Chapter 201: Coordinate System

Zaemon Matsuyo pressed one hand against her abdomen, the other steadying herself against the nearby wall. She managed to push herself shakily to her feet, her expression tense as she watched the battle unfolding before her.

When speaking of Sunagakure's strongest puppet collections, the natural answer was the "Chikamatsu Collection of Ten," legacy of the master puppeteer Monzaemon Chikamatsu, the man who truly bridged the past and future of the art. This demonstrated that controlling ten puppets was generally considered the peak for any single ninja. Yet now, Sasori had casually doubled that number—a clear case of the student surpassing the master.

Sasori's sheer power once again exceeded Zaemon's expectations, planting a seed of doubt in her mind—could Habara actually pull off a victory? Of course, such worries were ultimately unnecessary. No matter how formidable a puppet master, they still operated within the known framework of puppetry, a framework that couldn't possibly exceed the bounds of Habara's own imagination.

Through Zaemon's eyes, Habara and the Third Kazekage puppet under his control charged straight into Sasori's puppet swarm. As the distance closed, the Kazekage puppet began to ascend higher into the air. Then, as if the very air had suddenly flash-frozen into sheets of spreading ice crystals, countless iron threads of varying thickness erupted outwards, centered on the Kazekage puppet's form.

"Iron Sand: World Method..."

Zaemon identified the Third Kazekage's ultimate technique in her mind.

To her, such an attack was called the Iron Sand: World Method. But to Habara… well, it was probably more accurate to call it "Deploying Light Wings."

A sudden proliferation of black iron thorns instantly blotted out a patch of the sky, and then innumerable sharpened points rained down diagonally towards the ground!

The Kazekage puppet's dense saturation attack engulfed a large number of Sasori's puppets in the blink of an eye. Sasori had no time to mount an effective counterattack, forced only to watch as his creations were shredded by the onslaught.

Caught within the dense barrage, Sasori's puppets had nowhere to hide, nowhere to dodge. Habara, however, moved with fluid grace, weaving through the deadly rain of iron with nimble twists and turns, rapidly threading his way through the chaos.

With speed that defied belief, he closed the distance and appeared directly before Sasori, his hand darting out to seize his opponent's left wrist.

Habara's taijutsu certainly wasn't top-tier, but the real question was, could Sasori, a puppet master, boast any remarkable skill in close-quarters combat with his actual body? The truth was, by this point, facing techniques that completely nullified his own fighting style, Sasori was already somewhat reeling from the shock.

Habara gripped Sasori's wrist firmly, then with a sudden, incredibly swift motion, he yanked Sasori forcefully towards him. Simultaneously, he focused a massive amount of chakra and the entire axis of his strength into his right leg. Then, with savage precision, he lashed out with a kick aimed squarely at Sasori's lower limbs.

It was a live, hands-on demonstration of what violent disassembly looked like.

There was no explosion of blood and gore, but that didn't make the scene any less brutal. With that single impact, one of Sasori's arms and both of his legs simultaneously shattered into a shower of component parts.

In pursuit of his 'eternal art,' Sasori had already begun the gradual process of modifying his own body. He had started with his limbs, replacing flesh and blood with puppet components. It was an extreme measure, not easily understood by others, but it was perfectly in line with Sasori's personality.

To a puppet master like him, the fragile body of flesh was far inferior to the resilience of a puppet. Since a better option existed, why wouldn't he take it? Of course he would!

In short, Habara's actions were violent, and Sasori's current state looked utterly wretched. But in reality? Sasori hadn't suffered any substantial damage at all.

Although uninjured, Sasori now grasped the undeniable truth that Habara was an opponent he couldn't overcome through force. Abruptly tightening the chakra threads extending from his shoulder, he used them to pull himself rapidly towards one of his puppets positioned further away.

He couldn't win the fight, so it was time to retreat.

However, his attempt to disengage and escape failed. In truth, once someone has committed to fleeing, the chances of actually getting away are often slim. The moment Sasori moved away from Habara, the surrounding Iron Sand instantly coalesced into a gigantic hand, perfectly intercepting his retreat.

Then, the iron sand began to slowly contract, tightening with deceptive speed into an ovoid shape, completely enveloping Sasori of the Red Sand within. This "great bird egg" sealed Sasori tightly inside, leaving only tiny apertures for him to breathe.

This physical sealing technique was extremely potent; Sasori, with his limbs detached, had no way to break free on his own.

"Modifying components certainly can improve performance, but original parts have their own advantages, don't they? Ever heard the phrase 'control like an extension of one's own fingers'? Don't mechanical parts introduce lag?" Habara muttered to himself after inspecting his 'seal' and confirming its integrity.

Even though many ninja bodies seemed to support hot-swapping and plug-and-play technology these days, Habara still found such practices somewhat ethically challenging.

After wrapping the iron egg in a layer of bandages and applying a simple chakra-blocking seal for good measure, Sasori was well and truly trapped. As long as his chakra threads couldn't extend to the outside world, he could only wait patiently to be "hatched."

Securing the 'Akasuna Egg,' Habara carried this unique 'sealing container' out of the range of the Iron Sand: World Method's lingering effects. He walked up to Zaemon Matsuyo and handed the mission item over to her.

"My technique should hold for about five or six days," Habara told her. "That's more than enough time for you to return to Sunagakure. Prioritize the mission. You should leave immediately; we'll handle Orochimaru's team."

