"Be careful not to be discovered by the patrol units. Konoha has many excellent sensory ninja."
"It doesn't matter even if we are discovered. The war is already over, and peace negotiations are underway. Technically, both sides are supposed to cease hostilities. This is also a way of protecting deserters."
Sasori of the Red Sand said coldly, "Even if I am discovered, at most they'll just drive me away. Besides you, no one knows my true identity. Compared to me, you're much bolder. What's this—are you already prepared to defect from the village?"
Trading secretly with a Sunagakure ninja, and dealing in extremely sensitive jutsu at that, would be considered a serious and unforgivable offense in Konoha.
Sasori didn't take Sunagakure seriously at all. He believed that as fellow travelers on the path of eternity, Kaede Kanshi must also have stopped taking Konoha seriously.
"I can use space-time ninjutsu. I can retreat at any time, so that's nothing for you to worry about. Don't waste time—do you have the Rebirth of One's Own Life Technique?"
Kaede Kanshi placed the scroll in his hand on the ground. "Let's trade in parts. I'll offer my Space-Time Ninjutsu: Art of the Void Realm as the bargaining chip."
"You're quite sincere."
Sasori's puppet also placed a scroll on the ground. Though his instincts told him things were going too smoothly, he couldn't tell what was wrong.
"Your Void Realm Technique… it's not a Kekkei Genkai, is it?" Sasori suddenly asked.
"No, it's a secret technique—anyone can theoretically learn it."
Kaede Kanshi emphasized the "theoretically" part.
Sasori caught the implication: regardless, he didn't believe there was any secret technique he couldn't learn.
If the issue wasn't with the difficulty of learning it, then it must be with the conditions needed to use it?
He placed his scroll on the ground. "That old woman still hasn't perfected this technique. Hmph. A forbidden jutsu that transfers one's life force—I can guess what she's trying to do. How pointless. She thinks this will change my mind?"
"I'm not interested in the conflict between you and your grandmother."
Kaede Kanshi slowly stepped back and summoned a zombie, retrieving the scroll for the Rebirth of One's Own Life Technique. Sasori did the same.
No ambush. No poison. After checking thoroughly, both sides let out a sigh of relief.
Kaede Kanshi commanded the zombie to unroll the scroll. Seeing the densely packed script, he nodded in satisfaction.
Sasori's puppet left the area and returned to the border between the Land of Fire and the Land of Wind to reunite with his true body.
"That went surprisingly smoothly. My opinion of him has risen again… Maybe he really is a fellow traveler on the path."
Even Sasori remained cautious. He hadn't reached his peak strength yet, and taking this risk could prove problematic if exposed.
A confrontation with Kaede Kanshi or any other Konoha ninja would be equally troublesome.
Shff!
Sasori opened the scroll and carefully read the Void Realm Technique from beginning to end, then closed it expressionlessly.
"To learn the Corpse Shift: Void Realm Technique… I first need to master the prerequisite Corpse Style secret art, Corpse Transformation?"
Sasori snorted coldly. He didn't buy it. The technique used corpses to perform space-time ninjutsu.
If corpses could cast it, why couldn't puppets? Weren't corpses and human puppets essentially the same? Besides, puppets had far more room for modification than corpses!
"Just wait. It won't take me long to master it."
Sasori put away the scroll and stepped into the desert wind—only to stop shortly after, expressionless as he looked ahead.
"I thought you'd be focusing on the negotiations with Konoha or the war with Iwagakure," Sasori said, sizing up Chiyo.
"The war is over. Our village has taken heavy losses. Continuing to fight is meaningless. We've already made a ceasefire with Iwagakure. The Kazekage is negotiating with the Tsuchikage."
"So the Third Kazekage finally chose compromise. Claimed to be the strongest Kazekage, and yet gained nothing in this war? Not that it concerns me," Sasori replied coldly.
Chiyo's expression was complicated. "Sasori, what did you do?"
"As you saw, I made a pretty good trade with that guy. I traded your mostly useless Rebirth of One's Own Life Technique for his space-time ninjutsu."
Sasori added, "You should be happy. His technique is far more useful than yours. Our village will gain an unprecedented edge—actual mastery over space-time ninjutsu."
Chiyo sighed. "After I saw new traces in the secret room, I suspected something. So it was you. But how did Kaede Kanshi even know I was developing that jutsu?"
She had no idea what to do. Arrest Sasori for treason? Don't be ridiculous. She valued Sasori's life more than her own, or she wouldn't have created a technique to transfer her own life force.
"Who knows? Probably that shrine maiden. Just shows Konoha has already infiltrated our village like a sieve. If I were you, I wouldn't waste time chasing after me."
Chiyo found it hard to believe. No one knew she was working on the technique, except for Sasori. So it had to be Sasori who told Kaede Kanshi.
"You're still too young, Sasori. You don't know how cunning the people in Konoha are! If he gave you his space-time ninjutsu, it means he got something far more valuable in return!"
To use the Rebirth technique to revive zombies? No—just one thought later, Chiyo guessed Kaede Kanshi's plan. She felt even more disappointed and helpless.
Now it all made sense. No wonder he targeted that jutsu. From this moment on, Kaede Kanshi would free himself from all constraints and become a true powerhouse.
"The village has gained a powerful new enemy. Maybe even more troublesome than Sakumo Hatake! And he doesn't know space-time ninjutsu!" Chiyo sighed deeply, feeling a wave of fatigue.
She had done everything she could to capture Kaede Kanshi—and failed. Worse, her hard-earned forbidden jutsu had fallen into his hands, becoming the key to his rise.
Yes—the key. The key!
Chiyo could barely imagine it: if Kaede Kanshi learned how to transfer life force into himself via zombies, freeing himself from his body's limitations, and used battlefield corpses at will in combination with space-time movement—how difficult would he be to deal with?
