Chapter 445: Sasori of the Red Sand
Pain placed the corpse of the Two-Tails Jinchuriki, Yugito Nii, on the ground.
"Alright, let's begin..."
He swept an indifferent gaze over the Akatsuki members present and said lightly.
"Why so slow?" Sasori of the Red Sand stood on the index finger of the Gedo Statue and said impatiently, "I still have new puppets to finish! Wasn't the Two-Tails Jinchuriki captured long ago?"
Sasori did not appear in the image of the freakish Hiruko—after the old one was smashed by Haruno Sakura with a punch, he simply showed himself in his true form.
Which was the appearance of that cute young boy.
Because he had turned himself into a puppet, the expression and look in Sasori's eyes would not change, always maintaining a calm appearance as light as the wind, but his impatience could be heard in his tone.
What Sasori hated most was waiting for people.
"Because the Cloud Ninja blockaded the border and searched extensively, it took Kakuzu and his team a lot of time to bring back the Jinchuriki's corpse." Pain glanced at Sasori and replied calmly.
"Hmph," Hidan snorted dissatisfiedly from the side, "Isn't it because that guy Kakuzu insisted on taking this corpse to claim the bounty for assassinating the Two-Tails Jinchuriki, exposing our tracks and almost getting us discovered by the Cloud Ninja!"
"Shut up, idiot!"
Kakuzu glared at his partner with his turbid small eyes.
"Because recent operations have been very frequent, Akatsuki's expenses are huge, showing signs of spending exceeding income! As the member in charge of Akatsuki's finances, I must increase income and reduce expenditure. Every bit of small income cannot be let go... Besides, the bounty for the Two-Tails Jinchuriki is a large sum of money!"
"Just for this stupid reason, you made me wait in vain for so many days?" Sasori's eyes narrowed slightly.
Killing intent quietly filled this enclosed space.
Sasori's relationship with Kakuzu was quite terrible, and one important reason was that such things happened repeatedly.
And a more important reason was—
"I haven't settled the score with you for snatching Deidara's corpse last time..." Sasori said coldly. He slowly raised his hand, chakra condensing dangerously, "Let's settle it all together!"
Kakuzu turned his head, his turbid yellow eyes narrowing, his gaze becoming cold and sinister.
"Just took Deidara's heart, your capacity is really small." He sneered and said sarcastically, "Or are you tired of your immortal life as a puppet and impatient with living? If you want to die, just attack, you little brat who hides his head and shows his tail!"
Although he was an old ninja who had lived for more than ninety years, Kakuzu's temper was still quite bad and couldn't tolerate provocation. Regarding the vicious words of a rising star like Sasori, he didn't care about their nominal companionship at all. His hands hung down quietly, already secretly condensing chakra, ready for battle.
He even planned to kill Sasori on the spot here.
—He had been coveting Sasori's heart, which could produce massive chakra, for a long time.
And this greedy gaze was the essential reason for their incompatible relationship.
An earth-shattering internal war seemed imminent.
Other members of Akatsuki stood silently aside, watching the dispute between the two indifferently, with no intention of stopping it.
In the eyes of most Akatsuki members, the people present probably didn't qualify for the word "companion," so they had no thought of stopping all this. The fight between two scum with blood-stained hands and countless killings was just a good show of dog-eat-dog. It didn't matter who died.
At least in the hearts of Pain, Konan, even Obito Uchiha, Hidan, or Itachi Uchiha, they all had clear goals, acting for a certain future, righteousness, and faith, whether false, ethereal, vague, stupid, or beautiful and dreamlike.
Slaughter and cruelty were just their means, not killing for the sake of killing.
In this sense, their level and capacity were more than a notch higher than the two ninja who only lived for their own immortality.
And the only person who would treat Akatsuki members as companions had died under Haruno Sakura's blade not long ago.
"Enough!" Pain finally shouted to stop the dispute between the two, "After all, you are members of the same organization. Even if you don't treat each other as companions, don't commit such stupid acts in front of me..."
The leader's reprimand made the two resentfully stop the ninjutsu ready to erupt at any time.
"Alright, I'll spare your life for now..." Kakuzu restrained his anger and said with a sullen face.
"Hmph!" Sasori snorted coldly and withdrew his hands that were secretly forming seals.
Even though he was indifferent to almost everything, he still couldn't ignore Pain's will.
In recent years, Sasori of the Red Sand gradually felt the problem of turning himself into a puppet. The puppet's body was cold, so his thoughts slowly became colder and colder, losing humanity more and more.
And losing vitality more and more.
Becoming a puppet certainly approached eternal immortality to some extent, but a stone could also exist for millions or tens of millions of years. Is such immortality meaningful?
No wonder predecessors forbade puppet masters from completely transforming themselves into puppets—he once thought it was stupid, now Sasori knew there was wisdom in it.
Sasori gradually realized his thinking was becoming closer to a stone: interested in nothing, caring about nothing, his heart lake like a dry hard rock, without ripples. Only battle, fierce battle, only things involving puppets, only recalling scenes when he was a human, especially scenes when his parents were alive, could stir ripples in his heart and make him feel alive like a person.
Like the battle with that girl before.
"What a pity."
Sasori withdrew his hostile gaze.
He knew this battle wouldn't happen no matter what.
This also meant an activity that could make him feel alive was canceled.
Since the battle with that girl last time, Sasori had never encountered a suitable opponent to excite him, nor had he felt the sensation of fighting on the edge of life and death with his heart beating violently for a long time. Kakuzu would have been a suitable opponent, but unfortunately, the occasion was wrong now.
Pain looked over at Sasori with emotionless Rinnegan.
He vaguely felt Sasori's emotions were wrong.
Sasori's chakra was still massive and pure, but its texture was changing year by year, becoming drier, colder, harder, and lacking vitality.
Kakuzu was right about one thing, Sasori's thinking had a problem—he wanted to die.
Not suicide, but Sasori gradually couldn't find the meaning of living.
After that noisy junior and partner died, Sasori's surroundings became much quieter, also much more desolate and lonely. Deidara used to shout "Art is an explosion" every day when he was alive. He originally just found it annoying, completely contrary to his eternal philosophy. Now Sasori slowly understood him instead.
Like fireworks, smashing oneself to pieces after a violent explosion, turning into a cluster of gorgeous and dazzling fireworks, must be extremely beautiful, right?
He turned Deidara into a puppet and kept it by his side.
Deidara's combat power was an excellent supplement for Sasori, who suffered heavy losses after the battle with that girl.
But in a deeper sense, Sasori might have the idea of letting Deidara witness him turn into an exploding firework in a fierce battle, leaving the world brilliantly.
Art can also be not eternal.
But fleeting beauty like cherry blossoms blooming.
Pain certainly couldn't imagine Sasori's inner world had such thoughts. Even with the power of the Rinnegan, one cannot see through a person's heart. He just discovered Sasori's problem with his sensitive intuition.
Pain said nothing, silently watching the two regain calm and restraint.
"Before starting, let me tell everyone some bad news..." After a long while, he spoke slowly.
"In the previous battle to capture the Seven-Tails Jinchuriki, Kisame Hoshigaki unfortunately sacrificed himself."
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