CHAPTER 212: CHAPTER 212: KONAN: SASORI SHOULD BE SLICED TO DEATH!

"Yahiko, two more brothers have died!"

"Mm."

Yahiko walked to the corpses.

He knelt down, examining them carefully, his gaze gradually focusing on the fatal wounds. A very strange way to die! It was as if he had twisted his own neck and then strangled himself, but this was a phenomenon that defied common sense—with a broken cervical spine, how could one still have the ability to strangle oneself?

He walked over to the other body. This one was more direct, pulled into the earth and killed instantly, a typical Earth Style: Headhunter Jutsu.

Yahiko stood up.

"It’s either a squad or the Sunagakure rogue-nin, Sasori of the Red Sand."

"I’m leaning towards Sasori of the Red Sand."

Konan nodded lightly.

"Me too."

At that moment, sheets of paper flew back like birds, then gradually reassembled on her body. Konan frowned.

Yahiko looked around, observing the surrounding traces, then became thoughtful.

"He left in a hurry, didn’t handle the traces like before. Did something unexpected happen? Or is he deliberately provoking us, trying to lure us into a trap?"

Konan answered.

"I think something unexpected must have happened."

She described what her paper clone had seen along the way, confirming that when Sasori of the Red Sand left, he did not cover his tracks and left footprints in many places. Furthermore...

"I may have found Sasori’s previous foothold, but he’s already gone now, leaving only some dismembered remains inside."

Speaking of which, Konan was silent for a long while.

"I think our former comrades must have been captured by him for experiments. This time, he suddenly encountered a battle, which is why he didn’t take the bodies away."

Yahiko sighed, his eyes dimming slightly.

"From the looks of it, that’s the case. I told them not to provoke Sasori, but they still didn’t believe me. Sigh!"

The existence of their organization was to protect the common people and develop in secret, to prepare for the future realization of peace between Amegakure and the small nations. Most of the ninjas under him were like-minded people who couldn’t bear to see civilians slaughtered. Therefore, there had always been voices within the organization about hunting down Sasori, but Yahiko had always forbidden them from going, instead secretly having Konan gather clues, planning to have Nagato handle it personally.

He hadn’t expected... He was silent for a few seconds, then finally stood up and sealed the bodies into a scroll.

"Let’s go, let’s go check over there."

"Alright, you keep up with me."

Konan’s body turned into sheets of paper, and then a pair of paper wings grew from her back, and she flew quickly in that direction. Yahiko kept up with his Body Flicker Technique.

It didn’t take long for the two of them to arrive outside the cave from before.

Konan stopped.

"Send a clone in. It’s a puppet master’s place. Even if the other party has already left, we absolutely cannot enter casually."

"Mm."

Yahiko nodded.

The two of them each used a clone technique to enter and check the situation inside the cave. After a few seconds...

"Go!"

Konan crossed her hands, and sheets of paper surged towards the cave entrance, instantly forming a wall that blocked the narrow stone cave. Her figure then turned into a sky full of origami and flew outwards.

Inside the cave, a poisonous mist filled the air. A corrosive acid mist was eroding every wall of the cave. Konan’s paper wall didn’t hold for long and was soon corroded clean. She and Yahiko were two thousand meters away, watching the situation at the cave from a distance, an indescribable anger in their hearts. Besides the dismembered remains, there were also many bodies that had been made into puppets but had not yet been completed or were no longer of value for further production.

Konan gritted her teeth.

"That guy should be sliced to death!"

Yahiko took several deep breaths to calm himself down.

"Anger is meaningless. What we need to do is find Sasori of the Red Sand and then kill him!"

"Nagato..."

Yahiko’s tone was firm.

"Nagato has to stay and guard the village. And just as our teacher and Kyohiko reminded us, Nagato’s ability is crucial and cannot be easily revealed to others."

Konan shook her head, not agreeing.

"But with our abilities, facing an opponent like Sasori, we may not have the advantage."

"The core of our village now is you. If you die, do you think Nagato and I can control the situation? Yahiko, don’t underestimate Nagato, but don’t underestimate your own role either!"

She looked at Yahiko seriously.

"None of the three of us can be missing!"

"Then..."

Yahiko was silent for a while.

Then, he sighed softly.

"Then there’s only one way."

"What?"

Yahiko had a huge headache.

"Contact Konoha, what else could it be? We don’t have the confidence to deal with Sasori, and Sunagakure, they can’t be relied on at all. It didn’t have much to do with us originally, but this guy has settled down in our area!"

