Sasori, the (Future) Living Puppet (I)
Inside a building filled with puppets, Sasori sat at his workbench looking at the wooden prosthetic arm. It was the same arm that Komushi had seen just before he was sent out on the mission.
Was it a coincidence for Komushi to lose his arm? Perhaps Sasori was just planning it for the future and already existing amputees.
But Sasori himself knew the truth.
For the past few years, Sasori had been researching how to make his art last forever. Only recently did he finally complete his research, now it was time to test it out.
His target was Komushi.
Sasori had anonymously hired a small group of rogue shinobi to attack Komushi's group and cut off Komushi's arm.
He had already prepared a prosthetic arm before Komushi left. Once his grandmother finished healing Komushi, Sasori would lend him a helping hand.
The prosthetic had a sharp blade hidden within it that would allow sneak attacks. Sasori had just finished adding a special poison that he had made inside the prosthetic. Once the hidden blade made an injury, his poison would enter and immediately start wreaking havoc.
Knowing Komushi, the kid would somehow ingest the poison and subsequently die. After he was dead, Sasori will collect the corpse and turn it into a human puppet.
So, why did Sasori choose Komushi to become his first human puppet? Sasori could have created many more puppets earlier, but he decided to wait for Komushi. He didn't know either.
"Komushi's treatment should be nearly finished. I should put the last finishing touches before he gets here."
He heard a voice whisper into his ear, "That looks cool, can I take it?"
His eyes slightly squinted as he jumped away from where the voice came from. He stared at the unwelcomed guest.
The intruder was shorter than him, but not by much. Their identity was hidden by what seemed to be a wooden mask. A simple smiling face was carved onto the mask (Dbd's Legion Mask). The rest of the body was covered in a black cloak.
"Who are you?" Sasori calmly asked as he continued to observe the situation.
Unexpectedly, the intruder bowed down as if they were an esteemed actor, "I apologize, but I can't tell you my name. However, you can call me Smiley or Smiles."
Sasori carefully and slowly released chakra threads and questioned them, "Smiles… Why did you come here? What do you want?"
"I've come here to invite you to the Akatsuki, a group dedicated to bringing peace throughout the Shinobi World."
"Akatsuki? Never heard of it." Sasori's fingers twitched as a puppet slowly moved behind Smiles.
Unaware of his surroundings, Smiles continued to explain, "Your strength and potential will be helpful in our cause. Join us and lend us your strength."
"Interesting offer… but I don't care about your goal. You'll be my second puppet!" Sasori swung his arms down, making the puppet he was controlling swing down its blade that came out of its palm.
Smiles gracefully grabbed the blade with his bare hands, "I was expecting that answer. I'm sorry, but I'd appreciate it if you did join us. Give me some time, I'll persuade you."
*tch*
Smiles broke the blade from where he held it. Another blade came out of the puppet's other palm and horizontally slashed at Smiles, only for him to dodge it by jumping.
While he was jumping, Smiles kicked and shattered the puppet. Sasori wasn't alarmed by the destruction of the puppet. Instead, he smirked as several puppets that were hanging on the racks flew towards Smiles.
Smiles reached both of his hands out and two of Sasori's puppets shuddered. At that moment, Sasori realized the intruder in front of him was trying to steal them from under his control.
He rolled his eyes as he relinquished his control over them and picked up two more. He didn't even freeze at all in that entire interaction.
Now that he controlled them, Smiles used the two puppets to block some hits while he threw out some kunai towards the genius puppeteer.
Sasori easily dodged the kunai and kept manipulating the puppets. He and his puppets have greatly outnumbered the figure and their puppets.
He was controlling ten puppets, one for each finger. Any puppet technique user would be surprised by how easily he controlled them as it was publicly acknowledged that one must be extremely skilled to control ten puppets at once. They would be even more astonished when they realize that the skilled user was so young.
This was Sasori, the genius modeling specialist of the Puppet Brigade!
Sasori + 10 Puppets Vs. Smiles + 2 Puppets
"Can we take a break, I kinda need to go to the restroom. I can wait a bit longer."
'What?' He thought as a confused expression appeared on his face. He couldn't tell if the intruder was joking or not. He made the puppets strike harder and faster.
"My my, you're really trying to kill me, huh." A voice resounded from behind him.
Sasori's eyes widened as he pulled out a kunai and stabbed behind him, but Smiles grabbed his wrist, "Is that all you can do Sasori? I'll give you one more chance. Show me what you can truly do. If you lose, you will join the Akatsuki."
After he gave his last warning, Smiles punched Sasori right in the guts, flinging him into a puppet rack.
Sasori got up and looked at where his puppets were. They were all standing motionlessly around the two opposing puppets. The moment Sasori was attacked and launched, his chakra threads came loose. It seemed the enemy had also stopped using their puppets since they were also not moving.
He looked to where the intruder had punched him and was surprised to see the figure still watching him. Waiting for his next move.
He furrowed his brows as he pulled out two scrolls and unwrapped them.
*poof*
Two puppets appeared from the scrolls. They looked fairly different from the puppets stored in the warehouse. They had a much more dangerous vibe emanating from them.
These were two of Sasori's personal puppets that he made for himself.
He had them charge towards the attacker to distract him so that he could figure something out. He silently cursed himself for his low performance. Sasori hadn't gone to sleep for the past two days and because of the battle, he was getting weary.
Smiles looked at the approaching puppets but didn't move. Instead, he placed his hand on the chin of his mask as if he was contemplating something.
Once the puppets were within a meter radius from him, he quickly formed several hand signs and touched the ground. Earth walls appeared in front of him that blocked the puppets' barrage.
Smiles took out a scroll and took out a long chain. He wrapped it around his forearm and punched through the earth wall and hit a puppet. What a coincidence!
Thankfully, Sasori finished his preparations. He summoned three more puppets that surrounded him from all sides. He took out a pill container and consumed a pill.
At the same time, one of his puppets opened their jaw and started spewing out poisonous, purple gases.
The pill Sasori ate gave him increased resistance against the poisonous gas, though he would need to eat another pill to completely neutralize it from his system.
As for Smiles, despite wearing a mask, the gas will still manage to poison him.
While Smiles' view was obstructed by the gas, Sasori attached his chakra threads to three more puppets and flung them towards the intruder.
One of the summoned puppets also opened their mouth and started rapidly firing senbon (metal needles) at him.
*tsh tsh tsh tsh*
All Sasori could hear was the sound of the senbon getting countered. But he wasn't worried.
*boom boom boom*
The three puppets that he had attached had several explosive tags attached to them. After the explosion, there was now dust mixed with the purple gas. Miraculously the ceiling didn't give in.
Using the dust-poison gas mix as a cover, Sasori walked towards the exit with his puppets guarding him. He didn't want to spend any more useless effort in fighting the intruder. He might as well have the Sunagakure's shinobi handle the situation for him.
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(A/N: Should I create a discord so that you guys can chat with each other, allow me to personally ask readers for feedback, and suggestions?)
(1035 Words excluding A/N+)