Chapter 24: The Third Kazekage's Grandaughter

Everyone could sense the disappointment in Kakashi's subdued sigh. Dealing with Naruto day in and day out must have been challenging. Kakashi took off toward the cavern entrance, then turned to address Sakura and Granny Chiyo.

"Wait here for Team Guy," Kakashi commanded. "Don't do anything rash until they return."

Sakura nodded, her gaze following Kakashi's team as they chased after Deidara, who taunted them by flying over the hideout in circles. In all her years, she had never encountered anyone so disturbing. She glanced at Sasori, who swayed his tail like a cat waiting patiently to pounce on its prey.

"I'd heard that you'd retired long ago," Sasori inquired.

"I suddenly wanted to see my grandson's face again," Granny Chiyo calmly replied.

Sakura's anger toward her grandson diminished when Sasori gave her a widened-eyed glare. A chill ran down her spine as she stared right back at him. Fear overwhelmed her anger, rendering her frozen in place.

"Do not fear him, Sakura," Granny Chiyo whispered. "I'm here, so you step back."

"Granny, be careful," Sakura replied.

Granny Chiyo employed her puppet technique from her long sleeves to string up a dozen Kunai knives. Releasing her blue string, the Kunai knives soared like arrows at Sasori. Anticipating that he would block them with his tail, she jerked her hands upward to allow the knives to maneuver around the tail. However, not all of them managed to evade in time. Several sliced through his Akatsuki cloak before spinning to hit the floor.

"If you weren't going to defy me, then I guess I have no choice," Sasori declared.

He tore off the remnants of his cloak, revealing his new form. Sasori had transformed into a puppet of his creation, standing on four puppet limbs – two back legs and two hands. The left side featured some device Sakura couldn't identify. An enormous hard shell on his back depicted a red kabuki mask with yellow eyes and teeth. Emerging from the mouth was his extra-long tail. Sasori's bald head only had lines of sharp black blades from the top of his head to his ears.

Sasori inquired, "Will you join that kid as an addition to my collection, Grandma Chiyo?"

Beads of sweat rolled down Sakura's forehead as she questioned, "Kankuro showed me a picture of Sasori, and I don't recall him looking like that. What is it?"

Granny Chiyo frowned and replied, "That's not Sasori's real body..."

"Where is his real body? He must be hiding in this cavern somewhere," Sakura observed the puppet making a strange clicking noise as it moved its tail around.

"No, his real body is inside that puppet," Granny Chiyo clarified.

"How is that possible? Kankuro never told me anything like this was even possible?" Sakura queried.

Granny Chiyo backed up to stand beside Sakura and explained, "There's plenty I never told either of you for a reason. Sasori takes his puppet technique to a whole other level. Puppet Masters have trouble with close-range combat. After all, as you've learned, they are prone to openings when controlling a puppet. That puppet there has surmounted that problem. The puppet is both a shield and a weapon. It's Sasori's specialty, Hiruko."

Sakura gasped, "Wait, you knew already?"

Granny Chiyo nodded and replied, "Yes, and it is not to be underestimated."

Sasori interrupted them, saying, "Do you know how I make my collection? First, I pull out the organs. Then, after I've washed the body nicely and cleaned it, I extract their blood. Once I've prepared the body so it won't decay, I fill it with hidden weapons, and it becomes a complete addition to my puppet collection. Just as the old woman said, this form you see. Hiruko is a part of my collection. And with you, little girl, Granny Chiyo added, I'll have three hundred in my collection. It's my art."

"Art, huh?" Granny Chiyo replied, "Hiruko used to be a Shinobi from another village, and now look at what he turned him into. We need to extract Sasori out of Hiruko. When I knew Hiruko, the puppet had no shell on its back. He probably has a better ability to guard now. And it's the first time I've seen that left arm. So we must destroy that Hiruko."

"And how do you suppose we do that?"

"We have to figure out his hidden weapon, or we won't be able to tell where and how he'll attack. However, I don't have that kind of destructive power, but you do. That incredible strength as a Princess of the sand village."

Sakura pointed to herself and said, "Me?"

"Listen carefully, Sakura. I need you to get close to Hiruko and destroy it. However, you must dodge all of the hidden device attacks. All of them, ideally. Get a scratch, and it's game over."

"The tail that punctured Kankuro's chest," Sakura said.

"To dodge his attack, you must figure out the tricks and be able to assess how to dodge his attacks immediately."

