Hajime seized the boy's arm, Not expecting to grapple with him. However, to her surprise, the touch wasn't the expected flesh instead, it felt like pliable clay. At that moment, a blade abruptly pierced through her neck, prompting Hajime to desperately try to remove it. Despite her strength, she found herself locked in a struggle.
The demon, sinister and composed, spoke, "My blade is coated in poison. Even if you manage to endure this neck wound, your time is limited. There's only one living soul with the power to heal you, and even they may not be able to do so in time." Hajime halted, meeting the demon's gaze as she drew her last breath. In that final moment, only one thought echoed in her mind: 'I'm sorry, Mitsuri-chan.'
Sasori stood up, pulling his blade from the girl's neck and letting her drop to the ground. Glancing around, he found himself in a forest surrounded by purple trees. Sasori wasn't sure about what the trees were but didn't dwell on it. He looked back at the girl and noticed a sword at her waist. Taking the sword, he unsheathed it.
As a master craftsman, Sasori possessed a keen eye for quality, and this sword was no exception. Crafted from high-quality metal, he pondered, 'I can melt this down to forge a new puppet or enhance a puppet's defenses.' Securing the sword at his waist, Sasori embarked on an exploration of the unfamiliar surroundings.
"Sasori walked for a couple of minutes until he heard crying. Looking around, his eyes landed on a tree. "Who's up there?" he called out. A yelp followed, and a yellow-haired boy stuck his head out. "Are you a demon?" the boy asked. Sasori, unsure of the boy's intent, answered, "No?" While some had labeled him a demon before, in Sasori's view, a demon could never match the perfection of his puppet body.
"THANK WHATEVER GOD IS LOOKING DOWN ON ME," the boy said, coming down the tree and rushing toward Sasori. He attempted to grab Sasori. "PLEASE PROTECT ME! I KEEP HEARING BRANCHES BREAKING!" the boy pleaded. Sasori, dodging the boy, wasn't sure what to make of him.
Sasori intended to ask more questions when a dark shadow lunged at the boy. Reacting swiftly, Sasori blocked the shadow's attack. Now, this boy seemed crucial for Sasori to extract answers. The shadow retreated, allowing Sasori to see its form—a humanoid creature standing at an imposing height. Its sinewy, skeletal frame exuded an eerie aura, and a blackened, tattered cloak billowed like shadows. A grotesque bone mask adorned its face, with sharp protrusions resembling twisted horns. "ITS A DEMON!" The boy screamed
The demon didn't move or make a sound as it continued to look at Sasori. After a couple of seconds, the creature thrust its arm at Sasori and the boy, shooting a white-colored spike at them. Sasori proceeded to duck and perform a leg sweep on the boy, successfully dodging the attack. The white spike hit a tree. As Sasori took a closer look at the spike, he realized it was made out of bones.
'I remember Kabuto telling me about a clan called the Kaguya Clan that had a Kekkei Genkai to manipulate bones. However, according to Kabuto, the Kaguya Clan should be extinct. Could he be one of the few living members of the Kaguya clan?' Sasori pondered, recognizing the potential use of the demon as a puppet since Sasori didn't have any of his previous puppets.
Observing the creature, it seemed to be in pain. The demon pulled the bone spike from the tree, relieving it of its suffering. 'Could that tree be weakening him?' Sasori wondered as he rushed toward it.
Sasori attempted to behead the demon swiftly, aiming to kill it without causing any serious damage to the potential puppet. However, Sasori's plans to dispatch the demon quickly were thwarted as bones emerged from the demon's neck, forming a protective cage around its head. The bones successfully shielded it from Sasori's attack. Realizing his plans had been foiled, Sasori proceeded to kick the demon into another tree.
The tree broke from the force of Sasori's kick, and the demon was stabbed by several broken twigs, seemingly weakening it further. Sasori swiftly launched several of his poison-covered kunai, but to his shock, the demon seemed to recover. The twigs piercing its body were removed, and the demon summoned more spikes from its body, deflecting Sasori's kunai back at him.
Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.
Thinking quickly, Sasori used his chakra strings to grab the kunai, covered them in explosive paper, and launched them back at the demon. This time, he skillfully maneuvered the chakra strings to avoid the barrage of needle spikes the demon unleashed. The explosive kunai successfully hit the demon, causing a large explosion that left a cloud of dust.
The boy gasped, and Sasori, anticipating the demon's demise, cautiously approached it. He hoped the body wasn't too destroyed to make it impossible to turn it into a human puppet.
