that Sasori of the Red Sand—up against two elite jōnin plus three "genin"—hadn't even managed to break through to Link's position.
"Huh?"
"Bang!"
From beneath the earth dragon, the ground suddenly cracked open, and a puppet wielding a long blade sprang high into the air.
At the exact moment Link locked eyes with Sasori—eyes brimming with desire—an odd thought crossed Link's mind.
Could my presence have changed him?
"Thud!"
The earth dragon swung its head, instantly smashing the puppet—which had momentarily lost its core—back down to the ground. Jokes aside, while the dragon wasn't great at close combat, it certainly had no trouble squashing something like a mosquito with its tough scales.
"He's still underground!" Hyūga Hinata shouted.
Before she could finish speaking, three somewhat battered puppets leapt onto the earth dragon from different directions.
He's that desperate to get something from me? Link mused, watching them approach. Shadows rose around his feet to intercept the puppets, and he quietly placed a hand over his wallet.
Although the shadows managed to tangle with Sasori briefly, they couldn't stop him for long; after a couple of exchanges, only one puppet remained.
Hinata spread her arms, looking tense and ready to fight.
At a distance of just ten meters, Link didn't hesitate. He tossed his wallet forward and immediately activated Mystical Palm Jutsu, completing his Moneg Binding Technique in a flash.
He had actually drawn a pretty decent Stand earlier, but it turned out to be a close-combat specialist. He had no intention of letting the enemy engage him up close, and by the time Sasori got near, the Stand's duration was almost expired anyway. Better to just "throw money" and end it decisively.
Thump!
Sasori was bound in place, unable to move. The core marked with the character "Scorpion" did not detach, and countless tadpole-like sealing marks crawled all across his body.
Did we seriously just capture an S-rank rogue ninja this easily?
Link found it somewhat too smooth. Yet, logically, he couldn't see any immediate flaw. On instinct, he handed the palm on which he had once cast Five-Element Seal over to one of his shadows.
Puppet masters don't need hand signs, right? Wonder if the Five-Element Seal is any use here…
He was about to proceed when he abruptly halted the shadow.
Between Orochimaru's research data, the capture of Kabuto, and Sasori showing up near Orochimaru's base…
Could it be that Sasori's real goal is to get the Five-Element Seal?
Canceling the Shadow Clone, Link reclaimed his own hand, then formed a new clone. Gripping a Chakra Scalpel he generated himself, he reconsidered:
If it's uncertain, I just won't use the Five-Element Seal.
"He…he's a puppet too!" Hinata spoke up, having just realized that the strange "core" was the chakra source that had been leaping around since earlier. "He even has chakra strings attached to him."
A dummy, then?
Link was a bit surprised, but quickly pieced it together. Sasori had nearly been captured last time; the same trick wouldn't fool him again. For as powerful as the Money Binding Technique was, its effective range was only ten meters, and it couldn't tell real targets from fake. Link himself had to do the identifying.
With Sasori's battle experience, falling for the same technique twice would be truly strange.
"You've noticed it by now," called Sasori from a tree branch some distance away, revealing his location. "The value of your jutsu."
Link said nothing, still suspecting that the Sasori who was speaking might also be a puppet. Or if Sasori wanted to leave, he could simply transfer at will. None of Link or his allies here had a certain way to stop him from using Summoning to flee.
By this point, both sides had reached a stalemate.
It might sound comical, but in the entire Naruto world, there doesn't seem to be any reliable jutsu that can seal away space-time ninjutsu. That's why Flying Thunder God was so unstoppable—so unstoppable that encountering the Fourth Hokage often meant aborting your mission.
Likewise, the presence of Kamui allowed Kakashi to remain relevant in the final battle against Kaguya.
In other words, in the hierarchy of ninja arts, space-time techniques are at the top of the food chain, outclassing all sorts of other secret arts.
Losing the space-time aspect of my own Summoning Technique due to its mutation was…good or bad? Hard to say.
Sasori, without his original body, can move his core even more recklessly. I need my own space-time ninjutsu, or perhaps a mutated technique that can nullify such jutsu entirely…
Link thus set a new goal.
"Orochimaru is already long gone," Sasori continued. "I believe there's room for cooperation between us."
"Your jutsu, and my intellect—together, we could easily reshape this world."
Although his confrontation with Link and his break from Akatsuki might have seemed impulsive, Sasori clearly had some sort of plan in mind.
He had already gone all-out—he'd lost even the last vestiges of his battle puppets, and Link hadn't been forced to reveal more of his abilities. The invisible "summoned creature" from before never even showed up this time, and Sasori had no idea what new powers it might have gained.
All puppets he'd brought into this fight were destroyed. His 20-plus years of accumulation had gone up in smoke over the course of two battles with Link.
Continuing would yield no further advantage; Sasori understood he lacked the means to defeat Link. His decoy, meant to trick Link into using the Five-Element Seal, had failed.
Therefore, the most logical conclusion was cooperation.
Sasori opened his palm with a pop, and a scroll appeared in his hand. He placed it on the branch.
"This is my good faith."
Then, the core in his chest vanished, and the puppet's body tumbled to the ground.
"I no longer sense his chakra," Hinata reported.
Link nodded, signaling his shadows and the rest of the group to clean up the battlefield. He stared into the darkness.
"Orochimaru has already gone far away…"
Just hearing it sounded troublesome.
~~~
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