Back at the entrance to the hideout, as the away team prepared to first remove the sealing tags, the rest of the Konoha team was standing at the ready. Arranged on the far side of the river, the group watched as Kakashi clung to the side of the boulder in front of the entrance, prepared to tear off its sealing tag.

"Remember- Uzumaki, Toyotomi, and Takenaka and I are going to breach with Sakura and Kakashi. The two of you are to wait outside in case they try and run." Yūgao dictated to Sasuke and Ieyasu as the rest of the team made their final preparations on the shoreline. The two of them nodded in response, Ieyasu quickly reaching down to calm his horse as it shifted slightly.

Moments later, Kakashi signaled for silence, before beginning a countdown. "Go in 3.. 2.. 1… Now." On the final count, he tore the tag from the stone, before leaping off narrowly before Sakura reduced it to rubble. Using the billowing dust as cover, the team entered. The shinobi lead the way, quickly moving into the large cavern as Hanbei and Hideyoshi leapt over the river to join them.

The dust cleared to reveal an empty cavern, nothing more than a bare stone floor under the domed roof. The light pouring in through the door cast over half the space in dim shadows, slightly obscuring the three figures in the center. From his seat on Gaara's chest, Deidara leaned forwards slightly, the light catching in his long blond hair as he smirked. "Now.. Let's see which one of you is the jinchuriki."

"You're dead meat!" Without hesitation, Naruto stepped forwards and pointed at the Akatsuki members. All eyes shifted to him as anger began to roll off of him in almost palpable ignored this, however, as he began to call out to Gaara. "Stop laying there and get up! Come on, are you deaf?!"

"You can see as well as us that he's dead." Hideyoshi cut in abruptly. "Don't dishonor him further with this farce."

Deidara let out a short, sharp laugh. "Oh, that's cold! Whatever happened to that sensitive approach that you Leaf Shinobi are known for? But, you're right. He's already dead."

The tension in the air doubled as Naruto's eyes shifted red behind gathering tears. Standing straight, kunai held in a white knuckled grip, he growled. "Give him back." He shifted into motion, charging forwards. "Give me Gaara!"

Before he could get very far, Kakashi appeared in front of him with a swirl of smoke, hand outstretched. "Wait! If you charge in there without thinking, you'll get us all killed."

Meanwhile, Deidara let out a short huff, before casually turning to Sasori. "Well, Sasori-danna, I'll be taking care of the body, since the host seems to be so fired up about it. And, I know you don't want to hear it, but I'll take care of this host."

Sasori's eyes darted to the side, narrowing as he glared his partner down. "Don't push your luck."

"I said that you weren't going to like it! Besides, you have all of these other people to bore with your musty old puppet show while I can go and make some real art, un!"

"Hmph. Real art is something eternal- You've already wasted your hosts with your little lightshow. So, I should be able to make something worthwhile out of mine." Sasori groused, his tail flicking up to knock an incoming fuuma shuriken out of the air.

"Like a museum exhibit?! Sasori-danna, you know that I appreciate your view as a fellow artist, but your puppets aren't even on the same scale as my art!"

Sasori chuckled, the raspy sound filling the chamber. "On that, we agree."

Deidara rolled his eyes. "You know what I mean. One of my gorgeous explosions is worth a hundred of your grotesqueries!"

"Are you trying to make me mad?" Sasori rasped, a dangerous glint forming in his bloodshot eyes.

"Hey, I said that you wouldn't like it, un! But I can't help but to tell the truth." Deidara closed his eyes and shrugged slightly, only to have to jump back to avoid Sasori's tail as it shot up towards him. As he leapt back, the clay bird that he had prepared bobbed down to pick up Gaara in its mouth before lifting off. Deidara landed on its back as it wheeled around and headed out the cave's entrance.

"Hey! Get back here!" Naruto was quick to give chase, wheeling around and dashing out in pursuit of the Akatsuki member.

On the back of his sculpture, Deidara smirked. "Perfect." He turned to shout back

down to his partner before flying out of earshot. "Good luck!"

Back on the ground, Kakashi barked out orders to the rest of the squad. "I'll go back them up! Uzuki-san, Chiyo-san, the two of you take the lead in here and deal with the other one!." He didn't wait to hear the curt acknowledgments before dashing out to follow Naruto.

