Chapter 153: The Thrill of Sin

“How can one person be this handsome and this obnoxious at the same time!” If Baimu’s jealousy could turn into flames, it would be enough to dry up an entire ocean.

Looks like there were still plenty of steps left on the road to acting cool.

“Sasori, no matter what, I’m taking you back so you can explain yourself!” Maki gritted his teeth as he glared at Sasori, drawing his Wind Blade, its edge already slightly nicked.

Baimu really didn’t want to fight Sasori. First the Hiruko puppet, then the Third Kazekage, then the Hundred Puppets, and after that, Sasori himself. The guy was practically an entire company of soldiers.

Still, for the sake of that Emperor’s legacy, wherever it might be, Baimu decided to take a gamble.

The Hiruko puppet was Sasori’s hiding place in the original story. It looked like a turtle and had exceptionally strong defenses. A scorpion tail made of solid steel was mounted at its rear, coated in deadly poison, while its mouth could spew a vast number of hidden weapons.

Under the control of Sasori’s little finger, Hiruko slowly crawled to the center of the room. It wasn’t good at moving quickly. It simply waited for an attack to come, then struck back.

The best way to smash this puppet would be with the three iron fists Karin had just unleashed. But she had come from the future, and her future self had told her not to act recklessly. Baimu didn’t want to force her, so he would have to sacrifice a little face and try to break through the puppet’s defenses with his corrosive saliva.

“Let’s all go! Shadow Clone Jutsu!”

Baimu couldn’t resist showing off, even with death staring him in the face. He stuck the Wind Blade into the ground and formed a hand seal with the sword.

Buzz, buzz, buzz…

Baimu’s figure rippled. Three shadow clones appeared behind him like phantoms, hefting the Wind Blade and striking a variety of arrogant poses. Their faces practically screamed, “We’re all villains here.”

“Number One, Number Two, Number Seven! Let’s move! Time to give that giant turtle a taste of the good life.” Baimu pointed his sword at Hiruko.

The three shadow clones shot forward like gusts of wind.

“Though this is a Sand Village matter, I’m counting on you! Gale Rush!” Maki roared as he charged at Hiruko.

“Tch. When you’re up against a puppeteer, you take down the puppeteer first!” Pakura tried to circle around Hiruko and attack Sasori directly.

“Take him down? Where’s the outfit?” Baimu Seven’s ears perked up. He immediately stopped and turned to look around.

“What a lecher. I can’t rely on you!” Baimu had no choice but to take Seven’s place himself. Otherwise, the opening would be too obvious.

“Leaf Style: Dance of the Crescent Moon!”

“Leaping Slash!”

Three figures soared high into the air from three different directions. Wind and lightning flashed along the blades of their swords. The Wind Blade’s natural affinity for wind was joined by the lightning element of a charged strike. Add a mouthful of corrosive old phlegm, and they might actually break through the puppet’s defenses in one hit.

It was a technique they had never practiced before, yet they executed it even more smoothly than Dongfang Jifeng had after years of training. Their assault was faster and more ferocious.

What did you call someone like that? There was a word for it: “ninja freak!” Baimu nearly leaned back in a tactical swoon.

But his grin vanished almost at once.

In the blink of an eye, a silver flash of lightning changed direction three times in midair. It was so fast it was almost unbelievable. Who could have guessed that Hiruko, slow as it was, could make such nimble attacks with its tail?

Clang! Clang! Clang!

Three thunderous cracks rang through the room. The three of them were flung back to where they had started. If they hadn’t activated their counterattack barriers in time, they would have wasted a whole round’s worth of shadow-clone chakra. Even so, the blocks had hurt. Their wrists throbbed, and a chip the size of a grain of rice had appeared in the Wind Blade.

Maki paused mid-charge, blinked, and obediently retreated.

Pakura had hoped to take advantage of Hiruko being occupied and go after Sasori, but she hadn’t expected Baimu to get knocked back with a single move.

“Damn it! You were the loudest one shouting, and the slowest one running!” Baimu, sprawled flat on his back, vented his humiliation on Maki.

Maki rolled his eyes. After spending some time with Baimu, he’d developed a pretty thick skin.

“This won’t work. That thing’s too fast,” Baimu One said.

“Why not surrender and join them? I want to sunbathe with my armpits out,” Baimu Two said.

“I’ve got a great idea.” Baimu Seven gave a thumbs-up.

“I doubt you can come up with anything good,” Baimu said. Seven was completely unreliable.

“He’s fast, but why don’t we just speed ourselves up?” Seven said with a knowing smile.

“Ohhh… ‘Wicked Thrill’!” One understood at once.

“Do something wicked, and the resulting thrill pushes you beyond your limits, giving you a huge boost in speed for a short time,” Two explained.

“But… what counts as wicked? We can’t just go and… heh heh heh…” Baimu’s lecherous old face turned red.

The three shadow clones looked at Pakura, then at Nonō and Pakura. Pakura had a fiery temper, so they headed for Nonō instead, grinning wickedly as they let out a lecherous cackle.

“Heh heh heh…”

“W-what are you doing?” Nonō clutched her clothes and backed away, a terrible feeling rising in her chest.

Swish, swish, swish…

All three shadow clones reached out with their wicked hands.

“Ahhhhh!” Nonō screamed.

“Woohoo!” A wicked thrill surged through them. The three clones cartwheeled away, cheering as they ran off at more than twice their previous speed.

Baimu hurried over to Nonō. “Sorry, sorry… Listen, I can explain. My shadow clones got a little out of hand. We just wanted to do something wicked and get a thrill out of it… Ah, I don’t mean it like that. Forget it…”

Baimu gave up on explaining. There was no point; who would believe something like that? He might as well go all the way. He was her slave master, after all. Her body belonged to him. What better time was there?

A wicked impulse took hold of Baimu. He reached out and drew a fourth black turtle on her face.

“Ahhhhh! You creep! You pervert!” Nonō screamed.

“Woohoo!” After his misdeed, Baimu felt as light as a feather, as if he could fly.

“Pfft. All lust and no guts,” Karin snickered from the side, winking at Nonō. “Mama, you can’t let Dad bully you like this forever. Why not just give in to him?”

Nonō pictured their wedding night, when Baimu would suddenly transform into a tentacle monster, slick tentacles stroking her skin all over the bed…

“No! Absolutely not!”

…

“Sasori! Drop the arrogance and watch this!” Four Baimus hefted their blades and took up attack stances.

“Boring.” Sasori shot them a sidelong glance and crooked his little finger, ignoring them completely. Hiruko’s defenses weren’t something an ordinary ninja could break through, while an ordinary person would die from a single touch of its tail spike.

With Ghost Step and Wicked Thrill activated, Baimu moved at a ghostly speed. Four blue streaks of light darted around Hiruko, leaving gorgeous trails in the air. He would have been a first-rate dancer onstage.

Sasori’s little finger began twitching noticeably faster as he controlled Hiruko’s tail to sweep and stab. But every strike missed. It simply couldn’t keep up with Baimu under the effects of Wicked Thrill.

“Heh-ptui!”

“Heh-ptui!”

“Heh-ptui!”

…

The four shadow clones took turns spitting mouthfuls of corrosive saliva onto Hiruko’s hunched back. Dense bubbles immediately formed, and yellow-green smoke began to rise.

Fortunately, Hiruko was a human puppet. Its shell wasn’t made of metal, but of human skin treated with special chemicals, so it wasn’t corroded through at once.

The attack did little damage, but it was deeply insulting. At last, Sasori began to lose his temper.

“I’ll skin you alive and use it to repair Hiruko.” Sasori curled his second ring finger.