6 Chapter 6: The Return of the Eleventh Puppet

Examining the carnage that had just taken place, Sasori pulled out one of the rolls he kept in his coat and unrolled it. He placed it on the floor and made several seals with his hands before lowering his left palm on the blank paper. Although he was not master of Fūinjutsu, carrying with him hundreds of puppets in his old life, he had no choice but to learn the seals of storage not to depend on any supplier.

All the corpses of the combatants found themselves in the seal of storage, leaving only the blood as proof of the combat. The only bodies that remained were those of Claudius, who had a sword across his chest, and other members of the caravan.

Sasori did not stock it for two reasons. First of all, because of his advanced age and the fact that he is a non-combatant, the puppet that he would produce from his body would be of mediocre quality, which was also the reason why he did not use civilians in puppetry. Secondly, he wanted to offer him a decent burial, thanking him for the last years of his life. Although Sasori was an unfriendly person, he knew how to show respect when necessary.

After opening a grave for the old man and burying him there, he made sure he had not forgotten anything before leaving. He intended to return to the capital and rent a room there to work with the new materials he collected in his first fight in this new world.

He could return to his family's estate, but since his father's death it could be a risk for him to return. Indeed, except Simon, everyone else despised him because a part of his blood was not noble. Now that the patriarch of the family was dead, the other members of his family could turn against him.

For Sasori, the best option was to pretend to be dead thanks to the bandits' attack. The public order of the Empire had fallen to the point that the army no longer cared about bandit attacks and simply labeled the victims as dead. Since he had not appeared in the capital for years, Sasori would not have to worry that someone would recognize him, since the only two people he was interacting with regularly were already dead.

A few days later…

Having passed the gates of the city after paying the right of way, Sasori found an inn renting rooms with enough space to allow him to work on his art. The fact that a young man of his age was trying to settle at the inn was not strange, since it was common to see young people from the countryside come to the capital to look for work. The young genius did not have to worry about money because during his training, he had sold many potions in the different regions he had gone through, from simple cold remedies to poisons to torture the victim, these various preparations allowed him to reap a small fortune, which would certainly cause the jealousy of Kakuzu.

Upon arriving in the room, Sasori settled in front of the desk before unrolling one of his storage rolls. After loosening it, many tools appeared on the work table. They were necessary for the construction of the puppets. The young man did the same thing with the other scroll containing the human remains. If anyone entered the room now, he would see a house of horrors where bodies were scattered everywhere.

Waiting since his reincarnation to have the opportunity to repaint his art, Sasori patiently collected all the materials needed to make his puppets during his journey through the Empire.

Sasori thought: The bandits' bodies are much too damaged to create independent puppets, I'd better create only one puppet with the different pieces.

Reflecting on his options for several minutes, he quickly reaches a decision. One of the greatest weaknesses of puppeteers is physical contact. Sasori had solved the problem with his puppet Hiruko. Indeed, his eleventh puppet had a defense so strong that it has only been broken twice since joining the Akatsuki. For him, it was obvious that he had to rebuild it.

Those who knew him had several theories about this puppet, some think that he was made from an old Shinobi that had fallen into his hands and that he had subsequently transformed, others that he was an ordinary puppet unrelated to a single individual. In truth, they were both right since it was made with various parties to be human to form the puppet known as Hiruko.

In addition, it was one of the favorite puppets and the most used by Sasori. One of the bonuses of this one is that it gave it an older appearance. Given his plan to join the Imperial Army, he will be taken more seriously with Hiruko's appearance than with his childish physique. He did not have to think more about it to begin the creation of his work.

A few days later…

Leaving a hostel was a man smaller than average. While moving, passers-by believed he was crawling on the ground. He wore black cloaks with red clouds, and a chin-high collar. On his head rested a conical straw with a small ornamental torques and tassels hanging down over their faces. The bottom of his face was hidden by a black tissue

People preferred to stray from his path because he had a threatening appearance for ordinary civilians. He was heading for the military camp that was camping in front of the city. The army stationed there recruited new recruits before starting a military campaign.