Under the endless sea of sand in the Land of Wind,
A red-haired young man with a clean, delicate appearance was tinkering with a puppet before him.
"Still no good... To be honest, I was hoping to make that guy my prized treasure. But with my current abilities, if I really faced him, I'd probably end up as one of his collections instead!"
Just thinking about that man named Seiki Shimaseki caused a faint ripple in Sasori's heart—remarkable, considering how few human emotions he had left.
"To stand a chance against that man, unless I can obtain the corpses of Hashirama Senju or Madara Uchiha for transformation, even puppets made from Kage corpses would be utterly useless before him!"
"If improving the quality of puppets is difficult, perhaps I should focus more on quantity. Of course, these puppets can't be too weak either—they need to at least withstand his ordinary attacks..."
As his thoughts wandered, one of his subordinates entered.
"Lord Sasori, we've just received an intelligence report. I believe it may be useful to you."
While repairing the puppet, Sasori said indifferently, "Let's hear it. What is it?"
"A few days ago, someone from Sunagakure's Puppet Brigade defected. When fleeing to the border region between the Land of Wind and the River Country, the fugitive was intercepted by Sunagakure's pursuit team."
Puppet Brigade defection… Perhaps reminded of his own experiences, Sasori paused his work and listened intently.
"The rogue ninja was about to lose the fight, but perhaps he was just lucky— their battle triggered the mechanisms of an ancient ruin, causing several of them to fall inside."
"When they finally located the rogue ninja again, he had somehow found an unusual ore. After embedding it into his puppet, its power suddenly increased several-fold, allowing the puppet master to escape."
"Realizing the ore's value, the rogue immediately spread the news after escaping—most likely to stir up trouble for Sunagakure and distract them from chasing him."
After finishing, the subordinate added, "According to reports from our undercover agents in Sunagakure, they've indeed been moving unusually. This information is likely credible."
"An unusual ore? Just embedding it into a puppet boosted its power..." A slight smirk appeared on Sasori's lips. "Hmph, quite interesting."
The subordinate asked eagerly, "Lord Sasori, shall we send someone to retrieve the ore?"
"If Sunagakure is truly taking action, you won't stand a chance against them," Sasori calmly replied. "I'll handle this myself."
The subordinate's eyes glowed with admiration. "If you personally get involved, naturally there won't be any problems."
"That's hard to say," Sasori slightly shook his head. "Something beneficial for puppet masters appearing specifically at the border between the River Country and the Land of Wind—don't you think it's a bit too coincidental?"
The subordinate was startled. "You mean this is a trap set by Sunagakure specifically for you?"
"There's a possibility."
"Scorpius," Sasori said calmly, "after all, I'm the biggest blemish in Sunagakure's eyes!"
Although somewhat doubtful, he wasn't worried. With his strength now, even a squad of Jonin wouldn't stand a chance unless he ran into someone like Seiki Shimaseki!
A subordinate hesitated slightly, "Actually, I did hear another piece of news."
Sasori frowned slightly, "What other news?"
"I heard that Seiki Shimaseki seems to be in Sunagakure right now!"
"Seiki Shimaseki!" Sasori's eyes twitched violently. His worst fear had come true. "How did he end up in Sunagakure?"
"It's said that The Fourth Kazekage requested him to use Wood Release to transform the Land of Wind's environment," the subordinate suggested. "Maybe you should wait until Seiki Shimaseki leaves Sunagakure before attempting to seize the crystal?"
Sasori remained silent for a while before finally asking, "So the crystal really has such power?"
The subordinate replied, "To make his words more credible, that Missing-nin actually demonstrated the crystal's power publicly. Judging from this point, it should be true!"
"Waiting for him to leave—who knows how long that might take? If the crystal enters Sunagakure, even I would find it extremely difficult to steal anything from deep within a major ninja village."
He mumbled to himself for a moment before giving an order, "Then stir up even wilder rumors about the crystal's effects! Draw more people into that ruin!"
The subordinate quickly responded, "Yes!"
...
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In Sunagakure village, at a banquet.
A group of Suna Shinobi were enthusiastically flattering.
"Lord Seiki is truly too powerful—he easily suppressed even the Nine-Tails!"
"And Kazekage too! His wisdom as profound as the starry sky makes us feel ashamed!"
Kazekage Rasa indeed felt very pleased. Back then, when he agreed to Shimaseki's participation conditions involving an unfinished Wood Release technique, many people behind his back called him an idiot, saying he lacked courage and had compromised recklessly, even agreeing to such obviously deceptive conditions.
Now? The idiot label had transformed into far-sightedness; cowardly compromise became decisive wisdom!
As for Shimaseki, the so-called "loser," not a single person dared to look down on him.
Anyone with insight knew that the real person determining Konoha's fate wasn't the Hokage sitting inside the Hokage building, but rather the big shot before them—Seiki Shimaseki!
If he ever got bored with the game, he could easily replace the Hokage, perhaps even overturn the entire shinobi system!
If this powerful figure someday decided he no longer wanted to play and overturned the table to rewrite the rules, what could they possibly do?
Just unleashing the Nine-Tails alone would be more than anyone could handle!
Therefore, naturally they needed to flatter him, keep him happy, and prevent him from having any wild ideas.
Everyone being happy—peace prevails!
"Seiki, don't say I didn't warn you," Rasa said while draping his arm around Seiki's shoulder. "You haven't visited our Sunagakure in so long—it's been ages. The kids at the Academy really miss you!"
Seiki smiled, "Glad to hear they still remember me!"
"By the way, should Konoha file a formal protest with us?"
Rasa looked really upset. "You're our Sunagakure honorary consultant. If you're treated unfairly, we Sunagakure won't stand for it either!"
The Sunagakure Jonin glanced at each other in confusion. Wasn't this the suggestion from that undercover agent? Kazekage, you criticized him for having a crooked stance last time, so why are you using it yourself now?
Seiki shook his head slightly. "No need. This is also a rare chance for me to clear my mind and really understand myself!"
Of course Rasa knew Seiki wouldn't agree, which was precisely why he said this, but he still feigned regret on the surface. "You're just too kind, Seiki. If I were in your shoes... Anyway, if you ever have a rough time in Konoha, Sunagakure's doors will always remain open for you!"
The gathered Suna Shinobi's eyes lit up. No wonder they call you Kazekage—you actually voiced what we dared not say!
Seiki responded with a wry smile, shaking his head. "This won't be necessary!"
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