Chapter 208: Captive...

Sunagakure, Kazekage Building, newly established "Iron Sand Workshop."

"Crack—"

Sasori slid a scroll into his sleeve and walked out. He paused upon seeing the old woman seated across from the doorway, head hanging as if lifeless, no breath visible.

"Got you, didn't I?" Chiyo lifted her head, a faint smile showing on her aged face.

"Pointless," Sasori remarked flatly, his own expression unchanged.

Chiyo stood up slowly. "My dear grandson… What exactly are you planning? Does it have something to do with Konoha's Link?"

After watching him for a while, she was certain that her foolish grandson was still the same as back then.

Even turning his entire body into a human puppet hasn't freed him from those troubling emotions. Instead, it's trapped his heart in the past.

"My business has nothing to do with you," Sasori said, voice exactly as it had always been.

Chiyo fixed her gaze on his eyes. From her sleeve, she took out two scrolls. After a slight hesitation, she tossed them toward him. She didn't care whether Sasori used to be in Akatsuki or how many terrible deeds he'd done—how many he'd killed or turned into puppets. She just couldn't accept him attacking the village's Kage or betraying the village. Over time, she'd gradually come to terms with what had happened.

Snap.

Sasori caught the scrolls, opened one for a quick look, then glanced at the old woman again. "My old work, huh. Didn't expect you to keep these outdated pieces."

He said this without emotion, but he held the scrolls in both hands, arms lowered.

"…"

"…"

Grandmother and grandson stared at each other in silence.

Finally, Sasori turned and left. "Don't pry into other people's affairs, old lady." He'd grown tired of her constant surveillance. If not for using Reverse Summoning to leave the village, he wouldn't even have been able to see with his own eyes how strangely fast Link was growing.

Chiyo watched him go and, until the very end, never spoke the words she'd wanted to say. It had been far too long since they'd communicated at all. At her age, she didn't care so much for her own life anymore. She had originally developed the forbidden "One's Own Life Reincarnation" jutsu to resurrect either her son or daughter-in-law, hoping her grandson might return to the village in exchange. But it was clearly too late.

Can my grandson still come back?

He'd made himself into a human puppet and once killed the Third Kazekage. Even if he now served as a pillar of support for the village due to some deal, most people in the village looked at him with hatred and fear. What could Chiyo say—plead for everyone to accept and forgive the village's criminal? Or beg Sasori to abandon his ideals and stay put for the sake of recognition?

When you're old, you start hoping for impossible things.

Chiyo stood alone in the corridor, unmoving for a long, long time—like a statue.

"Should we go over?" whispered Kankurō, newly promoted to chūnin, peeking from around a distant corner.

Temari shook her head with a sigh. "Let Granny Chiyo have some peace," she said. She, more than anyone, understood the old woman's feelings—she too had a loved one who'd been shunned by the village: Gaara.

"By the way, where is Gaara?" she suddenly realized that her younger brother, who had returned with her to make a report, was gone.

Kankurō hesitated. "I think he followed that 'Sasori' guy."

Temari's expression changed instantly, worried they might fight. She pulled Kankurō along and hurried after them. Shortly afterward, near an alley by the Kazekage Building, they found the pair.

Tap!

Temari landed in front of Gaara, gripping her fan. Kankurō dropped down beside her. He was about to pull out a scroll or connect his puppet threads and stand on guard just like his sister, but he remembered how facing Sasori last time only led to his precious puppets being destroyed or stolen. So he just stood there silently.

The tension in the air was palpable.

Temari was about to question Sasori when she felt a hand on her shoulder. Turning, she saw Gaara gently push her and Kankurō aside. He looked at the expressionless young man and said, "You're lonely too, aren't you?"

"That's just a pointless emotion humans have."

Sasori's eyes were filled with indifference, but his lips curved slightly. "Puppets don't decay. Neither my heart nor my body has room for that sort of boredom."

"If you truly want companionship, just make a puppet. If one breaks, you can build a new one anytime. Of course, puppet quality is important—"

"I'll be your friend." Gaara cut him off. "I understand how you feel."

"Oh? Did you turn senile at such a young age?" The smile on Sasori's face grew wider. "If you want to understand me, how about turning yourself into a puppet first?"

With that, he vanished in a blur.

"What a terrifying person," Kankurō muttered. "He's not even human anymore, is he?"

Temari glared at him sharply.

Kankurō spread his hands as if to justify his inaction. "It's no use. My puppets won't do a thing against someone like that." Having been dealt repeated blows, he still hadn't regained his confidence.

"Gaara…"

Temari worriedly turned to her brother. It was his first time trying to reach out for friendship since fully letting go of his own inner turmoil, and he'd been rejected outright. That had to sting.

