For the sake of the village, Sasori committed an unforgivable crime.
Riku glanced at Sakura and said, "Come at me together. This is just a test to see how far your strength has come over the years. I won’t interfere—be careful, though. You might die."
With that, Riku vanished from Sakura’s side, reappearing near the edge of a massive crater. He sat down at the rim, far from the battlefield.
The crater spanned hundreds of meters in diameter. Riku was seated over 300 meters from the center. Thanks to his Rinnegan, his eyesight was exceptional—he could see everything clearly even at that distance.
Sakura, however, was frozen in place, staring at the hundred or so puppets floating in front of her in stunned silence.
From the rim of the crater, Riku called out, "Lady Chiyo, I’ll leave Sakura to you. I couldn’t care less whether she lives or dies."
Hearing this, Sakura looked toward Riku, her breath caught in her throat.
Suddenly thrown into such a deadly situation and hearing herself so casually abandoned by Riku filled her with deep sorrow.
Chiyo, however, understood what Riku meant. She smiled slightly and said, "Sakura, we’re going to fight side by side now. Be careful of his puppets—if they cut you, you’ll be poisoned."
Even though Sakura didn’t want to rely on Chiyo, she had no choice. The two of them had to face Sasori together.
Meanwhile, Sasori glanced toward Riku, sitting hundreds of meters away, and frowned. "What do you take me for? A sparring dummy?"
"If you’re that arrogant, then prepare to pay the price—this girl’s death will be on you."
Riku easily saw through Sasori’s intentions and gave a slight smirk. "Fine by me. If you’re capable of killing her, that’s your own strength at work."
At this moment, Riku was acting purely as an observer—completely detached from the battle.
Chiyo and Sakura quickly discussed their battle strategy and launched into action.
Meanwhile, Riku pulled out a scroll and began to read.
The battle raging nearby didn’t affect him at all.
Even with the sound of clashing puppets, blades, and chakra blasts shaking the air within a few hundred meters, Riku remained calmly focused on his scroll.
The crater’s distance gave ample room for Chiyo, Sakura, and Sasori to fight without interference.
The battle raged on for over an hour.
Sakura had already taken three cuts.
At that point, Riku set down the scroll and looked up toward the three combatants in the crater.
Lady Chiyo was clearly at her limit, her chakra nearly depleted. Sasori had been struck by a hidden weapon that pierced his chest, but he remained calm, pulling out one final scroll from his back.
At the same time, Sakura had run out of antidote, and Chiyo was also injured.
Sasori quickly formed hand seals and activated the scroll. "Come forth—Fang!"
With a burst of chakra, a massive human-shaped puppet—over ten meters tall—emerged before everyone.
Both Sakura and Chiyo were already heavily injured and poisoned, their chakra drained.
Sasori’s heart core flew out from his chest and embedded itself into the giant puppet. The puppet’s chest opened to receive it, and when the heart locked into place, the puppet’s eyes glowed with eerie blue light.
Ka-ka-ka.
The towering puppet began to move its limbs, the sound of creaking joints echoing.
Several giant shuriken and broadswords protruded from its back.
It lifted one huge foot and slammed it into the ground, sending tremors rippling outward.
Sasori’s voice rang out, "Old woman, this is the ultimate weapon I’ve created. A giant puppet on par with a tailed beast. Its materials are no less refined than the ones I used for the Ten Puppets of Monzaemon. Your puppetry is outdated."
"The man I once wanted to surpass most—Monzaemon himself—I’ve already exceeded his strength."
Chiyo and Sakura were helpless. Their chakra reserves were nearly gone, and both were poisoned. Sakura had already used her two doses of antidote.
If things continued like this, death was the only outcome.
At that moment, Riku stood and spoke calmly, "I expected this to end quietly. Didn’t think you had one more trick hidden up your sleeve."
He had assumed the battle would unfold according to his predictions. He hadn’t expected Sasori to release his final scroll and reveal that puppet.
"So he really was holding back," Riku muttered. "If he’d used this earlier, Sakura and Chiyo would’ve been dead already."
At the time, Sasori hadn’t used this puppet. Riku had suspected he was going easy on them. Now, that suspicion was confirmed—he’d been holding back a lot.
Now, Riku had to shift from support to main combatant.
In a flash, he appeared beside Sakura and handed her a pill.
Then he moved to Chiyo’s side to offer her one as well.
But she shook her head and refused. "No need, boy. I’ve lived long enough. Just bring our Kazekage back to the Hidden Sand, Riku."
Riku paused for a moment, then nodded. "I will."
The antidote pill Riku carried had been specially refined by him overnight. Once taken, it could neutralize any poison for three full days.
That’s why he’d scoffed at Sakura’s antidote—there was no comparison between the two.
After swallowing the pill, Sakura immediately felt the poison dissipating from her system.
She stared at Riku, astonished. "This pill... it worked that fast?"
Riku stepped up beside her and spoke evenly. "With this, you won’t be affected by Sasori’s poison for three days."
Sakura blinked in surprise. "Three days? Seriously?!"
She was stunned.
It had taken her an entire night and a mountain of herbs just to concoct an antidote that lasted five minutes. But Riku’s pill was on a completely different level.
"No wonder you didn’t take the antidote I gave you—you’d already made something better."
"Master Tsunade said your medical ninjutsu might’ve surpassed hers. I didn’t believe it then... but now I think she might’ve been right."
"But Riku, what about that human puppet? It looks insanely powerful. Could it really go toe-to-toe with a tailed beast?"
Riku turned to face Sasori and the giant puppet, his brows furrowing. "Possibly. Sasori isn’t the type to brag."
Sakura’s face tensed. "That’s not good."
"If it can suppress a tailed beast, we’re completely outmatched."
Chiyo remained silent, watching Riku closely. She sensed he might already have a plan—or at least an idea.
Riku turned to Sakura with a slight smile. "Actually, it’s not impossible to beat it. I know exactly what this puppet is capable of."
"I refuse to believe something that large was built just for brute force."
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