bookpower 139. Echoes of Betrayal: Pakura’s Fiery Resolve (1)
139. Echoes of Betrayal: Pakura’s Fiery Resolve (1)
139. Echoes of Betrayal: Pakura’s Fiery Resolve (1)
As the betrayal sunk in, Pakura's resolve hardened. Overwhelmed by anger toward Sasori, Rasa's treachery, and her village's comrades' desertion, she felt a significant shift within herself.
Setting aside her long-held admiration for the Third Kazekage—an individual she revered since her early days as a shinobi—Pakura focused solely on the dire need to defend herself and counterattack against his 'puppet form'.
Channeling her signature bloodline jutsu of Scorch Release, Pakura summoned the Scorch Style: Scorching Wave.
With deft movements, she conjured several flaming orbs that glowed intensely, resembling small suns.
These orbs began to orbit around her, creating a formidable barrier of heat and flame.
Determined and precise, Pakura directed the orbs toward the Third Kazekage puppet. Under her skilled control, the orbs moved with lethal intent, ready to strike upon contact.
As Pakura unleashed her Scorch Style: Scorching Wave, Sasori, unfazed by the display of power, countered with a chilling declaration.
"All resistance is futile, woman! Becoming my human puppet is your only inevitable fate!", He shouted, his voice echoing through the chaotic battlefield as he manipulated the Third Kazekage puppet to launch a counterattack.
Sasori's favorite human puppet, the Third Kazekage, retained its Kekkei Genkai: Magnet Release. This ability allowed Sasori access to the formidable Iron Sand techniques, which he had enhanced further with his deadly poison.
Iron Sand, the most feared weapon in Sunagakure's history and developed by the Third Kazekage himself, consisted of refined iron powder that could be shaped into various weapons and controlled through electromagnetic fields.
With precise and calculated movements, Sasori commanded the Iron Sand to swirl around Pakura, forming an array of lethal forms.
The sand morphed into large, sweeping structures and smaller, bullet-like particles aimed directly at her, each grain potentiated with poison for maximum lethality.
Sasori utilized the Iron Sand's versatility to its fullest, creating multiple striking branches designed to corner Pakura and cut off her avenues of escape.
His intention was clear: to overwhelm Pakura's defenses and capture her for his most valuable, human-type puppets collection.
Sasori regarded his human puppets as the pinnacle of his art, embodying the most potent form of his craft.
These puppets, uniquely crafted from human bodies, were the product of a technique he developed—a technique he had mastered after years of relentless practice and refinement in puppetry.
The process of creating a human puppet was meticulous and gruesome. Sasori first began by surgically removing the body's organs and thoroughly cleansing it of any blood.
He then treated the corpse with a special preservative, the composition of which remained a closely guarded secret, ensuring the body would not decay over time.
The final step involved outfitting the preserved body with an array of weapons and defenses, transforming it into a formidable tool of warfare.
These human puppets were distinct in their ability to retain the use of chakra and any kekkei genkai the original person possessed, making them incredibly valuable on the battlefield, especially if they were made of bloodline-holder bodies like Pakura's.
As long as he could keep Pakura engaged and avoid her deadly scorching attacks, the poison already coursing through her veins would continue to weaken her.
Every moment that passed was a moment closer to victory for Sasori. His eyes, ever calculating, watched Pakura's every move, looking for signs of the poison's progression, knowing that once it fully took hold, the battle would decisively turn in his favor.
However, as Pakura unleashed her Scorch Release to its current limits, Sasori found that his usual attacks were less effective than ever against her.
The basic materials used in many of his puppets and projectiles were vulnerable to the intense heat generated by her jutsu, which melted them away effortlessly even without touching it directly, just due to the sheer heat her jutsu was generating in the large area, forcing even Sasori to constantly move back and avoid being melted alive from a distance.
Yet, despite her external success in neutralizing his attacks and pushing him back, Pakura battled internal despair, acutely aware of the poison weakening her with every passing second and Sasori's true game plan.
She leveraged the terrain to her advantage, vaporizing the moisture within the soil to disrupt the battlefield, turning it into a cloud of steam that added chaos to the melee.
Her scorching attacks—bolts, streams, and waves of intense heat—were hurled towards Sasori. However, as her strength waned, her aim faltered; her attacks, though powerful, started missing Sasori by mere inches as her consciousness also blurred.
"Art is eternal, Pakura. Your flames may melt metal, but they cannot extinguish the legacy I will create. Becoming a masterpiece is your destiny...", Sasori rejoiced, seeing her stumble more and more.
"I am no one's puppet! You've twisted your talent into something grotesque, but I will not fall victim to your delusions!", Pakura retorted while sweating hard and catching a short breath.
"Delusions? This is the ultimate form of art—preserving strength forever. You should feel honored to become part of something greater than yourself.",
He shouted from a distance, getting increasingly excited as he felt that the moment of adding her to his 'collection' was nearing, and he could envision it.
"Honor? There's no honor in your methods. You betray your village, your comrades... You betray everything a shinobi stands for! I will kill you, Sasori!", Pakura gritted her teeth in indignation, her ordinarily youthful and attractive face growing tired, her eyesight blurry.
Scorch Release, an advanced nature transformation that combines fire and wind chakra, was notably effective due to its enhanced mobility over traditional fire.
Its brighter flames, with a slightly reddish tinge, were designed for precision and devastation.
Under normal circumstances, Pakura's control over this jutsu was impeccable, but the poison's effect increasingly impaired her abilities.
Recognizing the need to compensate for her diminishing precision, Pakura began to focus on creating attacks with a wider area of effect.
These explosive techniques burst into large flames, designed to vaporize everything within reach, leaving little room for Sasori to escape.
In response, Sasori quickly adapted. Utilizing the Third Kazekage's Magnet Release, he ingeniously used spare metal debris to create a makeshift platform, propelling himself high into the air to avoid the deadly heat below.
However, this maneuver also posed a significant risk. Elevating himself made him more visible to other Sunagakure shinobi engaged in nearby battles against Konoha forces.
Sasori was forced to hover lower than he would have preferred to minimize this exposure, inadvertently giving Pakura a chance to still target him, albeit with less precision than before.
This ongoing cat-and-mouse game showcased their prowess and the high stakes of their duel as each strived to outmaneuver the other amidst the wider chaos of the battlefield.