Chapter 110: Chapter 110: Sasori: Is There a Mole Among Us!?
The Land of Wind is primarily a barren desert, making water sources extremely scarce.
After severely wounding the elite vanguard unit of the Land of Wind, Uchiha Akira's team left signals along the border before heading toward the border of the Land of Earth. With thousands of Konoha ninja converging in this direction, they would understand what had transpired once they saw the signals left behind.
Three days later, Uchiha Akira and his group arrived at a lakeside. The borderlands were mostly arid and desolate, so discovering a lake was a welcome sight. Seeing that it was already late in the day, they decided to set up camp by the lake and replenish their water supply.
In the leaves of a small tree near the lake, a tiny insect lay still. At first glance, it looked like an ordinary bug, barely noticeable. However, upon closer inspection, it became evident that this insect wasn't a real creature—it was a puppet. The puppet was discreetly observing Uchiha Akira and his group from a distance.
After settling down, Hiashi Hyuga activated his Byakugan, carefully scanning the surrounding area. Finding nothing out of the ordinary, everyone felt much more at ease.
With the Byakugan in play, it was like having a wide-range surveillance system in place at all times. Since Hiashi didn't detect anything unusual, the group naturally felt reassured.
"Alright, this poison may take some time to kick in, but its biggest advantage is that it's hard to detect. Just wait half an hour, and their entire nervous systems will be paralyzed and in disarray," said Sasori, observing Uchiha Akira's group through the puppet insect, which had evaded the detection of the Byakugan.
"Impressive! Controlling a puppet insect from ten kilometers away—when it comes to puppet masters, the shinobi world has never seen anyone more skilled than you," Orochimaru commented, genuinely impressed.
Controlling a puppet insect from such a distance, even eluding the Byakugan's sight, was indeed remarkable. The members of the Akatsuki organization were truly formidable in their respective fields.
Sasori remained expressionless at Orochimaru's praise. This was not surprising, considering that Sasori himself had become a puppet, having transformed his own body into a mechanical construct, leaving him devoid of much emotional expression.
The two then began discussing their battle strategy. The primary target of this mission was Uchiha Akira. However, two days earlier, Zetsu had appeared, informing them that the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki was also part of the team—a two-for-one deal. With this new information, they decided that poisoning the lake would be the most effective way to handle both targets. Given the scarcity of water sources within a hundred-mile radius, they knew the group wouldn't be able to resist using the lake.
As they watched through the puppet insect, they saw Akira's team indeed using the lake water, which put Orochimaru and Sasori at ease.
After waiting for about half an hour, Orochimaru and Sasori made their move, appearing openly before Akira and his group. "Orochimaru!?" The appearance of Orochimaru startled the Konoha ninjas, their faces turning grim.
Orochimaru, one of the legendary Sannin and an S-rank rogue ninja from Konoha, was well-known for his terrifying abilities. Whether it was Kakashi, Might Guy, or the members of the Ino-Shika-Cho trio, they all knew how dangerous Orochimaru was. Even though Akira had warned them earlier, seeing Orochimaru in the flesh was still shocking.
"And the one beside him must be Sasori of the Red Sand, right?" Nara Shikaku thought to himself, noticing the half-crouched figure of Hiruko, Sasori's puppet.
"Everyone, our objectives here are simple: first, we want Uchiha Akira dead; second, we're taking the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki with us," Orochimaru stated with a slightly hoarse voice, a smile playing on his lips as he made his intentions clear.
"Kill me? Are you sure you can do that?" Uchiha Akira asked, his gaze fixed on Orochimaru.
The last time Orochimaru had attempted an attack, they had reached an agreement. But this time, it was clear that Orochimaru was determined to kill him. This made Akira internally sigh—any verbal agreement they had was now null and void, disappearing like smoke in the wind.
"Have you not noticed the changes in your bodies?" Orochimaru asked with a smirk. "You've been poisoned. Soon, your entire nervous systems will be paralyzed, leaving you with no strength to resist."
Hearing this, Kakashi and the others quickly checked their bodies. "Oh no, it's true! My legs are going numb!" Kakashi exclaimed, feeling the creeping effects of the poison.