"Hm." On the other side of the cave, Sasori shifted in irritation. "Well then, it's still too crowded in here." A pair of smoke clouds erupted from the ground next to him, rapidly dispersing to reveal a pair of horizontal cylinders taller than the hunched puppet master himself. "Let me weed some of you out."

With a series of loud clacks, the front of the cylinders slid open to reveal rows of dozens of kunai launchers primed and ready to fire. The shinobi assembled on the other side of the room tensed, ready to dash out of the way or deflect as many of the projectiles as the could, until Hideyoshi strode out in front of the group. The launchers fired, releasing wave after wave of steel across the room in an unbroken wave. Hideyoshi swept an arm out in a sharp stroke, the motion raising a powerful blast of wind. The kunai hit the wave and seemed to hang in the air, before turning back under the power of the air current.

Sasori's iron tail blurred as it spun up into a shell like defense, deflecting the rain of kunai that had been sent back onto him. The knives pierced the launchers, however, sinking deeply into the wood and mangling the internal mechanisms. The one on the left rotated slightly, barely showing the lower edge of another row of launchers. This was the only warning of something going wrong before an internal spark caused both of the devices to detonate in a tremendous blast.

Both Hideyoshi and Sasori were unfazed by the blast, the former continuing to walk steadily forwards. "The rest of you, stay behind me. I'll deal with him."

Yūgao and Sakura both began to protest, only to be stopped by a chortling Chiyo. "Now, now, if the young man wants to die as a shield, it's his right! Besides, he'll give us a perfect opportunity to prepare more."

Hanbei nodded, the small smile on his face out of place in the situation facing the team. "I agree. A moment to plan is worth a hundred in battle. Besides, if Hideyoshi should need our help, we can intervene as necessary."

On the other side of the room, Sasori's low chuckle could barely be heard under the clatter of kunai falling to the stone floor. "Well, at least you aren't planning on making me wait."

In a fluid motion, Sasori's tail stopped spinning and shot out towards Hideyoshi, angling to stab up towards his side. Hideyoshi shifted into a run, sparks pouring out from his gauntlet as he batted the tail to the side. The tail wrapped around, curving to loop around Hideyoshi as he charged forwards. As the tail curled around in front of his path, Hideyoshi shifted his momentum into a leap. Halfway to the room's ceiling, Hideyoshi's fist began to glow with a cherry red light as he drew it back. Punching down, the energy raced forwards in a fist shaped blast wave, crashing into the floor.

Sasori leapt to the side as the blast struck. The snapping wind tore his cloak free, revealing the distorted body underneath as it scuttled over the churning stone. Hideyoshi dropped from the air like a stone, the glow coating his entire body as he slammed into the already weakening floor. The stone rippled like water under the impact, the shockwave spreading out to the edge of the cavern's wall.

Sasori dropped to all fours, the tips of his fingers digging into the cracks between the broken stones as he rode out the wave. The ragged bandana hanging over the lower half of his face fell away, revealing a distended artificial mouth. A click sounded from the base of his throat and wave after wave of senbon began to pour from his open maw.

The red glow flared up around Hideyoshi's fist again as he quickly slammed it down. The force of the blow shot a wave of broken rock up in a pillar in front of him, scattering the senbon as they harmlessly deflected off the stone. No sooner did he send up that defense, however, Sasori's tail shot around the pillar, wrapping around to again aim at his side. Without straightening fully, Hideyoshi reached out to the side, grabbing the tail in his still glowing fist. With a short rotation of his arm, he wrapped a length of the tail back around his hand, locking its pointed tip in place.

As he did so, a sharp hiss drew his attention to the other side of the pillar. Looking over, he saw an wooden arm, studded with wooden cylinders across its length. Most disconcertingly, the arm was completely detached from any connecting body, and seemed to be beginning to rapidly spin. Heaving himself to one side, pulling the weight behind the tail with him, Hideyoshi reached out to the other side of his makeshift defense and grabbed for the arm. It caught easily in his hands, and he quickly clamped down. Everything but the tips of the arm's fingers were crushed under the massive pressure, a thin wisp of smoke escaping as the delicate mechanisms inside were crushed like matchsticks.

At the same time, Sasori reappeared, leaping over the pillar. He dropped towards Hideyoshi prepared to strike, a long whip like blade extending from his open mouth, and a straight blade jutting out from where his left arm once was- both shimmering with the same poison that coated the rest of his hidden weapons. Internally, Sasori laughed as he looked down at Hideyoshi, both of his hands tied up dealing with the previous attacks. "Idiot. When will people learn that strength is powerless against a master's strategy? This the end, you brute."

