The Cloud Hidden Village suffered severe damage due to the rampage of the Eighth Tailed Beast. Moreover, the Cloud ninjas suffered heavy casualties during the process of sealing the Eighth Tailed Beast.
With trouble brewing at home, the Cloud Hidden Village could no longer continue to confront the ninja from Konoha in the Land of Hot Water. They could only order the Cloud ninjas to retreat to the border.
At this time, Orochimaru had returned to the Konoha camp.
After Orochimaru returned, Jiraiya immediately excitedly sought out Orochimaru and told him what had happened in the Cloud Hidden Village.
As the instigator, Orochimaru only said, 'That's good. The Cloud ninjas can stay quiet for a while. I'm going back to Konoha to rest for some time. I'll leave this place to you for now.'
After telling Jiraiya this, Orochimaru just left, not giving a damn about Jiraiya's stunned reaction.
...
Meanwhile, in the Sunagakure.
Sasori had completed his first human Puppet, Hiryūga, and was also ready to target the Third Kazekage.
Sasori wrote a letter. The letter stated that he had developed a new Puppet, which could make up for the weakness of puppet ninjas in close - combat. It was both offensive and defensive in nature. As long as puppet ninjas used the Puppet he had developed, their strength would be greatly enhanced.
Moreover, Sasori emphasized that he wanted the Third Kazekage to meet him alone outside the Sunagakure tonight, and he would demonstrate the functions of the Puppet to the Third Kazekage one by one.
After sending the letter out with a ninja, Sasori sealed Hiryūga in a Scroll.
Then Sasori sat in front of the Puppets of his Mother and Father that he had made and just stared at them fixedly.
Chiyo came to visit Sasori and found that Sasori was staring blankly at the Puppets of his parents again. Chiyo felt a pang of heartache.
Chiyo is currently uniting a group of medical ninja to secretly develop a ninjutsu that uses the user's entire chakra as a medium to distribute vitality to the dead, with the jutsu - user's chakra transforming the soul of the deceased until the user's death.
The purpose of Chiyo secretly developing this ninjutsu was to bring back Sasori's parents.
After all, seeing her grandson so sad every day and shutting himself up at home, Chiyo was also very sad.
Therefore, Chiyo wanted to use her own life to exchange for Sasori's parents to come back and accompany Sasori again.
After looking at Sasori for a while, Chiyo didn't disturb him and quietly left.
After Chiyo left, Sasori turned his head and looked towards the door. A trace of complexity flashed in his eyes.
But soon, this trace of complexity disappeared, replaced by a strong killing intent.
When the Third Kazekage got Sasori's letter and read it, he broke into a huge grin.
The Third Kazekage sighed with admiration, "Truly worthy of being the grandson of Advisor Chiyo. He's hailed as a genius puppet - maker and has developed better puppets for our Sunagakure. He's truly the backbone of our village!"
As time passed, the puppets developed by the Second Kazekage back then had fallen behind the times. After all, other ninjas had deciphered them, and there were numerous counter - measures against puppets.
So, these out - of - date puppets definitely needed to be upgraded.
Sasori earned the title of genius puppet - maker. This was not only due to his talent in puppet - making but also because he had helped upgrade Sunagakure's puppets several times.
Therefore, the Third Kazekage didn't suspect Sasori at all. He planned to meet Sasori at night to see what the new puppets Sasori had developed were all about.
Just as the Third Kazekage continued his work, he suddenly remembered a word Kamishiro had said to him before.
'Uncle Kuitou, you should be careful of Sasori.'
The Third Kazekage shook his head.
Be careful of Sasori? If he had to be careful of Sasori, then who else in Sunagakure could he trust?
"Kamishiro provided such important intelligence for Sunagakure before. I should write a letter to praise him," the Third Kazekage thought.
He took out a blank letter paper and started writing.
Night fell.
The Third Kazekage stretched, looked at the moon outside the window, and stood up from his chair. "It's time to meet Sasori."
The Third Kazekage came outside Sunagakure. Although the letter didn't specify the exact location, it was easy to spot Sasori in the distance.
After all, it was a desert, and everything was in plain sight. It was easy to see anything from afar.
The Third Kazekage approached Sasori and said with a smile, "Sasori, have you been waiting long?"
The Third Kazekage was merely being polite when Sasori replied, "Yes, I don't like waiting for others, nor do I like being waited for."
The Third Kazekage was utterly taken aback.
He was just being polite, but Sasori's words made him feel awkward.
Fortunately, there was no one else around.
The Third Kazekage coughed lightly and then said, "By the way, Sasori, didn't you say in the letter that you've developed a puppet that can make up for the weakness of puppet ninjas in close - combat and is both offensive and defensive? Let me see it quickly."
Sasori took out a scroll. After unfolding it, he summoned Hiryūga.
Seeing Hiryūga, the Third Kazekage's eyes lit up. "Sasori, your new puppet is so lifelike. It seems just like a real person!"
This was the second time the Third Kazekage had seen such a lifelike puppet. The first time was Kamishiro's Kanna.
However, it seemed that Sasori's puppet looked more like a real person than Kamishiro's Kanna.
Moreover, Sasori's puppet was so realistic that the Third Kazekage unconsciously thought the puppet in front of him was a real person, which made him feel strange.
Sasori ignored the praise from the Third Kazekage. After all, how could this Puppet not look lifelike? It was made from a real person.
Sasori demonstrated and explained to the Third Kazekage, "First of all, it compensates for the puppet ninjas' weakness in close - range combat. The body of this Puppet is hollow, which means the Puppeteers can hide inside the Puppet to control it."
Sasori opened the Hiryūga and then got inside.
The eyes of the Third Kazekage lit up. "This is really a great idea!"
Moreover, Sasori's Puppet looked so lifelike that enemies wouldn't think it was a Puppet, let alone that there was a person hiding inside.
Sasori continued to explain, "Poison needles can be shot from the mouth in the head."
Sasori manipulated the Hiryūga to open its mouth. Instead of shooting directly at the Third Kazekage, it shot a large number of poison needles to the side.
"The left hand is a double - mechanism device, and the back is so strong that it's hard to damage it with Kunai or Shuriken..."
As Sasori demonstrated and explained, the Third Kazekage gradually became fascinated.
The new Puppet developed by Sasori was far better than he had imagined.
The Third Kazekage began to have Fantasy. If all the puppet ninjas in his village were equipped with such Puppets, their strength would definitely be greatly improved!
Sasori, hidden inside the Hiryūga, caught sight of the Third Kazekage's expression and flashed a mocking smirk.
"Finally, an iron tail similar to a scorpion's tail can protrude from the hole in the back. The tail is coated with highly poisonous substance. One just needs to be lightly scratched to get poisoned... Like this!"
Suddenly, a tail protruded from the hole in the back of the Hiryūga and directly stabbed into the unguarded body of the Third Kazekage.