"Hmph, Deidara, do you want to die…?"
"Only eternal beauty is art. Everything will decay one day, so only eternity can be called art…"
Sasori reverently touched his Third Kazekage puppet, his most perfect masterpiece, a puppet with Kage-level strength.
According to the method of human puppets, as long as the corpse is preserved intact and the puppet is completed, it can exert all the strength it had in life.
However, a puppet is still a puppet. Without the combat experience of the deceased, although its strength can be retained one hundred percent, its performance in battle is controlled by the puppeteer. How much of its strength can be exerted is unknown.
It's like Kakashi; what makes him powerful is his combat experience and awareness. If he were made into a puppet, he would at most be a Jonin. But in reality, Kakashi, with Jonin-level strength, can contend with Kage-level masters, all thanks to his extensive combat experience.
Orochimaru's Edo Tensei perfectly solved this problem by injecting the soul of the deceased, allowing all subconscious combat to follow the deceased's habits. The downside is that deceased individuals with powerful souls can easily break free from control, and if their consciousness is erased, they cannot exert their full strength.
To some extent, Sasori and Orochimaru are similar. Both pursued immortality after witnessing death. The difference is that one chose technological modification, while the other chose a blend of magic and biology.
Deidara and Sasori's similar arguments occurred every two or three days; they were long accustomed to it.
After packing his luggage, Sasori left. He liked to hide inside a sturdy hiruko, which contained his second puppet body (a modification of his original body), and finally, his core, which was his brain.
No matter how he modified himself, a thinking brain was always necessary, unless he could also transform his brain into a puppet.
As the sun set, Sasori slowly walked out of the cave alone. Deidara watched Sasori's retreating figure in the sunset, shaking his head as if he wouldn't see him again.
"Why does it feel strange?!" Deidara looked at the departing Sasori, feeling a sudden unease in his heart, as if Sasori would not return from this trip.
Sasori's leave was approved after he requested it from Pain. Since there were no missions, Pain wouldn't overly restrict these individuals, who were all S-rank rogue Ninja, proud and not slaves.
————
"Star Hidden Village? How come I've never heard of this Village?" Yukihime scratched her head. She had read many books and never knew such a Village existed.
"They're self-proclaimed. In reality, they are just a small, fourth or fifth-rate Village. Their founder was ambitious, hoping to be like the Five Great Nations, but in reality, they only play around in their own Village and can't even step out of their 'gate'…"
Uchiha Nagi said indifferently, "At least, I've never seen anyone from Star Hidden Village in any Chunin Exams."
The Five Great Nations are actually analogous to the five great powers in his previous life. The Chunin Exams are more like a sports event to display military power, or a military exercise. Those invited are at least medium-sized countries. Small Villages that don't even qualify for an invitation can basically be considered negligible.
Without even the qualification to be invited to the Chunin Exams, it's clear that these Villages are as small as can be, perhaps their territory is only a few kilometers wide… There are many such Villages with little presence, and their locations are even difficult to find on maps.
As they passed a few farmlands, several ragged farmers looked at Uchiha Nagi and his group, clearly nervous. But seeing that they didn't have headbands, they visibly relaxed.
Of course, they didn't dare to get too close. From their stance, it seemed they planned to run if any danger arose. It must be said that people's vigilance is often cultivated through repeated escapes.
"Uncle, excuse me, is there a Star Hidden Village around here?"
"Star Hidden Village? Do you mean Star Village? The Village where a meteor fell? From here, if you see a Village with a very large meteor crater, that's it…"
The ragged farmer uncle, though a little scared, still answered since the one asking for directions was a child, Kimimaro.
"Okay, thank you…" Kimimaro immediately returned to report the situation to his teacher.
"Hmm, got it. Let's go~" Uchiha Nagi nodded.
Meteors are common. The Five Great Nations occasionally pick up remnants of meteors that fall from the sky, so no one finds it strange that Star Hidden Village is named this way.
Additionally, they are very low-key, with no powerful Ninja causing trouble outside, so it's normal for others not to know about them. People only know that this Village changed its name because of a meteor, but they don't know that the meteor they found is very unusual. After finding this meteor, the Village's leader proclaimed himself the Star Kage. The reason for such arrogance, daring to call himself Kage in a place with little land, was because this meteor possessed immense energy.
The First Star Kage discovered that this meteor contained an immense amount of energy and could be used by the human body, so he ambitiously began a series of actions.
However, Uchiha Nagi knew that while the meteor's power was strong and could be used by the human body, it also contained radiation… But people of this era didn't know what radiation was, nor did they have a way to strip away the radiation. Absorbing too much naturally led to side effects.