For his part, Hideyoshi looked up, locking eyes with Sasori as he fell. The red glow suffused his entire body as he roared out "Worthless!" Reeling back, he slammed his his head forwards as Sasori came into range. The wood around the puppet's jaw cracked and splintered under the impact as the blade that had extended from the mouth shattered against Hideyoshi's forehead. The glow around Hideyoshi flared to new heights as Sasori was crushed into the ground, waves of red tinged white energy surging out across the cavern.

"This is the value of strength based entirely on cheap toys!" Straightening back up to his full height, Hideyoshi pulled back on the now slack tail. Sasori quickly clawed the ground for purchase, but his fingers tore through the ground as he was pulled backwards. With another loud yell, and a sharp twist, Hideyoshi grabbed the tail in both hands and launched Sasori towards the ceiling. A loud snapping filled the cavern as the cables holding the tail together snapped under the centrifugal force of the throw, followed by the crash of Sasori's impact.

A torrent of stones and other debris rained down from where Sasori hit the ceiling, but he clung fast to the center of the impact crater. With the remnant of his tail plunged into the stone to stabilize him, Sasori was splayed out on the ceiling, clinging into the stone like a grotesque spider. As he hung, his head rotated almost one-hundred and eighty degrees, stopping with a disturbing crack as the weakened mechanism gave way. Looking down at Hideyoshi, Sasori's jaw distended even further as a sickly purple gas began to spray downwards, billowing out as it sank to the cavern floor.

Watching the approaching cloud, Hideyoshi lowered his center of gravity, the red glow extending up over his fist. Back at the cave's entrance, Hanbei looked over to his teammates, his smug smile still firmly in place. "I believe that we may want to be ready to move."

Red glow again covering his entire body, with the edge of the noxious cloud only a hair's breadth away, Hideyoshi bellowed. "Shatter, and disperse with the wind!" Swinging upwards, the shockwave released by this punch was unlike any that preceded it. A corona of blazing red energy crashed into the ceiling, shattering the stone with the force of the impact Sasori was swept up into the rising tide of stone, the mask on his back pulverized by the initial blow. The poisonous gas billowed back upwards, turning in on itself as it was drawn up by the vacuum left in the blow's wake. The shockwave still continued, bowing the ceiling upwards until it gave way. The roof of the cavern exploded outwards, erupting in a spray of massive boulders and dust.

The Kazekage Rescue Team were forced back, ducking and weaving as the debris began to rain back down in a shower of stone. They wove back, giving ground, until they stood on the new dam that crossed the river, kneeling as the loose stone still shifted into place. Sakura wiped her face, before squinting and trying to shield her eyes from the water that was splashing up from the disturbed river beneath them. As the dust settled slightly, she back to where Hideyoshi and Sasori. At the center of what used to be a cavern, Hideyoshi still stood, one fist held to the heavens. Despite the rocks pouring down around him, he seemed to be untouched by the chaos, standing pristine among the rubble. Sakura felt her mouth hang open slightly. "That power… It has to be at least on the level of Tsunade-sama!"

Shaking herself slightly, Sakura brought back her focus just in time to see a shadowed figure land on top of a large stone that had fallen in what was the far end of the cavern. Stepping forwards, it revealed itself to be a young looking man, with a bright shock of red hair. More concerning was the fact that he was wearing a perfectly clean Akatsuki robe, and had a human shaped figure draped across his back. As Sakura watched him step forwards, he spoke up, projecting his voice over the crash of the river and still falling rocks. "I admit, I underestimated you. It seems that you're worthy of joining my collection after all."

Arm falling back to his side, Hideyoshi turned to face the man. "More tricks? It seems that you haven't learned your lesson."

As the pair faced off, Sakura leapt down to be next to Chiyo. "Lady Chiyo, do you know what's going on? Who is that?"

The elderly woman's face was pale, sweat beading on her forehead as she stared at the newcomer. "That's Sasori's true face that he was hiding in the puppet. But, it can't be- He hasn't aged a day in all the years since I've seen him!"

"You've brought interesting company today, grandmother. This one especially- He reminds me of another that was hard to finish. But…" Sasori withdrew a scroll from within his robes, and unsealed it to reveal a human sized figure in a ratty brown robe. Sasori's finger twitched, and the puppet's mouth distended and dropped open, and clouds of fine black sand began to spill out. "That's why he's my favorite, after all."

