Reborn as Danzō’s Grandson, Must I Offend the Entire Ninja World?

Through the effect of the Forbidden Technique One's Own Life Reincarnation, Chiyo used her chakra as a medium to share her life force with Gaara.

Gaara survived and was brought back to life.

But Chiyo closed her eyes forever.

After understanding everything that had happened and Chiyo's sacrifice, Gaara stood silently in front of her body and bowed deeply, a silent expression of gratitude.

Everyone else also remained silent, paying their respects to the old woman.

Even though they had stood on opposing sides, and the two villages were still enemies, they all respected Chiyo's spirit—the will to give her life for her village and the next generation.

After a long while, Gaara straightened and looked at the others.

"Temari, thank you. And you, Naruto. I didn't expect you would come to save me."

"Thank you, Yami."

Temari didn't accept Gaara's gratitude. "If it wasn't for Yami agreeing to send Kakashi's team and Karin, even if Chiyo was willing to sacrifice herself, there would have been no chance."

Gaara didn't argue. He was also a little surprised.

The man who suppressed other villages to the point of suffocation had actually sent people to rescue him, just because of Temari's plea?

"I will write a letter to thank him. Temari, please pass it on to Shimura Yami."

Then Gaara turned to Kakashi. "Akatsuki's target isn't just the One-Tail inside me. It's all the tailed beasts."

"This is an organization that poses a threat to the entire shinobi world. Suna wishes to cooperate with Konoha to confront these dangerous rogue ninja."

Kakashi held Naruto back, who was about to nod, and replied cautiously, "Lord Kazekage, I will pass along your intent to the Hokage, but I cannot guarantee the final decision."

Kakashi couldn't predict Yami's thoughts, but after following him for so long, he had a general understanding.

Cooperating with other villages? Any Hokage might consider it, but Yami would not.

In his eyes, no one seemed to stand on equal footing with him.

"I understand."

Gaara nodded slowly. "I will wait in the village for his reply." Looking around, Gaara invited everyone to return to Suna to rest, but Karin declined.

They had captured two members of Akatsuki.

No one could say for sure if more Akatsuki members would come to rescue them. It was safer to return to Konoha immediately.

Gaara didn't force them.

Before long, Suna's follow-up tracking team also arrived at point B87.

Before leaving, Temari handed Gaara the scroll Yami had given her. "Yami asked me to give this to you. I don't know what's written inside."

"I know."

Gaara took it, watched the others leave, then opened the scroll. His expression quickly changed.

He stood there silently for a long time, then used sand to shred the scroll into dust.

Uchiha Obito had been watching from the shadows but ultimately didn't act.

This group was not weak, and Kakashi still had a spatial link to him. Rescuing the two wouldn't be difficult, but retreating afterward would be another matter.

Now wasn't the time to completely fall out with Konoha. Too many cards couldn't be exposed yet.

Since the two had been captured alive, they wouldn't be executed right away, and Konoha would definitely try to extract information about Akatsuki.

If he wanted to rescue them, it would be easier once they were imprisoned.

A day later, Kakashi returned to the village with his team and went straight to the Hokage's office to report to Yami.

The mission could be considered smooth. There had been no real crises.

Naruto and Sasuke had displayed overwhelming strength, making Kakashi feel that he was truly getting old.

Still, remembering the instructions from Minato in the sealed space, Kakashi wasn't about to give up.

Without the pressure of low chakra reserves, he could practice and develop more jutsu. He still had hope to go further and shake off his "50-50" reputation.

After silently listening to Kakashi and Karin's report, Yami's expression didn't change much. "Temari, call Kurotsuchi here."

Temari left to carry out the order, and while waiting, Yami looked at Deidara.

"I heard from Kurotsuchi that you weren't convinced by me before?"

"Hmph."

Deidara didn't deny it and sneered, "You're just a vulgar man with no appreciation for art. If you've got the guts, let me go and I'll show you my ultimate art!"

"I am vulgar indeed."

Walking up to Deidara, Yami removed the ring from his finger—the one that marked him as a member of Akatsuki.

"Bastard, that's my ring! Give it back!"

"What right does a captive have to make demands?"

Yami chuckled and then took the ring that belonged to Sasori from Karin as well. "To be honest, if all Akatsuki members were at your level, Kakashi and the others could've wiped you out by themselves."

"You bastard!"

Having been mocked, Deidara didn't even care about the ring anymore. He immediately tried to justify himself. "They only caught me because I'd used up too much clay in Suna! I'll blow all of you to hell!"

"…This guy…"

Kakashi's expression turned blank. He felt like Deidara was even more childish than Naruto.

There was a sound at the door, and Temari returned with Kurotsuchi.

Seeing her childhood friend after so long, Kurotsuchi didn't look as emotional as one might expect, just sighed.

"Deidara, rest easy. I'll write to Grandpa and ask him not to be angry with you anymore."

"Hey, Kurotsuchi!"

Deidara stared at her. "You're so heartless! Why don't you at least try to save me?"

"I could escape with you, you know!"

"Exactly. Because I'm heartless."

Yami also nodded. "I thought you'd beg for him."

"Would that have worked?"

Kurotsuchi had long since seen through Yami's nature. Other than Izumi, even Yugao and Kurenai couldn't sway him.

Not to mention she was still a captive. She had no right to speak.

"You've gotten smarter over the years."

Yami smiled, patted her head, then let her have a few final words with Deidara before sending everyone out.

Once the room was clear, Yami activated his Mangekyō Sharingan in front of Deidara's shocked eyes and sucked both Deidara and Sasori's sealed scroll into Takamagahara.

