Hidden Sand Village, in an underground research lab.
The thing Sasori chases, though called forever, is really just him studying how to not die and how to live forever.
It’s just that everyone does it differently.
Like Hidan uses the Jashin Cult to not die and live forever, and Kakuzu has many hearts. Though their ways are different, they all want to not die and live forever.
"What I made is that meat core. Whenever I use Chakra, I have to have that core."
"But as you can see, it’s still my weakness. If someone attacks here, I’ll die for sure."
Sasori sat on the workbench, a bright desk lamp over his head shining on the things in his hands.
He carefully put the purple poison into his Sasori tail and checked the parts on the Sasori tail to make sure they fit perfectly with his body.
"To make yourself a puppet with no weaknesses?"
"There’s a way to do it, but you have to die first."
Hatake Satoru leaned on his cheek, twirling a very small screwdriver in his hand.
Thin needles, knives, screws—these things were very small and well-made, though surely not as good as what Hatake Satoru could make.
But with the skills they have now, they’re pretty much at the top of puppet-making.
"Die...? Oh, you mean the Edo Tense Jutsu."
"Forget about what Orochimaru made."
Sasori made a face like he didn’t like it, his chubby cheeks puffing out. He clearly hated Orochimaru.
Sasori isn’t exactly a good person, but he treats his people well.
When Pain wanted to use the Shapeshifting Technique and had to get rid of his two spies, Sasori didn’t like that at all.
"I’m not interested in things that are controlled by others."
Sasori put down the wooden tail and turned his back to Hatake Satoru.
"Well...it’s not the same as that guy named Daichi..., but the idea is alike. I’ve been changing you, too~."
Hatake Satoru, his eyes hidden behind sunglasses, raised his eyebrows excitedly, as if he was talking about something interesting.
Sasori’s body was made using amazing skill, close to perfect, and almost like a real human body.
If he wants to change his body, Hatake Satoru has to do it.
Sasori can’t take his body apart and put it back together himself.
Though the whole body looks perfect, like it doesn’t have any seams, it’s really full of small parts and details.
Sasori can’t perfectly take apart those parts and details yet.
So Hatake Satoru has to do it.
"Huh???"
Sasori, with his back to Hatake Satoru, made a confused sound.
Hatake Satoru made him this perfect body and even teaches him how to make puppets.
But that also means Hatake Satoru has full control over Sasori’s life.
Life and death are now in Hatake Satoru’s hands.
Before, Sasori would have been mad at Hatake Satoru for this.
But he lost the fight before.
He should have died then, but Hatake Satoru gave him another chance.
Now, with Hatake Satoru, he can reach new heights as a puppet master.
But no matter how much he grows, no matter how high he stands,
he can never be better than the man in front of him. He’s on a level that ordinary people can’t reach.
Sasori can’t do it either.
So though he’s a little proud, Sasori knows that his life is fully in this man’s hands.
"Well~ didn’t you think about it?"
Hatake Satoru smiled and tilted his head, then took the core from Sasori’s back.
"You?!"
Sasori’s eyes widened, and he reached for his chest without thinking.
This new body has hidden Sasori’s core completely, so you can’t see it from the outside.
Hatake Satoru blinked innocently, so close that
you could see his silver eyelashes fluttering through the dark sunglasses.
"Still awake...what’s going on?"
"Can you really do that so easily?!"
Sasori quickly realized that it was strange that he could see Hatake Satoru holding his core.
If the core leaves him, he should lose consciousness.
He’s been studying this for decades to turn his whole body into a puppet.
This core is almost the only thing he needs after making and remaking things.
His skills are almost at their limit here.
But Hatake Satoru made it so easy to keep his consciousness without fully depending on the core.
That’s just too much!
Being his enemy, he was really overestimating himself.
Sasori sighed softly. Being Hatake Satoru’s enemy is the saddest thing for an enemy.
Now he understands that.
"It’s not that hard~ and it’s not that easy~."
"But you can’t completely leave it yet. Let the core and body blend better!"
"But even if the core isn’t the weakness, you’ll have other weaknesses. Don’t think about being undefeatable."
"We’ll talk about that later."
A puppet body must have weaknesses. When Sasori gave up his real body, he made a forever weakness.
Well, Hatake Satoru himself is probably the only one who can be almost perfectly undying.
Hatake Satoru playfully stuck out his tongue and put Sasori’s core back.
He also carefully put the Sasori tail part that Sasori made into place.
The smooth back now has a long, raised line where the part was put in.
It looks like a light, raised scar.
This scar was measured and left under Hatake Satoru’s orders.
Sasori is practical, so he doesn’t care about how his back looks. You can’t see it often, so he can do whatever he wants with it.
"You’re using the body I made, so if you want to add parts, work hard to make them fit well."
Hatake Satoru shrugged innocently, so Sasori worked day and night for days to make this tail that was both good-looking and useful.
"Bang!" The door was pushed open roughly.
Hozuki Mangetsu shouted like a ghost.
"It doesn’t work at all! What I made...ah, teacher."
Hozuki Mangetsu stopped his scream awkwardly, then quietly took a step back and looked at the sign outside.
It clearly said Zashiki Warashi’s workshop.
"Uh...well..."
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