Chapter 159 Flying All Around

"A boring question." Sasori's eyes were as calm as stagnant lake water.

"Another weird question. Six legs in the morning, two legs in the evening? Is it a scorpion that the chef mistook for a lobster?" Karin was completely stumped.

"It's your parents! Sasori, I just triggered a state of complete isolation at your house," Baimu mocked.

"Is everyone here in such a rush to die?" Sasori's anger flared once again. He had thought he had long since discarded his emotions, yet he still fell for a verbal trap. Raising his hand, he transformed another pillar of fire into a fiery whip and lashed it toward the wildly dancing Baimu in the air. Crossing both hands, he swept them forward to unleash a widespread, all-encompassing sheet of flames.

"Woohoohoohoo..." Baki finally fanned the air and staggered out of that purgatory-like place, his entire body glowing red as if he had been fished out of a boiling pot.

"Oh no, oh no, I can't even see Dad anymore. Is he going to be roasted into ashes?" Karin watched the sea of fire merge across the sky, the oxygen in the air beginning to thin out rapidly.

"Don't worry. You're from the future, and since he's alive in the future, of course he won't die right now," Tobi said calmly and reassuringly.

"Are you sure?"

"Sure! As sure as knowing you'll get diarrhea after drinking spoiled milk!"

"Oh no! The memory of my Dad in my head is starting to blur..." Karin clutched her forehead and frowned in agony.

"No way! My little darling!!!" Tobi panicked so hard his jaw hit the ground.

"Just kidding! Look, Dad has reappeared. That fierce aura... it's like a sword of justice falling straight from the heavens!" Karin pointed at Baimu, who was charging downward through the blazing fire.

Explosive Shield!

Baimu had already utilized the lock-on function of the "Overlord's Crash and Smash," ensuring that no matter how terrible his manual control might be, he would still be able to send Sasori flying with a single punch.

The twin fists, augmented with Hextech energy shields, firmly blocked the roaring flames, turning Baimu into a fearless meteor plummeting through the atmosphere, charging straight toward Sasori.

"You should have done this long ago. This boring battle is over." Sasori steadily increased the ratio of chakra poured into the flames, shifting them toward a blazing white hue—hot enough to melt solid steel alloys.

Baimu felt more than just a temperature far exceeding boiling water; a thrust akin to a rocket engine pushed against him with immense recoil. No matter how much steam the mobility belt, powered by the Five-Tails' chakra, jetted out, he remained unable to close the distance within half a meter.

"Just how strong is this guy?!" Baimu gritted his teeth, shocked to find that Sasori could actually neutralize the system's absolute judgment. It seemed the system's power had its own hierarchy of priorities.

At this moment, the Explosive Shield showed faint signs of melting. Baimu's clothes began to spontaneously combust, his hair and eyebrows singed yellow and curling inward. The heat had reached an unimaginable extreme. If not for the protective layer of chakra coating his skin, he probably would have already started smelling like roasted meat.

"This is starting to look a bit bad!" Karin gripped the Z-axis spacetime driver, ready to charge in at any moment.

"As bad as a rat entering a rat-disaster room..." Tobi grew nervous as well.

"You damn idiot, don't rush in blindly if you aren't sure of winning!" Yura stepped forward. She was a hero of Sunagakure, not some useless decoration who only knew how to hide behind a man for protection.

"Oh oh oh! A remarkably courageous young lady has stepped up! Is this a beauty saving the hero, or a desperate act of devotion for the one she loves?!" Tobi cried tears of joy in sheer excitement.

Karin remained silent, wearing a look of unprecedented seriousness.

"Shut up, you bastard!!!" Yura roared, clamped a detonating tag kunai between her teeth, tightened her leg wraps, and charged at Sasori with all her might. As long as she could draw away even one of Sasori's flamethrower nozzles, Baimu would have a chance to break free.

Sasori glanced sidelong at Yura, then back at Baimu, as if weighing which of the two he should kill first.

"What a foolish woman... I have extra lives to spare if I die, but if you get hit by that flame, you'll literally turn to ash!" For the first time, Baimu felt the weight of true comradeship, and at that moment, he almost fell in love with her.

"Sasori... let me tell you a joke." Baimu decided to keep taunting Sasori. After all, his own life wasn't all that precious, but if Yura died, she was truly gone for good.

"You still have the energy to talk nonsense at a time like this? It seems you won't learn the meaning of pain until melting candle wax drips onto your skin." Knowing Baimu could never spit out any ivory from his dog's mouth, Sasori flared his chakra in rage, intensifying the heat and making Baimu bare his teeth in agony.

