𝐅𝐎𝐑𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐑. ❪ 𝗌𝖺𝗌𝗎𝗄𝖾.𝗎 ❫

six

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No Longer Loved

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He hasn't aged a bit.

The trio has bewildered looks on the scarlet-haired puppeteer. Deep in those hazy-looking eyes, they were hollow without a hint of life.

Chiyo remembers Sasori's youthful face when he was a child. Two decades later, his physical appearance looks like his teenage-self but is mentally an adult. Sasori focuses his gaze on his grandmother; she has a skeptical facial expression. A ghost of smile etched his lips. "What's wrong, Chiyo obaa-san? Are you filled with emotions that you are unable to speak?" He asked her like it was a mockery. She doesn't utter anything other than looking all overwhelmed. "That's not surprising. After all, it's our first reunion in twenty years." His calming voice spoke almost haughtily.

"While I'm at it, I'll show you something special." Sasori slips a scroll out of his sleeve. He raises it in his hand to show it to the trio. "It's guaranteed to move you." The scarlet-haired man uses his fingers and begins unraveling the scroll. "A collection gave me a hard time when trying to kill it, but," he reveals the number 'three' inked onto the paper, "that's why I like this best of all," He said. Sasori sounded a bit excited to summon out his next creation.

A loud explosion erupts, and a puff of smoke comes out of the scroll. Chiyo's eyes enlarged in horror, and her mouth gapes open. "T-That...It couldn't be!" She was trembling with her words but can speak. She recognizes the features on the puppet. "That's...the Third Kazekage." Chiyo stuttered, pointing her index finger at it. Sakura and Misa become flabbergasted.

Sasori lets out a depraved laugh. "How about it? Doesn't that take you back, Chiyo obaa-san?" The man continues delivering scornful remarks to mess with her emotions. "Ten years ago, the Third Kazekage suddenly disappeared from the village. He was the most elite shinobi of all Kazekages. Sasori, why?" Chiyo looks dead in the eyes of her grandson. He caused so much grief and anger to the people from Suna that he does not regret anything. The rogue speaks, "Do you mean to say that a retired old lady with one foot in the grave is about to avenge the Third Kazekage? Tough luck." His endless cruel words indicate of a vile person he is.

Misa thought about Chiyo's story once again. The older woman told her that Sasori committed horrendous acts against Suna. It became crystal clear that he was responsible for the death of the Third Kazekage and left the village without a trace. "I'd have too many regrets if I were to die now. I have bad enough with my grandson who got himself mixed up with a bad crowd, but to think that you'd betray the village." Chiyo spills out her hostility at him.

It doesn't stop there. Orochimaru murdered Gaara's father a few years back. The moment that happened during the Chunin Exams—Orochimaru was involved in the attack and disguised himself as the Fourth Kazekage to lure Sarutobi Hiruzen as his bait. The mystery has been kept a secret for half a decade, but now there is an answer to all of it. "Indeed, I was originally paired with Orochimaru back at the Akatsuki, so I did lots of things," Sasori stated, a small piece of information about his cooperation with the Sannin.

"Unfortunately, I must take you three out and go capture that Jinchuriki." He tells them in his gentle voice yet malicious. His fingertips have threads of chakra to control the inanimate object. "So, shall we get right to it?" His killer smile grows. Sasori drew out the puppet and went for the three kunoichis. "Die!" The criminal yells mercilessly. Under its sleeves, the tool reveals multiple blades with poison on them. Chiyo staggers and immediately uses her chakra strings to move Sakura and Misa from getting pierced. Luckily, Hiroki's tail blocks them on time when Chiyo picked it up.