Chapter 50.2- Gamer of the Desert

He resisted the urge to wiggle from discomfort as they passed through the waterfall tunnel that led into the village. It was the same entrance all shinoobi of the village used, so it gave him no. cause for concern. The only issue as that he’d never learned to swim. Growing up in the desert didn’t afford one with much of an opportunity to learn a skill like that. He had to assign much of his agency to his brainwashed spy, and if anything went wrong, he’d entirely be at the mercy of another.

When they finally surfaced, he smiled with relief. He showed none of it through Hiruko however, remaining stoic and composed as ever. “So this is where Kakuzu and Hidan met their ends” His partner commented and Sasori resisted the urge to scoff. The so-called Zombie duo had proven that nothing was truly eternal as they died in combat against the reunited Legendary Sannin.

“Take us to the girl” He ordered, and his spy began to lead them. The entrance was deep in the shadow of the great tree that covered the whole village, but the girl apparently lived even closer to the village centre. Kakuzu’s failed attack had led her to being moved into the same building that housed the village leader.

“So how do you want to play this?” Noel asked as they began to move and their cloaks began to cause a stir. It would only be a minute before they ended up surrounded by Waterfall Shinobi. Weaklings, one and all, but annoying in large numbers.

“Destroy indiscriminately. Maybe that will draw the Jinchuriki to us before we even have to get to her” He replied, hiding a smile. This jutsu of his had helped him take over a whole country. What was a small village in comparison to that?

His estimation turned out to be wrong. It took almost two minutes, and right in the middle of the group of shinobi that surrounded them stood a girl with green hair and wings of pure chakra sticking out of her back. “Surrender, Akatsuki scum. We have you surrounded” One jounin said. He’d be last to die for his audacity, Sasori decided. Watching his friends fall with no resistance would-

His thoughts cut off as the man’s body was suddenly cleaved in half. Noel had disappeared in the space between seconds and had cut the man in twain with a knife hand. Sasori scoffed inwardly. He’d gotten much faster at activating that lightning armour of his.

More and more shinobi poured out of the woodwork as he noticed the circle that surrounded them getting wider and deeper. He fished out a familiar scroll from his robes and deactivated part of Hiruko’s panelling to allow chakra flow from his core into the puppets once he unsealed them. “You will get the privilege of dying to my greatest technique.” He told them before Hiruko’s tail tossed the scroll into the air.

“Red Secret Technique: Performance of a Hundred Puppets” He said as the puppets suddenly appeared in the sky. A few of the shinobi took steps backwards but he just smiled in anticipation. This was going to be fun.

He spread his attention through all his puppets and they blurred into motion. At the same time, Noel flickered and appeared in the middle of a group of Waterfall Jounin.

XXXXX- FU THE NANABI JINCHURIKI

“They’re endless” She said, with stress in her voice as she grabbed a hold of another puppet and ripped it in half. It managed to scratch her, but Chomie could deal with the poison. Those two things- their seemingly endless numbers and the poison- were the things that made this puppet army so dangerous. She floated in the air and considered trying again. Every jutsu had a weakness. With this one, it was obvious. The man in the centre of the storm who directed the puppets.

The only problem was that the second she went after him, she found herself surrounded by dozens of puppets. And even Chomei had struggled with dealing with that much poison so she’d been forced to bail from the attempt. Even worse than the puppets causing chaos was the man wrapped in lightning cutting a bloody swathe through loyal shinobi of Takigakure.

“Chomie” She said out loud. ‘Yes?’ She heard within her head.

“Can you ramp up a bit? We need to deal with glowy mcsparkpants over there” She said ‘Gladly’ Her inner voice spoke out.

She felt her body become filled with strength as she saw everything through a red tint. She knew that if she looked behind her then there would be five wings floating behind her back and each one would be a glowing red. Six tails were the best she could muster and control, but doing that would be overkill since she could only maintain it for about five minutes. Not nearly enough time to deal with both men. After she lost it, she’d be out of the fight for good. Five tails were preferable.

She turned towards the man in the lightning cloak and dove right at him. He sensed her coming and turned but it was too little and too late as she crashed into him and shoved him into the ground before pushing his body along the ground for a few feet. They came to a stop when his feet were able to plant themselves into solid stone and halt their momentum. He moved his hands from where they’d been trying to pry hers from his cloak and instead thrusted a punch towards her face. She smiled savagely and shoved her head into his knuckle instead. The headbutt had no effect on either of them but it shocked him for long enough for her to remove a hand from his cloak and use it to punch him in the midsection. He was driven even further into the ground. As she prepared another attack, she found it blocked by a wall of black.

“I still have some use for him” the puppeteer’s voice spoke out. Behind him floated a face she’d seen in a much older bingo book. The same one that had the last mention of Kakuzu. That was the third Kazekage.

A/N; Yeah, this is coming along nicely methinks