The aftermath of Deidara's self-detonation left the canyon floor a vast, scorched crater, filled with the silence of absolute destruction. Naruto stood at the center, exhausted but utterly dominant. The massive expenditure of life-force to maintain the Kekkai Fūin: Seimei no Kabe (Barrier Seal: Wall of Life) had left his body shaky, but the cold control of the Uzumaki Collective Consciousness prevented any emotional reaction.
Sasori, in his core puppet body, stared at the devastation, his single, human eye wide with terror. His greatest collaborator was gone, vaporized by his own art, and his most potent weapons—the Iron Sand and the Hundred Puppets—were useless against the boy's sealing mastery.
"You have no defense left, Sasori," Naruto stated, his voice a flat monotone echoing in the massive crater. "Your eternal art ends here."
Sasori shrieked, a high, panicked sound from the mechanical chamber of his chest. "I am immortal! My body is a work of art! You can't stop the flow of my chakra!"
"Every Uzumaki master has fought for immortality," the Collective whispered in Naruto's mind. "They failed. We know how to seal eternity."
Sasori lunged, unleashing wires threaded with razor-sharp, poisoned blades.
"Kishin no Kōsa!"
Naruto unleashed a flurry of the silver-blue chakra chains. They didn't strike at the puppet body, but at the invisible chakra conduits that linked Sasori's core to his mechanical limbs. The chains phased through the chakra-resistant metal, striking the energy points.
The puppet body froze mid-lunge. Sasori's movement ceased completely, his single visible eye frantic. The Demon God's Cross had sealed the puppet master inside his own shell, locking down his chakra and paralyzing his mechanical functions.
Naruto approached the motionless puppet, reaching out a cold hand. He touched the glass orb containing Sasori's life core—the last remaining piece of his human body.
"Pain wants information about the Jinchūriki movements. Tell me the Akatsuki's rendezvous points, or I will show you a fear worse than decomposition."
"Never!" Sasori spat, his voice strained but defiant. "My art is complete! I will not betray Pain!"
Naruto didn't waste words. He activated the Jagan no Jutsu (Evil Eye Technique) again, focusing its terrifying power directly into Sasori's glass core. The jutsu adapted instantly, targeting the life-force chakra of the core itself.
Sasori was immediately plunged into a custom-designed illusion: a timeless cycle of decay. In the Genjutsu, he was trapped in a tiny glass jar, watching his immortal puppet body slowly rust and crumble over millions of years, his preserved core slowly being eaten by microscopic, Uzumaki-controlled insects. His entire life's work—the pursuit of perfect, eternal art—was undone in an endless, agonizing loop of rot and failure.
The scream that erupted from Sasori's core was muffled, inhuman, and profoundly terrified. He lasted less than thirty seconds.
When Naruto broke the Genjutsu, Sasori was utterly shattered, trembling uncontrollably.
"The… the Land of Rivers," he choked out. "A fortress built in the mountains. Code name 'The Vault.' Zetsu takes the captured Jinchūriki there. Pain is waiting."
He gasped, coughing. "Kill me now. Please. Destroy the core!"
"You asked for eternity, Sasori," Naruto said, his voice a death sentence. "You will have it, sealed."
Naruto began weaving a long, complex series of hand signs, fueled by a terrifying reserve of life force. The air around him shimmered as thousands of intricate, minute sealing tags manifested in the space.
This was the forbidden Hyaku Fūin Soshiki no Jutsu (Hundred-Seal Organization Technique), a seal designed by the founders of Uzushiogakure to neutralize unstoppable beasts or immortal enemies.
As the final seal snapped into place, the thousands of tags collapsed onto Sasori's puppet body, coating it instantly in a smooth, metallic sheen. It wasn't metal, but inert, polymerized chakra. Sasori's body stiffened, and his single human eye froze, locked open in a silent scream of eternal horror. He became a life-sized, perfect statue of terror. He was not dead, but sealed into a permanent, inert state—a captive of his own 'immortal' form.
Naruto left the statue standing silently in the desolate crater—a monument to the failure of the Akatsuki.
Naruto did not rest. The collective urged him forward.
"Sasori's information is critical. Pain is consolidating his power. You must destroy the remaining lieutenants to shatter his confidence before the final confrontation."
The next targets were the most difficult to kill: Kakuzu (The Treasury of Hearts) and Hidan (The Immortal Jashinist).
"They are currently hunting for a S-rank bounty near the borders of the Land of Hot Water. Kakuzu's multiple hearts grant him pseudo-immortality. Hidan's curse makes him truly immortal. Your approach must be severance, not obliteration."
Naruto moved north, towards the steaming, volcanic region. As he traveled, the Collective began integrating the next set of defensive and separation techniques needed for the duo.
He focused intensely on refining his control over the Kishin no Kōsa (Demon God's Cross). Against Kakuzu, the chains would not be used to seal chakra, but to rip and sever the chakra conduits connecting his five hearts. Against Hidan, the chains would be used to cleanly dismember him, separating the head from the body without using a cursed weapon.
He practiced the separation technique on boulders, splitting them cleanly down the middle with a single, precise chain strike—no explosion, no shattering, just a clean, silent division. The process was agonizingly difficult, demanding millimeter precision.
"Hidan's true weakness is severance. Kakuzu's is isolation. If they are together, their immortality is a combined defense. You must face them in sequence, or you will fail," the Collective warned.
Naruto arrived at the Land of Hot Water, the steam and heat masking his movements. He found the two immortals arguing over the best way to torture their latest bounty target.
Kakuzu, stoic and avaricious, focused only on the money. Hidan, frantic and sadistic, focused only on the ritual.
They were separated by a thin, steaming veil of sulfurous air—the perfect opening for a swift, precise strike.
Naruto concealed himself high on a rocky ridge, Samehada now strapped to his back, unused but vibrating with anticipation. He drew three chakra-infused kunai, each humming with the terrifying energy of the Chakra Hōkai no Jutsu.
He had to strike Hidan first. Hidan was the more chaotic, unpredictable threat. A swift, definitive neutralization was required to isolate Kakuzu.
Naruto narrowed his silver eyes, sighting down the steaming gorge.
"Immortality means nothing when you can't move," Naruto whispered, a promise of pain.