"Drip wax? Who's dripping wax?!" Far away, Fuka's eyes snapped wide open, her ears perking up straighter than a rabbit's.

"Fuka..." Baimu howled in pain as blisters rapidly bubbled up across his skin.

"At your service, master~" Fuka bit her finger with a seductive expression.

"Take him down and kill him!!!" Baimu roared frantically, wearing the metaphorical mask of pure agony.

"Such a handsome young man..." Fuka muttered, suddenly staring at Sasori with literal stars in her eyes.

"Don't even think about it! He doesn't have any gear down there!" Baimu was genuinely terrified that Fuka would switch sides on the spot. After all, when it came to sheer looks, his face still fell short of Sasori's by a narrow margin.

"Hehehe~ This body isn't so shallow. Besides, he doesn't have any tentacles, so at best he's just spare tire material. Water Style: Ten Thousand Steam Waves!" Fuka slammed both hands onto the ground, unleashing a turbulent torrent of water resembling a raging waterfall from the Ley Line behind her.

The power of the Ley Line was masterless, much like a public restroom on the side of the road—anyone who wasn't afraid of getting dirty could dip a bucket in. Amplified by the Ley Line's power, the might of the Water Style was infinitely magnified, transforming into a rushing river where numerous serpentine heads churned and surfaced.

"This woman... actually has some use after all." Yura watched Fuka, a complex expression crossing her face.

"Oh oh oh! Another competitor has appeared! We have a proud new rival and a flirtatious old flame. Just who will be able to save their handsome lord?!" Tobi shrieked comically.

"Shut up, you white mutant cat that can't take a proper dump!" Yura cursed.

"What a pity. Just a little bit closer." Though Sasori spoke of pity, his face bore not a shred of regret. He swung his arm back, aiming the flamethrower nozzle directly at the surging torrent of water. The two forces of extreme opposing elements collided, instantly triggering a violent explosion that filled the air with dense, billowing fog.

"A golden opportunity! Don't blame my fist of love!" Baimu's belt erupted with even fiercer airflow, driving his body toward Sasori like a meteor plunging into the atmosphere.

"Heavenly... Overlord... Crash... and... Smash!!!"

His steel fists, heated to a glowing red like an iron anvil, smashed viciously toward Sasori's chin. If this punch connected, it would surely flatten that pretty face into something resembling a cockroach crushed by a carriage wheel. Following up with a heart-plucking strike from Black Zetsu to rip out his core would spell absolute victory!

"Vulnerable human, the only reason I dislike close-quarters combat is because it lacks any sense of artistic expression. If you truly believe my melee capabilities are weak, you couldn't be more wrong."

Sasori smiled. A steel cable coated in purple venom shot out from beneath his black robe like a viper, stabbing fiercely toward Baimu's abdomen. At the same time, four steel blades popped out from his lower back, instantly transforming into a high-speed rotating chainsaw.

"This guy... he's terrifyingly well-rounded!" Baimu had no choice but to abandon his attack, grabbing the barbed steel cable with one hand while using his other fist to directly block the whirring chainsaw.

The Hextech Gauntlets were, after all, a creation of the future. Forged from super-alloy materials, they managed to withstand Sasori's blade-saw, sending a continuous spray of dazzling sparks flying in all directions.

"Now's my chance!" Seeing the two locked in a stalemate, Yura finally found an opening and sprinted forward with a kunai clenched in her teeth.

Swish...

Throwing a single kunai could never inflict any real damage on Sasori, so Yura's target wasn't him at all, but rather the fuel canister strapped to his back. As long as she detonated that fuel tank, Sasori would undoubtedly be blown to smithereens in an instant.

"Run away!!!" Yura only had time to shout those words. With exceptional throwing technique, she landed a precise hit—the steel wire connecting the kunai and the detonating tag wrapped tightly around the fuel flask. The detonating tag began to sizzle, leaving a mere three seconds on the clock.

"Holy shit, terrifying!" Baimu slammed his joystick forward, pressing the steam-propulsion button all the way down. Even if he wasn't skilled at flying, managing to put even one extra meter of distance between himself and Sasori right now meant another chance at survival.

The violently venting steam instantly propelled him hundreds of meters backward.

"Troublesome woman, asking for a death wish!" Sasori deeply loathed the feeling of being ambushed. Controlled by his chakra, the steel cable in his abdomen nimbly unhooked the fuel canister from his back and hurled it viciously at the retreating Yura.

"Since you're so fond of explosions, turn to ash in this blast!"

"No!!!" Baimu watched the massive fuel canister hurtling toward Yura, a crushing wave of helpless despair welling up within his heart.