A large spike emerged from the dust, surprising Sasori. As he attempted to block it with his sword, he successfully deflected the attack but at the cost of his blade. The demon lunged out of the dust cloud, now fully covered in bones, creating a makeshift bone armor. Sasori retreated next to the boy, discarding the now useless blade, contemplating his next move when the boy's screaming drew his attention.
The boy was panicking, "WE ARE GOING TO DIE! I DON'T WANT TO DIE I STILL HAVEN'T GOTTEN MARRIED YET!" he screamed. Irritated, Sasori said, "Can you calm down? Your screaming isn't helping the situation."
The boy pleaded, "Here, take my sword and kill it!" Sasori declined, "A sword isn't what I need right now; I need a puppet." The boy looked confused, "WHAT THE HELL DO YOU NEED A PUPPET RIGHT NOW? WE ARE ABOUT TO BE EATEN!" he shouted. Sasori ignored the boy easily as he had to deal with an even louder blond.
'I think I'll take a note out of Granny Chiyo's book,' Sasori decided. He connected his chakra strings to the boy and started to manipulate him.
"WHAT IS HAPPENING? MY BODY IS MOVING ON ITS OWN," the boy said. "Calm down; it's me who is doing it," Sasori answered the boy's questions. "I DON'T KNOW HOW YOU ARE DOING THIS, BUT STOP," the boy insisted. "Unless you want to die, I suggest you calm down and let me handle this," Sasori calmly replied.
"THEN USE YOUR OWN BODY, NOT MINE!" the boy shouted, growing angry. Sasori didn't reply to the boy as he started to manipulate him to fight the demon.
The demon, now fully encased in bone armor, lunged at Sasori and the manipulated boy with incredible speed. Sasori, relying on his chakra strings, directed the boy's movements expertly, turning him into a formidable puppet.
In the midst of the intense battle, Sasori expertly manipulated the boy, effortlessly blocking all of the demon's attacks. However, the relentless barrage left no opening for Sasori to inflict any damage on the demon. Recognizing the need for a change in strategy, Sasori summoned more chakra strings, swiftly grabbed a fallen tree, and swung it at the demon with tremendous force. The impact sent the demon soaring through the sky.
Seizing the opportunity, Sasori attempted a direct attack on the airborne demon, but to his dismay, the blows seemed to have no effect on the formidable bone armor. Faced with the realization that conventional tactics were ineffective, Sasori decided to enhance the boy's strength.
Sending a surge of his chakra to the boy, Sasori observed as the newfound power enabled the boy to break through the demon's bone armor. Taking advantage of this opening, Sasori manipulated the boy to remove the demon's arms and legs, planning to reattach them later to transform the demon into a puppet. He expected the demon to succumb to the inevitable blood loss.
However, as the demon crashed to the ground, the boy screamed at Sasori, "What are you doing? Behead it to kill it! Why are you removing its limbs?!" Confused by the boy's outburst, Sasori turned his attention back to the demon and witnessed a shocking sight – the demon was regrowing its limbs, covering them again in its resilient bone armor.
Realization dawned on Sasori as he grasped the extraordinary regenerative abilities of the demon. Undeterred, he quickly adjusted his plan, now faced with the challenge of dealing with a foe capable of rapid regeneration. As the battlefield shifted, Sasori prepared to adapt, his mind working swiftly to devise a new strategy to overcome this formidable adversary.
The demon charged at the boy, recognizing him as Sasori's sole weapon. intensified its assault with a newfound focus. Sasori adeptly blocked the creature's relentless attacks, feeling the pressure of the battle mounting. As the demon pressed forward, Sasori found himself once again in a familiar defensive position.. This time, however, Sasori chose to confront the demon directly. Anticipating the creature's assault, he jumped and delivered a powerful kick, sending the demon hurtling into another tree.
A realization struck Sasori—each time the demon collided with a tree, it momentarily paused, vulnerable. Exploiting this weakness, Sasori hurled the boy at the demon, infusing him with an additional surge of chakra. The boy closed in rapidly, and Sasori executed the final strike, ensuring his weapon delivered the decisive blow.
As the demon's head fell to the ground, an unexpected turn unfolded—the creature began disintegrating into dust. Sasori, releasing his hold on the boy, stared at the dissipating demon in confusion. Disappointment lingered in the air for Sasori, who had hoped to gain a potentially strong puppet from the encounter. However, the boy, jubilant in the moment, reveled in the apparent victory, his joy echoing against the backdrop of the settling dust.
Neither Sasori nor the boy noticed the demon's eyes were crossed with the word 'Lower 3.'