Chapter 8 — Sasori, Poisoned to Death
"Seal: Lion's Roar!"
Grandma Chiyo's voice rang out sharply through the cavern.
With a burst of chakra, a massive puppet lion head materialized—its face painted a fierce blue, jaws wide in a silent snarl. The construct lunged forward and clamped shut around Sasori, sealing him completely within its fanged maw.
Sasori did not struggle.
The will to resist had already drained from his body.
The battle was over.
"Your ring," Seiki said quietly as he stepped forward. He gently removed the jade ring from Sasori's finger. The cold surface glinted faintly in the dim light of the chamber.
For a moment, there was only silence—broken only by the faint scrape of sand and shattered iron shifting underfoot.
Then Sasori's lips parted slightly.
"Who… are you, really?"
His voice was faint, stripped of its earlier arrogance.
Seiki met his fading gaze. "Sarutobi Seiki. A nameless ninja of Konoha."
"Konoha… Konoha again…"
At the mention of that name, something flickered in Sasori's eyes—resentment, memory, perhaps regret. Then the light began to dim.
A dark discoloration spread slowly between his brows.
Seiki's eyes sharpened.
"He poisoned himself?!"
He immediately turned toward Chiyo. This was no ordinary toxin—he had no means to counter it.
Grandma Chiyo froze in place.
Her original plan had been simple: seal her grandson, return him to the Sand Village, and maybe slowly guide him back from the darkness.
But this—
This was final.
She rushed forward, hands trembling as she released the lion seal and pulled Sasori into her arms.
"Sasori! What have you done…?"
Her voice cracked.
She unrolled a summoning scroll with shaking fingers. Medical tools appeared in a flash of smoke—scalpels, forceps, bandages, antidote vials.
Sasori's right hand was clenched tightly.
It took all of Chiyo's dexterity to pry his fingers apart. In the center of his palm lay a tiny, almost invisible wound.
"Foolish child… why would you choose this path?"
She sliced carefully at the wound.
Black blood oozed out—thick and viscous. A foul stench filled the chamber, the scent of decay and corruption so strong it seemed to cling to the lungs.
"I've never seen poison like this…"
She tried to stem the blood flow.
She tried excising the surrounding flesh.
Nothing slowed the toxin's spread.
Dark veins crept beneath Sasori's pale skin.
For the first time in decades, the seasoned advisor of Sunagakure hesitated.
She did not know what to do.
Sasori's breathing grew shallow.
"Grandma Chiyo…" he murmured weakly. "Don't waste your effort. I may have lost the earlier puppet duel… but when it comes to poison… I won't lose again."
His head tilted back.
Sasori's eyes drifted toward the discarded Father and Mother puppets lying in the corner of the chamber.
With immense effort, he lifted two trembling fingers. Faint chakra threads extended—his last.
He pulled the two puppets closer, drawing them beside him.
Tears spilled freely down Chiyo's wrinkled cheeks.
War.
It had started everything.
The loss of Sasori's parents. The bitterness. The obsession with eternal art. The rejection of fragile human bonds.
All of it traced back to that endless desert of blood.
"Sasori… I will save you!"
In her desperation, she even prepared herself to use a forbidden technique if necessary—one that would cost her dearly.
Sasori's weak voice interrupted her.
"Grandma Chiyo… can my puppets… never protect the ones I cherish?"
"Foolish child…" she sobbed. "Your Father and Mother puppets… have always been protecting you."
A faint smile appeared on Sasori's lips.
"In those days… even without hope… they stayed by my side. Like real parents."
His eyelids began to close.
His final thoughts drifted silently.
Grandma… forgive me. Thank you… for loving me all this time.
His breathing slowed.
Chiyo pulled him tightly into her embrace, crying openly now, no longer the stoic elder of the Sand Village—only a grandmother losing her grandson.
Even Jiraiya, who stood nearby, turned his head slightly and wiped at his eyes.
Only Seiki remained composed.
He had witnessed Sasori's death before.
Twice.
