The images in Chiyo's mind, lingering from the brief glimpse she had of the zombies, gradually overlapped with the secret puppet technique sketches she had secretly shown her grandson.
That night, five-year-old Sasori had held the newly made Father and Mother puppets and asked her, "Grandma, is there a technique that can make Dad and Mom truly move?"
"If… you fuse a human puppet with that level of Dead Soul technique and develop an entirely new technique… a true human puppet could be born. The puppeteer wouldn't need chakra strings to control it remotely; they could stand in a safe place and command the corpse to execute tasks."
At that point, installing various mechanisms to enhance combat power, loading deadly ninja tools, and combining it with the corpse's lack of emotion and fear of death would inevitably create a killing machine.
The puppeteer at that time would become the ultimate system, with no weaknesses left.
The Hidden Sand Village could finally step out of its barren desert and survive on the fertile lands of the Land of Fire, possibly freeing itself from the despised nobles of the Land of Wind.
Due to financial strain, the Land of Wind always looked for ways to withhold the military budget allocated to the Sand Village. This was no secret in the ninja world and had long frustrated many radicals within the village.
The Sand Village's situation was already extremely passive; further budget cuts made competing with other villages nearly impossible.
In reality, under normal development, after a few more years—especially post-Third Great Ninja War—the Land of Wind would increasingly offload massive domestic missions onto the Hidden Leaf Village. There was no choice: Konoha's ninja were efficient and affordable, completing tasks with minimal expense, leaving the Land of Wind unable to refuse.
Eventually, the Sand Village would reach its limit and, unwilling to tolerate it, would even ally with Orochimaru to launch the Konoha Collapse Plan, attempting to prove to the Wind Country nobles that the Sand Village wasn't just a leech on national funds—it had real power. Konoha wasn't unbeatable and didn't deserve the wealth granted by the Land of Wind.
"As long as we can obtain Kaede Tsukasa's technique, it would be best to bring him here entirely, to further develop it." Chiyo had become completely fixated on Kaede Tsukasa.
If the new fused technique could be applied to Father and Mother, combined with the forbidden jutsu she had secretly been developing… her son and daughter-in-law could live again in another form, and Sasori would regain his parents, preventing him from becoming increasingly cold and withdrawn.
Soon, Kaede Tsukasa's name began circulating among the ninja of the Hidden Sand Village. Those with some knowledge immediately recognized his value, and many started seriously researching information about him and formulating plans to hunt Kaede Tsukasa.
Losing the intelligence advantage sharply reduced Kaede Tsukasa's deterrent power.
As for the fact that Kaede Tsukasa was a genin, many simply ignored it. A joke—someone capable of developing Dead Soul technique and using corpses to rival a standard Chikamatsu puppet could not be judged by genin standards. Perhaps he had already risen to chunin.
A few days later.
In a three-story building in the southwestern region of the Hidden Sand Village, Sasori stood expressionless at the window, watching the swirling sand outside. After a long moment, he descended the stairs and went straight into the basement.
Sasori was assembling the skull of a puppet.
With chakra scalpels, he precisely removed decayed flesh, exposing the neural synapse interface for the puppet's assembly. As he placed the final cheekbone into the puppet's face, the puppet, soaked in preservative fluid, twitched its fingers.
"This level of human puppet is far from enough… the technique isn't sufficient, nor are the materials for experimentation."
Sasori's pupils contracted in the deep blue liquid. He opened his experimental log and frantically scribbled corrections, replaying in his mind the imagined scene of his parents' deaths: Sakumo Hatake's dagger cutting into his father's chest, his mother exposing herself to protect him…
"If they were human puppets, this wouldn't have happened. Even the White Fang's attacks wouldn't have inflicted fatal damage." Sasori's voice was devoid of any emotion; in his world, only the human puppet before him remained.
If I can obtain that Konoha ninja's Dead Soul technique, it might greatly accelerate the development of human puppets, bringing me one step closer to eternity, Sasori thought silently.
Lately, the only front-line reports that had caught his interest were about Kaede Tsukasa.
Chiyo didn't want him exposed to human puppets too early, but it was useless—Sasori's talent with puppets was unparalleled, and the village needed him to contribute in this field.
What, you ask if doing this would corrupt Sasori's mind?
No need to worry. The ninja world is overflowing with twisted souls. Too many have had their parents killed, their children killed, their friends killed—countless. Rather than fretting over such trivial matters, it's better to fully exploit the abilities of talented individuals early, lest they suddenly die one day, leaving the village at a real loss.
At that moment, the door to the secret chamber slid open. The lenses of a maid's glasses reflected a cold gleam: "Lord Sasori, I've come to bring your tea."
Sasori's puppet strings instantly wrapped around her throat. "Where is my original attendant?" he asked coldly.
"Discovered, huh? Impressive."
Nono Yakushi, disguised as a Hidden Sand medical ninja, murmured this. The scroll in her arms showed Sand's defensive layout. At the first-floor entrance lay the real maid—her throat wound cleverly concealed, posed as if napping lazily.
"Your infiltration is good, but your disguise is crude. Heartbeat, scent—all wrong. My attendant would never enter the basement," Sasori said coldly.
"Is that so? Looks like I can't treat you like an ordinary child… Sorry about the disguise; I was pressed for time. I could have been surrounded by your village's ninja at any moment, and I didn't have the energy to perfect the details."
Nono Yakushi sighed, looking at the numerous puppets around her, a few corpses, and several half-finished human puppets blocking Sasori's path.
"The mission to take you away has apparently failed. I cannot defeat you in an instant, nor can I quietly extract you. But I didn't expect the Hidden Sand Village to have developed human puppets to this degree—they already have some practical combat value. I'll report this important intelligence back to my village."
Yakushi regretted this, but having gathered such information was enough.
The longer she delayed, the less chance she had of escaping herself. She couldn't die—those war orphans still depended on her protection.
"Wait. I haven't allowed you to leave."
Sasori abruptly tightened the chakra strings in his hands, but the next moment his expression changed—Nono Yakushi had used her chakra scalpel to cut through all the chakra strings entwined around her.
"A medical ninja?"
Yakushi replied, "So you should understand—many of your techniques won't work on me. You'd be better off letting me leave quietly, or I'll have to take you hostage… I don't like using force against children."
Sasori said coldly, "Since you're a Konoha spy, there's no need for you to leave. There's something I need to ask you. Do you know that one skilled in Dead Soul technique? I'm very interested in him. Perhaps we can exchange information."