Gaara was quiet for a moment, then slowly showed a sincere smile. He looked at Temari and said, "I'm okay."

Gazing in the direction Sasori had gone, he placed a hand to his chest, feeling his heartbeat and the sand surrounding him, stirring indescribable emotions.

"Even turning himself into that form, he's still just as lonely. I think… now I understand a bit more of how Link-sensei feels."

…

Several days later, above a certain island…

"Finally found it."

Standing on the Earth Dragon's back, Link looked down at the island below, which perfectly matched the photo he had.

It was eerily silent—apart from the wind, there was nothing. From above, there was no sign of wildlife at all. In the Naruto world, animals breed prolifically, so for them to be completely absent here was highly unusual.

He had the Earth Dragon circle the island, soon spotting a cluster of connected buildings. In such a remote, ocean-surrounded location, there was little point in hiding underground, so the facility was fairly visible.

Once he'd found his target, the Earth Dragon landed quietly on a cliff overlooking the base.

"Partner, there's a really strong stench of rot here, nya."

Hina, sniffing the air with her cat nose, leapt from a shadow and led the way into the island's forest. Link and Utakata followed behind. Soon, near the base's perimeter, they came across a giant beast's remains, decomposed until only a skeleton was left. Huge spines protruding from the ground were nearly ten meters long—enough to imagine how massive the creature had been when alive. Probably on the scale of a giant summoning beast.

Strangely, the bones were blackened. A closer look revealed many tiny holes like a honeycomb—enough to make someone with trypophobia faint on the spot—emitting a stench strong enough for even average human noses to detect.

One of Link's older shadows walked up, broke off a branch, and poked the bones. No reaction. At another light tap, the giant spine snapped with a crack. When it hit the ground, it disintegrated into a cloud of gray dust.

"Poof!"

Blackish powder flew everywhere.

Even the bones were rotted through?

Link didn't move in for a closer look right away. He decided to catch a few fish from the sea later to test for hazards. Then he'd consider sealing a sample of bone to take back to the village for analysis of its cause of death.

The three—two people and a cat—passed the decaying skeleton and quickly arrived at the entrance to Orochimaru's base.

"It's the same rotten smell, but stronger. Probably corpses like the one we saw before… Wait, I think I smell living people," Hina exclaimed in surprise. She dashed ahead into the building.

"I'll go with her," Utakata said, following immediately.

Link instructed one of his shadows to stay within Utakata and Hina's shadows, ready to provide backup. Then he waited silently, perched on a tree branch.

After about ten minutes, Utakata emerged carrying two people: an adult male and a red-haired girl around thirteen or fourteen. Both were unconscious, emaciated, looking near death.

The man was missing both legs, his breathing ragged, clearly on the brink of dying. The red-haired girl was missing her left arm, and her right arm was covered in bite marks, both old and new.

"They're covered in wounds, with severe chakra depletion and no nutrition, so they slipped into a coma." Utakata was already channeling chakra to provide rudimentary healing and explained without even looking up, "Inside, there are piles of bones in every shape imaginable. Aside from these two, there's nobody alive."

Link tossed him some medicine and soldier pills. "Patch them up enough to move, and then let's get out of here."

Meanwhile, the shadows were sweeping through the base, collecting whatever experimental equipment and electronics they could salvage. Link recognized the red-haired girl as likely an Uzumaki clan descendant. From the looks of it, this place had been abandoned by Orochimaru.

He even ditched someone with Uzumaki blood? Orochimaru, what are you up to?

…

Somewhere in the Land of Earth, in a dimly lit hideout, within a vast dueling arena…

"Shhhrip!"

"Hahahahaha!"

Cackling wildly, a young man tore his opponent apart. Blood splattered on his skin, which was covered in orange markings, then sizzled away, making the air thick and murky. With a savage, twisted face, he roared, "Orochimaru! Come out and face me!"

"Get out here!" In an instant, his body blurred into afterimages.

Boom!

A massive iron gate shuddered under his punch, denting inward. The dull clang indicated it was solid metal. He raised his hand for another strike, but before it could come down, someone grabbed his wrist.

"?!"

Startled, the young man turned his head.

Kabuto Yakushi held the teen's wrist with one hand, pushing his glasses up with the other. "Calm down. Your body—"

"Aaaaargh!"

Pop!

The youth who had been so lively and brutal just a moment ago suddenly burst into a spray of foul gore.

Somehow, Kabuto had stepped back in time. Watching the puddle of blood on the floor, he shook his head slightly. Despite all the pre-modifications and rare materials used, it still failed because his subject's emotional outburst exceeded the cursed seal's stability threshold.

Another failure.

~~~

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