Sasori of the Red Sand’s strength was undoubtedly powerful, especially his puppetry and poison, which were extremely strange. Even if he and Konan teamed up, they couldn’t say they had full confidence. If they didn’t eliminate him, who knew if this guy would discover their village and treat them as a supplementary source of experimental materials? There’s no such thing as guarding against a thief for a thousand days!

"Let’s go, let’s go back and contact Konoha."

*

In the Land of Fire, Konoha.

Outside, Might Gai and Hatake Kakashi were running on their hands on the loop road outside the village.

"Kakashi, you guys have been so busy recently, I can’t even find an opponent for training!"

"What about Asuma?"

Might Gai pouted, a look of disdain on his face.

"Tch, that kid is no good!"

Kakashi was taken aback and turned his head to ask.

"What’s wrong with him?"

Ever since joining the Anbu, he had been carrying out some of the Anbu’s special operations missions. Plus, having just come out of the war, there were still unavoidable frictions and killings in many places... So, for more than a year, he had basically not rested much, either carrying out missions, training, or being out. He knew very little about the situation of his comrades and classmates in the village. For example—he only found out later about Uchiha Obito’s defection.

Might Gai pushed hard with both hands, switching from two hands to one. Gai was on his side.

"Although he also works hard and fights desperately, he lacks a certain drive. It’s hard to explain... You know, I’m not a very smart person, it’s just an intuition."

Hatake Kakashi pondered for a moment.

"Lacks a drive?"

"Not focused enough?"

Gai supported himself with one hand, hopping along. His expression was very serious. He thought for a moment.

"Focused?"

"What does ’focused’ mean?"

Kakashi was silent for a few seconds.

"Gai, are you serious?"

Then, he explained.

Gai had a sudden realization.

"So that’s what it means! I was wondering, why think about other things while training? Isn’t that strange?"

Kakashi sighed.

"Because you never think about anything else..."

Although Gai’s talent was average, he knew his weaknesses, so he was single-minded when training. Apart from the training goal at hand, he never thought about other miscellaneous things. To some extent, counting out loud repeatedly was also a way to strengthen his focus. Therefore, Gai couldn’t understand people who were not focused enough.

Kakashi thought for a moment.

"Asuma has some talent, but since he was young, he’s been a bit... maybe he has some mental block, so he thinks too much."

Gai hopped forward quickly.

"A mental block?"

He thought for a moment.

"Forget it, this kind of thing is not a problem for me to consider!"

Thinking of this, Gai felt enlightened.

"Professional matters should be left to professional people. When you or Kyohiko have time, go and talk to that kid. Isn’t Kyohiko very good at this kind of thing?"

Under his mask, Kakashi’s mouth twitched.

"Heh, let’s forget it."

Let Kyohiko go? The people Asuma least wanted to see were probably Ryoho Kyohiko and the Third Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen—although Sarutobi Hiruzen had already resigned from the position of Hokage and had much more time at home than before, the relationship between him and Asuma clearly hadn’t progressed at all.

Gai roared, then quickly ran into the distance on both hands.

"Thirty laps left!"

Kakashi chased after him, but had only taken a few steps. Snap! With a crisp sound, a bamboo slip with words carved on it fell out. This is... He immediately stood straight, then shouted.

"Gai, I have a mission. I can’t accompany you anymore!"

"Alright."

Gai continued to run forward on his hands, not affected by Kakashi’s departure.

Focus is also a talent!

*

"Captain!"

Ryoho Kyohiko cut to the chase, quickly informing him of what needed to be done.

"Kakashi, this mission is special. We need to set off as soon as possible, so we’ll have the Anbu ninjas use a large-scale Flying Thunder God Formation to send us directly to the border."

Kakashi didn’t question it and nodded lightly.

"Alright!"

As for Hizashi and Aburame Shibi, they wouldn’t have any questions either. In fact, Hyuga Hizashi even wanted to see what the large-scale Flying Thunder God Formation that Kyohiko mentioned was like.

Kakashi looked around and greeted Hizashi and Shibi. We... Kyohiko is going too? If even Kyohiko is making a move, the enemy this time must be very powerful! Having been in the Anbu for over a year, Kakashi’s thinking and ideas were no longer what they were when he was seven. He quickly thought of possible targets in the current shinobi world.

The Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist—before, the Seven Swordsmen had already carried out several operations against Konoha. Currently, Konoha and Kirigakure were still in a hostile state.