Chiyo's eyes widened at the unsealing. "N-no… that's the Third Kazekage!" She muttered, causing Yūgao and Sakura to look at her in shock.

Yūgao's expression quickly hardened back into a stern gaze. "If he killed the Third, we need to finish this quickly. This team isn't prepared to deal with a Kage level threat."

"I don't think it's an issue of preparedness at this point, Uzuki-san. It simply is what we must deal with." Hanbei interjected. Sakura swallowed loudly, but gave a short nod of agreement as Chiyo began to unseal a pair of puppets of her own.

Watching the Konoha team ready themselves, Sasori smiled. "Well then… Let's finish this, shall we?"

With a flick of Sasori's fingers, one of the curling clouds of black sand coiled in on itself before releasing a volley of needles towards Hideyoshi. He shifted, sweeping an arm out to kick up another wave of air to deflect the projectiles, only for the needles to pierce through without issue. Hideyoshi brought up his other arm at the last moment to block the needles, which made a soft thunk as they embedded themselves into his pauldrons.

"That's not going to work, you big ape! Iron sand is self propelling once he launches it!" Chiyo shouted from behind Hideyoshi. Sweeping her arms out, she directed her puppets to move in front of Hideyoshi, their arms expanding to reveal a chakra shield that deflected the next wave of needles.

"I see that you've brought Mother and Father. You always were a sentimental one." Sasori drolled, pulling his Iron Sand back into a cloud. "Unfortunately for you, I've long since moved past that. Let me show you!"

The Kazekage launched forwards, soaring over Hideyoshi's head as it flew towards Chiyo. As it flew, a frame holding several curved blades extended from behind the puppet's outstretched arm, reaching towards the other puppet master. Chiyo leapt back from the swipe, recalling her own puppets to her side as Sakura and Yūgao charged in from either side. One of the wing like clouds of Iron Sand wrapped around to absorb Yūgao's sword strike as the puppet swept its arm towards Sakura.

Sakura ducked under the swipe, coming up with a fierce punch to the puppet's midsection. There was a loud crack of splintering wood as the hit landed, and the Kazekage was launched backwards into a quickly coalescing cushion of Iron Sand. Sakura stepped in to follow up on the hit, only for the Kazekage to rocket up to the ceiling, leaving behind a roiling cloud of Iron Sand.

Sakura was abruptly pulled away, yanked backwards towards Chiyo by a pair of chakra threads. At the same time, on the other side of the cloud, Hanbei's extended sword wrapped around Yūgao's waist, the flat of the blade laying against her. As Hanbei pulled her back, the cloud exploded outwards into a cluster of long spines. Landing on her feet, Yūgao brought up her katana to shield herself and Hanbei as kunai sized spikes began to launch from the cluster. As she deflected the spikes, Hanbei extended his sword up towards the Kazekage.

The puppet veered to the side to avoid the attack, then lurched as a spiked whip wrapped around its left arm. The Father puppet began to pull it down towards Sakura, only for the Kazekage's arm to spring open, revealing a sealing array. A cloud of smoke covered the arm, followed by dozens upon dozens of long puppet arms that shot downwards towards Sakura. Father and Mother fell limp as Chiyo reconnected the chakra strings to Sakura, weaving her through the arms as they slammed into the ground. As the last few hit the ground, the was a loud hiss as more seals released, releasing clouds of poison gas into the forest of arms. Chiyo began to pull her out from the trap, as Sakura deflected kunai that launched from the surrounding arms. "Damn! Those were wired!" Chiyo realized as Sakura stopped in place, the chakra strings facing sudden resistance.

"Please, hold her still." Chiyo looked back as Hanbei spoke up from behind her. She nodded, and he stepped forwards, extending his arm. His sword shot out, winding through the arms as it extended. Within moments, he jerked his arm sharply, pulling the whole blade back and cutting through the wires holding Sakura in place. With a renewed tug, Chiyo yanked her backwards out of the growing cloud. One arm over her face to block the creeping gas, Sakura used her free hand to slap an exploding tag on a central arm before being pulled free. The three leapt backwards as soon as Sakura was clear of the arms, just before the tag detonated.

