Double-transformation: I, Sakura Haruno! Will crush the pirates!

"Look at this ageless body! I have transcended humanity and touched the eternal art!"

Scorpion unleashed a torrent of flames at Chiyo, while the sword whip within her abdomen moved nimbly, piercing through her.

Faced with the fierce attack, Chiyo showed no fear and calmly took out a scroll from her bag.

"Honestly, I thought I'd never need to use this technique again!"

A purple scroll flashed by, and ten puppets dressed in white robes, each armed with their own weapons, surrounded Chiyo in the center.

—The White Secret Technique: The Ten Puppet Masters of Chikamatsu!

One of the female puppets was chained to another puppet that released a rotating light shield, shattering all the flames and poison stings like a flailing meteor.

"Yes, that's exactly how it should be!"

Scorpion reached into his chest and opened the box inside. "If I don't surpass you, I can't reach the pinnacle of puppetry!"

Fine chakra threads extended out, and the scroll behind Sasori also unfurled, revealing a legion of hundreds of puppets dressed in red robes floating in mid-air, connected by the threads.

——Red Secret Technique: Hundred Machines Exercise!

The silk threads transmitted the scorpion's will from the regeneration core into the bodies of each puppet. Hundreds of red-robed puppets, their eyes glowing red, charged forward, brandishing their weapons.

The battle between the White Secret Technique and the Red Secret Technique began, and the two top-notch puppeteers fought fiercely in front of Sakura. As she watched from the sidelines, she couldn't help but raise her finger, and a small strand of chakra thread extended from her fingertip.

"This way of transmitting will is interesting!"

The silk threads in the girl's hands danced gracefully, like nimble butterflies flitting between her fingertips.

Before long, their puppets were gradually exhausted.

"I won, Grandma!"

As Sasori unleashed his final puppet form, charging towards all of Chiyo's companions, an excited expression appeared on his previously cold face.

The arm's mechanism snapped open, releasing a sharp blade that slashed towards the heaving, aged chest.

puff!

Two sharp blades crossed and pierced through each other, and purple blood dripped from the tips of the blades onto the ground.

The puppets, named Father and Mother, wielding two short swords, pierced through the scorpion's regeneration core in an embrace-like manner.

"What a pity, one move short..."

Scorpion's indifferent gaze was like a deep pool as he surveyed the surrounding ground.

The massive seal, composed of fragments scattered across the ground by the Chikamatsu Ten, firmly sealed off all of his chakra. The damaged regeneration core inflicted incurable damage, and he would likely die here.

Why didn't you dodge that final blow?

Seeing that the two had finished their battle, Sakura also entered the battlefield.

"I'm tired." The monotone voice sounded icy. "I've exhausted all my puppets, and the rest is too boring, so I don't want to continue."

This way of measuring everything with amusement made Sakura clench her fists. "You rascal..."

"Never mind, Lady Sakura."

Chiyo stepped forward to stop him, saying, "It's all because of my and Sunagakure's upbringing that he's become like this."

In the puppet's final, shifting gaze, Sakura's Observation Haki sensed its life slowly fading away.

In silence, Chiyo limped toward Sasori, buried him, and then walked toward Gaara.

The village, children, grandchildren, tailed beasts... A deep sense of powerlessness enveloped the old man, causing a pang of regret to surface in this man who had almost lived out his entire life just before his soul departed for the heavens.

Not far away, a large amount of red, waxy substance gushed out from the ground, and soon a large hole was dug in the ground.

A dusty-looking boy emerged from the crowd, and upon seeing Sakura, a smile spread across his face.

"Sakura!"

Naruto brushed the dust off his face, greeted everyone, and climbed out of the crater.

Sasuke, who was right behind him, also climbed out, and the two of them walked towards Sakura together.

"What are you two doing here? Where's Itachi Uchiha?" Sakura asked.

"That bastard saw you fighting the enemy, then used a ninjutsu to run away with his men!"

Just thinking about Itachi's despicable appearance made Sasuke grit his teeth. "Forget it, let's not talk about that guy. How's Gaara? Have they captured the Akatsuki members?"

Sakura nodded to Gaara, whose life was waning, gesturing for them to look around at the puppet fragments scattered on the ground and the two unconscious Akatsuki members in the distance.

"Gaara!"

Completely ignoring the puppets around him, Naruto's azure pupils contracted, and he ran towards Gaara, who had already died, using both hands and feet.

Chiyo, who was kneeling beside Gaara to treat him, saw Naruto's expectant gaze, closed her eyes helplessly, and shook her head at him.

"Damn it, how could this be..."

Naruto bit his lip and lay on the ground, pounding his fists against the ground.

Having already experienced two failed attempts to realize her ideals, Chiyo's gaze grew increasingly clouded.

Just when she was in despair, she met a young man who disregarded personal gain and political stance and traveled thousands of miles to participate in a rescue mission that could cost him his life at any moment.

Ah, that's wonderful!

It's truly delightful to see such a ninja appear in the ninja world created by such a bored old woman!

"Boy, what's your name?"

Wiping away his tears, Naruto stepped forward and answered, "Naruto Uzumaki!"

"Good name, I'll remember it!" Chiyo, who had already absolved herself of her sins, showed a relieved smile.

She made many mistakes in her life, but in the end she had the opportunity to do some right things, which was probably a blessing from heaven.

The era of young people is coming, and her time to fade has come!

Chiyo stretched out her hands and placed them on Gaara's chest.

A ring of blue chakra lit up his palm. The Reincarnation Technique, originally used to create living puppets, was now being used on corpses.