The direction of Iwagakure? No, both of these were unlikely.

A Sunagakure rogue-nin...

At this time.

"Kakashi, can you guess who the target is this time?"

Kakashi answered.

"I guess, Sasori of the Red Sand."

Ryoho Kyohiko smiled.

"That’s right. Our target is Sasori of the Red Sand. At Sunagakure’s invitation, we can directly hunt him down this time."

Kakashi’s memory and sensitivity to intelligence were still quite good. Looking at it now, if one day he got tired of being the Anbu captain, there would be no problem handing it over to Kakashi—even if there were problems with prestige, Gekko Shusaku could temporarily take the fall, letting Kakashi be the "deputy." Just like himself and Tsunade.

Ryoho Kyohiko smiled and led them to the largest hall. There were more than twenty ninjas around, the barrier squad was almost fully assembled, and in the middle were six ninjas.

So many people? Hyuga Hizashi activated his Byakugan and observed his surroundings. At present, there were no signs of any jutsu here.

Ryoho Kyohiko raised his hand.

"Let’s begin."

Then, with a body flicker, he was already at the center of the area. In the center of this open underground square was a narrow stone platform like a stage, with some symbols carved around it.

Hizashi was observing when he saw the barrier squads on all sides forming hand seals. Streams of chakra gathered from all around, and through the hand seals of each ninja... a huge barrier was formed.

This is? Aburame Shibi’s insects became agitated. Under his sunglasses, a look of surprise appeared in his eyes. A Space Stabilization Barrier! If it were changed a bit, it could be transformed into a sealing barrier, which could make the space in this area more chaotic, thereby disrupting the effects of space-time ninjutsu like the Summoning Technique. This barrier... if on the battlefield, could have a very good effect! Shibi Aburame couldn’t help but look at Kyohiko. This guy actually secretly hid such a powerful ninjutsu... when did he develop it?

Hizashi inquired.

"Kyohiko, is this barrier to assist the Flying Thunder God Formation?"

He had to ask clearly. After all, in his heart, Hizashi still hoped that the Hyuga clan could learn the Flying Thunder God Formation—whether to help Konoha in the future or to save their own people on the battlefield, the Flying Thunder God Formation could play a very powerful role. Even this barrier jutsu was very useful.

Ryoho Kyohiko nodded lightly.

"Yes. We stand here, and then we can begin."

The Flying Thunder God Formation was broken down into three steps. Now that the space was stable, the next step was—creating a space-time channel. Determining the direction and coordinates. Finally—the Flying Thunder God Formation! A large amount of chakra surged from the surrounding ninjas. Hizashi had been observing his surroundings. He quickly noticed that, in fact, the core of this Flying Thunder God Formation was only three people. The role of the others was basically to assist. And these three—Shiranui Genma, Namiashi Raido, and Yamashiro Aoba.

Hizashi had a sudden realization.

"The Flying Thunder God Formation, so this is the secret of the technique!"

Actually, the principle was very simple!

The next moment, space turned upside down. Before his eyes was darkness and chaos, accompanied by a dizzy spell. When he somewhat recovered...

"Hizashi-senpai, Shibi-senpai, are you alright?"

"I’m fine."

Although he said so, Aburame Shibi let out a breath, a look of heartache on his face. He was fine. But many of his parasitic insects, while traveling through space, couldn’t bear the restlessness and ran out, being swallowed by the space-time channel.

Hizashi shook his head.

"I’m fine."

He took a few deep breaths, then looked around, a look of shock appearing on his face. This was... Kikyo Castle!

"We actually traveled such a long distance?"

Ryoho Kyohiko said sincerely.

"If Konoha has enough ninjas who have mastered the Flying Thunder God Formation, the range of our missions can be much larger in the future. So... Hizashi-senpai, you must consider my proposal carefully."

Hyuga Hizashi nodded emphatically.

"I will discuss it with the clan head!"

This jutsu... even after being dismantled and differentiated, was still extremely difficult. But compared to the original Flying Thunder God, it was already within the realm of what an ordinary person could possibly learn. If the Hyuga clansmen spent some effort, they should be able to master this combination ninjutsu.

Ryoho Kyohiko led the team towards Kikyo Castle.

"Well then, let’s go register first. After all, it’s a mission to be carried out abroad."

They could register and report directly here, and the result would be transmitted back to Konoha and delivered to Tsunade’s desk all the same.