[send power stones please]
Hikaru's words sounded painfully sincere.
That gentle but unwavering tone, the refusal to abandon him even in the middle of a deadly retreat… it all seemed to shake something inside Namuki.
Namuki had heard plenty about Nightingale's reputation in ANBU—mild-mannered, easy to deal with, unusually kind to other operatives.
That sort of personality didn't seem suited to black ops at all.
And yet Nightingale's mission success rate and efficiency were beyond dispute.
For an instant, Namuki's heart wavered. He even questioned whether his own decision had been correct.
But he was ANBU.
Not only ANBU—a division captain.
He recovered quickly.
ANBU existed to complete missions. Even if the price was their lives, the mission came first.
Still, he didn't mention the scroll again.
Because the scroll in his hand was fake.
It was bait—meant to keep that devil's attention locked on this direction.
And while Namuki didn't fear death, he wanted to live. He wanted to see what Hikaru intended to do.
"He's here!"
Hikaru's eyelid twitched. Without warning, he hurled Namuki violently to the side—no concern for whether the man landed hard.
Hikaru's body twisted, and spear-thick iron sand lanced past him, missing by a hair.
He landed lightly.
Above them hovered the Third Kazekage puppet, floating in midair like a nightmare given form.
Hikaru drew in a slow breath.
He already knew it could fly. He'd also expected they'd be caught sooner rather than later. So this wasn't surprising.
"Quick reactions," Sasori's voice rasped as his figure appeared atop a tree branch. Low, hoarse, and dead-eyed. "But I don't like games."
"This ends here."
"And who exactly are you?" Hikaru asked smoothly, not minding the conversation. It bought him seconds—seconds to let his chakra settle. "Hunting Konoha ANBU inside the Land of Fire… no matter how strong you are, can you really escape Konoha's retaliation?"
"Yes," Sasori said, almost casually, and nodded. "Konoha is terrifying."
Then he tilted his head slightly.
"But how would they ever know who did it?"
That was the truth of this era.
No matter how powerful a lone missing-nin was, if a great village decided to hunt them with full force, they could be killed—or worn down until death.
This wasn't the age of Hashirama Senju and Madara Uchiha anymore. No one stood above an entire nation.
But Sasori wasn't worried.
As long as everyone died… there would be no witnesses.
And he was still disguised.
That only made things easier.
"How's your recovery?" Sasori asked, voice turning faintly amused. "Because I'm going to start now."
The moment those words landed—
Hikaru moved.
Passive defense had never been his style.
He was still in Sage Mode. Against Sasori, victory was impossible, but Hikaru had confidence in one thing:
He could avoid being hit.
"Sage Art—Water Release: Water Blade Slash!"
The instant Shunshin triggered, Hikaru's ninja blade flashed into his hand. A layer of ultra-compressed water chakra wrapped the edge like a thin, violent sheen.
He vanished.
Then reappeared at Sasori's side.
He didn't aim for the Third Kazekage puppet first.
He went straight for Sasori.
Puppet masters had a classic weakness: they hated taijutsu users closing the distance.
Sasori, in truth, didn't share that weakness—he'd already modified his whole body.
But Hikaru couldn't afford to show that he knew too much.
"Ignorant."
Sasori shook his head with contempt.
Hiruko's massive tail swept out like a guillotine, slamming toward Hikaru.
At the same time, the Third Kazekage puppet dove down, arms reshaping into several cold, gleaming blades.
Bang!
Hikaru's blade struck Hiruko's body with a deafening impact—
and he was thrown backward.
Hiruko's durability was absurd.
That strike carried Sage chakra. It even tore through Hiruko, carving a huge rupture—nearly shattering half of the shell.
But Hikaru himself was still forced back by the recoil.
The difference in their foundations was too large.
Hikaru's overall level hovered around jōnin. But his usable chakra reserves were closer to a chūnin's.
Even with Sage Mode boosting chakra quality, the amount he could pour into a technique remained limited.
A jutsu's power was not only about chakra purity.
It was also about volume.
So yes—his strike was sharp and heavy.
But against Sasori, it still wasn't enough.
When Hikaru landed, he immediately saw the damage.
A large breach. Ugly. Dramatic.
But only that.
He still couldn't even glimpse Sasori's true body inside.
That defense… was terrifying.
No wonder it was the puppet shell of a Kage-level monster.
Then—
A buzz of movement.
The Third Kazekage puppet closed in, its bladed arms slicing down at Hikaru.
Hikaru had already locked onto its trajectory. That was the advantage of perception.
He hopped backward, dodging the blades by a sliver—
Then his sword suddenly whipped around the puppet's body in rapid arcs.
He wasn't trying to cut the puppet itself.
He was cutting something else.
"Mm?"
Sasori's tone carried faint amusement.
He understood immediately.
This ANBU was attempting to sever the chakra strings.
The stronger the puppet master, the more refined their control. Their chakra threads became thinner, subtler—virtually invisible to normal sight.
Sasori's strings were impossible to see with the naked eye.
Unless you had Byakugan, Sharingan…
Or a capable sensor.
"A sensor type," Sasori thought, adjusting his grip on the battlefield.
This ANBU was interesting.
He'd even managed to break Hiruko.
But Sasori could also tell the flaw.
High chakra quality.
Low chakra quantity.
If he truly had large reserves, Hiruko wouldn't still be moving.
With that conclusion, Sasori didn't waste time.
Hiruko—slightly shattered—lunged back in, its tail thrusting like a spear straight at Hikaru.
At the same time, the Third Kazekage puppet condensed iron sand into long spears, launching them toward Hikaru in a relentless barrage.
Puppet masters were rare in large-scale combat.
But a truly strong puppet master?
One person could rival an army.
Sasori wasn't even going all-out.
He was only controlling two puppets—
and even so, Hikaru was already being crushed from both sides.
A deadly pincer.
A level of pressure most shinobi couldn't even imagine.
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