Naruto: Starting from the time when the Six Paths of Pain was Kira Yoshikage

After the first gathering of the newly formed Akatsuki organization ended, Zetsu and Kakuzu left separately, but Pain suddenly called out to Sasori, who was also about to leave.

Scorpion asked, slightly puzzled, "What is it, Chief?"

Although he was not as completely convinced by Pain as Kakuzu, he still agreed with Akatsuki's ideals and Pain's position as the leader of Pain.

Pain looked at Sasori and slowly spoke, "If... I mean if, I let you place the puppets you created into this Takigakure village for daily life, or even for ninja missions..."

"At least to outsiders, this place will appear no different from the original Takigakure Village. Can you... manage that?"

Sasori was taken aback by this, and looked at Pain uncertainly, asking, "You mean you want me to use puppets to simulate the original Takigakure?"

Pain nodded.

After receiving an affirmative answer, Scorpion pondered for a moment before replying, "Theoretically, there's no problem, but I'll need to operate it myself..."

Before Sasori could finish speaking, Pain interrupted him: "What if you didn't control it, but let the puppet act on its own?"

Having Scorpion personally control these puppets would be a complete waste of time.

"Act on its own? You mean give the puppet self-awareness?"

After pondering for a moment, Scorpion said frankly, "It's very difficult; at least I can't do it right now."

A puppet is something that has no self-awareness; if it had self-awareness, it wouldn't be called a puppet.

"No, it doesn't necessarily mean giving the puppets self-awareness... I mean you set up a simple set of action patterns and let these puppets act on their own. You can give them different personalities or even different individualities..."

What Pain was referring to was something akin to simple artificial intelligence, or something like an NPC.

This theory is commonplace in other high-tech worlds, but it is still quite novel in the world of Naruto.

As Pain spoke, Sasori's eyes began to light up, as if a door to a new world had been opened.

Sasori's brilliant mind began to work frantically. He was a genius puppeteer, and at a very young age he could independently create works that even adult puppeteers could not make. The small toys he made at will could become the most precious secret tools of other puppeteers in Sunagakure.

Pain's words greatly inspired him; he understood them instantly and could even apply them to other situations.

That's right. Puppets don't necessarily need chakra threads to be manipulated; that's the old-school puppeteer's approach. But I've been a genius puppeteer since childhood, so I'll follow the path of the new-school puppeteer. Making human puppets by hand is a way to break the conventions of the old-school puppeteers.

If you add a chakra core to a puppet and make some simple designs... even if you don't have to control it yourself, or even if you're not around, the puppet can act on its own according to the designed instructions.

In response to Pain's suggestion, he thought of a way to solve the problem of controlling hundreds of puppets with ten fingers.

"Theoretically, there's no problem..."

After an unknown amount of time, Sasori slowly raised his head, his eyes seemingly gleaming in the darkness, staring intently at Pain, and said, "But there are still difficulties in actual operation... However, this is a challenge for me, and an interesting one at that... I can give it a try."

The most difficult part is not getting these puppets moving, but getting them to perform tasks and revitalize the entire village.

Nagato wanted Sasori to play the role of the entire Takigakure village by himself, providing him with a feasible approach.

He always felt it was a pity to see such a genius puppeteer eventually transform himself into a human puppet, his age frozen at the most beautiful age.

But Sasori of the Red Sand was thinking—the leader understands me!

Geniuses are always lonely, and geniuses are always misunderstood.

Having lost his parents at a young age, Sasori of the Red Sand was always alone in his own village due to his personality. Although his grandmother, Chiyo, tried her best to care for him, she was not Sasori's parents after all. In addition, as an elder of Sunagakure, Chiyo was busy with political affairs, and as Sasori grew older, she naturally paid less attention to her grandson.

Sasori left Sunagakure partly because he harbored resentment towards the village and the Third Kazekage who caused him to lose his parents, and partly because he couldn't find a sense of belonging there.

Unexpectedly, after joining the Akatsuki organization, I encountered a leader who understood me so well.

Even after only a few meetings, they can provide you with the most insightful and profound inspiration.

This gave Scorpion a great sense of recognition.

A sense of identity and belonging is extremely important to people; the ancient saying "a scholar will die for one who understands him" reflects this sentiment.

"I will stay in this village to conduct research, since this is already the organization's territory."

Sasori looked at Pain with a glint in his eyes, as if something indescribable was hidden within them. He asked meaningfully, "Boss, is this alright?"

In Sasori's view, since the leader had gone to such great lengths to occupy Takigakure Village, using it as the organization's meeting place and even planning to develop it further, this place must be of paramount importance.

If they agree to let him stay in this place at this point, it means that the other party trusts him.

Putting himself in the other person's shoes, if the other person trusted him so honestly, then Sasori of the Red Sand wouldn't mind trusting them once in a while.

Conversely... consider it just a temporary place to stay.

Without the slightest hesitation, Pain replied directly, "Just tell me or 'Bai (Xiao Nan's ring code name) in advance what you need, and we will try our best to meet your needs."

The reason he answered so quickly was that, in Nagato's view, Takigakure was a secluded place, and since there was no one else alive in the village besides them, it was perfect for Sasori to focus on his research.

Their main base is in the Land of Rain, and Takigakure is only used as a meeting place for the Akatsuki organization.

Even a cunning rabbit has three burrows, let alone a large organization.

Upon hearing Pain's reply, Sasori nodded thoughtfully. He was certain that his leader truly understood him and trusted him completely.

but...

"The leader was referring to the angel, or rather, he didn't mention anyone else... which means the leader doesn't trust that pitcher plant."

Just now, Tendou Payne specifically mentioned the Minister of Intelligence, but he hasn't told Sasori to go find him yet.

Scorpion keenly grasped this crucial information.

"The existence of this situation within an organization can only prove that there is a second force lurking within it. In other words, behind the guy known as 'Zetsu' there might be one or two mysterious figures, perhaps even someone the leader would be wary of."

Although Scorpion guessed the wrong process, he arrived at the correct conclusion.

Scorpion nodded and replied earnestly, "I understand."

At this moment, Scorpion felt a faint stirring deep within his heart, but having very little experience with emotions, he didn't know what this feeling was.

Perhaps this is what books refer to as...friends? Or...companions?

What a wonderful experience.

In short, I, Sasori of the Red Sand, will not let this special feeling go to waste.

P.S.: I didn't use the original storyline that Sasori had a friend in Sunagakure. Given Sasori's personality, if he really had such a friend and turned him into a human puppet, he would definitely keep him by his side.

Don't tell me that the last scroll in the original work that wasn't opened was this friend; I'd rather believe it was the puppet's maintenance manual.