"You can kiss my ass!" Sasori roared furiously, immediately maneuvering his mechanized feet like puppets to climb over.
His leg strength was incredible—every step crushed small boulders on the cliffside into pieces.
Ye Liang couldn't help but shudder at the sight.
"Let's dance, Hiruko!" Sasori continued his assault by manipulating the puppets around him. His puppet was made from living humans, thus extremely lifelike in appearance. However, it also had an additional triangular spike resembling a scorpion's tail behind its back—that's how he got his nickname!
"Peng! Peng!"
Explosions echoed continuously against the mountainside.
Under Sasori's relentless attack, large chunks of rock shattered under the piercing strikes of his scorpion tail. Within moments, dozens of meters of the mountain face collapsed—extremely terrifying.
"Hey! Were you trained by some construction wrecking crew or something?"
Ye Liang dodged another attack from Sasori effortlessly.
To him, these attacks were child's play—no real threat at all.
But Sasori's refusal to talk left Ye Liang feeling helpless.
Ye Liang had no intention of actually fighting Sasori.
Why use fists when he could settle things with words alone? In his previous life, Sasori had endured much sorrow—his parents were killed by Konoha ninja, and he was raised by his grandmother.
It's commonly understood that those raised by their grandmothers tend to be deeply lonely—often withdrawn by nature and somewhat self-conscious.
Sasori was exactly like that.
A man burdened with such deep insecurity—how could he not end up mentally scarred? In short, the early Akatsuki members seemed to have all been troubled youths like him.
Ye Liang formed a single hand seal and dashed forward instantly, landing right on Sasori's back. With one powerful [Leaf Whirlwind], he shattered the scorpion tail. Then, without hesitation, his hands plunged straight into the monster's back, fingers sharp and decisive—leaving no room for regret!
"Kaka!"
A large chunk of solid iron was ripped away directly.
A hole now opened up on the puppet's back!
However, strangely enough, no blood came out—it looked just like a machine.
Ye Liang showed no surprise. He stretched his arm inside further, and within half a second, pulled out a red-haired doll-like figure about one meter tall from inside the puppet body!
The monstrous scorpion creature was nothing but an empty shell!
"How did you find me!" The red-haired puppet-child kicked wildly with both legs, trying to break free from Ye Liang's grip. Just as it tried to struggle harder, suddenly, its entire chakra flow stopped completely. Worse yet, every time it exerted force, multiple parts of its muscles began aching painfully.
"This is the Hyuga clan's pressure point technique. If you don't want your blood to reverse flow and kill you, keep struggling by all means."
"Pressure point technique? Are you from Konoha? No, that can't be right—when did Konoha ever have such a powerful warrior? Your strength clearly surpasses that of the so-called Jutsu Master!"
"You've got a lot to learn!"
Ye Liang immediately kicked the scorpion's fake shell down the valley while placing its real body onto the rocky wall.
"Listen carefully now—I'm going to ask you some questions. If you answer honestly, I won't kill you. Who knows, maybe I'll even set you free if I feel generous enough."
"You're serious?"
That red-haired guy immediately stopped struggling upon hearing that. He never stood a chance against Ye Liang anyway, so staying alive was a relief.
"Listen up. First question: I want to know who leads Akatsuki and why you guys formed this organization."
"Our leader is a man named Orochimaru. Though honestly, I've barely seen him at all. Most of the time, Itachi Uchiha has been the one leading Akatsuki. Of course, I haven't actually seen him either—I just recently joined." Sasori suddenly shrugged.
"Orochimaru?" Ye Liang's eyes widened slightly. He never expected his longtime rival Orochimaru to be the one rebuilding Akatsuki!
In this timeline, Orochimaru had completely deviated from his original path because of Ye Liang's existence. He'd not only developed the White Phosphorus Serpent immortality jutsu but also mastered a terrifying forbidden technique capable of devouring others and stealing their abilities!
Back when they'd fought in Sunagakure, Ye Liang had barely won through an ambush. If he hadn't taken Orochimaru by surprise, the outcome might have been uncertain.
However, Ye Liang had now mastered all standard ninjutsu techniques and had become powerful enough to defeat even ordinary Kage-level masters. Even if he truly encountered Orochimaru again, there was no telling who would win!
"What about Itachi? Where is he now? And how did you all get here?"
"Itachi should currently be in Iwagakure! We spotted White Zetsu's trace in Kumo Village earlier, then followed clues leading directly to Iwagakure. Immediately afterward, Itachi and his group headed toward Iwagakure while Kisame and I were assigned to recruit local ninja here."
"I see."
Ye Liang now understood everything. But what he never imagined was that Itachi Uchiha had reappeared here! He had thought Itachi's path had changed, since he'd already altered the fate of the Uchiha clan. But somehow, Itachi still ended up joining Akatsuki.
"It looks like I'll have to ask him personally," Ye Liang nodded. There was simply no other way to resolve this matter besides speaking directly with Itachi himself.
After saying this, Ye Liang released his grip on Sasori. Ye Liang always kept his promises. As long as Sasori didn't provoke him further, he wouldn't push things to total annihilation.
As soon as his chakra recovered, Sasori hastily leaped off the nearby cliff, as if hesitating for even one more second would result in being skinned alive by the monster behind him!
"Is it really that bad..."
At this moment, Deidara, having already escaped earlier, arrived with Kurotsuchi and others. They must've been watching from a safe distance while Ye Liang was confronting Sasori.
Ye Liang leapt forward, propelling himself using shuriken aimed at some clay bombs, skillfully landing atop Deidara's clay creation.
The group gasped in shock.
It was only now that they finally began forming some vague concept of Ye Liang's strength.
Someone incredibly strong—strong enough to defy Newton's laws!
"Kurotsuchi! Is this really the person you said was incredibly strong?" Deidara stared at Ye Liang with obvious surprise, his face filled with admiration for the young man standing before him.
But he wasn't envious.
For Deidara, explosion was the essence of Ninjutsu. As for other techniques, he couldn't care less to learn them—he would just give it a passing compliment before moving on.
Unlike the eager Yahiko, who was already begging Ye Liang to teach him that [Flying Shuriken] technique—a gravity-defying move where shuriken glide through the air as if stepping on it.
After a quick chat, the group soared once again toward Iwagakure.
As the top student of Iwagakure, Deidara knew the terrain inside out. Instead of entering through the main gate, they bypassed defenses entirely, slipping through a crack in the valley straight into the heart of the village.
Everyone stepped off the Explosive Clay.
Before them lay row after row of rugged earth-and-stone walls, built closely together. In the distance, crowds bustled about—most were clearly merchants from the Land of Earth.
"Itachi?! Is that really you?!"
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