"You want him to fight me?"
Scorpion sneered, looking at the frail-looking Sasuke.
Sasuke clenched his fists in anger. "Don't look down on me!"
Gripping the long sword in his hand, Sasuke charged forward.
Scorpion let out a cold laugh, controlling the tail stinger on the back of Hiruko to directly block Sasuke's attack.
Clang!
The crisp sound echoed through the deserted desert.
Sasuke slightly retracted his strength and, at the moment the tail stinger descended, suddenly unleashed his lightning style.
Lightning coursed through the blade, clashing against Hiruko's tail stinger.
In an instant, electric current entered Scorpion's body within Hiruko.
Sasuke rejoiced, "I've got him!"
As soon as he spoke, Scorpion controlled Hiruko to suddenly change the direction of the tail stinger's attack.
It turned sharply as it neared Sasuke, striking from behind.
Sasuke's eyes widened in surprise, with no time to react.
"Careful!"
At the critical moment, Jugo gathered his chakra in his tail and instantly charged over, pushing Sasuke aside.
"Take this!"
Suddenly, Scorpion's head snapped up. Karin Uzumaki was seen swinging her fist, smashing heavily towards him.
Boom!
Layers of dust instantly billowed up from the ground.
Karin flipped back and withdrew from the dust.
Sasuke immediately grinned confidently. "I thought you were someone impressive."
"Oh? Is that so?"
Hiruko completely fell apart, and a fair-skinned boy with long red hair jumped out from within.
"Let me teach you how to behave..."
Scorpion's true body appeared, staring at the four in front of him with a mocking voice.
"Secret Red Technique..."
"Hundred Puppets Performance!"
Scorpion threw several scrolls from his waist.
Poof.
Poof.
....
Hundreds of puppets, clad in long red robes, emerged from the summoned scrolls.
"Don't even think about retreating, or it will be difficult to end this."
Scorpion waved his hand, and the hundreds of puppets rushed towards Itachi Uchiha.
"Let me!"
Jugo, who had been narrating, immediately stepped in front of Sasuke.
The Sage Transformation began to spread.
As Jugo unleashed his second personality, the powerful Sage Chakra made Scorpion frown.
"Hahahaha..."
Jugo's second personality cackled maniacally. "Torrential Spurt of a Thousand Thorns!"
In an instant, the cells within Jugo's body transformed, resembling barnacles.
"Kill... Kill!"
Seeing this, Scorpion controlled his puppets to completely surround Jugo.
With a mere flick of his wrist, connected by chakra threads, several puppets approached Sasuke and Jugo.
"Chidori Current!"
Sasuke slammed the gathered current into the ground with his palm.
The surrounding puppets that had approached were instantly shattered by the electricity.
"The difference in strength is too great; I can't inflict any fatal damage on him..."
Sasuke gritted his teeth in frustration.
The masked man sighed helplessly. It was somewhat unrealistic for Sasuke to kill Scorpion.
"I have to step in again, what a bother."
Thinking this, the masked man walked to the front of Sasuke and the others. Looking at the hundreds of approaching puppets, a vortex suddenly formed in his right eye.
In just the time it took to breathe, hundreds of puppets were sucked into the unknown void by the masked man.
Looking at the masked man before him, Scorpion's heart finally stirred.
"This guy is strong..."
....
The battle lasted for an entire day.
As the sun set, the last rays of sunlight vanished from Scorpion's cheeks. He knew he wouldn't survive today.
Sasuke let out a hearty laugh, holding his blood-stained long sword.
On the ground lay Scorpion's cold corpse.
With the efforts of the masked man and the other three, Scorpion ultimately could not overcome the day.
The masked man walked to Scorpion's corpse and knelt down, casually retrieving a ring bearing the character "玉" from his finger.
"Excellent, the first step of the plan is a complete success..."
"With this ring, I can successfully join the Akatsuki."
Entering the Akatsuki while Scorpion was dead was the perfect timing.
As for why he had to choose to kill Scorpion, it was because the masked man knew that after the Akatsuki's previous capture of a Tailed Beast by five members had already alerted the Five Great Nations.
The Hidden Sand and Hidden Leaf had formed an alliance, and the Hidden Leaf had Su Mu as their backing. It would be incredibly difficult to capture another Tailed Beast within such a short time.
Among the Akatsuki, only Scorpion was easy to deal with; others offered no suitable opportunity.
Su Mu's story had brought about drastic changes to the entire ninja world. The masked man feared his plan would be affected, so he preemptively changed his new plan: to utilize Sasuke Uchiha to form a new force.
And Itachi Uchiha had harbored suspicions about the masked man's identity from the beginning.
The masked man naturally knew that Itachi Uchiha would not kill Sasuke, so he intended to use Sasuke's hand to eliminate Itachi Uchiha, making his plan easier to execute.
Now, as long as he joined the Akatsuki and got close to Nagato, he could then resurrect that person from the past...
Sasuke nodded slightly. "Then... what about Orochimaru?"
"I have already investigated Orochimaru. His cultivation is not in conflict with ours."
"Furthermore, he seems to have obtained the inheritance of the Snake Sage's domain recently."
"During his molting and rebirth, his strength is at its weakest, in a weakened state."
"Appearing suddenly at that time, he can be easily slain."
It turned out the masked man had planned everything from the very beginning.
He was thoroughly familiar with all the plans. httpδ:/m.kuAisugg.nět
Sasuke couldn't help but admire this guy's capabilities.
The current problem was finally resolved.
The masked man sighed deeply. "In three days, I will personally come to the Hidden Sound Village to help you handle the situation."
"Until then, just behave yourself."
After everyone had left, ninjas from the Hidden Sand Village arrived at the scene of the incident.
Chiyo, who was accompanying them, stared in shock upon seeing Scorpion's face.
That youthful face from her memories flickered in and out of view.
"This is Scorpion..."
Granny Chiyo tremblingly approached Scorpion's corpse and knelt down.
The reunion with her grandson, after so long, felt like manna from heaven, only to discover he was a corpse upon meeting again.
At this moment, all memories flooded her mind, and Granny Chiyo broke down in tears.
His youthful face had remained unchanged over the years; he had transformed his body into a puppet.
"Scorpion... after all these years, you have finally returned to my side..."
"But only to meet such an end..."
Scorpion's corpse was sent back to the Hidden Sand Village.
Chiyo was to handle it.
The old woman locked herself in her room for an entire day without emerging.
Gaara, worried something had happened, personally went to check.
The result.
The moment the door was pushed open.
Gaara saw Scorpion holding Granny Chiyo's corpse.
"So that's what happened..."
"It's the forbidden jutsu... Reanimation Transfer...?"