章 139: Echoes of Betrayal: Pakura's Fiery Resolve (1)

As the betrayal sunk in, Pakura's resolve hardened. Overwhelmed by anger toward Sasori, Rasa's treachery, and her village's comrades' desertion, she felt a significant shift within herself.

Setting aside her long-held admiration for the Third Kazekage—an individual she revered since her early days as a shinobi—Pakura focused solely on the dire need to defend herself and counterattack against his 'puppet form'.

Channeling her signature bloodline jutsu of Scorch Release, Pakura summoned the Scorch Style: Scorching Wave.

With deft movements, she conjured several flaming orbs that glowed intensely, resembling small suns.

These orbs began to orbit around her, creating a formidable barrier of heat and flame.

Determined and precise, Pakura directed the orbs toward the Third Kazekage puppet. Under her skilled control, the orbs moved with lethal intent, ready to strike upon contact.

As Pakura unleashed her Scorch Style: Scorching Wave, Sasori, unfazed by the display of power, countered with a chilling declaration.

"All resistance is futile, woman! Becoming my human puppet is your only inevitable fate!", He shouted, his voice echoing through the chaotic battlefield as he manipulated the Third Kazekage puppet to launch a counterattack.

Sasori's favorite human puppet, the Third Kazekage, retained its Kekkei Genkai: Magnet Release. This ability allowed Sasori access to the formidable Iron Sand techniques, which he had enhanced further with his deadly poison.

Iron Sand, the most feared weapon in Sunagakure's history and developed by the Third Kazekage himself, consisted of refined iron powder that could be shaped into various weapons and controlled through electromagnetic fields.

With precise and calculated movements, Sasori commanded the Iron Sand to swirl around Pakura, forming an array of lethal forms.

The sand morphed into large, sweeping structures and smaller, bullet-like particles aimed directly at her, each grain potentiated with poison for maximum lethality.

Sasori utilized the Iron Sand's versatility to its fullest, creating multiple striking branches designed to corner Pakura and cut off her avenues of escape.

His intention was clear: to overwhelm Pakura's defenses and capture her for his most valuable, human-type puppets collection.

Sasori regarded his human puppets as the pinnacle of his art, embodying the most potent form of his craft.

These puppets, uniquely crafted from human bodies, were the product of a technique he developed—a technique he had mastered after years of relentless practice and refinement in puppetry.

The process of creating a human puppet was meticulous and gruesome. Sasori first began by surgically removing the body's organs and thoroughly cleansing it of any blood.

He then treated the corpse with a special preservative, the composition of which remained a closely guarded secret, ensuring the body would not decay over time.

The final step involved outfitting the preserved body with an array of weapons and defenses, transforming it into a formidable tool of warfare.

These human puppets were distinct in their ability to retain the use of chakra and any kekkei genkai the original person possessed, making them incredibly valuable on the battlefield, especially if they were made of bloodline-holder bodies like Pakura's.

This ability not only made them lethal combatants but also allowed Sasori to wield the unique powers of his defeated enemies against other prospective enemies in the future.

Refusing to succumb to despair, Pakura channeled a surge of chakra into her Scorch Style: Scorching Wave. The flaming orbs that had previously been small and manageable now grew exponentially in size.

With fierce determination, she pushed more chakra into her technique, expanding the orbs until they resembled larger suns, radiating intense heat.

As these enhanced orbs spun rapidly around her, they encountered the incoming Iron Sand.

The intense heat from the Scorching Wave began to interact with the metallic onslaught, causing the iron particles to heat up to a melting point.

The formidable Iron Sand that Sasori wielded gradually started to lose its form, disintegrating under the overwhelming heat of Pakura's attack.

The battlefield lit up with the glow of melting iron, showcasing a desperate yet spectacular clash of techniques.

Sasori watched, slightly taken aback by Pakura's resurgence of power. He hadn't anticipated such a formidable display of strength, especially after she had been poisoned by what he considered his most powerful poison yet.

'It must be because I only managed to catch her with one thread initially, so the dose she received was minimal. It will take more time for the poison to incapacitate her fully...',

He reasoned internally, his eyes fixed on the scene that now resembled a giant smelting furnace, with intense heat melting away his Iron Sand.

Amidst the chaos, the Sunagakure shinobi on the battlefield reacted swiftly to the escalating danger.

The intense heat and the potential threat of being caught in the crossfire prompted them to scatter, retreating from the immediate area of effect.