The explosion shattered most of the arms near the center, as well as dispelling the gas. Chiyo was quick to follow up on this, shifting her threads back to Father and Mother. The puppets joined hands, revealing a cat's cradle of razor wire that Chiyo used to dice the arms into several sections. Before the pair could do any damage to the Kazekage's core body, Sasori detached its left arm, pulling the puppet back out of range.

During this, Hideyoshi had been getting ready. Fist drawn back, his cherry red aura glowing at full strength, Hideyoshi let loose another massive blow at Sasori while he focused on pulling the Third back out of range. The puppeteer's eyes darted from tracking Chiyo's movements to the glowing shockwave that tore across the ground towards him, the corner of his mouth quirking upwards in a contemptuous smirk. "Hmph."

Iron sand began to pour out from around the Third even as Sasori pulled the puppet back towards himself at top speed. The sand crashed into the ground, dust billowing upwards as the iron sand molded itself into a rounded shell in front of Sasori and the Third. Seconds later, the shockwave crashed into the iron sand, kicking up waves of dust as the wind around the impact roared through the cavern. The iron sand began to glow faintly red under the pressure, but the shield held firm. As the wind died down again, streamers of dirt falling from the air, the glowing sand slumped before being pulled back to hover around the Third. "It seems that you're nothing more than a brute after all. No matter how great your strength, it means nothing if you don't have the wits to use it properly."

Sasori's fingers twitched, and the iron sand quickly shifted into a massive block. With another slight motion, the iron shape rocketed forwards. Hideyoshi leapt to the side, narrowly dodging the iron hammer as it slammed into the ground. He quickly had to leap away again, leaning out of the path of a wave of spikes that shot out from the iron block. Capitalizing on the opportunity, Sasori pulled more iron sand from the Third's reserves, shaping it into a long pyramid. One hand forming a seal, the pyramid shot forwards as well, aimed directly for Hideyoshi's chest. Shifting the force from his landing upwards, Hideyoshi pushed the point of the spear down and to the side with a quick palm strike. As the spear hit the ground, Sasori caused the pyramid to start spinning and tear into the earth like a drill. Fighting to keep his balance, Hideyoshi again leapt back before the growing crater could pull him into the drill.

While Hideyoshi was being forced back, Sasori directed the Third to again hover far above the cavern floor. As it rose to its zenith, the block that Sasori had fired at Hideyoshi decomposed, flowing back in long streamers to coalesce in a tight ball in front of the Third. As it shifted, Sasori watched Hideyoshi continue to back away from the growing pit around the drill. "I hate to waste the chakra on this… But once I deal with him, I should be able to finish Granny and the others without trouble." As soon as Hideyoshi leapt backwards once more, Sasori pulled the drill upwards, directly into the globe of iron sand in front of the third. Forming a seal with one hand, he called out "Satetsu Kaihō!"

The iron sand hung for a split second before exploding outwards into a cloud of branching spikes. The spikes shot downwards with tremendous speed, stabbing into the ground without warning or pattern. At the edge of the cloud, the Kazekage Rescue team raced backwards, barely escaping the range of the attack. Hideyoshi, near the center, had no such luck. In midair, there was no chance to dodge the first streams, so he no choice other than blocking the brunt of the attack. Bringing his arms up in front of his face and chest, he grimaced as he felt the spines pierce straight through his armor and into his flesh. "Damn it! They're just scratches, but it feels like it's burning! It must be quite the poison he's using…"

Hitting the ground heavily, Hideyoshi slid back, landing on his knees. Dimly, Hideyoshi registered Hanbei's concerned yell from behind him, but focused on the fact that Sasori had spoken up. "Do you understand now, you Nioh? No matter how hard you fight, your efforts are useless. Your strength has failed you, and your body will do the same in three days, if you're strong enough to resist the poison for that long. This is the limit of mortality." Sasori chuckled, the iron sand surrounding Hideyoshi drawing back into a cloud around the Third. "Fortunately for you, I'll let you surpass that by joining my collection. That body of yours will be preserved forever, and I'll make good use of your strength. That eternal beauty- that is true art!"

"Enough! Art, beauty, strength- you talk like you have any idea what those words mean." Knees shaking slightly, Hideyoshi forced himself to his feet, ignoring the numbness that was quickly spreading from his injuries. "People like you are why nations rot! You clutch at the past like the wind, afraid of realizing your place in history!" Hideyoshi stepped forwards, his aura welling up around him. "Sentimentality without ideals is garbage! The past, the present, the future- all are worthless when viewed by those without the ambition to seize them for themselves! And strength based on these fleeting dreams, these glorified toys, will never overcome my own, or that of those that I now carry!"