His service was nothing short of meticulous; he'd even thoughtfully added a "weight reduction" feature to the Akasuna Egg. As long as its magnetic field remained stable, moving it in a state of near-suspension wouldn't cause much inconvenience.

"Understood."

Zaemon Matsuyo accepted the sealing container. Without hesitation, she secured it firmly onto her back, then cast a somewhat reluctant gaze back towards the center of the recent battlefield.

Truthfully, she desperately wanted to recover the Third Kazekage puppet as well. However, she couldn't bring herself to voice such a request, knowing full well that Konoha would never relinquish such a convenient and powerful tool. That was the reality… the Third Kazekage was no longer the Kazekage; now, it was merely a ninja tool.

Zaemon had witnessed the entire battle clearly. She knew she stood no chance of retrieving the Kazekage puppet. Since no argument, logical or otherwise, would sway Habara, she wisely chose to remain silent.

Besides, Habara wasn't just making excuses. Any ninja worth their salt understood the level of threat Orochimaru represented. This was absolutely not the time for sentimentality or hesitation.

Therefore, after taking custody of Sasori, Zaemon immediately complied with Habara's instructions and began her escape, heading towards Sunagakure.

Meanwhile, elsewhere, Orochimaru and Kakuzu were engaged in the rather unsporting act of ganging up on Kakashi. Unfortunately for them, Kakashi stubbornly refused to simply let himself be bullied.

The bound Kakashi had suddenly vanished from before their eyes. While Kakuzu didn't immediately grasp what had transpired, the far more perceptive—and certainly not senile—Orochimaru instantly registered that something significant had occurred.

" Flying Thunder God Technique? But..."

Orochimaru's eyes darted around. His gaze shifted from the spot where Kakashi had disappeared to a specific point in mid-air, then snapped back to Kakashi himself… who had reappeared more than thirty meters away.

When Kakashi vanished, he had momentarily materialized in mid-air, simultaneously unleashing a powerful surge of chakra that broke the Binding Spell's hold over him. Only then did he execute a second jump, creating significant distance between himself and Orochimaru.

Orochimaru's keen powers of observation, coupled with the slight clumsiness of Kakashi's jutsu execution while under the binding spell, allowed him to witness the entire sequence clearly. And it raised serious questions in his mind. Suppressing the urge to attack Kakashi again, Orochimaru found himself instinctively reaching up to stroke his chin.

Flying Thunder God Technique? How could that be possible?

Kakashi's first spatial jump had been extremely short, merely intended to escape the killing blow. During that instant, he had broken free from the binding jutsu, then initiated a proper escape.

This was the source of Orochimaru's confusion. If Kakashi had used the Flying Thunder God Technique technique for spatial teleportation, then he must have just used it twice in quick succession. However…

While Flying Thunder God Technique could be activated instantaneously, it required a pre-placed spatial coordinate formula. Leaving aside whether Kakashi had a formula marker at his final destination, it was undeniable that the point in mid-air where he first reappeared certainly held no such formula.

Kakashi couldn't possibly have painted an invisible formula in thin air and left absolutely no trace behind.

"It's not just Flying Thunder God Technique, or perhaps... it's not Flying Thunder God Technique at all," Orochimaru swiftly concluded after a moment's thought.

His provisional judgment wasn't entirely correct, but neither was it entirely wrong.

Naturally, Orochimaru's line of thought would continue down this path. His gaze flickered towards Kakashi's Sharingan, but then he seemed to realize something and quickly averted his eyes, consciously reining in his thoughts. It was a clear case of his scientific curiosity being intensely piqued, yet tempered by the knowledge of the inherent danger in staring directly into a Mangekyō Sharingan—a palpable collision between curiosity and rationality.

"Mangekyō Sharingan... spatial ability... spatial ability... Mangekyō Sharingan..."

These words echoed repeatedly in Orochimaru's mind. It was a line of reasoning built on flawed assumptions, yet it led him remarkably close to the truth.

Regardless of its specific type, that Sharingan had been taken from an Uchiha eye socket. This, at least, explained why Kakashi's execution of the unique ninjutsu seemed somewhat halting and imperfect.

Ah, such magnificent research material...

At that moment, considerations like the mission, or Sasori of the Red Sand, faded significantly in Orochimaru's priorities. His focus was now entirely on Kakashi's Mangekyō Sharingan. However, the window of opportunity to capture Kakashi had already slammed shut. Since they had failed to eliminate him moments ago, the possibility was even more remote now.

Habara walked steadily forward, step by step, until he reached Kakashi's side. The Suna kunoichi and the Suna missing-nin had departed. The situation had reverted to a two-on-two standoff.

"Good work, Kakashi-senpai," Habara offered by way of praise.

Kakashi visibly relaxed upon Habara's arrival. His desperate "stall-at-all-costs" tactic had been successful, but he knew he couldn't have kept it up much longer while facing two opponents alone.

"I'm almost completely out of chakra," Kakashi reported. "What about the mission?"

"Successful. They've already left the area," Habara confirmed.

He walked past Kakashi, taking two more steps forward before addressing Orochimaru directly. "Lord Orochimaru, your mission is now impossible to complete. There's no longer any meaning in continuing this fight, so... shall we just call it a day? Go our separate ways?"

Habara presented a suggestion that was, on the surface, perfectly scientific, reasonable, and humane.

Orochimaru's gaze shifted from Kakashi to Habara, then back to Kakashi again. Finally, his raspy voice broke the silence:

"Do you truly think that's possible?"