Sakura frowned and replied, "Leave it to me."

Granny Chiyo untied her hair and added, "I may be more experienced than you, but I am not as fast as I used to be. I will be relying on you."

With his right hand, Sasori held his mask and replied, "You know I hate to be kept waiting, don't you?"

"Rest easy, Sasori. We'll end this real soon," Granny Chiyo replied.

With mighty strength, Sakura and Granny Chiyo ran towards him at full force. At that moment, Sakura was no longer afraid of him. She was prepared to give her all in the fight to avenge Kankuro's pride. Sasori ripped off his mask to reveal a puppet with a mouth full of false teeth. He opened his rugged puppet mouth to shoot out needles. As she kept running, Sakura gestured her arms upwards to bring up a wall of sand. Beside her, Granny Chiyo dodged every thin needle as if she hadn't aged from thirty. The needles were not only sharp but also contained the deadly poison that could have killed Kankuro if the Konoha girl hadn't been there to save them.

Suddenly, Sasori halted his needle attack and devised a new plan that he hoped would lead to their demise. He quickly lifted the gadget in his left hand, and the device shot like a rocket.

"Die," Sasori yelled.

The device released wooden rods that split apart, firing more poisonous needles. Sakura became more confident in her dodging, and she was beginning to feel emotionally intense again. She no longer feared him. Sakura smirked at Sasori and ran toward him with her sand guarding her. He was angry, feeling mocked by one little girl and an old lady. He swung his tail at full force, knowing she was going in without any backup. Sakura tossed her Kunai knives at his skeleton tail with no effect. Before she clashed with the tail, only half an inch away from her face, the tail stopped moving.

"Now, Sakura!" Granny Chiyo shouted.

Sakura sped around his ferocious tail and yelled, "This is for Kankuro, you piece of shit!"

With her scroll, she summoned her puppet in the protection of the smoke and swung its long, extended arms to crush Hiruko's back. The red mask shattered as the puppet's body slammed to the ground. The tail and head flew off the puppet with all the little wooden pieces coming off. Sasori, under the black cloak, pulled himself away from her, keeping his body out of sight.

Granny Chiyo chuckled, "So you've finally come out. I've come this far to see my grandson's face. After twenty years, what say we meet each other?"

Sasori said nothing but jerked his fingertips to lift his puppet head to stand on the dirt. It moved around, chomping like a turtle thrown in the sky with Sasori's puppet strings. It was aiming in her direction and turned to spit needles at her once more.

"I'm so sick of this," Sakura whispered.

Not needing her sand, she bent backward to stand on her hands and then back on her feet again a few times. The needles stopped, and the head fell to the floor, breaking into two pieces.

Cloaked in black, Sasori said, "Grandma Chiyo is vital, as I'd expected. Moreover, you were so kind as to attach chakra threads to Hiruko's tail. But to think I had only noticed after the tail's motion had been brought to a halt. It was when your student first attacked with the Kunai knife. You've trained her well."

"I suppressed my chakra as much as possible not to be seen, yet you still figured it out," Granny Chiyo said.

"Of course. After all, the one who hammered the principles of puppetry into me was none other than you," Sasori replied.

"Yes," Granny Chiyo frowned, "But the show ends today."

"That is my intention as well," Sasori said, pulling the cloak off his face, "Well then, will things proceed as simply as that? I wonder."

However, Sakura could not believe her eyes. They were silent, staring into the brown eyes of her grandson, Sasori. He still had short, luscious red hair and fair skin, but the young man Granny Chiyo once loved had not aged a day since he had disappeared from Sunagakure. He appeared young, around Sakura's age.

"Granny Chiyo, he looks young for someone who vanished from Suna twenty years ago," Sakura said.

"What is going on?" Granny Chiyo whimpered.

"What's wrong, Granny Chiyo? Are you so filled with emotion that you cannot speak? That is not surprising. After all, it's our first reunion in twenty years. While I'm at it, I'll show you something special. It's guaranteed to move you."

Sasori removed a scroll from his sleeve to show them and began to unravel it as he continued to speak, "A collection that gave me a hard time when trying to kill it, but that's why I like this best of all."

