Naruto: Unlocking Kaido Template

The fight between the blond man and Sasori didn't last long. Soon enough, control of the Third Kazekage was back in Sasori's hands. After all, he was a true puppeteer. If he couldn't even control his own puppet, what right did he have to call himself the best?

The restless puppets around them gradually stilled, but the blond man had left a backup plan. Transparent silk threads were embedded in several of the puppets. Even if he couldn't control them outright, he could still interfere with Sasori's manipulation.

The blond man noticed something odd—Sasori's movements were slightly stiff. It wasn't obvious to the average eye, but as someone who regularly manipulated others, how could he not notice?

"What a lunatic... Later," the blond man muttered. He raised one hand high, and a ball of white silk thread shot from his wrist, anchoring into the mountain ceiling. His body soared upward.

Then, the silk threads formed into claws, dragging rubble from the ceiling to collapse the cave. Sasori didn't chase him. He had already memorized the man's scent. There was no rush—he'd hunt him down eventually. It was a bit of fun he'd added to his so-called eternal life.

However, while Sasori allowed the blond man to escape, someone else wasn't so merciful.

A violent gust of wind exploded through the cave, and a burning iron mace shot through the storm like a cannonball, smashing toward the fleeing man with crushing force. The impact nearly hammered his spirit straight into the underworld.

The blond man barely managed to pull all his threads in front of his chest. The attack had come too suddenly, like the mace-wielder had been lurking there, just waiting to ambush him.

Insidious, sneaky, shameless—those were the words that came to mind as he gritted his teeth.

BOOM! Smoke and debris erupted from the cave floor. Before Sasori could identify what had dropped, another tall figure holding a mace leapt down into the cavern.

"I didn't expect a bonus," the man grinned, rubbing his hands together. "Well, the more the merrier. Just doing my civic duty."

The blond man felt like his internal organs had been completely rearranged. His heart was barely beating, but he wasn't a novice. Using the silk threads embedded in his body, he stitched together his damaged organs and dropped to the ground, playing dead. Just in case.

The reason? He had sensed a disturbingly familiar presence in the man wielding the mace.

"Oi, Doflamingo... stop faking it." The mace-wielder—Zixu—spoke coldly. "Pretend long enough, and you might just stay dead."

Doflamingo raised his head, shaken. The man before him looked different from Kaido, but the aura and Devil Fruit power were unmistakable. His mind whirled.

Is he Kaido's son? Wait... Kaido has a daughter—Yamato...

Zixu stared at him. An ominous feeling gnawed at his gut. People from the One Piece world had actually shown up here. There was no doubt anymore—it had to be the work of someone with a system. Rosinante was mostly off the hook now. The real suspect... was Orochimaru.

"You know things. You've got memories from before. That much is clear..." Zixu narrowed his eyes at Doflamingo like he was examining an encyclopedia of forbidden knowledge. At the very least, he'd make an excellent dissection subject.

Sasori, who had been silent until now, suddenly stepped forward. He'd sensed the explosive energy inside Zixu. Without hesitation, he abandoned Doflamingo and locked eyes on his new prey—like a child discovering a shiny new toy.

"If I turn you into a puppet... you'll be stronger than all of them combined..." Sasori muttered.

He tossed aside his Akatsuki cloak, revealing his puppet-modified body. Several other figures in matching red robes stepped out from the shadows.

Sasori's eyes turned black and grey, cold and unfeeling. He controlled his corpse puppets without remorse. On one side stood Gekko Hayate—now reduced to a puppet. On the other, the Third Kazekage hovered silently behind him.

Hundreds of puppets swarmed forward like a wasp nest had burst, completely surrounding Zixu. The air grew heavy.

Doflamingo, ever the survivalist, didn't hesitate. He had feared Kaido, worked with him, and now here stood someone with the same terrifying power. He was injured, outmatched, and not in the mood for pride. So he did what he did best—shifted sides.

"Hey," he said, pushing his broken sunglasses up, "how about we take him down together?"

"Up to you," Sasori replied indifferently. "But once he's dead, you're next."

Pain meant nothing to Sasori—he'd long since discarded his humanity and remade himself as a puppet.

Zixu snapped his fingers.

Suddenly, the rattling noise from the puppet army fell into silence. Behind him, a man with the same blond hair appeared, eyes still half-closed like he'd just been woken from a nap.

"Stop sleeping. Look who's here," Zixu said, pointing at Doflamingo.

The man—Rosinante—followed Zixu's finger. Electricity surged through his body as his eyes widened.

"...Doflamingo?"

Across the cavern, Doflamingo froze. He couldn't believe it. Rosinante should be dead. What the hell was going on?

Rosinante's surprise faded quickly. He wasn't the same person anymore. He'd been reborn, and the past no longer mattered.

"Take one each. Show me what you've got," Zixu said, clapping him on the shoulder.

Rosinante sighed, stretching lazily. "Yeah, yeah..."

Zixu charged in. His wind-based attacks had evolved—razor-sharp gales that could shred anything in their path. There were plenty of ways to counter puppets: take out the puppeteer, break their joints, or sever their chakra threads. Zixu didn't care which method worked—his wind blades were harvesting puppets like crops at harvest.

Rosinante, on the other hand, simply walked toward Doflamingo, relaxed and utterly open.

Doflamingo flinched, launching balls of silk thread in a probing strike. He wanted to test Rosinante's power, remembering his brother's useless Devil Fruit from the past.

But what happened next shocked him.

The threads stopped—frozen mid-air, unable to move forward. The probing strike had failed. No... it hadn't even begun.

Rosinante's strength wasn't what it used to be.

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