Sasori stared blankly as the two human puppets resembling his parents charged toward him.
The distance was too close, or perhaps he simply hadn't expected it.
The slender white blades on either side reflected sunlight, their glare piercing his pupils. The aura of death loomed so near.
Art is eternal.
He had pursued the beauty of permanence, crafting a perfect vessel for himself. However, if his Chakra Core was pierced, even eternity would crumble into decay.
The battered puppets, covered in scratches from battle, lunged recklessly. For a moment, it was as if he saw himself controlling them in the past.
Their movements were crooked and unsteady, while only the blades thrusting toward him were straight.
Life flashed before his eyes in that disjointed, stumbling manner. Sasori saw the reel of his life, a dark and unchanging path, with his younger self at the far end waving at him.
…
Yet, in the next instant, a surge of lightning cut through all the gloom.
Seeing the sharp light of the sword approaching Sasori, Logan's nerves tightened abruptly.
For a split second, a thought appeared on his mind, 'This shouldn't end like this.'
But before it even fully formed, Logan found his body already moving.
From the edge of the rock wall, the perspective flattened as if an overwhelming force slammed down. The stone shattered, and shockwaves of air rippled violently.
Logan leaped down, lightning raging around him!
Zzzzt…
The howling wind engulfed his ears in an instant, and the shrinking figures below was rapidly growing closer... But it wasn't enough. Still not enough...
Pouring every ounce of his Chakra into his movement, Logan abandoned all finesse in Chakra Nature Transformation. He didn't care about the wasted energy scattering wildly, as his eyes were locked onto the puppets below, onto those thrusting blades.
Sasori stood frozen, not even attempting to dodge.
'This useless bastard…'
Time seemed to slow down in the extreme speed and focus. Electric currents surged through his body, wildly roaring and unrestrained.
Logan even felt how the invisible air was so obstructive, 'Just a little faster...'
The tip of the long blade inched forward, about to pierce the heart.
Boom!
The chaotic cries of a thousand birds swept across the battlefield like a raging torrent. The killing blades of the puppets gleamed with reflected light, but a streak of white light descended from above, arriving first… as if borrowing infinite radiance from the sun.
Raising his hand, the coiling currents instantly condensed. On the other side, he swung his drawn blade.
Finally, he crashed onto the ground.
With a deafening impact, sparks of electricity scattering like rain in all directions.
To the people on the ground, it was like a thunderclap on a clear day. They only saw the lightning strike from the sky, unable to process any thought.
At the moment of landing, Logan, with Chidori in his left hand and Shimizu in his right, slashed out with everything he had.
"What happened?!" Chiyo, who was lying on the ground, stared in shock at the sudden turn of events.
Sakura's eyes widened and she was also stunned into silence.
Dust swirled, and the crisp, metallic sound of two blades breaking rang out, long and clear.
A broken blade spun through the air, while another scraped across the ground, stained with what looked like mud or scorched black and yellow, before rolling into a crevice between rocks.
A few drops of blood floated in the air.
"Are you okay?" Logan didn't even have time to steady his chaotic breathing as he immediately turned around.
The situation had been far too urgent. He had rushed over with everything he had, focusing only on severing the puppet's weapon, unsure if he would even succeed.
Sasori stared blankly at Logan, the young man's eyes were filled with drifting fragments of electric light.
"Hey, damn it, are you dead?" Logan shouted.
Only then did Sasori seem to snap back to reality. He lowered his head stiffly, then saw his heart was still intact, "No... I'm not dead."
Hearing him speak, Logan relaxed and a weight seemed to be lifted from his chest, "Then react faster next time! You scared the hell out of me."
He had done all he could, leaving the rest to fate.
At that moment, seeing Sasori on the brink of death, about to meet the same end as in the original work, Logan's thoughts hadn't even fully formed.
In that brief instant, slower than light, there was no weighing of pros and cons… just an indescribable choice made in the depths of his heart.
Luckily, Logan's gamble hadn't been in vain.
Drip, drip.
The sound of liquid falling.
A pang of unease struck Logan. He instinctively glanced at Sasori's heart, only to see two small wounds slowly oozing blood. His expression tightened.
He knew full well that this thing was the source of Sasori's power and life. The rest of his body could take damage without issue, but if this part was compromised, it was game over.
'What kind of eternal beauty is this? Isn't the weakness of his immortal body way too obvious?'
Sasori's consciousness still felt somewhat unreal, but the person standing before him was undeniably real.
Where did he come from? When did this happen? Why did he save me? A flood of questions arose, thoughts surging uncontrollably. His heart, which is long accustomed to solitude and coldness, now wavered like melting glaciers.
Emotions he had long discarded… those strange, distant human feelings, ignited from the deepest recesses of his being.
Hiruko was destroyed. The Sandaime Kazekage puppet was gone. Only his youthful puppet body remained, as if standing on shifting sands, picking up scattered seashells, unable to suppress the tide.
A clap of thunder, shards of light scattered everywhere. Recalling the scene from moments ago, Sasori felt, for an instant, that it rivaled eternity.
'So this is what eternal beauty looks like.'
Sasori wanted to say something to Logan, but just as he was about to speak, "F**k, your heart is damaged!"
"Hurry up and cover it, or find some parts and repair it quickly!" Logan rubbed his own chest and said with an wince.
"..." The moment of emotion vanished. Sasori abruptly snapped out of his strange mental state, calming slightly.
"It's fine." Of course, Sasori had noticed his own injuries, so he replied flatly. Then, he reached out and several skin-like components flew up automatically, attaching to his chest and sealing the wounds.
The bleeding stopped immediately.
"I'll repair it properly later in a quiet place."
"Oh, good. That's a relief." Logan studied it for a moment before exhaling. Then, he dispersed the currents around his body.
With that, he had fulfilled the impulsive decision he'd made. Sasori wouldn't meet the same fate as in the original work… forcibly killed in battle.
But there was still the problem of what came next...
After a brief hesitation, Logan turned around.
Across from him stood Sakura and Chiyo, their clothes disheveled, covered in injuries large and small, both utterly exhausted from the fierce battle.
In the brief moment just now, Sakura and Chiyo had also been observing the situation.
The sudden arrival of another person had shattered what should have been their hard-fought victory. After the initial shock, it was clear to them that this was an ally of their enemy, a member of Akatsuki who had left earlier with another figure and now returned.
"Damn it..."
Though their expressions hadn't yet shown it, the spirits of the two Kunoichi, one old and one young, had sunk to the lowest point.
A single member of Akatsuki was already this powerful, and there was another... How were they supposed to fight in their current state?
Sakura's head drooped weakly, strands of sweat-drenched, dust-covered hair falling over her face, "Naruto... I'm sorry. I wanted to stand up and share the burden you've been carrying all this time..."
She had pushed herself to the limit, broken through her own barriers, and fought with all her conviction to defeat the enemy. "In the end, was it all just empty words…?"
"Who are you?!" Chiyo knew that there might be no way out, but her pride kept her from lowering her head.
For decades, she had been the guiding flower leading the sands forward. Even as she withered, she would continue to lead.
"Are you also a member of Akatsuki?" Chiyo demanded angrily.
The other party was not wearing the black robe with red clouds pattern.
"Heh..."
At the young and gentle voice, Sakura raised her head and froze.