His aura raging around him, bathing the broken cavern in it's cherry red light, Hideyoshi slammed his fist into the ground. The impact blew the rubble up from the floor in a pillar of debris, forcing up a section of the bedrock underneath. He grabbed this slab of rock by the base, lifting it up from the surrounding rubble as the cracks in the ground began to rapidly fill with water, the river flowing backwards as it poured into the space underneath the battleground. With a roar, Hideyoshi pitched the mass of stone towards the Third. Sasori's fingers flicked upwards, summoning a cloud of iron sand that billowed up in front of the Third's body. The boulder crashed into it, cracks racing through it as it pushed into the mass, but ground to a halt as tendrils of the sand began to engulf the stone.

"Very impressive, but this doesn't change a thing! No matter how hard you try, you'll never be able to overcome this art!" Sasori said, projecting his voice to be heard over the roaring water.

Ignoring the puppeteer, Hideyoshi leapt up towards the Third, glowing fist pulled back. Iron sand rushed to meet him, thin spikes scoring long cuts as he raced past them towards the center of the stone. He met the stone with a tremendous crash, and it exploded into a cloud of rubble. The force of the blow resonated through the stone and into the surrounding cloud, clearing a path straight through the center for Hideyoshi. Seconds later, he crashed into the Third.

Sasori swore, desperately forming the scattered iron sand into spikes to launch at Hideyoshi's back, but the sand began to rain down from the air. Straining to see through the dust, Sasori saw the cause- Hideyoshi held the broken form of the Third in one hand, and the crushed remains of the puppet's magnetic generator in his other. "You want immortality?! Then lie down and be preserved as one of the cornerstones of this world's future!" Hideyoshi called down, seconds before hurling the Third back down at Sasori.

The broken puppet hit the ground with enough force to create another crater, the cloud of dust obscuring Sasori from view. Hideyoshi hit the ground seconds later, dropping to one knee as his aura faded away. The rest of the team quickly assembled around him, Chiyo and Yūgao taking defensive positions in front of the group while Hanbei and Sakura knelt down to check on his wounds.

Sakura's hands lit up with a pale green light as she began to close Hideyoshi's deeper wounds. As she began the treatment, she chastised him. "You idiot, you can't be that reckless with his attacks! We only have so much of the antidote, and now you need to use up a third of it." While speaking, she drew out a small vial, uncapping the injector as she did so.

Before she could inject the antidote, Hideyoshi gently grabbed her arm and shook his head. "Not yet."

Hanbei looked up to meet his eyes, raising his voice. "You can't be serious! It's enough that you took out that device, you need the antidote."

"You heard him as well as I, Hanbei. I have three days. Besides, the rest of you may need that antidote more than me by then end of this."

"I swear, I always get the stupidest, most obstinate-" Sakura shook her head, refocusing. "Alright, but you stay back with us from this point on. I can't imagine that there's going to be much fighting after that last bit, anyway…"

Chiyo chuckled darkly, before calling back. "Look alive kids- he's not done yet!"

On the other side of the cavern, the dust had mostly cleared away. Standing in its center, in the midst of broken scraps of wood and cloth, Sasori stood firm. His cloak was torn and tattered by the debris, with one large hole over the stomach. A long iron cable snaked out of the hole, unwinding from some hidden cavity beneath. Another hole showed a portion of a cylinder resting in the left part of his chest, exposed just enough to make out the character for scorpion written on its face. "Again, it seems that I've underestimated you. But, now you've cost me two of my favorite puppets, and you've seen my greatest secret. So, it's time to be done with this."

With a single motion, Sasori tore the remnants of his cloak from his body while drawing a scroll from the holder on his back. Unfurling it, he flipped open a compartment on his chest, from which chakra strings shot forwards into the scroll. Letting the scroll fall to the ground, the strings began to pull forth dozens of puppets. The newly summoned puppets streaming upwards to hover in the air, Sasori stared down the Konoha team, a manic look coming over his face. "Red Secret Technique: Performance of a Hundred Puppets!"

Technique Name Translations:

Satetsu Kaihō: Iron Sand: World Method

Nioh: The large statues that stand next to the entrances of Buddhist temples