Being a rogue ninja is worse than being Hokage.

"But--!"

Tayuya still wanted to ask Sasuke for permission to cooperate in the operation.

Sasuke had already averted his gaze and didn't look at Tayuya: "I don't have time to be distracted during the battle to deal with those chakra threads that you can't see and that could regain control of you at any moment."

"I don't want to repeat my orders."

A strong killing intent emanated from Sasuke, and Tayuya, feeling uncomfortable with Sasuke's killing intent, subconsciously shut her mouth.

Tayu also noticed that Sasuke's bright red Sharingan was staring intently at Hiruko, who was hiding her true form as Sasori.

Sasuke's previous silence in refusing to argue with Sasori's comments was merely a facade of peace before the storm.

The four Sound Ninja all looked at each other in bewilderment.

"We understand. We will stay away from the battlefield and only provide necessary support."

Sakon and Ukon mustered their courage and spoke to Sasuke, who was in a bad mood.

Sasuke did not respond.

Sakon and Ukon gestured to Ichirobo and Kidomaru with their eyes.

The two men understood and took a step back together, along with their neighbors.

"Tayuya!"

Sakon and Ukon suddenly called out Tayuya's name in a low voice again.

Tayuya hesitated for a moment, then finally took a step back.

The next second, the Sound Four disappeared from Sasuke's side.

Now only Sasuke and Sasori remain, locked in a standoff.

The standoff was ended by Sasuke!

Fire Release—

Sasuke formed the ninja hand seals.

—The claws of the balsam flower are red!

The flames that Sasuke exhaled from his mouth scattered in all directions like seeds of a balsam flower.

Each missile's flames contained a spinning shuriken!

"Your fire jutsu is completely useless against me!"

Hiruko once again unleashed a water-style attack. Even though the Phoenix Flower Claw was an attack of multiple flames, Sasuke was confident that he could withstand Sasuke's fire-style attack.

The water column extinguished the balsam-like flames, exposing the shuriken encased in the water escape technique.

However, the shuriken, which should have stopped spinning after the flames dissipated, unexpectedly spun even faster the moment it touched the water jutsu, cutting through Hiruko's water column!

The black shuriken crackled with lightning!

Sasuke didn't just use Fire Release; he infused Lightning Release into his shuriken!

Previously, Hiruko used Water Release to block the Great Fireball Technique, allowing Sasuke to analyze the next battle strategy.

Using Fire Release, which is countered by Water Release, as bait, he unleashed Lightning Release, which suppresses Water Release, within his shuriken!

He countered Sasori's attack with a combination of various ninjutsu techniques!

By the time Scorpion realized what was happening, it was too late!

The Lightning Release shuriken did indeed pierce Hiruko's body, the electric current between the Lightning Release shuriken attracting each other.

Chidori Stream spread all over Hiruko's body!

Immediately afterwards, Scorpion, who was hiding inside Hiruko's body, heard the sound of slashing coming from Hiruko's back!

The Kusanagi sword, imbued with lightning release, transformed into the Chidori sword, easily piercing through Hiruko, who remained unharmed even after falling from a great height.

The Chidori sword, deep inside Hiruko's sealed puppet body, served as the medium for Sasuke to unleash his ninjutsu. The powerful Chidori darted wildly within Hiruko's hollow body.

In the blink of an eye, Hiruko was shattered into pieces by the impact.

With Hiruko gone, Sasori's true form was naturally revealed.

With orange-red hair and a youthful appearance, but as a puppet, one cannot deduce Scorpion's true age from his appearance.

Sasuke's red Sharingan with its three tomoe didn't linger on Sasori's face for long.

Even the slightest chakra could be detected by the Sharingan, which looked at the chest of the Sasori puppet.

"I've heard that you, like Orochimaru, are obsessed with pursuing 'immortality,' but I never imagined that your way of pursuing 'immortality' is to turn your true form into such a pathetic and laughable lump of rotten flesh..."

"Sasori... compared to Orochimaru, you are far inferior."

Chapter 49 The Lament of a Thousand Birds

Sasori ignored Sasuke's sarcasm. He looked at Sasuke in front of him, and the steel cables inside the hollow abdomen of his puppet body, controlled by chakra, darted towards Sasuke like snakes.

Sasuke raised his Kusanagi sword to block the steel cable's attack. The Chidori on the blade and the chakra controlling the steel cable's movement restrained each other, preventing Sasori from actively pulling the steel cable away.

However, only the puppeteer who created the puppet knows how many attack methods the puppet has hidden.

Since the steel cable on the main puppet's abdomen cannot be retracted, then we won't retract it!

The Kusanagi sword controlled the movement of the steel cable.