Even Chakra, this miraculous energy, could not prevent the damage radiation caused to the human body. Ultimately, those who absorbed the meteor's energy for a long time did not live long.
"Ah, so this is Hoshigakure…" Sasori walked outside the Village, looking indifferently at the meteor crater.
Over the years, the meteor crater had become a large lake, and not far from the lake was Star Hidden Village. Sasori learned about this place from Akatsuki's intelligence.
Akatsuki had White Zetsu, the Ninja World's top lackey, so they basically knew every piece of news, big or small.
However, Akatsuki naturally didn't care for a meteor that could kill people if absorbed too much. Besides Kisame, no one in Akatsuki needed external objects, Sasori being the exception.
So Sasori came to Star Hidden Village intending to collect this meteor, to see if it could be used as an energy source for his puppets, or to melt it down and forge it into material for a puppet.
"Hmph, they don't even have the strength of a Kage, yet they dare to call themselves Star Hidden Village…" Sasori scoffed disdainfully, then began to walk his puppet's steps towards Hoshigakure… In Hoshigakure, the current Star Kage, Red Star, was leading a group of new generation children in training. Calling it training, it was merely everyone gathering around the meteor to absorb its endless energy.
As for whether these children would die before the age of thirty due to radiation, Red Star didn't care at all. There were too many orphans these days. If they died, he would just collect more, raise them for a few years, and cultivate their loyalty.
Those who aim for great things don't bother with trifles. If they could expand their territory in the next Shinobi World War and elevate the Village to the level of a medium-sized country or one of the Five Great Nations, the population would continuously increase.
In this way, the constantly increasing population could compensate for the deceased Ninja. And the most miraculous aspect of the meteor was that it could allow untalented people to absorb its energy and become Chunin, Jonin, or even Kage… "Lord Red Star, outside, there are enemies outside…" A man rushed in to report to Red Star.
"Enemies? Who?" Red Star frowned. Hoshigakure had always been low-key, so who would come here?
"I don't know. The person has a strange form, like a beast crouching on the ground, wearing black clothes embroidered with red clouds…"
Unlike others, Sasori did not wear a headband… "Hmph, another one looking for death. Go, let's go out and kill him together." Red Star waved his hand.
"Yes, Lord Red Star—"
The numerous young men and women all nodded together. Red Star never trusted anyone. When he was not present, the meteor would always be put away. So when he faced an enemy, he couldn't let his subordinates train here. What if a traitor stole the stone?
After resealing the meteor and placing it within a barrier, Red Star led a large group of people out. He wanted to see who dared to cause trouble in Hoshigakure… ————
"Heh heh, excellent material. He actually has the strength of a Chunin. Can't damage him…"
Sasori, hidden within hiruko, was poisoning someone with a venomous needle. The reason for using poison was to preserve the opponent's corpse intact for making a human puppet, and it was also cost-effective.
Ninja have high offense and low defense; one venomous needle can solve the problem… On the ground lay a messy pile of corpses. Sasori was already too lazy to collect the corpses of Genin; he had many in his Puppet Performance of a Hundred Mechanisms scroll. Only the corpses of Chunin and Jonin were worth preserving to make into puppets.
"Lord Star Kage won't let you off… Ah~"
The man lying on the ground died before he could finish speaking, pierced through the heart by Sasori's tail.
"Hmm? More people are coming. One, two, three, fifteen pieces of material, very good…" Sasori turned calmly. As soon as his words fell, the Star Kage, Red Star, arrived in front of Sasori with a dozen people.
"How dare you cause trouble in Star Hidden Village~" Red Star looked at the dozen corpses on the ground, furious. These were all his subordinates for future world domination.
Ninja don't just appear out of nowhere. Among commoners, barely one in a hundred is qualified to cultivate Chakra. If one can't even cultivate Chakra, they naturally can't absorb the meteor's power.
"Heh heh, it seems your strength is Jonin-level. Very good. Today, my collection gains another one…" Sasori said, satisfied. He hadn't come in vain. Besides the meteor with unknown energy, he also managed to collect a Jonin puppet. He was extremely pleased.
"Hmph, collection. We'll see who collects whom. All Ninja of Star Hidden Village, the time has come to protect the Village! Unleash the power unknown to the outside world, use a combined Ninjutsu!" Red Star shouted.
"Hai, Lord Red Star—"
A dozen Ninja all formed the same hand sign and shouted in unison, "Secret Technique, Peacock Method—"
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