The red-haired boy’s eyes suddenly widened and his pupils shook rapidly. At the critical moment, he moved his fingers slightly.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh… The surrounding puppets opened their mouths simultaneously, shooting thousands of thickly dotted needles at the red-haired boy. The tip of those needles was coated with green poison. One might well say that they were highly poisonous.
It had to be said that the boy not only had the most ingenious manipulation technique but the accuracy of the puppets he produced was also very high. All the needles merely brushed past him, completely covering his body.
Ta, ta, ta… And just like raindrops, they pierced through the wall. But the firm grip on his neck and the feeling of suffocation didn’t disappear. The boy glanced down from the corner of his eye and saw a dark shadow on his shoulders.
“Are Leaf ninjas here… That means, that man might have also come. Damn it! When?”
Sa, sa, sa… At the same time, crawling sounds came from all over the laboratory. Sandworms crawled out from the ground towards the center. These pitch-black worms were rapidly devouring the soil. Gradually, the number increased and they consumed enough soil to create a large crater that was expanding with their efforts.
“You’re very cautious. There are explosive tags and alarm devices buried everywhere.” From the deep crater, Uchiha Tonan’s gentle voice could be heard. He was standing on a stone pillar that was slowly rising from the crater as if he was riding an automatic elevator.
After the stone pillar rose to the ground level, it quickly changed into a seat under the Tonan’s control. He ignored the vigilant look of the red-haired boy and sat down. He waved his hand and said, “Scatter.”
As if waiting for the cue, the sandworms burrowed into the ground at once. He then carefully looked at the red-haired boy who was under the Shadow Imitation Technique’s control and leisurely said, “I advise you not to move, I didn’t come to kill you. If you are alright to have a good conversation, just blink once.”
The red-haired boy immediately blinked. Tonan smiled and the Shadow Imitation Technique that was grabbing the boy’s neck disappeared. The boy coughed heavily and took a few deep breaths, staring at Tonan.
The two of them sized each other up quietly. After a long time, Tonan spoke in a firm tone, “Sasori.”
The boy frowned on hearing his name and solemnly asked, “Do you know me?”
Tonan nodded lightly and answered, “I’ve known you for a long time. I heard that you are the most talented puppet master in Suna.”
Sasori lowered his eyes a little and moved his right foot a little. He noticed that a small hole had appeared on the ground at some point. He assumed that before Tonan came, he controlled a sandworm to drill a hole and then used the Shadow Imitation Technique to attack him from underground.
“Why are you looking for me? If you want the corpse, you can take it.” Sasori had seen Tonan’s strength. He knew that if they fought, he had little to no chance of winning. So, he expressed his willingness to give up Sandaime Kazekage’s corpse that he had finally obtained.
Tonan shook his head hearing Sasori’s words and replied with a smile, “If he was still alive, I might be a bit interested. But he’s a corpse now. Besides, I intentionally left the corpse to you that day. It was a meeting gift for you. In fact, I’m here to ask you for a favor.”
Don’t want the corpse? Sasori sighed in relief in his heart and narrowed his eyes slightly. “What favor?” he asked.
Tonan took out a storage scroll and took out the content. He placed it on the ground. It was the instrument that broke in the laboratory earlier. “This toy is broken and I can’t fix it.”
Sasori raised his eyebrows and asked with surprise, “You came to look for me so that I can help you fix this?”
Tonan shook his head and said, “Of course, it’s not just that. I loved to learn things since I was a child. When you are repairing, please teach me the principle as well. In the future, if it is damaged again, I won’t need to bother you.”
After explaining, Tonan leaned forward and said in a low voice, “In addition… I want all your knowledge about puppet techniques. Especially the puppets you created.”
“Impossible!” Sasori refused with a firm look and his hands were already in a fighting stance. Tonan chuckled lightly and waved his hands with an easy-going look, and said, “Don’t say it so absolutely like that. Most of the things in this world have a price. Tell me your price. Ninjutsu, medicine, human body materials, money, you can ask for anything. Knowledge needs to be shared to bring forth new ideas. Monopoly will lead to extinction.”
Sasori said solemnly as if he was waiting for this, “I don’t want anything. You are a Leaf ninja and you are already so powerful. Why do you want to learn puppet techniques?”
Tonan touched his chin and answered after thinking for a bit. “Is it useful? I truly haven’t thought about it. I just happened to meet you and saw that you are weak and easy to bully. In this situation, if I don’t take something from you, I’ll feel that I’ve suffered a loss on this trip. Learning is purely to increase my knowledge.”
Hearing this, Sasori looked angry and coldly said, “Impossible. These are Suna’s secrets. Even if I die, I won’t give them to you.”
Tonan spread out his hands and lightly said, “Then, there’s nothing to discuss.”
Whoosh… A ghost-faced puppet appeared behind Tonan. The puppet stretched out its six arms and a sharp blade emerged from the tip of each arm and stabbed at Tonan’s head.
Bang! A sharp stone pillar protruded from the ground, piercing through the ghost-faced puppet, and left it hanging. At the same time, Sasori also launched an attack. He had already jumped to the wall at some point.
With his feet firmly planted on the ground, he opened a scroll and yelled, “Acute Corrosion Stream Column.” A torrential water column suddenly burst out from the scroll, attacking Tonan. Tonan quickly opened the storage scroll and put the instrument on the ground into it.
He then opened his palm and attacked the water column. Tonan’s palm quickly grew larger and it became so big that the palm completely blocked him.
Zi, zi, zi… The Acute Corrosion Stream Column hit the palm and emitted pungent white smoke but it didn’t hurt Tonan in the slightest. He absorbed nature’s energy every day to cultivate whenever he was free. Since he didn’t need to worry about emotional power, the speed at which Tonan could absorb energy was far beyond what ordinary people could imagine.
At this moment, the strength of his Adamantine Body was very good. It might have already surpassed Enma. This is despite it being less than half a year since Tonan started cultivating the Adamantine Body.
In addition, he used a large amount of nature energy for cultivating senjutsu chakra. His progress speed was indeed terrifying.