An explosion of smoke encased him when he released his puppet. His creation was one they'd least expect but explained a mystery from Sunagakure over ten years ago—the decisive third Kazekage, known for his iron manipulation technique. Sasori had killed him and turned him into a puppet. He almost looked the same as in the photographs. The Third Kazekage was a tall man with a fair complexion. He had short, messy, dark blue hair and narrow yellow eyes. He wore the standard Kazekage attire minus the Kage hat, plus a flowing ankle-length white cape. When Sakura was young, she used to admire him, although she had never met him before. She wished day and night he would return to replace the fourth Kazekage.

Sasori spread his left leg out, bent his right knee, and extended his fingertips to manipulate his puppet. He had become a more formidable adversary than Sakura had initially thought.

"How about it?" Sasori smirked. "Doesn't that take you back, Granny Chiyo?"

Sakura gasped, "Granny, did you know?"

"No, how could this have happened?" Granny Chiyo lamented.

Granny Chiyo explained, "We scoured the countryside but could never find him. He was the most powerful of all the Kazekages. Sasori, it was you?"

"And so what if I did? 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."

"Retired, with one foot in the grave. That may be so, but it was worth hauling my heavy behind over here. I'd have too many regrets if I were to die now. It's bad enough that my grandson got himself mixed up with a bad crowd, but to think you'd betray the village and try to meddle with the Kazekage for the third time?" Granny Chiyo complained.

Confused, Sakura questioned, "Wait, the third time? What do you mean? What has he done?"

Granny Chiyo sighed and said, "As I told you, Orochimaru killed Gaara's father, the fourth Kazekage. However, I intentionally left out the details that Sasori was the one who guided them there. And this time, Gaara and even the third Kazekage."

"Whoa, hey, hey, I don't know anything about the Fourth Kazekage. The one who guided them was my subordinate," Sasori defended.

Granny Chiyo frowned, "Can you really say that you were not involved?"

"Indeed, I was paired initially with Orochimaru back at the Akatsuki, so I did lots of things, but I have to take you out now. I hate to keep people waiting."

Sasori pushed the Third Kazekage puppet in Sakura's direction. It flew like a bird straight towards her, but she leaped back, manipulating her puppet to fall beside her. The puppet was fast, releasing numerous blades shaped like fins from within his right forearm. In only seconds, Sakura somehow extended her puppet arms to absorb the hit of the blade dripping with poison. Her life almost flashed before her eyes.

"You've got some pretty good moves for a little Suna girl," Sasori grinned. "Did you inherit my puppets when your boyfriend died?"

Sakura retorted, "Your weak poison was easy to snuff out once we found the correct ingredients. As a matter of fact, he's the reason we found you."

Sasori's smile quickly faded. He said, "Is that so? In that case, how about this?"

He extended the Third Kazekage's arm out of the sleeve, which split in half at the joints like leaf veins. Out came hundreds of arms stretching over ten feet long, coming straight for them in a swarm. Before the hands could come any closer, Sakura extended her puppet's arms to form a broad shield, fearing her sand wouldn't be strong enough to block Sasori's attack. The puppet barely managed to shield her as the arms shoved her puppet through the dirt, attempting to puncture her skin and break her bones with no luck.

Granny Chiyo shouted, "Sakura!"

As the dust settled, Sakura crawled under the collapsed puppet and said, "I'm okay; now I have to fix it when we get back..."

On her hands and knees, she escaped the forest of extended arms that almost looked like an old bamboo grove. She squeezed her body through the crevices and somehow escaped. However, that wasn't the end of Sasori's attack. He twitched his pinky finger and opened vents in the arms to release toxic purple fumes. Granny Chiyo reached her arm out to Sakura and shouted, "Sakura, hold your breath!"

With her quick command, Sakura held her breath in the mist and had to find a way out of the situation without her puppet. Typically, she would have had her puppet extend its long arms to make the poisonous mist disappear, but that wasn't the case this time. Granny Chiyo had earlier attached Chakra strings to her in case of emergencies, so she attempted to pull her out of the mist. However, Sasori released another trap from the holes, emitting poisonous smoke. A rope with a Kunai tied to the end wrapped around her body and legs, pulling her in two different directions as she struggled to hold her breath without passing out.

"Your boyfriend might have survived, but I wonder how he will feel knowing I was the one who won this puppet show. You should have repelled it rather than dodged it," Sasori chuckled.

His fingers danced in the air, pulling his chakra strings towards his face. He manipulated the rope to keep Sakura within the poisonous air, leaving her trapped with no apparent way out.

Sakura thought, "I can't die here. Not without seeing Kankuro's smile again. What would he and Gaara tell me to do in this situation? They'd say, don't forget what nation you were born in. You are the princess in the Land of Wind."