"You… You're Uchiha too?!"

Deidara was stunned. Wasn't this guy the one who awakened the Senju bloodline?

How did Uchiha get involved too?

"I'm not an Uchiha. I've just happened to master their abilities."

Yami answered calmly. His eyes switched from Mangekyō to the purple Rinnegan. Several black chakra rods extended from his palm and pierced into Deidara's body.

"This is the leader's ability…"

Deidara didn't even know what expression to make. He could only watch as Yami began transforming him.

Foreign chakra poured into his body through the chakra rods, unlocking his seals.

Yami formed a hand seal, and Deidara's body started moving against his will.

"What did you do to me?!"

For the first time, the fearless Deidara showed fear. He tried desperately to resist, but it was like his body and mind were in different worlds. He could only watch as he was forced to dance ridiculously and slide down a pole without dignity.

"Conscious resistance makes it harder to operate…"

Yami canceled the control technique with a hint of dissatisfaction.

Once he regained control of his body, Deidara attempted self-destruction with a ferocious grin.

"Die! This explosion is—"

Before he could finish, Yami gave him a look, and Deidara immediately fell into a genjutsu.

"Keeping consciousness makes the Six Paths clones stronger, but it also increases unpredictability. I'll need to adjust Deidara's mental state each time using Eight Thousand Spears…"

Yami's plan was to create his own version of the Six Paths puppets.

But unlike Nagato, who used corpses, Yami wanted to use living people.

That way, when he wasn't directly controlling them, the Six Paths clones could still act independently. He would only serve as a power source for the abilities he gave them.

His Mangekyō turned again, imprinting a crescent-shaped seal on Deidara's palm, which then sank into the skin.

Then, Yami reawakened Deidara's consciousness. Surprisingly, Deidara didn't attack Yami upon waking. He calmly grabbed his ninja pouch and began molding clay bombs, blasting nearby mountains.

"Use it for now. You'll have time for your nonsense later."

The artistic duo both had their own passions and weaknesses.

No—more accurately, all Akatsuki members had their own weaknesses. Except for the lunatic Hidan.

There was no way Yami would join some evil god cult just to win over Hidan, right?

He quietly assigned the Six Paths abilities in his mind and reinserted Sasori's heart.

Sasori's head had been blown apart by Karin. What Yami brought back was just one of the generic puppet heads from the Hundred Puppets Technique.

But a strange thing happened. Once chakra was restored, the puppet transformed into Sasori's original face.

To be honest, Yami had to admit—aside from himself, Sasori might have the most handsome face in the shinobi world.

When Sasori woke up, he didn't act recklessly. He simply looked around, his gaze eventually settling on Yami.

"Shimura Yami?" Sasori's voice was flat and indifferent.

As the most influential person in the current shinobi world, even Akatsuki had gathered plenty of information on Yami. He was not unfamiliar with the face.

"I'll spare you the nonsense."

Yami clasped his hands slowly. "Sasori of the Red Sand, the so-called eternity is no longer in your hands. It depends on how I see you."

"Akatsuki was just a temporary shelter. I believe you'll make the wise choice."

"A wise choice is to be your dog?" Sasori's eyes were devoid of emotion, like a corpse.

"No. I'll let you see a higher level of puppetry."

Yami formed a hand seal. Sasori's arm was manipulated to lift, shift, and transform into a pitch-black cannon, firing a shot at a distant mountain.

Sasori stared at his hand in disbelief. The black cannon made him feel like it no longer belonged to him…

Was this really a power that existed in the shinobi world?

The style… felt completely different.

"Don't be surprised. This is only the beginning."

Yami lowered his hand calmly. "I've shown you puppetry's future. How far it evolves is up to you."

"Chiyo used a Forbidden Technique to revive Gaara. There's nothing in this world left to hold you back."

"The eternal path you seek is destined to be lonely. You've cut the last bond. Don't let a temporary shelter cloud your judgment."

With that, Yami exited Takamagahara and released control over Sasori's body.

Unlike Deidara's impulsive nature, Sasori was rational.

The reason he died to Chiyo and Sakura in the original was mostly due to psychological tactics—Chiyo using his father and mother puppets to awaken his lost humanity.

Now that this emotional hurdle had passed, Sasori only had his pursuit of eternity. After witnessing the power of the Asura Path, he would make the right choice.

Back in his office, Yami slipped Deidara's ring onto his finger and began fine-tuning his chakra frequency.

The Phantom Technique was one of the Rinnegan's abilities. It used the ring to amplify thought waves and transmit them to pain, similar to a radio signal.

As long as he found the correct frequency, he could join the "chat room" and say hi to the Akatsuki crew.

But this required delicate adjustment and lots of trial and error.

"Got it."

Just as the workday was about to end, Yami, who had been meditating with his eyes closed, suddenly opened them. A ripple of colored waves spread from the ring.

His spiritual energy followed the signal to a sealed-off cave.

Inside, over a dozen tall stone pillars stood, and several vague figures stood atop them.

Coincidentally, Akatsuki was currently discussing how to rescue Sasori and Deidara, and everyone had gathered.

"I've sent him."

Pain said in a deep voice. "Konoha's defenses are meaningless to him. He can sneak in without trouble. No need to worry."

"Really? I don't believe that."

A sudden voice echoed from one of the stone pillars.

Pain was stunned. All of Akatsuki turned toward the source.

There stood Shimura Yami, his mental form projected into the space, calmly scanning each of them.

"Go ahead, keep chatting. Pretend I'm not here."

(To be continued.)

***

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