Noticing their disrespectful gazes, even though he had long since abandoned his human body, Sasori still felt a wave of displeasure.
"What annoying looks!" Sasori opened his mouth and fired thousands of poison needles.
Compared to the number he previously launched at Pakura, this was like night and day—so many that the Suna ninja all felt their scalps tingling.
"Wind Release: Great Breakthrough!"
"Wind Release: Vacuum Sphere!"
"Scorch Release: Turning Wheel Fire!"
However, only the three who had completed their hand seals were able to unleash their jutsu, but the area of effect was too limited to protect everyone.
The other Chunin still forming their seals could only wear expressions of despair.
"We're gonna be turned into pincushions!"
Just then, a giant soft worm fell from the sky, crushing them all beneath its weight like Mount Tai collapsing.
"Kuchiyose no Jutsu!"
"Yikes! We were under attack—almost got ourselves killed… *sniff* Oh, wait—it's just poison? Never mind then."
"You again, Katsuyu?" Sasori wasn't unfamiliar with her. During the previous Great Ninja War, Tsunade had caused his grandmother quite a bit of trouble.
Several Suna ninja stuck their heads out from beneath Katsuyu, gasping for air. "Phew! Almost got crushed to death!"
"How rude! How dare you say a lady is heavy!" Angrily, Katsuyu extended dozens of tiny arms from her body. "Tickle Attack!"
"Ahh! I'm sorry, haha…!"
Sasori glanced wordlessly at those fools before ignoring them completely, turning his attention instead toward Seiki.
"Do you really have to interfere right now? I wanted to save you as my final masterpiece for last, you know!"
"Am I supposed to say it's an honor?"
Sasori seriously commented, "Especially considering you don't even possess a kekkei genkai, you could've been my proudest creation yet!"
Seiki sighed. "Pass. Your so-called art doesn't really do anything for me."
"That's okay. Maybe you'll come to like it after you're dead." Saying this, Sasori pulled out a scroll from behind—the 'equipment bar' on his back. "After all, you're a renowned enemy hero from the Cloud Village battlefield. It'd be disrespectful to use the same cheap tricks meant for them against you."
At Sasori's words, the group of Suna ninja still held some resentment.
They'd already used the ultimate move of Puppet Masters—how could they say this was on the same level?
However, once Sasori summoned the puppets sealed within the scroll, they immediately went silent.
An uncountable swarm of puppets flew through the air—roughly estimated, there must have been over a hundred.
[Red Secret Technique: Commanding a Hundred Puppets!]
"No way! This has to be an illusion!"
"Puppet Masters are said to have a maximum limit of ten puppets. How can he possibly control so many at once?"
They hadn't ruled out the possibility of someone breaking past such limits—but breaking limits still needed to follow basic rules, right?!
Even if you counted every finger and toe, twenty puppets would be the absolute limit!
This many puppets—over a hundred—completely overturned the entire foundation of puppet mastery!
Thankfully, none of their Puppet Masters were with them this time—or else they'd probably start doubting their own comrades after seeing this spectacle.
With visible pride, Sasori boasted, "What do you think? My art—Isn't it magnificent enough to leave you in awe?"
The Suna ninja could only gape in silence. Faced with this masterpiece that went beyond even the limits of puppet masters, they couldn't force themselves to criticize it unfairly.
Seiki, however, rolled up his sleeves eagerly. "More than a hundred puppets—all completely destroyed! Must be troublesome to repair them all!"
Sasori paused momentarily before softly chuckling. "Hmph! Truly the hero from Konoha—his capacity is indeed far superior to theirs!"
As his words fell, the puppets flying through the sky moved simultaneously.
From among these hundred puppets, Sasori directed ten to confront the ordinary Suna shinobi, five against Pakura, while the remaining ones all lunged toward Seiki.
Witnessing this, the gathered Suna ninja felt both shame and fury.
A rogue Sand ninja was barely paying any attention to them at all!
"Damn it—we're being underestimated!"
"He can't possibly maintain full strength in each puppet while controlling so many simultaneously!"
"Protect Seiki!"
"That's right! Prioritize protecting the medical ninja..."
Before their voices finished echoing, they saw Seiki punch straight through one puppet.
"These puppets' bodies are actually this fragile!" Saseki's eyes lit up as he charged forward.
"Don't go—" Before Baki could finish speaking, he watched Saseki fly backward spitting blood.
With his Jonin-level strength, he normally wouldn't have been thrown back so pathetically, but deliberately choosing to attack the puppet body naturally meant seeking his own punishment.
When he looked at Seiki again, Saseki's gaze changed completely—who said he was just a medical ninja? That guy's clearly a monster among monsters!
Meanwhile, three puppets had already shattered beneath Seiki's feet, making even Sasori feel slight pain watching them break.
"This is Sage Mode? I thought Sage Mode required build-up time?"
Seiki had no time to answer Sasori's question.
Although under this One-time Sage Mode—as long as he didn't open the Eight Inner Gates or recklessly use Sage Arts—he could still maintain it for quite some time. He also knew that Sasori still had another secret weapon waiting to be unleashed, so conserving energy now would be wise.
"Then let me see exactly how powerful Sage Mode truly is!" Sasori whispered, maneuvering the puppets to shoot poison needles from all directions toward Seiki.
[Senbon Shower!]
He could tell Seiki's senses were extremely sharp in this state; strong single-target attacks might easily get dodged. Then he'd just use Area Attacks that even when seen, would be difficult to evade.
Though these needles didn't carry heavy attacking power, the toxin coating them was extremely potent.
"As you wish!" Seiki closed his eyes and used his chakra-based sensor abilities to strike the puppets.
As time passed, Sasori increasingly felt something was off.
Not only had the senbon needles failed, but his puppets themselves were also coated with potent toxin too. According to Sasori's logic, Seiki should've died from poisoning by now.
Yet not only did he show no sign of poisoning whatsoever, the wounds caused by those very needles had already healed—even though Seiki hadn't taken any moment to perform healing hand seals!
Sasori sighed quietly. "So this must be your true purpose behind using Sage Mode, then?"
Seiki grinned. "You figured it out!"
Besides boosting his combat strength, entering Sage Mode served more importantly due to its unique characteristics.
The Sage Mode from Shikkotsu Forest wasn't as flamboyant as those from the other two sacred places, but its innate self-healing and poison resistance alone neutralized most of the puppets' advantages.
In a sense, he was their bane!
Meanwhile,
Seeing that Seiki had already destroyed over a dozen puppets while they were still struggling with just ten, Saseki and the others felt deeply ashamed.
Healing, sensing, and combat—all were completely handled by Seiki, the outsider. It made them seem utterly useless.
Pakura sighed inwardly as well. She had originally wanted to compete with Seiki, but now it seemed clear that her title as the Hero of Sunagakure paled in comparison to his as the Hero of Konoha.
At this moment, Sasori pulled out another scroll from behind his back.
"Well, I really didn't want to use him. After all, things would get messy if it leaked out before I dealt with the other Kages."
"So, please die after seeing him!"
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