Sasori of the Red Sand seeking to make contact with him was something Kaede Tsukasa had already anticipated.
Even Chiyo coveted his secret technique so much that she specially sent Sabaku Araki to abduct him—then how much more would Sasori, who revered human puppets above all, be eager?
"You survived, that's why I'm reaching out. If Sabaku Araki had dragged you back to the village, I'd have no reason to contact you. What you hold would inevitably fall into my hands sooner or later anyway."
The puppet's mouth opened and closed, releasing broken, mechanical words.
Kaede Tsukasa glanced around. Only a handful of Konoha shinobi were still combing the battlefield nearby. He said bluntly: "What exactly do you want? I don't have time to waste on you."
"Let's trade. Hand me your jutsu, and in return I'll grant you the secret of human puppets," said Sasori of the Red Sand. "Flesh will eventually decay. One day you'll awaken to that truth and walk the same path I do. We are not enemies."
"So confident?"
"I'm not mistaken. At the core, you and I are no different—we've both chosen to command corpses. The only difference lies in how we transform them."
Sasori continued: "You can make corpses use the ninjutsu they knew in life. My human puppet arts can also remodel corpses so they can wield the same techniques."
Any puppeteer who knew of human puppets could not ignore Kaede Tsukasa's existence. Possessing his technique would mean perfecting the most crucial missing piece of the art.
"I've studied your intel. You've only recently begun using the Dead Soul technique, so you haven't yet realized its greatest flaw—the corpse itself continues to rot. My human puppets, however, are different. As long as their parts are replaced, they can exist forever."
"And if I were to demand the complete human puppet technique from you?"
"That's fine. But in return, you must hand over everything you possess. I'm particularly interested in the space-time jutsu you channel through corpses. If I could apply that to my puppets, it would eliminate the puppeteer's greatest weakness."
What did puppeteers fear most? Nothing more than enemies like Konoha's White Fang, masters of single-strike assassinations.
Even those who controlled human puppets had fragile flesh-and-blood bodies as their weak points. Unless one remodeled their entire body into a puppet—but even then, a living core of flesh was still required to produce chakra.
But if one mastered a space-time jutsu—even a short-range teleport of just ten meters—that alone could change destiny for a puppeteer.
Battles turned in an instant. For masters, even the briefest reprieve could flip the entire outcome.
"What a troublesome little brat. Yakushi Nonō never told me you'd be this difficult. Are you really only six years old?"
"Seven now. In the Warring States era, at my age I'd already have been on the battlefield, killing many," Sasori replied coldly.
Kaede Tsukasa silently nodded. True enough—even in the shinobi village era, prodigies like Hatake Kakashi and Uchiha Itachi had shed blood on the battlefield at this very age.
Such was the nature of a world filled with supernatural power. As long as a child could mold chakra, cutting down ordinary people was as easy as slicing melons. Their strength could never be compared to that of common folk.
"So, we've reached an understanding? Good. You and I walk the same path. We have no true enmity. On the road to eternity, at last I am no longer alone." Sasori's voice carried a rare ripple of emotion.
Not even his grandmother could grasp his vision. Ironically, it was an enemy village's shinobi with whom he would now walk this path.
As for betraying the secret of human puppets and what that meant for his village—Sasori dismissed it outright. Sunagakure's people were, in the end, nothing more than beings destined to vanish.
Kaede Tsukasa still didn't approach the puppet. Instead, he walked a few meters to the side, crouched down as if collecting spoils left by the enemy, and said:
"Human puppets can wait. I'm far more interested in another technique. If you can get it for me, we can make the trade immediately."
"Hmph. So sly—you'd already prepared to negotiate with me all along."
"What you said has some truth to it. Two people walking into the unknown together is better than one stumbling about like a headless fly," Kaede Tsukasa replied calmly.
"…Speak. What do you want?"
"Chiyo's forbidden technique—the One's Own Life Reincarnation Jutsu."
"Never heard of it. Even I don't know such intel, so how do you?"
Sasori of the Red Sand was genuinely taken aback.
One's Own Life Reincarnation? What was that supposed to be? Did that old hag Chiyo really possess such a technique?
"Right now, Chiyo probably hasn't completed its development. But even if it's only partially finished, that doesn't matter. There's no point hiding it from you—you're clever enough to realize this is my true goal. So I won't bother disguising it with multiple trades."
Kaede Tsukasa coveted this jutsu desperately.
If he could obtain the One's Own Life Reincarnation Jutsu, even incomplete and riddled with flaws, it wouldn't matter—so long as it could be cast successfully!
At this stage, even if Konoha were to hand him the Scroll of Seals and let him choose whatever ninjutsu he wished, none would compare to Chiyo's One's Own Life Reincarnation Jutsu.
To Kaede Tsukasa, its importance outweighed even Edo Tensei!
"The One's Own Life Reincarnation Jutsu… what is it for? From the name, it sounds like a resurrection technique. A companion ninjutsu to human puppets?" Sasori naturally assumed.
After all, Chiyo's greatest feats were human puppets and the Ten Puppets of Chikamatsu.
Human puppets were incomplete and ill-suited for open deployment in war. The moment such a jutsu appeared, it would gain the same infamy among enemies as Kaede Tsukasa's Dead Soul Arts.
No one would tolerate an opponent wielding such techniques. Beyond ethics and public outrage, the greater fear was that one's fallen comrades would be turned into enemy assets.
With Sunagakure's defeat looming, deploying human puppets now would be idiotic. And after Konoha won, why would they ever allow Suna to continue possessing such a power?
So this unheard-of One's Own Life Reincarnation Jutsu must indeed be tied to human puppets.
Kaede Tsukasa nodded. "You could say that. The technique was created for human puppets."
"That Yakushi Nonō seems truly capable—stealing secrets of this level from the village. Someday, I'll kill her. I hope you won't interfere. I'd hate to eliminate you."
"That's a matter for the future," Kaede Tsukasa replied noncommittally.
"You'll have my answer soon. This is our codebook. I'll find you again quickly."
The chakra stored within the puppet neared depletion. A compartment on its chest clicked open, dropping a scroll to the ground.
With a puff of smoke, the puppet itself vanished.
Kaede Tsukasa mused: "A summoning technique… so that's Sasori's game."