Malphegor
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HSU: Ch. 212
🕑 Added 2025-03-04 17:51:10 +0000 UTCAs they descended deeper, the space became completely dark, and a faint buzzing sound echoed through the air.
Two figures appeared in the darkness.
One of them struck something with a snap, and a small flame flickered to life, illuminating his face.
It was Kabuto.
He walked to the wall and pressed a switch.
The space lit up. A series of dim lamps arranged along the walls flickered on, revealing a corridor.
The walls were rough, suggesting that the space had been carved out not too long ago. Apart from the necessary equipment, there were no decorations.
This was the very bottom of the base.
As the lights came on, Orochimaru walked forward, his shadow stretching long behind him under the glow.
A shadow that did not resemble a human's.
Kabuto extinguished the fire in his hand and followed.
The long corridor sloped downward, with steps carved into the steeper sections to facilitate movement.
As they descended further, the path became narrower. By the time they reached the end, it was only wide enough for one person to walk through.
Before Orochimaru stood a massive stone slab, engraved with sealing symbols.
He formed a hand seal, and the stone receded inward, then floated aside, revealing a passage.
The two entered.
After passing through the passage, the space suddenly expanded.
A large underground chamber, strikingly "modern" compared to the rest of the world, came into view.
Yet, among all the equipment inside, only one seemingly unremarkable cultivation tank in the center held any real significance to Orochimaru and Kabuto.
Inside the tank was a human skin.
It was incomplete, pieced together from countless fragments, and heavily damaged.
"It doesn't look easy to make this usable," Kabuto, who had been managing the project, carefully examined the contents before remarking, "Over the years, it hasn't changed much from when it was in the hands of Kumo."
"If it were easy, it wouldn't be interesting," Orochimaru said. "Kumo's technology is quite impressive. Just gathering all this skin tissue must have taken immense effort, not to mention the years spent trying to restore its vitality."
"Reviving someone who has been dead for so long, with just this... Kumo must have resources to spare."
"They simply had no way to make proper use of it," Orochimaru stepped forward, placing a hand on the tank's outer wall. He gazed at the charred, fragile remains inside and praised, "As expected of the man who embodied the Senju clan's craftsmanship in life—he truly did attain the Sage's Body."
"Not quite," Kabuto countered. "Orochimaru-sama, you yourself said that even after so many years, the First Hokage's cells still possess vitality far beyond ordinary people."
"Kabuto, you're not paying close attention," Orochimaru smirked. "The experiment has already succeeded. From now on, replace the culture fluid with this new configuration. It is regenerating itself."
"Konoha seeks the Senju clan's power, but I'm more interested in their craft. When it comes to the path between life and death, no one has ventured deeper than Muzo."
"But he died."
"Don't ruin the moment, Kabuto," Orochimaru checked over his treasure, evidently pleased. "You've done an excellent job—I will reward you."
"No, I merely followed your hypothesis and took bold action."
"Heh, you truly are exceptional. Let's go. It's time to meet with Sasori."
Orochimaru withdrew his hand from the cultivation tank and turned back toward the passage they had entered through.
"Is it really appropriate to meet with Akatsuki at this time?"
"Akatsuki is still useful to me. Besides, if we delay much longer, Sasori will start to suspect you."
"I'd be more concerned about what Sasori would do if he ran into Masashi."
Despite his words, Kabuto quickly followed Orochimaru out of the underground chamber.
Sasori was certainly not known for his patience.
Over the years, Nagato and that man called Tobi appeared to be working together, but behind the scenes, their infighting was fierce. Orochimaru had made himself useful by trading intelligence between the two sides.
Most of Akatsuki's information on Kumo came from him, who sold it to Ame.
At the same time, he maintained a key "partnership" with Kumo, ensuring he had both the means and the channels to collect their intelligence.
Emerging from underground, the two surfaced west of Oto—deliberately choosing the opposite direction from Masashi.
Orochimaru rarely enjoyed the sunlight, but today's wasn't particularly pleasant. After all, among Akatsuki's members, the only one he could tolerate a conversation with was Kakuzu.