And what about steel cables?

Scorpion immediately unfolded the back of his puppet body, revealing ten long, curved blades on each side of the back.

These curved blades were mounted on long screws and rotated to deliver spiraling slashes to Sasuke!

The Kusanagi sword has already been used to restrain the steel cables, and Sasuke no longer has any weapons that can withstand these blades.

All of Sasori's ninja tools were coated with secret poison.

Sasuke made his decision in a split second and immediately made a choice.

He used the Kusanagi sword to deflect the steel cable, but did not use the Kusanagi sword to meet the scorpion's curved blades.

To avoid being caught between the blades and the steel cable, Sasuke leaped backward, preparing to create distance between himself and Sasori.

It was at this moment that Sasori suddenly opened his mouth, and purple poisonous mist chased after the retreating Sasuke at an even faster speed.

Sasuke's gaze sharpened, and just before the poison gas was about to engulf him, he puffed out his cheeks and exhaled his fire-attribute chakra into the poison mist!

Fire Release: Dragon Fire Technique!

The straight flames then enveloped the poisonous mist, burning it away in an instant.

Sasuke and Sasori's vision was blocked by the flames.

The next moment, Scorpion suddenly saw a flash of light in the flame that was even brighter than the flame itself.

At the same time that Scorpion saw the flash of light, he also heard a sharp clap of thunder.

A straight, thin bolt of lightning shot out from the flames and struck the chest of the scorpion's puppet body precisely!

This attack was also familiar to Sasori; it was the Lightning Release ninjutsu that Sasuke had used to cut Deidara's clay bird in half high in the sky, separating Sasori and Deidara during the battle.

Chidori Sharp Spear!

The Thousand Birds Sharp Spear aimed straight at Sasori's vital point, which was Sasori's true body—the "Regeneration Core" that contained the only part of Sasori's body after gaining "immortality" through puppetry, and was used to create chakra.

But before the regeneration core could be pierced by the Chidori Spear, Sasori manipulated the fine chakra threads to take the core away first.

Sasuke's Chidori Spear only hit a lifeless puppet.

"Without damaging the core, one can 'resurrect' within the puppet. I see. So this is your definition of 'immortality'."

Sasuke released the Chidori Sharp Spear technique and held the Kusanagi Sword, which had returned to its original white blade, in front of his chest.

His red Sharingan looked at the densely packed puppets that suddenly appeared before him and guessed how Sasori achieved immortality.

The puppets in front of them all looked like humans, and their number had increased to over a hundred, far more than the dozen or so that Scorpion had controlled at once before.

Through his Sharingan's insight into chakra, Sasuke also discovered something even more peculiar about these puppets.

Generally speaking, the puppets controlled by puppeteers are real, inanimate objects. Apart from the chakra threads that control the puppet's movements, the puppet does not generate chakra anywhere else.

But what the Sharingan sees about these human puppets is that all of them possess... chakra.

And like scorpions, they also have a regenerative nucleus.

It was as if they weren't inanimate objects, but living, breathing people.

Sasuke's current enemy is not Sasori or the puppets he controls.

Instead, there were hundreds of ninjas.

"Red Secret Technique: Hundred Machine Manipulation".

Hidden among hundreds of human puppets, Scorpion revealed the name of this secret technique, his tone laced with boasting:

"This is not the puppetry technique that Sunagakure still treasures but is already outdated; it is my ultimate art, which has reached the pinnacle of puppetry!"

“Each of these puppets is a real ninja, a collection of human puppets created after I killed them, capable of using their ninjutsu and even their bloodline limits—now before you stands an immortal ninja army!”

If it were someone else, they might agree with Scorpion's point of view.

It doesn't bleed or sweat, and can fight tirelessly as long as it has chakra. It can also use ninjutsu and even a puppet with a bloodline limit.

One or two bodies are already quite troublesome, let alone hundreds.

These puppets are enough to overthrow an entire country, and they are even more terrified that they are only being used to deal with Sasuke.

But Sasuke simply dismissed Sasori's words as an exaggerated joke.

"Nothing in this world is immortal."

Sasuke's three-tomoe Sharingan showed no fear of taking on a hundred enemies alone.

His expression remained calm as he sheathed the Kusanagi sword he was holding.

Sasuke shook his shoulders again, and the white kimono he was wearing fell off, revealing his fair and strong body that was unique to a young man.

Immediately afterwards, Sasuke raised his hands from the white kimono jacket that was hanging loose around his waist, freeing his hands from the cuffs.

Sasuke is now showing his upper body, with black cursed seal markings emerging from the three tomoe marks on his shoulders and neck and extending across his entire body.