Her confidence suddenly burned brighter than the morning sun. Swiftly drawing the Shamisen and a paper bomb off her back, she threw the paper bomb in front of her and strung the three strings loudly enough for the sound waves to burst the paper bomb. The resulting explosions dissipated the toxic fumes, causing the rope tied around her body to rip itself to pieces from the blast that knocked the wind right out of her. She fell to the floor and slid at her Sensei's feet. Granny Chiyo scooped her up in her arms, expressing fear in her eyes for Sakura's safety. She cried, "Sakura, hang in there, Sakura!"

When she finally awoke moments later, Sakura lay on her hands and knees, coughing.

Granny Chiyo patted her back and asked, "Are you alright?"

Sakura nodded, panting, and replied, "Yeah."

Her dirty hand rested on her chest, feeling the sudden rise and fall as she coughed more. She had come close to death this time, and now she wasn't playing around anymore.

"You piece of shit. I will kill you with my bare hands," Sakura groaned, struggling to stand, "Even if my arms and legs were to be blown off, or even if I were to swallow poison and become immobile. No matter how much you might resist. No matter what it takes, I will kill you."

Sasori spoke not a word to her, but he flicked his finger, and Kunai knives shot out of the arm puppet tubes, coming straight for her. He wasn't at all convinced she could preach what she spoke. Sakura knew her exhaustion slowed her down too much to react fast enough. She closed her eyes, unable to stand to defend herself. The Kunai knives struck something that wasn't her. So, instead, she opened her eyes and discovered Granny Chiyo had brought out two puppets to block the kunai knives. One female puppet and one male puppet. They appeared human, and the male looked like an older version of Sasori. Sakura was very confused and worn out at this point.

Granny Chiyo said, "When a woman is talking, a man should listen quietly."

"Oh, those things..." Sasori said, expressing his emotionally dead eyes.

"So you remember these," Granny Chiyo said, squinting at her grandson.

"I guess...," Sasori said, shrugging.

"They're the first puppets you ever made—the father and the mother."

Sakura whispered, "Fuck, he did not make puppets with his parent's dead bodies..."

"So what do you plan to do with those now, huh?" Sasori asked, "Those are puppets I made. I already know their tricks. This is stupid."

"I wonder about that," Granny Chiyo said.

Her fingers moved ever so slightly to manipulate her puppets. The Mother and Father lifted one hand simultaneously, touching the palms of their hands together. They slowly pulled their palms apart within moments, revealing a wire connecting them.

Granny Chiyo leaned forward to speak, "Sakura, stand back."

"Okay," Sakura replied, struggling to move. She eventually stood beside her Sensei to watch her every move.

Together, the Mother and Father puppets flew towards Sasori at full speed with a long wire connecting them. So he had the Third Kazekage lift his arm to pull up the hundreds of extended arms stuck in the ground and swing the swarm at the Mother and Father puppets. They tightened the wire around the swarm, sliced the thousands of arms in half, and continued to cut until they could no longer extend themselves. The battle had continued for a long time, and she couldn't keep up with the ninja tools the puppets spewed out from their bodies. It was a relentless attack between family, and it was indeed personal. All three puppets kept up with their puppeteers until the tips of their weapons were broken. Sakura was amazed by their strength, but the fight wasn't over. Sasori had opened the Third Kazekage's mouth, and iron sand floated out.

Granny Chiyo whispered, "As I thought, that puppet... uses the Third Kazekage's jutsu."

Sasori smiled and replied, "You haven't seen this in a while, have you? This is why the Third Kazekage was praised as the most powerful. I'm going to turn you guys into mush."

"I haven't personally seen this in person before, and yet here I am," Sakura said.

"The most feared weapon in Sunagakure next to Shukaku," Granny Chiyo said.

"How is it possible for a puppet to know jutsu?" Sakura questioned.

"Only Sasori can make a human puppet. It is a puppet made while the living chakra is still embodied. Doing so can use the person's jutsu from its previous life."

"That's not all," Sasori said, smirking, "After all, this is my favorite collection."

Granny Chiyo whispered, "Sakura, get out of here. I will take care of the rest. It's too dangerous for you to be here now. That puppet is impossible for you."

"Granny, I won't leave you here."