With Sasori, it was already a stretch not to fight on sight out of respect for Nagato.
And yet, for this meeting, Sasori was the designated contact. That alone was worth pondering.
Traveling westward, Orochimaru reached the agreed location.
But Sasori was nowhere to be seen.
"Kabuto, do you think Sasori might have run into Masashi?" To think, he dared to be late and waste his precious research time. Should he just kill him outright?
Human puppets weren't particularly valuable, but they could still be interesting research material.
"Please have patience," Kabuto advised. He, too, disliked Sasori, but saw no need to make an enemy of him over this.
Orochimaru's tone, however, already hinted at bloodlust.
"Very well. Since we're already here, we'll wait," Orochimaru smirked wickedly. "You go talk to him first. Oh, and make sure to mention how Sunag has been looking for him ever since last time."
"Understood."
Orochimaru began plotting how to extract as much benefit from Sasori—or rather, from Akatsuki—as possible.
Over the years, he had felt that his returns from Akatsuki had not justified the time he invested in them.
Meanwhile, after implementing their elite-focused policy, Suna had shrunk in size but had grown stronger in combat power. Even their jinchūriki were finally starting to meet expectations.
He had been keeping a close eye on the intelligence from all five great ninja villages.
As a master spy among the Sannin, he never neglected the flow of information.
His main focus remained on Konoha, Kumo, and Suna.
He was certain that these three would soon create a major event that would shake the world.
Kumo and Suna attacking Iwa was no surprise—they weren't fighting Iwa for once, that would have been newsworthy.
The real big event would inevitably involve Konoha.
For that, he needed to be prepared—not just to avoid being caught up in unnecessary battles between these restless shinobi but also to capitalize on any opportunity that arose.
If something truly valuable appeared, he wouldn't hesitate to take it for himself.
---
As the main character whom both Orochimaru and Kabuto were waiting for with their own schemes, Sasori was in a terrible mood.
It was awful—pure bad luck.
On the high ground, Masashi stood with a grin, looking at him with amusement, just shy of outright laughing.
"I'm not here to cause trouble for Konoha."
Sasori looked at the man standing in front of him, inwardly cursing his bad luck. Every time he crossed paths with Orochimaru, nothing good ever came of it.
The White Ghost was now widely acknowledged as someone capable of overturning a great nation. And his mind was as unpredictable as his power. Over the past few years, people had mysteriously ended up dead simply because he deemed them a threat to Konoha—mostly from Kumo.
Eventually, even Konoha itself stopped sending him on overseas missions, and only then did the international community find some peace.
But the moment he stepped outside his country's borders, neighboring nations grew uneasy.
For Akatsuki, he was one of the very few people who had disrupted their plans multiple times and yet remained untouchable.
Shortly after Pain took control of Ame, Masashi had led a ninja army to his doorstep and forced him into signing a treaty.
To Sasori, the fact that Pain didn't immediately retaliate spoke volumes about Masashi's sheer strength.
Akatsuki, despite being an organization filled with missing-nin of the highest danger level, had to operate cautiously because of him—the Land of Fire was completely off-limits.
However, before coming to the Land of Rice Fields, he hadn't received any intel about Masashi leaving the village. If he had known, he wouldn't have come.
"Do you know how much the Kazekage has put on your bounty?" Masashi asked instead of answering.
He had suspected that Orochimaru's group was hiding something.
Turns out, they were meeting with Akatsuki. He had expected Kakuzu, but it was Sasori instead.
Honestly, it had been a long time since Masashi had taken on a bounty mission.
But the bounty set by the Kazekage… it was just too tempting.
He didn't know where Rasa ranked in terms of strength among the Kazekage lineage, but one thing was certain—the man's control over gold dust made his bounty allocations ridiculously high.
"Sasori, didn't Akatsuki accept a commission from Iwa? Why aren't you in the Land of Earth? If you didn't take Iwa's job, then that means you aren't a friend of Konoha's allies."