And there was one crucial detail most people overlooked:
Even after exposure to Sasori's poison, a victim could survive for three days.
Seiki knelt and pressed two fingers to Sasori's neck, feeling for a pulse.
It was faint—but present.
He looked up at Jiraiya.
"If you can bring Tsunade here within three days, Sasori can still be saved."
"Tsunade?" Chiyo lifted her head abruptly.
Hope—fragile but undeniable—flickered in her eyes.
"Seiki, how do you know this poison takes three days to fully act?"
Seiki hesitated briefly. "I… studied Sasori's fighting style in secret. His poisons typically take three days to completely destroy the body. As long as Tsunade arrives in time, there's a chance."
It was an awkward explanation, but there was no time for scrutiny.
Jiraiya clenched his fist against his chest.
"Leave it to me."
Chiyo looked at him with disbelief and gratitude intertwined.
As an advisor of Sunagakure, she had never imagined placing the fate of her grandson in the hands of a Konoha shinobi.
Yet this was no ordinary ninja.
This was one of the Legendary Sannin.
Jiraiya formed hand seals swiftly.
"Barrier: Toad Gourd Prison!"
A massive gourd materialized, pulsing faintly with life.
Seiki's eyes lit up. "That's the Mount Myōboku Gourd Toad, isn't it?"
Jiraiya shot him a brief, puzzled glance—how did this kid know so much?—but there was no time to question it.
He turned to Chiyo. "May I take Sasori inside?"
"What do you plan to do?"
"I'm confident I can find Tsunade within three days. Bringing her back here would waste precious time. It's faster to bring Sasori directly to her."
Chiyo did not hesitate.
Even knowing that Sasori's body contained secrets of unparalleled puppetry—knowledge countless villages would covet—she nodded.
"Take him."
Trust.
In that moment, she chose trust over politics.
Jiraiya carefully lifted Sasori and stepped into the Gourd Toad's mouth. The barrier sealed shut behind him, and in a puff of smoke, both vanished.
The chamber fell silent.
Chiyo's strength gave out, and she sank slowly to the ground.
"Jiraiya is reliable," Seiki said gently. "He's not someone who makes empty promises."
Chiyo exhaled shakily.
"Seiki… thank you. If Sasori survives… perhaps he can finally awaken."
"Yes," Seiki replied without hesitation. "He can."
He thought briefly of Gaara.
One was a jinchūriki born into isolation. The other, a prodigy warped by grief. Both were children of the desert—shaped by cruelty.
If Gaara could return from darkness, then fifteen-year-old Sasori could begin again.
Chiyo's only wish now was simple: that whatever remained of Sasori's life would be free from hatred.
Even if he spent it imprisoned in atonement, she would stay by his side.
She would not leave him again.
---
A mechanical chime echoed in Seiki's mind.
"Ding! Congratulations, host! You have completed the mission: Defeat a member of the Akatsuki. Reward: 10-day Unlimited Chakra Package. Template completion unlocked: 110%!"
Seiki's eyes gleamed internally.
"Can I store the chakra?"
"The host may choose when to activate the package. Would you like to store it in the warehouse?"
"Store it immediately," Seiki replied without hesitation. "I won't waste something this precious."
For fifteen years, he had lived as a person unable to use chakra.
To him, chakra was not ordinary energy.
It was freedom.
"Ding dong! New mission detected: Subdue the One-Tailed Beast, Shukaku."
The name echoed in his thoughts.
Shukaku.
"Completion reward: Six Paths Ninja Tool — the Bashō Fan."
Bashō Fan.
Seiki's lips curled into a grin.
With a ten-day unlimited chakra supply—one burst of overwhelming output, one window of boundless stamina—the timing could not be better.
Once I obtain the Bashō Fan…
No need to painstakingly learn complex ninjutsu.
No need to weave endless hand seals.
One swing.
Five chakra nature transformations unleashed simultaneously.
Combined with a body harder than steel—
"Tch," Seiki thought with satisfaction.
"Traveling the ninja world will be effortless."