"You're too slow!" Sasori yelled. He waved his hands before him, and the Third Kazekage puppet made its iron sand become flying bullets coming straight for them. The mother puppet picked up Sakura and ducked for cover while Granny Chiyo shielded herself with the father puppet's chakra. Sakura raised her head and wiped off the blood on her forehead with her forearm.

Sasori grinned and asked, "Did you alter it a bit? A chakra shield, huh? Looks like it's been upgraded compared to the time I was playing with them."

Suddenly, Granny Chiyo loses control of the father puppet. It wouldn't move with her chakra strings' command. She looked at its arms and noticed the iron sand had snuck onto it, beginning to consume it. Frustration and regret fueled her as she realized her mistake.

Sasori remarked, "Don't you know that you must dodge this jutsu and not shield it? Seems like you could barely let the chick go. I inserted the iron sand into his entire body; as long as I had the third's magnetism, that one's done for. Now, let's see. I will aim at both of you and attack at once. To ensure a definite kill, I will form it into a lethal weapon."

The iron sand gently floated back to the sky, transforming into sharp needles hovering over them.

"I won't let you get away a second time. With only one puppet, you can't guard both of you. What are you going to do, Granny? Who is going to die?" Sasori laughed. The iron sand plummeted from above, aiming straight for them. Sakura's sand wasn't strong enough to stop iron, and her puppet was destroyed. Her Shamisen would not affect his dirty tricks anymore. Sakura knew she was defeated and possibly regretted leaving Kankuro's side to avenge him. The Third Kazekage puppet performed the hand gestures for the jutsu, and the iron sand struck them like an airstrike from a plane. Sakura ducked her head for cover under her arms, nearly going deaf over the sound of the blast.

In an instant, she found herself again within the ethereal realm of her dreams, immersed in the cold embrace of the black darkness. A delicate surface of water spread beneath her feet, and at its center lay Shukaku, chained by his neck and legs, surrounded by a tranquil moat. Approaching the colossal beast, Sakura noticed the weariness on his face as he slumbered in the obsidian abyss. With gentle touches, she rubbed his head and rested her forehead against his massive cheek.

Sakura whispered, "I'm sorry I couldn't come sooner. It's all my fault that this happened to the two of you. I'll make it up to Gaara and you, I swear."

A sad melody escaped her lips, a musical expression of the sorrow within her heart. Her delicate singing seemed to infuse Shukaku's form with renewed vigor, and his large yellow eyes slowly opened.

Sakura stepped back, gasping, "Shukaku...."

He lay still, not moving an inch from his previous state of unconsciousness. While a lingering sense of trepidation remained, Sakura sensed a change in Shukaku. No longer did he loom over her with a menacing roar; instead, she began to empathize with the colossal creature.

Shukaku spoke slowly, his voice screechy, "You..."

Curiosity overcoming her apprehension, Sakura extended her hand to pat his face gently with her miniature hands. Something about him felt different this time, and her sympathy for the once-terrifying beast grew.

"Why am I here, Shukaku? Why do you keep summoning me to this place?" Sakura inquired.

"I didn't know who else to ask," Shukaku whispered.

"What are you talking about?" Sakura questioned.

Shukaku tilted his ears back and replied, "It wasn't until I sensed the third Kazekage's presence that I knew for sure, but you are the granddaughter of the third mighty Kazekage."

"Me? No way. That's impossible. I never knew my grandparents...."

"Our world is in danger, and if there were anyone I could choose to fight with to defend it, I'd prefer you, Sakura," Shukaku groaned.

"How do you know so much about me?" Sakura asked.

"I've lived through many generations," Shukaku smirked, replying, "I've watched you grow alongside the fourth Kazekage's children, and your mother as well. Now, I can't see anything...."

Sakura frowned and asked, "Shukaku, where are you now?"

Shukaku glanced into the darkness, reluctant to disclose his location, and said, "I was consumed by the remains of the first-tailed beast before me. Someone summoned it back to Earth, and now I fear the end of humanity is near."

Sakura shivered in fear and asked, "What do you need me to do now?"

Shukaku lifted his massive paw before her and said, "Survive; I will lend you my strength, so fight because the future of humanity depends on it."

Sakura gently placed her palm on his and replied, "Don't go easy on me, Shukaku. Give me everything you can, and I will do the same when I rescue you."

A burst of radiant light emanated between the palms of their hands, drawing her back to reality. She instinctively extended her left arm and shielded her face with her right to protect herself from the swirling dust particles in the air. The realization washed over her as the dust gradually settled—she was still alive.