Starting with rogue ninjas, building the insect kingdom.

Chapter 210 Kakuzu's Rescue

The general dripped a drop of condensed dew into his mouth, saying, "Detoxify first and restore your strength. Don't waste it; this stuff is very expensive."

Upon entering the east and west entrances, the Third Kazekage felt a cool sensation spread from his throat to his limbs, and the numbness gradually subsided.

By this time, Sasori, piloting a puppet, had caught up. When he saw Kakuzu, a slight change finally appeared on his face: "The ninja from Takigakure... meddling in other people's business."

Kakuzu put the Third Kazekage behind him and cracked his knuckles: "This brat is the traitor you were talking about? He looks pretty young."

"Be careful, he's dangerous..."

"Of course! If it weren't dangerous, why would I have come all this way to save you?"

Kakuzu rolled his eyes, then looked at Sasori. "Kid, if you know what's good for you, get lost. I'm in a good mood today and don't want to kill anyone."

Scorpion did not answer, seemingly lost in its own world.

"Your body is also quite good, enough to be my art. It's wonderful, truly wonderful."

Sasori laughed, his chakra surging within him. With a rustling sound, the sand began to tremble, and countless human puppets emerged from beneath the sand, surrounding the two of them. At a rough glance, there were more than three hundred of them.

Scorpion shot out puppet threads from his ten fingers, manipulating a special puppet in his hands. The puppet emitted hundreds of threads from its body, connecting to its surroundings.

"These are just some of the most valuable pieces in my collection. But acquiring you all makes it all worthwhile."

Kakuzu glanced around, a cold smile playing on his lips: "That's it?"

The next moment, his figure disappeared from the spot.

"Wind Release: Pressure Damage!"

"Fire Release: Head Carving!"

"Lightning Release: False Darkness!"

"Earth Release: River of Earth!"

"Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet!"

"Let me show you my newly developed ultimate technique, the Five Elements Combo Technique."

That's right, his new trick was plagiarism. After all, he didn't specifically steal the techniques; he just borrowed other people's ideas.

Who decreed that the Five Elements Great Combo Technique is exclusive to Hiruzen Sarutobi alone?

Moreover, they only appear the same on the outside, but their internal magical techniques operate on completely different logics, which is his own creation.

In an instant, five elemental ninjutsu techniques were transformed into spheres in his hands and smashed forward, one after another, one upon another, tearing the charging human puppets to shreds.

"Damn it!" Scorpion's expression changed instantly.

He knew Kakuzu was quite powerful, after all, he was an old monster who had survived from the era of the First Hokage. But he didn't expect that the other party's strength would be so great. Those human puppets that could form an army were as fragile as paper in front of Kakuzu.

"That's it?" Kakuzu's voice came from within the flames. "Kid, you're still a long way off."

Sasori gritted his teeth, and more puppets surged forward, but Kakuzu was too lazy to linger. He appeared in front of Sasori with a Body Flicker Technique, his kunai aimed straight for Sasori's throat.

Scorpion hastily retreated, simultaneously manipulating several elite human puppets around him to block his path.

Kakuzu snorted coldly, put away his kunai, and formed hand seals—Fire Release: Fire Dragon Flame Bullet!

A massive fire dragon spewed from its mouth, engulfing the elite puppets along with the scorpions behind them.

Scorpion tumbled out of the flames in a disheveled state, most of his clothes were charred, half of his body was exposed, and part of him had already turned into a puppet.

He was clearly ruthless; he not only attacked others but also himself.

With a powerful ninjutsu, hundreds of puppets vanished once again, but he felt no remorse. Those that were defeated were all defective products.

However, the difference in strength was too great, and he was powerless to reverse the situation. In the end, he could only control the remaining puppets to swarm forward.

He then burrowed into the body of a giant centipede-shaped puppet, submerged into the sand, and instantly disappeared into the depths of the desert.

Kakuzu wanted to give chase, but the moment he took a step, a strong sense of crisis suddenly surged into his heart. It was the special ability he had gained after refining five hearts last month.

He stopped abruptly, his eyes scanning his surroundings warily. The desert was silent, save for the sounds of the wind and the rolling sand.

But that sense of crisis still lingers.

"How strange, how strange!"

"What's wrong?" The Third Kazekage struggled to his feet. "Aren't you going to chase them?"

Kakuzu stood to the side, looking down at him, and said, "I have no interest in helping you eliminate traitors."

He pulled out a pen and paper from his pocket, quickly wrote a line, and handed it to the Third Kazekage: "This time, to save you, I'll give you fifty million taels. Sign an IOU."

The Third Kazekage stared at the IOU, completely stunned. Fifty million taels… the village's treasury didn't even have five million taels right now.

"What, trying to renege on your debt?"

Kakuzu raised an eyebrow: "I, Kakuzu, never extend credit in business. However, considering you were just stabbed in the back by your own people, I'll give you a discount—installment payments, pay it off within three years, with interest calculated at market rates."

In the end, the Third Kazekage silently took the pen and signed his name on the IOU, because stabilizing the village was more important than anything else right now.

Just after the Third Kazekage recovered from his injuries and left, Kakuzu put away the IOU, used a summoning jutsu to summon a Den Den Mushi (a type of messenger worm).

"Hey, strategist? You guessed right. But thank goodness, I intervened in time and saved him."

"Don't worry, don't worry, I've never made a mistake. The matter is now settled, and there shouldn't be any war anytime soon. I just wonder, strategist, could you perhaps settle my final payment?"

A bitter laugh came from the other end of the phone: "When I get back, you won't lose a single penny."

"Okay, okay, then I'll head back early." After hanging up the phone, Kakuzu hurriedly left, because the sense of crisis he had sensed earlier still hadn't disappeared.

That's why he was in such a hurry to make the call, but didn't say it outright on the other end. He silently thought to himself: "Sigh, I hope Aburame Shisei understands what I mean."

In fact, the reason he came here for this precise rescue was because Aburame Shisei gave him a sum of money, instructing him to keep a close eye on the area, relay information, and intervene to help when necessary.

The reason for this is that after receiving some information that Kakuzu had collected from Sunagakure, Shisei Aburame gradually deduced that Sasori's killing of the Kazekage might be brought forward.

As for why the probability is so high, it might be because of his appearance.

After all, their appearance has changed many things over the years, especially the various medicines they created, which have spread widely in the ninja world.

As a ninja who studied the human body, Sasori could not possibly have failed to discover the origin and ingenious uses of those medicines.

By working backward, it is entirely possible that he could improve his research on the human body and perfect the art of human puppetry ahead of time.

His reason for doing this was simply to see if his forceful intervention could change the course of some major events.