As they moved to safer distances, the divisions within their ranks became more pronounced.

The battlefield split into two distinct camps, each side ready to continue the fight under the looming specter of internal conflict and mistrust.

Back at the heart of the conflict, Sasori wasted no time escalating his tactics. With a series of swift hand seals, he summoned an array of additional 'ordinary' puppets from his extensive collection.

Each puppet, a masterwork of his craft, moved with lethal precision, orchestrated to exploit any potential gap in Pakura's defenses.

Sasori skillfully maneuvered his puppets to launch a multi-directional assault. Some attacked from the air, diving down like birds of prey, while others surged forward across the ground, their movements stealthy and unpredictable.

These puppets weren't just weapons of brute force but also carriers of Sasori's potent poison, designed to further debilitate Pakura.

Each strike, whether connected or not, disoriented her and eroded her reserves of strength and focus.

Simultaneously, Sasori was a flurry of motion on the battlefield, darting and weaving with the agility that belied his usual puppeteer's stance.

He was playing a waiting game—dodging attacks and maintaining distance, confident in the knowledge that time was on his side.

As long as he could keep Pakura engaged and avoid her deadly scorching attacks, the poison already coursing through her veins would continue to weaken her.

Every moment that passed was a moment closer to victory for Sasori. His eyes, ever calculating, watched Pakura's every move, looking for signs of the poison's progression, knowing that once it fully took hold, the battle would decisively turn in his favor.

However, as Pakura unleashed her Scorch Release to its current limits, Sasori found that his usual attacks were less effective than ever against her.

The basic materials used in many of his puppets and projectiles were vulnerable to the intense heat generated by her jutsu, which melted them away effortlessly even without touching it directly, just due to the sheer heat her jutsu was generating in the large area, forcing even Sasori to constantly move back and avoid being melted alive from a distance.

Yet, despite her external success in neutralizing his attacks and pushing him back, Pakura battled internal despair, acutely aware of the poison weakening her with every passing second and Sasori's true game plan.

She leveraged the terrain to her advantage, vaporizing the moisture within the soil to disrupt the battlefield, turning it into a cloud of steam that added chaos to the melee.

Her scorching attacks—bolts, streams, and waves of intense heat—were hurled towards Sasori. However, as her strength waned, her aim faltered; her attacks, though powerful, started missing Sasori by mere inches as her consciousness also blurred.

"Art is eternal, Pakura. Your flames may melt metal, but they cannot extinguish the legacy I will create. Becoming a masterpiece is your destiny...", Sasori rejoiced, seeing her stumble more and more.

"I am no one's puppet! You've twisted your talent into something grotesque, but I will not fall victim to your delusions!", Pakura retorted while sweating hard and catching a short breath.

"Delusions? This is the ultimate form of art—preserving strength forever. You should feel honored to become part of something greater than yourself.",

He shouted from a distance, getting increasingly excited as he felt that the moment of adding her to his 'collection' was nearing, and he could envision it.

"Honor? There's no honor in your methods. You betray your village, your comrades... You betray everything a shinobi stands for! I will kill you, Sasori!", Pakura gritted her teeth in indignation, her ordinarily youthful and attractive face growing tired, her eyesight blurry.

Scorch Release, an advanced nature transformation that combines fire and wind chakra, was notably effective due to its enhanced mobility over traditional fire.

Its brighter flames, with a slightly reddish tinge, were designed for precision and devastation.

Under normal circumstances, Pakura's control over this jutsu was impeccable, but the poison's effect increasingly impaired her abilities.

Recognizing the need to compensate for her diminishing precision, Pakura began to focus on creating attacks with a wider area of effect.

These explosive techniques burst into large flames, designed to vaporize everything within reach, leaving little room for Sasori to escape.

In response, Sasori quickly adapted. Utilizing the Third Kazekage's Magnet Release, he ingeniously used spare metal debris to create a makeshift platform, propelling himself high into the air to avoid the deadly heat below.

However, this maneuver also posed a significant risk. Elevating himself made him more visible to other Sunagakure shinobi engaged in nearby battles against Konoha forces.

Sasori was forced to hover lower than he would have preferred to minimize this exposure, inadvertently giving Pakura a chance to still target him, albeit with less precision than before.

This ongoing cat-and-mouse game showcased their prowess and the high stakes of their duel as each strived to outmaneuver the other amidst the wider chaos of the battlefield.