"No blood? A puppet too?"
Sasori instantly grew alert but immediately denied it. "No… this feeling—it's more like some kind of special Kekkei Genkai clone! To withstand such a heavy blow without dispersing—it's definitely not an ordinary clone technique!"
Sasori instantly realized that the "Uchiha Keizumi" before him was not the real body at all!
He had actually been completely distracted by a clone!
He had been played!
And in the very instant he realized this, the wooden clone—almost split into three pieces—used the last of its momentum to charge ferociously into a range less than 20 m from Sasori!
It suddenly pulled open the scroll it had been gripping tightly in its hand.
—It was a Fire-Sealing Technique scroll!
What was sealed inside it was Uchiha Itachi's Mangekyō Sharingan technique—
The black flames of Amaterasu!
That terrifying flame had been sealed by Uchiha Keizumi into two scrolls.
One had been given to Uchiha Izumi, and the other entrusted to the wooden clone.
"Amaterasu!!!"
The wooden clone, exhausting the last of its strength, uttered a cold declaration.
At the same time, the mantis puppet behind had already caught up once more, mercilessly swinging its twin scythes down with force!
[Bang—!!!]
The wooden clone could no longer maintain its form and instantly burst apart into a thick cloud of white smoke, vanishing completely.
At the exact moment the wooden clone disappeared—
The center of the fully unrolled Fire-Sealing Technique scroll flared with black curse patterns as if ignited.
A mass of pitch-black flame, no larger than a clenched fist yet radiating an aura of ultimate doom and destruction, surged forth—like a demon breaking free from the depths of hell.
It shot forward with lightning speed toward the nearby Hiruko.
"Hmph, a petty trick."
Sasori let out a disdainful sneer through Hiruko's voice.
Although he was surprised that the opponent had only been a clone and had used such a bizarre method of attack, he possessed absolute confidence in his defenses and puppets.
He didn't even move Hiruko's body; with only a thought, he controlled Hiruko's scorpion-like steel tail to lash forward violently!
The chain-like tail instantly extended, stabbing precisely toward the oncoming black flame!
In Sasori's view, that unremarkable black fire would be easily dispersed or blocked by the puppet's solid tail.
[Puff!]
The black flame made contact with Hiruko's metal tail.
There was no explosion, no violent clash of energy.
The black flame, thick and viscous like living tar, clung firmly to the metal surface of Hiruko's tail!
"Hm?"
Sasori was momentarily startled and tried to shake it off, controlling the tail to whip and flail in every direction.
However, no matter how hard he swung or slammed Hiruko's tail—even smashing it fiercely against nearby rocks—the black flame clung to it like maggots on bone, utterly refusing to come off.
There was no sign of extinguishing or even weakening!
Instead, it began creeping along the tail, slowly spreading toward Hiruko's main body.
Under the black flame's burning, the metal tail began to redden and deform slightly!
"Sasori-sama! Just now, it seemed that Uchiha Keizumi used the Fire-Sealing Technique to release this flame—we can use another Fire-Sealing Technique to seal it back up!"
Yakushi Kabuto spoke rapidly, offering his suggestion.
"…" The face of the Hiruko puppet, already somewhat grim, suddenly twisted into an even uglier expression.
Sasori ignored Yakushi Kabuto.
Just as the black flames were about to scorch Hiruko's main torso—
[Click!]
A faint mechanical sound came from within Hiruko's chest cavity.
A scroll instantly shot out from inside Hiruko's torso, unfurling in midair with a sharp "whoosh"!
[Bang!]
A puff of white smoke burst open, and a bizarrely shaped puppet wielding a massive broken blade appeared out of thin air.
The first thing this newly appeared puppet did was not to attack the distant enemy but, under Sasori's control, to swing that gigantic broken blade without hesitation.
The blade slashed through the air with a piercing shriek, striking down fiercely at the joint where Hiruko's tail—now engulfed in black flame—was connected!
[Clang—!!!]
[Crack!!!]
A harsh metallic snapping sound rang out! The enormous broken blade shattered partially upon colliding with Hiruko's solid body,
But it succeeded in completely severing Hiruko's burning tail—along with that black flame clinging to it!
The severed tail, still wrapped in black fire, fell onto the sand, continuing to burn quietly, melting and crystallizing the sand and stones around it.
Meanwhile, Sasori quickly manipulated the remaining half of Hiruko's body to retreat hurriedly more than 10 m back in a somewhat disheveled manner.
He then stared warily at the black flame still burning on the sand.