Masashi smiled.
The moment he saw Sasori, he had already decided to take him out.
In this alternate timeline where Deidara was steadily advancing as the future Tsuchikage, Masashi didn't assume that Sasori would inevitably meet the same fate as before.
What if, one day, he decided to return to Suna?
Betraying his village and killing his own Kazekage—such crimes would be unforgivable in Konoha. In the original timeline, Orochimaru had only been "redeemed" because of his contributions in the Fourth Shinobi War.
But in Suna? Not necessarily.
Before the Suna siblings were born, Suna hadn't completely severed ties with Sasori.
In mainstream Suna's opinion, Sasori was a lost genius who had abandoned his faith.
Killing the Kazekage? Not that big of a deal.
If an outsider had killed the Kazekage, that would be serious. But if it was done by one of their own, the desert people—who believed in strength above all—might see it differently.
When the Third Kazekage first disappeared, the Suna ninjas initially conducted a standard search. But soon enough, they descended into civil war, only uniting again when Kumo launched a surprise attack.
Eventually, they gave up the search altogether and started claiming Konoha was responsible for the assassination.
Suna's integrity couldn't be overestimated.
If Sasori ever returned to Suna, their overall strength would skyrocket—posing a major threat to Konoha.
So, to Masashi, a dead Sasori was a good Sasori.
"You have an agreement with Nagato." Sasori could sense the killing intent in Masashi's eyes. He wasn't sure where this hostility was coming from, as he had never had any direct conflict with him before.
But one thing was clear—if a fight broke out, he would be at a disadvantage. This man was one of the few who could counteract puppet techniques entirely. Tactically, he was a complete hard counter.
"The agreement is between Konoha and Ame, not Akatsuki. It seems you really didn't take Iwa's commission." Masashi nodded. "That's a problem."
"What problem?" Sasori asked blankly.
"You once attacked the Chunin Exam venue. You're a missing-nin who stood against Konoha. But now, you haven't been hired by any of Konoha's allies. Standing in front of me like this… puts me in a difficult position."
Sasori felt like cursing.
He wanted to say: if it's difficult, then don't do it!
But based on Masashi's reputation, he knew that wouldn't work.
"How about this? Why don't you go and take a commission from Suna? That way, things would be fairer. After all, Suna is also an ally of Konoha."
"Why don't you go yourself?" Sasori secretly attached a chakra thread to the ground. "The cowards of Suna would be thrilled."
"That's an interesting opinion." Masashi nodded. "Did you kill the Third Kazekage and attack the Chunin Exams because of that sentiment?"
"I have nothing to do with Suna anymore. If you want to deal with them, leave me out of it." Sasori replied.
Damn it, he thought. Why is he dragging me into this?
"They say the more someone avoids something, the more they care about it." Masashi sighed. "You still have feelings for Suna, don't you?"
Sasori felt like he had to curse now.
Just as he was about to speak, a slight vibration traveled through his chakra thread from underground.
He immediately leaped backward, pulling up a large chunk of rock to use as a shield.
The moment the rock was lifted, it began to crumble apart.
Masashi had already activated his jutsu.
A dark golden wave spread from his position, sending countless grains of sand surging forward, their folds resembling ocean waves.
Wherever the waves passed, all moisture evaporated. Plants and the earth alike crumbled into dust.
"Sasori, I've always been curious—how exactly did you manage to kill the Third Kazekage, who wielded the Iron Sand?"
The Second Kazekage had pioneered both the Magnet Release and Puppet Techniques, but the former countered the latter.
Against Suna's puppet techniques, Magnet Release was the perfect weapon.
He was genuinely curious.
"I killed him through sheer force." Sasori had been on guard the moment he sensed something was off in Masashi's tone. When the first attack came, he managed to dodge it. "Don't think I'm an easy target."
"For an S-rank missing-nin, that's a pretty funny thing to say." Masashi expanded the range of his Scorching Sand, filling the air with burning granules. "Where are your puppets? Have you changed careers?"
"You'll see soon enough!"