"Hidden Shadow Snake Hands!" Orochimaru's eyes gleamed with cold intent as he raised his hand, sending a swarm of snakes toward Naruto, aiming to capture the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki.
At the same time, Sasori's puppet Hiruko launched several poisoned needles straight at Akira. However, as the needles seemed to pierce through Akira, they passed right through him as if he were a ghost, leaving Sasori startled.
Suddenly, Sasori felt a tremendous force hit him, akin to being in a car that had just been rammed by a large truck. Hiruko was sent flying, with a large chunk of its once-sturdy shell shattered.
"When did he...?" Sasori thought, rolling several times on the ground before coming to a stop. He saw Akira standing where he had just been and was too stunned to even feel the loss of his damaged puppet.
"Attack!" At that moment, Kakashi and the others sprang into action. Their aggressive stance showed no signs of being affected by the poison.
Their coordinated assault forced Orochimaru back several dozen meters, landing him beside Sasori.
"You're not poisoned?" Orochimaru asked, his eyes narrowing as he glared at Akira and his team.
"That's right. We anticipated your plan to use poison, so we avoided the lake water," Naruto said proudly, his voice loud as he grinned at Orochimaru's surprised expression.
"I knew it..." Although it was Naruto who boasted, Orochimaru's gaze drifted to Akira. He sighed internally—once again, Akira had predicted his moves. It was the same unsettling feeling he had the last time he tried to attack.
Orochimaru glanced at Sasori's Hiruko, which had been damaged by Akira's forceful strike, and silently praised himself for focusing on Naruto first, leaving Akira to Sasori. His decision had been the right one after all.
"So, you knew we would use poison? Does that mean you also knew we were coming?" Sasori asked, his voice low and filled with suspicion.
Had they known about the attack even before it happened? Had they anticipated the poison trap?
Could it be that someone in the Akatsuki was feeding them information? Or worse—was Orochimaru himself the mole?
After all, the plan to use poison had been concocted by both Sasori and Orochimaru. And considering Orochimaru's previous failure, could it be that he had intentionally held back?
The more Sasori thought about it, the more he suspected Orochimaru might be the mole.
"Don't look at me like that. Uchiha Akira's most terrifying ability is his foresight. Now you understand why I failed last time, right?" Orochimaru said, exasperated by Sasori's accusing glare.
"A foresight ability? Uchiha Akira has such a power?" Sasori's heart skipped a beat. Although it sounded unbelievable, the shinobi world was full of bizarre and extraordinary abilities.
Considering the circumstances, it seemed more likely that Akira had such an ability than the idea of an internal traitor.
"Hmph, you two failed to take us down, and now it's our turn to strike!" Naruto, ever the brave soul, didn't hesitate. Seeing Orochimaru and Sasori falter, he felt they were no more dangerous than the Sunagakure Jōnin they had fought earlier. With that, he formed a hand seal.
In a series of loud pops, Naruto summoned dozens of shadow clones, each one charging at Orochimaru and Sasori with a fierce battle cry.
After his disappointing performance against the Sunagakure ninjas, Naruto was determined to redeem himself this time.
"Naruto, wait!" Akira called out, his expression changing as he watched Naruto charge toward the two S-rank shinobi. While Naruto's courage was commendable, he was clearly underestimating the difference in power between them.
Still, Naruto's bold move spurred Kakashi and the others into action, suppressing their fear of Orochimaru and launching their attacks.
"Shuriken, shuriken, shuriken!" Hiruko's mechanisms whirred as it unleashed a barrage of projectiles, like a storm of needles, swiftly dispelling Naruto's shadow clones.
Following that, Sasori pulled out a scroll. With a burst of chakra, he summoned the Third Kazekage puppet from within the scroll.
Now, standing before them were three Kage-level threats: Orochimaru, Sasori, and the puppet of the Third Kazekage.
*****Important******
Reaching first place this week seems impossible now, as the gap has widened with so many power stones. Our goal now is to secure second place and hold onto it. It seems Emmanuel_Capricornis quite annoyed by my presence at the top, but I hope you understand that we publish these books because we all love reading and the experience it brings. If I'm at the top, the readers put me there. Ultimately, it's up to the readers to decide who they want at the top of the rankings, so please don't hate what I do.
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