Only after the flame had completely vanished did he finally withdraw his gaze.
Afterward, he spoke coldly to Yakushi Kabuto: "Next time you make such a pointless suggestion, I'll kill you first."
Yakushi Kabuto: "???"
No—
What's wrong with this guy? I gave a well-meaning reminder… wait a second, could it be that he never learned the Fire-Sealing Technique?
Yakushi Kabuto's mouth twitched imperceptibly.
The Akatsuki members, one after another—their personalities really are eccentric.
If you can't do it, can't you just say so?
Orochimaru-sama's undercover mission is really tough!
At this moment, out of the corner of his eye, Yakushi Kabuto seemed to notice something. He discovered that the puppet attacking Biwa Jūzō had been destroyed at some point, and Biwa Jūzō's figure had long since vanished without a trace.
It was probably that, when Sasori had been dealing with that bizarre black flame just now, he was too pressed for time to manipulate that puppet, allowing Biwa Jūzō to seize the chance to directly destroy it,
And then the other side simply ran off.
Yakushi Kabuto thought it over and still chose not to say, "It seems we might have botched the hunt."
Otherwise…
This man with such an intense pride might really kill him.
"Hmph!"
Only after Sasori watched the black flames burn half of Hiruko's body completely to ash and then disappear did he—
Coldly spit out a single line.
"Return!"
…
"A puppeteer… so it really was that Sasori of the Red Sand from Sunagakure. I didn't expect that guy to be one of Akatsuki's core members. For a taijutsu-type ninja like me, I hate nothing more than those sneaky, hiding puppeteers. Not getting tangled up with him was the smart choice."
In the distance, Biwa Jūzō—already long gone—found himself a rather decent excuse for his escape.
There was nothing he could do.
Uchiha Keizumi's wooden clone had already been cut to pieces. If he kept fighting, he'd end up facing the entire Akatsuki alone.
Biwa Jūzō wasn't feeling suicidal at the moment; he still thought his life had some value.
Especially when he had seen that, perhaps one day, the ninja world really could be changed by Absolute Justice.
Biwa Jūzō very much wanted to witness that day with his own eyes—
And sometimes even thought about taking part in it himself.
"Seems I've got nowhere left to go! I definitely can't stay in Akatsuki anymore. And as for the Blood Mist Kirigakure of today, there's no point in going back there either."
Shouldering his Kubikiribōchō, Biwa Jūzō glanced around.
Then he headed straight off in one direction.
That direction—
Was toward the Land of Fire!
At this point, other than going to seek refuge with that man, Uchiha Keizumi, did he have any other choice?
…
The next day.
Konohagakure.
As usual, Uchiha Fugaku woke up early.
He washed, changed, ate breakfast, and left the house as always.
But halfway down the street, he suddenly froze mid-step, stopping dead in his tracks like a block of wood—drawing puzzled looks from several Uchiha clansmen passing by.
The reason for Uchiha Fugaku's strange behavior was that he suddenly remembered—he had already been forced to abdicate by his clansmen yesterday.
He was now neither the head of the Uchiha clan nor the captain of the Konoha Police Force.
So why had he gotten up so early?
And where exactly was he going?
Finding himself in confusion, Fugaku felt it awkward to turn back home now, so with a blank expression, he left the Uchiha compound, went to the flower shop run by the Yamanaka Clan, bought a bouquet, and then walked to Konoha's cemetery—stopping before the cenotaph of Uchiha Itachi.
He gently placed the white flowers down, then slowly straightened up. Wearing a stern expression, he looked at the gravestone and said impassively, "Itachi, it seems that both father and son have failed."
"You, for the sake of Konoha's future, chose to walk an extreme path; and I, for the sake of the Uchiha's future, have endured humiliation and swallowed my pride. But in the end, both you and I were defeated."
"The one who defeated us both—father and son—was Uchiha Keizumi's Absolute Justice. His justice has even reached into our home and affected our family."
"Your younger brother, your mother—one a devoted believer in Absolute Justice, the other somewhat sympathetic toward it. They have betrayed everything you and I once stood for."
"They have gone in a direction opposite to you and me. If we still had any real life left in us, perhaps things wouldn't have turned out this way."
"Hah…"
Uchiha Fugaku exhaled heavily. In that brief instant, terrifying thoughts had crossed his mind—making him realize it was the Uchiha's extremist impulses at work again.
…
Elsewhere.
Uchiha Keizumi and three Uchiha jōnin had already returned to Konoha.