A continuous flow of life force poured into Gaara's body, causing his long-dormant body to gradually show signs of life.

"Well, Sakura-sama, may I ask you one last question?"

Her skin grew increasingly dry, and Chiyo's life force flickered like a candle in the wind, ready to be extinguished at any moment.

"Ask away." Sakura sat cross-legged so that Chiyo could see her eyes.

Chiyo's breathing became increasingly heavy. The previous battle had left her with very little chakra, and now, maintaining the spell made it even more difficult for her to speak.

Unexpectedly, Naruto stepped forward and placed his hand into Chiyo's jutsu, making the flames of the forbidden technique, Reanimation Jutsu, even brighter, and giving Chiyo the opportunity to ask one last question.

"With such power, what kind of world do you ultimately intend to create?"

The girl was taken aback for a moment, but her expression quickly calmed down.

Her lips parted slightly, uttering a muffled word carried by the wind.

"I see, what a...wonderful future!"

And so, the flame of life was extinguished.

Before the three of them, the old woman, who had survived two Shinobi World Wars, lost all her strength and was supported by Sakura, after which she never lived again.

Only one bluebird, invisible to the naked eye, flapped its wings, soared into the sky, and disappeared.

Chapter 257 Sasuke's Mangekyou Sharingan (Happy Mid-Autumn Festival everyone!)

Beneath the battlefield, a pair of eyes constantly watched the three people on the ground.

"This can't go on any longer, we have to find a way to awaken Uchiha Obito!"

Floating within the soil, almost blending into nature, the Black Zetsu began to plan.

Just as he was about to take action, the presence of another spy caught his attention.

That was an aura from a higher power that even Black Zetsu, a creation of Yin-Yang Release, could not resist.

"Mother... no, could it be someone from the same clan as Mother!"

Almost instinctively, Black Zetsu was about to use the Mayfly Technique to escape.

But when he thought of Obito Uchiha, this convenient tool, and his own millennia-long plan to invest in the Uchiha clan, he abruptly stopped in his tracks.

Just one look, just one look!

If it is found that things are not going to work, retreat immediately to preserve the spark for the great cause of resurrecting the mother!

Thinking of this, Black Zetsu used his Mayfly Technique to quietly swim towards the direction where the aura was leaking.

He then sensed, through the ubiquitous root system and mayfly spores, that there was an extremely tiny man above the ground.

He was dressed in a white feather robe, staring intently at Uchiha Sasuke standing in the distance, muttering incantations.

"Should we give that descendant of Kaguya the try? Maybe he has some talent!"

Black Zetsu blushed upon hearing the other's words, but dared not do anything about it, and could only observe the other's every move from the side.

"10% chakra is still quite sufficient. Why don't we give it a try? If it succeeds, wouldn't it be much faster than slowly cultivating it using the remains of a jujutsu?"

As they spoke, Black Zetsu saw the man move, his entire body rapidly enlarging as he charged forward.

The next instant, the black dart in his hand shot out, and he was already in front of Sasuke.

"!"

Sakura was the first to notice the anomaly; as a user of space-time ninjutsu, she discovered that space was distorted.

Sasuke and Naruto were completely unaware of the sudden attack that hadn't revealed their presence at all. They were even concerned about supporting Chiyo and helping Gaara up.

"Get away!"

Sakura shouted at Sasuke.

The trust built up over countless missions over two and a half years allowed the young man to back away without hesitation when he heard the girl's call.

However, he was now facing an enemy that Ling created, toyed with, manipulated, and even surpassed in terms of chakra.

The black thorn, influenced by an unknown technique, suddenly lengthened and pierced towards Sasuke.

At the critical moment, the Flying Thunder God Technique flashed, and the girl grabbed Sasuke, about to teleport away with him.

However, the enemy, who already possessed the ability to manipulate space, had golden light flashing in his eyes. He infinitely magnified the scale of the surrounding space, distorting all the spatial pathways formed by the connections between chakra.

"Damn it!" Sakura gritted her teeth, pulled Sasuke behind her, and her domineering aura formed an invisible armor around her body.

boom!

The moment the black thorns and the domineering aura collided, a deafening roar erupted, followed by a violent shockwave that swept out from the point of their clash, the resulting dust obscuring everyone's vision.

Then, the imposing armor shattered with a crash.

It's as smooth as a mirror, like a glass column cut by a high-pressure water jet.

Black Thorn, carrying the Otsutsuki clan's unique data backup—the Karma—pierced Sakura's abdomen.

"cough!"

Sakura, who was clutching the black thorn, coughed up a mouthful of blood. The life-restoring process, which was no longer being maintained, caused her body to swell up and return to a height of 2.3 meters.

The shadows covered the attackers.

A beam of light shot from her palm, manipulating 'entropy', reversing heat and transforming it into frost, then effortlessly turning the frost back into flames.

The resulting thermal cycle converges into a giant storm sword, upon which Armament Haki and Conqueror's Haki simultaneously entwine.

—Weiguo o Vacuum Wave!

After a complex and intricate transformation, the storm raged, and finally, the longsword, imbued with the will of a conqueror, pierced the enemy's body.

Amidst the violent tremors, the attacker was overwhelmed by the immense, unstoppable force, flying backward like a rag doll, shattering along with the ground behind him, and ultimately plunging into the abyss.

"Damn it, he's just an ordinary person, why is he...?"

The bewildered voice was swallowed by the storm, and the domineering will it created repeatedly damaged and eroded his cells.

Left with no other choice, he glared resentfully at the girl standing on the cliff he had carved out, hastily opened a black door, and fled in a disheveled state.

"Well!"