Sasori had returned to Sunagakure without orders, so the Akatsuki Organization's reaction to his death was merely lukewarm.
Neither Obito nor Nagato showed any strong emotions; no one said anything, they simply raised their evaluation of Ino.
Last time, capturing Konan alive had a hint of Konan intentionally holding back, but this time, directly killing Sasori completely proved her strength.
She was a formidable enemy, and that was all.
As for avenging Sasori? What a joke!
Does the Akatsuki Organization even have that kind of cohesion?
If he dies, he dies. What else can be done?
Over the years, the Akatsuki Organization has seen people come and go; some Ninja defected, like Orochimaru, and some Ninja died in battle, like Biwa Jūzō. Now, another Sasori dying is no big deal.
Only Deidara, who had the best relationship with Sasori, loudly demanded revenge for his Big Brother Sasori. He held Ino's photo and pondered, then looked at himself in a mirror. Huh? He noticed a strange, important detail. Before, he had only vaguely felt something was off, but now, looking closely, he realized this girl looked so much like him!
Deidara was eccentric and loved to cause trouble. Obito and Nagato had both heard rumors of him secretly going out to act as a vigilante. To rein him in, Nagato sent Gaara to team up with Deidara, replacing Sasori's previous position.
Sasori had red hair, and Gaara also had red hair. Sasori was from Sunagakure, and coincidentally, Gaara was also from Sunagakure. Sasori controlled the Third Kazekage to use Magnet Release, and Gaara, under Nagato's tutelage, inherited his father, the Fourth Kazekage Rasa's Magnet Release from his bloodline.
Both Sasori and Gaara were handsome young men with delicate features, so Nagato and Obito felt this new combination was perfectly fine.
Even Hinata, who was single-mindedly focused on being a housewife, knew that a Shinobi World War was about to begin, let alone the Akatsuki Organization.
If the Ninja World were to erupt into war, Nagato and Obito would wake up laughing in their dreams. Fight! Fight as hard as you can! One less is one less!
At this point, you're suggesting the Akatsuki Organization jump out and draw the hatred of the major Villages? What a joke!
They would continue to lie low, waiting for the Shinobi World War to end, and then the Akatsuki Organization would emerge to clean up the mess.
Nagato's only order to Gaara was to restrain Deidara and absolutely not allow him to seek revenge in Konoha.
Konoha Village and Iwagakure had not directly engaged in combat; both sides, by tacit agreement, started a war of words.
Konoha Village opportunely used the Third Kazekage's human puppet as a propaganda tool.
Look, your Sunagakure's strongest Kazekage was made into a human puppet. Do you know who did this? Sasori did it! Do you know the relationship between Sasori and the Akatsuki Organization, and the relationship between the Akatsuki Organization and Iwagakure? Iwagakure is our common enemy, do you understand what I mean?
Iwagakure still adhered to the principle of "a thousand words are not as good as silence," but they pushed out Elder Huangsha of Sunagakure to engage in a war of words.
Huangsha worked tirelessly, constantly sending people to spread propaganda everywhere.
What is Konoha Village? It's the tumor of the Ninja World! Whether the Ninja World is chaotic or not is up to Konoha, you see how many Rogue Ninja they have?
Iwagakure and Sunagakure are both poor brothers; we are the true friends. You, the Sunagakure, a bunch of struggling people who drink the northwest wind, want to be friends with landlords like Konoha? Are you stupid?
The Third Tsuchikage didn't want to start a war now, but he also didn't withdraw his troops. Konoha had no choice but to continue the stalemate with him.
After a month of confrontation, Kakashi brought Sasuke to the Land of Rivers. Both master and disciple were masters of Lightning Release, which greatly countered Kitsuchi's Earth Release. Ino, Shikamaru, Choji, and Asuma withdrew from the front line and returned to the Village for rest.
Upon returning to the Village, they found the Village was also quite tense.
Ino went to the Konoha Interrogation Department for a stroll, asked about intelligence from the major Villages, listened to her mother nag for a bit at the flower shop, and then went home to rest.
Over the next few days, she gave herself a complete vacation.
She listened to Hinata recount some battlefield precautions she had heard through gossip, drank sake with Tsunade, watched Shizune treat patients, and incidentally teased Tonton.
"Miss Yamanaka."
Orochimaru, wearing a mask, emerged from a small alley to Ino's right like a ghost.
Behind him followed Anko Mitarashi, and further back were Yamato, who used Wood Release, and three masked ANBU Ninja.
What did this mean?
Ino wasn't familiar with Yamato or the ANBU Ninja, but she had eaten with Anko Mitarashi twice and knew that Anko had once been Orochimaru's disciple.
By generation, she was of the same generation as Anko and Minato Namikaze, but she had been terribly wronged by Orochimaru and had been self-abandoned for over a decade.
She gave Anko Mitarashi a look, asking what the situation was.
Reuniting with her teacher after more than ten years, Anko Mitarashi's heart was quite complex, to be honest.
When she was young, Orochimaru was like an omnipotent deity in her heart, but then she was cast aside like a worn-out shoe by this deity. What was the meaning of leaving her in Konoha Village when he defected? Did he know how many times they interrogated her, how long they monitored her?
Anko Mitarashi turned her grief into an appetite. Exercise? Not happening! Eat! Eat to her heart's content!
She had already prepared to live her life this way, but a few days ago, Jiraiya sought her out for a heart-to-heart and told her a shocking thing: Orochimaru had resurrected using her body. Orochimaru also stated bluntly that he just wanted to leave the good, or relatively good, qualities and memories in Anko's body, and then resurrect himself.
Anko Mitarashi had been living in a daze recently and couldn't quite figure out her own thoughts. Now, she couldn't even get interested in her favorite dumplings. She had been on this mission to monitor Orochimaru recently, precisely because she wanted to keep an eye on this "man" at all times.
Facing Ino's question at this moment, she coughed: "Little Ino, this guy..."
She pointed at Orochimaru, her face full of disdain: "He says he has something to discuss with you. It's not a Village order, it's his private matter. It doesn't matter whether you agree or not."
Ino looked at Orochimaru, scrutinizing him: "Your condition is much better than it was a few days ago. Did you absorb Chakra from a human puppet? Your Chakra is truly unique."
Orochimaru's Chakra, in her opinion, should be similar to a Cursed Seal, incorporating some characteristics of Sage Mode. He could grant it and he could retract it.
Other Ninja couldn't do this. Once Ninjutsu was released, it was released. It's not like she could release a Great Exploding Water Colliding Wave, and then after the battle, drink the water back? There's no such operation.
Physical energy and spiritual energy merge to form Chakra, and then nature transformation or shape transformation is added. This process is irreversible.
Through the mask, Orochimaru's expression was indiscernible. He asked very directly: "I never thought my corpse would fall into Sasori's hands, and then, after a detour, return to mine... The human puppet you brought back was very damaged. I want to ask, do you still have fragments of that human puppet in your possession?"
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