Sasori’s face was gloomy; he never expected that the Chakra Threads would be spotted and cut off so easily by Ryo. Moreover, his terrifying speed exceeded all his expectations.
“As far as I know, there are two ninjas Konoha known for their speed. One is the Fourth Hokage, and the other is Ryo Yamanaka. I can’t think that I would meet the Hokage himself here in the middle of the desert, so that should make you Ryo, am I right?”
“Yes, that’s me!” Ryo nodded.
Confirming the identity of his foe made Sasori’s face even gloomier; a speed-type Ninja is a perfect counter to Puppet Masters. Nevertheless, Sasori was confident in his skills as the best Puppeteer out there, and Kakashi was close at hand and he didn’t want to give up.
At this time, he hadn’t fully transformed his body to a puppet, but he did replace a few of his organs.
Secretly, he opened a small box in his chest, filled with thousands of poisonous needles that he shot immediately at Ryo!
Ryo did not seem to move, and the two were very close to each other. The needles went to Ryo, just to directly pass through his body!
Seeing that, Sasori’s face froze. He knew how much power his needles packed, and knew all too well that they shouldn’t get through the human body. Therefore, he thought that they must have missed.
What he didn’t know was that they passed through his body just because Ryo was in Ice Elementization all this time.
Sasori mistakenly thought that Ryo just dodged his attack at such a short distance, and that made him begin to give up.
At the same time, Ryo did not know what he was thinking, but he felt that Sasori wanted to end the battle.
“Ryo Yamanaka, you’ve won this time! Kakashi should consider himself lucky to have you around to protect him.” As he spoke, smoke erupted from the soles of his feet. It wasn’t ordinary smoke; it was potent enough to disrupt Ryo’s perception. By the time it dissipated, Sasori was already gone, along with the 3rd Kazekage’s puppet.
After the four took a break for recovery, they continued to move toward the Hidden Sand. On the way, it was obvious that Maki seemed like she wanted to say something.
When the group was about to arrive at the village, she couldn’t help it anymore, and walked back to Ryo saying: “Ryo sama, was that puppet that Sasori had that of the Sandaime Kazekage sama?”
Ryo nodded: “I have never seen the 3rd Kazekage, but with that puppet having the Magnet Release Kekkei Genkai, it should be his.”
Maki fell silent; she already knew the answer, and only asked Ryo to confirm her thoughts.
She picked up speed, for this news was too important; she had to inform Rasa and Pakura immediately.
As the four were already close to the village, they reached it in just a few minutes.
Maki took the three in, and arranged for them to wait in the conference room. She on the other hand rushed straight into the office to report the disturbing news.
“Knock Knock Knock Knock Knock…” Rasa was discussing the sealing matter with Pakura in his office, when a rushing knock on the door stopped them.
Hearing that, they let the one at the door in. Getting their permission, Maki pushed the door.
“Maki? You look out of breath! Is Ryo Yamanaka here?” Pakura saw Maki’s state and asked casually.
“Yes… Pakura… san! Ryo Yamanaka is… here. But I’m not here to report that. It’s about the Sandaime Kazekage sama!”
The 3rd Kazekage was Rasa’s mentor, and the closest thing to a fatherly presence to him. Hearing him being mentioned, the 4th’s face changed greatly.
Pakura also became anxious hearing about him and asked hastily: “Maki, what’s the matter? Tell me!”
Maki quickly told Pakura and Rasa about Sasori: “On our road, we encounted…. and then, he took the Sandaime sama’s body and disappeared!”
“What?!” Rasa crushed the teacup in his hand after listening to Maki’s narrative.”This is horrible! I never thought that Sensei’s disappearance was related to that bastard! He actually dared to make my Sensei into a puppet!”
Pakura feared that the raging Rasa would do something irrational, and quickly advised: “Rasa, calm down! Sasori is also Chiyo san’s grandson; you should take your time when dealing with this matter.”
Rasa still had great respect to Chiyo, so hearing her name made him take a deep breath and force himself to calm down. He then said to Pakura: “About Ryo Yamanaka, you should go meet him, I want to be alone.”
Pakura nodded and left the office with Maki.
“Maki, where’s Ryo Yamanaka?”
“In the conference room; do you need me to accompany you?”
“No, I’ll go by myself. You’ve been working hard these days; go and get yourself some rest!” Pakura rejected Maki’s proposal and walked on her own to the conference room.
Ryo, Kakashi and Shisui had been waiting there for ten minutes, with no one from the Sand showing up!
Shisui whispered impatiently: “Sensei, the Hidden Sand are too rude, not sending anyone to meet us for so long, even though they were the ones to invite us!”
“Maki has seen things involving the 3rd Kazekage; such a level of information should get the higher-ups of the village busy. you should be more understanding!”
When hearing Ryo, Shisui’s eyes opened wide open as he muttered: “Are you still my teacher? My teacher cannot be so understanding!”
Hearing his disciple, Ryo blushed, knowing that his high tolerance to the Sand’s behavior is probably just due to his several encounters with Pakura. After waiting for so long, he still didn’t lose his patience.
Just as he was about to explain to Shisui, the door to the conference room was opened, and Pakura walked in.
“Ryo, I’m sorry, I’ve kept you waiting!” Pakura apologized to Ryo.
“It’s no problem!”
Seeing that Ryo was far from angry, Pakura was relieved. After the two chatter for a little, she went to the topic, talking to Ryo about the sealing of the Ichibi.
From her words, Ryo understood the Sand’s ideas. The Sand intended on forging the next Ichibi Jinchuriki into a perfect one like Nibi and Hachibi Jinchurikis of the Hidden Cloud, not just one that needed to sleep in order to fully transform. Therefore, the sealing of the Ichibi should not to be as sloppy as before.
However, with only a few of their Ninjas being proficient in Fuinjutsu, and none of them being as good as the likes of the Uzumaki and those who had learned their secrets, Rasa and Pakura eventually decided to ask for help from Konoha. The one they trusted the most was Ryo, so he was the one they requested.