"Eventually, he'll walk the path of human puppets. I had originally planned to pass that technique to him anyway. This is only the beginning. Your Rebirth jutsu is still incomplete. It has many flaws and is very hard to learn. He'll come to me for the perfected version. When that happens, we can demand the complete Corpse Style techniques from him."
Sasori walked slowly past Chiyo toward Sunagakure. "Whatever he plans, he'll have to achieve one thing—make all those corpses with different body structures perform an S-rank forbidden jutsu. Is that even possible?"
According to both Sasori and Chiyo's calculations, Kaede Kanshi might—at best—teach one or two zombies the jutsu. They couldn't imagine he'd try to teach them all.
Corpses weren't puppets, after all. Even though Corpse Style had many unknowns, it shouldn't be that ridiculous. Just because he could use the technique, doesn't mean all his corpses could.
The Rebirth jutsu and Void Realm Technique were fundamentally different.
Chiyo watched Sasori's retreating figure, feeling that her grandson had become a completely different person.
"It's all that damned Sakumo Hatake's fault. If it weren't for you… This isn't the end. It's just the beginning!!"
Chiyo gritted her teeth. The war might be over for now, but there would be more to come. She would get her chance to kill Sakumo Hatake.
Maybe Sasori's deal with Kaede Kanshi wasn't all bad—if they could use the techniques stolen from Konoha to perfect the human puppet system, they might eventually kill Sakumo Hatake.
As for Kaede Kanshi becoming stronger… well, there was no time to worry about that.
Ten more days passed in the camp, and Konoha's forces began to withdraw.
Kaede Kanshi was among the first to return for rest and reorganization, a move that pleased him greatly.
What he needed most right now was time. Training in the village was far better than being restrained in the main camp.
Not everyone was recalled at once—to guard against the chance that the enemy might stage a last-minute sneak attack.
After all, the opponent was Sunagakure—a village at odds with its own nation, always eager to prove its worth through war.
But after the entire Second War, Sunagakure had gained nothing.
They invaded the Land of Fire and clashed with Sakumo Hatake and Tsunade, but gained no rich territory, no valuable jutsu, and failed to kill any of Konoha's key talents—a complete disaster.
On another front, they clashed with Iwagakure in a hard-fought stalemate. The Third Kazekage, hailed as the strongest in history, along with the One-Tails' jinchūriki Bunpuku, was barely able to fend off the Third Tsuchikage.
Iwagakure had committed its main force against Konoha, going head-to-head with Orochimaru's army.
Konoha had deployed the Senju, Uchiha, and Hyūga clans—three top bloodline families—along with numerous other secret-technique clans under Orochimaru's command.
This alone showed the disparity in how Konoha treated the threats from Sunagakure and Iwagakure.
And that's not even counting the Uzumaki clan, who had been destroyed five years earlier when the Second War began. Their country was overrun by Kirigakure, Kumogakure, and rogue ninja.
Kirigakure flooded them with the Great Water Shockwave, Kumogakure used Lightning Dream to destroy their major barrier, and the rogue ninja kidnapped Uzumaki clansmen to sell on the black market.
"Once I get back to the village, I need to master the Rebirth jutsu as soon as possible. If I can avoid it, I really don't want to participate in the war against Iwagakure," Kaede Kanshi murmured.
Iwagakure posed a far greater threat to Konoha than Sunagakure ever could.
In the absence of large moves from Kumogakure or Kirigakure, Iwagakure was clearly Konoha's strongest enemy.
Sunagakure was poor. Their puppet troops and poisons had been completely countered by Sakumo and Tsunade. Konoha didn't need to spend much effort to fend them off.
But Iwagakure was different. They had both the Four-Tails and Five-Tails jinchūriki, and both were deployed in the war.
On Konoha's side, the 75-year-old Mito Uzumaki hadn't taken the field. If she had, her ability to discipline the Nine-Tails like a child might've ended the war quickly.
It's worth noting that Mito, like Naruto, had the ability to sense good and evil in people's hearts—a terrifying, wide-range sensory skill that made all ambushes, flanks, and surprise attacks utterly useless.
But Mito was old and weakened—possibly due to the loss of most of the Uzumaki clan. She was now focused on training Kushina Uzumaki and passing on sealing techniques.
And on top of that, Konoha still had the Third Hokage and Danzo Shimura...
"Konoha during this period was packed with talent… I think the Third Hokage's son and daughter-in-law—Konohamaru's parents—were still alive, working in the Anbu."
Just thinking about Konoha's setup made Kaede Kanshi sigh.
So luxurious. Bloodline limits, secret techniques, total troop strength, number of Kage-level ninja… Konoha had it all.
In a way, it was impressive that the Third Hokage almost completely squandered this massive advantage in the years to come.
"Anything related to Iwagakure's war, I need to be extra cautious. The death rate will be sky-high."
By the end of the next year—Year 40—the war would hit its most brutal stage.
"Even after the Second War officially ends, the conflicts between villages continue right up until the outbreak of the Third War…"
Kaede Kanshi recalled the contents of The Tale of Minato, deep in thought.
Realistically, he didn't want to participate in any more deadly battles until he had mastered the Rebirth jutsu.
"In the end, I must master this incomplete forbidden jutsu. A normal person might take years to learn an S-rank technique—but I have to find a way to shorten that time."
Ideally, within a year.
By the end of next year, the great battle between Konoha and Iwagakure would erupt. As a newly minted secret-technique ninja, Kaede Kanshi would undoubtedly be deployed to the front lines.
"By then… I wonder if my Void Realm Technique can let me escape from a Tailed Beast Bomb's blast zone…"
(To Be Continued)