The corner of Sasori's mouth twitched.
He did not press further.
He simply picked up his tool again and began measuring against the suit of armor.
The things Teizawa had described…
He needed time to digest them properly.
Teizawa watched his busy back and knew the deal was done.
It was enough to keep Sasori's appetite whetted and stop him from leaving Sunagakure.
But that still was not enough.
He decided to add more fuel to the fire.
So he spoke again.
"Sasori, have you ever thought about… creating a puppet with self-awareness?"
Sasori's hand suddenly trembled.
The tool fell to the floor with a crisp clang.
He turned around, his eyes fixed on Teizawa.
Shock and doubt churned within them.
And a fear he could not quite put into words.
"Self-awareness?"
His voice dropped low. "That's impossible.
"Puppets have no souls. No life.
"How could they possibly have self-awareness?"
"It's impossible right now."
Teizawa leaned against the table, both hands tucked into his sleeves.
His tone was as calm as if he were stating something obvious.
"But what about later? A hundred years ago, who could have imagined people flying through the sky?"
"Fifty years ago, who could have imagined a person turning himself into a puppet?"
"Science advances. Technology develops. Nothing is truly impossible."
Of course, he was mostly talking nonsense.
What he was actually thinking about was artificial intelligence from the real world.
But this was the shinobi world, a place filled with fantasy and chakra.
Who could say for certain that they really could not create a puppet with a self of its own?
Sasori fell silent.
He was thinking.
If there truly were a puppet with self-awareness, would it still be a puppet?
What would it be?
A new form of life?
A new kind of human?
Countless questions surfaced in his mind.
Each one was like a tangled knot.
Impossible to sort out. Impossible to cut through.
"Of course, that's something far in the future."
Teizawa stopped at just the right point and patted him on the shoulder.
"For now, solve the problem in front of you first."
"Steam engine, internal combustion engine, whatever it may be. Find a way to make these iron lumps move on their own."
Sasori nodded and said nothing.
He bent down, picked up the fallen tool, and continued working with his head lowered.
Teizawa looked at his back and knew he had achieved his goal for the day.
Sasori would not run.
At least not for now.
Because in this world,
only Teizawa could give Sasori these things…
Steel puppets. Steam engines. Internal combustion engines…
And that vague, distant dream of puppets with self-awareness.
These things were more tempting than any amount of money, any threat, or any promise.
Teizawa turned and left the laboratory.
The iron door slowly closed behind him.
The sealing runes lit up one by one, then faded into darkness.
He walked through the passage, his footsteps echoing against the stone walls with a particularly crisp sound.
Next, he still had to check how Kankurō's mechs were coming along.
He also had to visit Gaara's seawater desalination project.
He had plenty to do.
…
Konoha. The Hokage's office.
Tsunade leaned back in her chair.
Her fingers rubbed at her temples, and her brows were tightly furrowed.
Several reports were spread across the desk in front of her.
Every single one said the same thing…
Hinata, missing.
Neji, missing.
Tracking failed. No leads found.
She lowered her hand, picked up the report on top, and read it again.
Then she set it down and closed her eyes.
The Hyuga clan had already exploded.
The main family's young lady, the future heir of the Hyuga clan, had vanished without a sound.
No signs of a fight. No signs of intrusion.
Not even lingering chakra traces.
Those two people had disappeared as if they had evaporated into thin air.
Hiashi had already come twice.
The first time was to ask questions.
The second time was to demand answers.
His face had been ashen, his Byakugan bloodshot, and his voice hoarse as sand.
"Hokage-sama, Hinata cannot come to harm. She is the future of the Hyuga clan."
Of course Tsunade knew that.
But she had no leads at all.
ANBU had investigated.
She had even asked sensory ninja from the Yamanaka clan to examine the scene.
They found nothing.
Those two living, breathing people
had not even left behind a single strand of hair.
"Keep investigating."
Tsunade opened her eyes and addressed the ANBU in front of her.
"Expand the search range. Check the border outposts, the main roads, every place they might have passed through."
The ANBU knelt on one knee with his head lowered.
"Hokage-sama, we already have."
"There are no records at the border outposts. Surveillance along the main roads also found no sign of Hinata or Neji."
"They… really do seem to have vanished into thin air."
Tsunade's fingers tapped lightly against the desk.
The rhythm was scattered.
None of her usual steadiness remained.
She thought of that man.
She thought of the days he had spent in Konoha, and of the contact he had with the Hyuga clan.
She remembered that on the day he left, he had stopped members of the Hyuga clan in an alley and spoken to them for a short while.
But…
He had no reason to take Hinata and Neji away.
"Hokage-sama…"
The ANBU raised his head, hesitant to speak.
"Say it."
"Someone saw that on the night Hinata and Neji disappeared, Sunagakure's team happened to leave Konoha."
Tsunade's pupils shrank slightly.
That bastard…
She took a deep breath and forced herself to calm down.
There was no evidence. She could not make wild accusations.
She nodded and signaled for the ANBU to withdraw.
The door closed behind him.
Only she remained in the office.
…
The Hyuga clan estate.
Hiashi sat in the reception room. Several branch family ninja knelt before him.
They were all tracking specialists.
Every one of them possessed the Byakugan, and every one was skilled in tracking and counter-tracking.
But now, all of them had their heads lowered.
None of them said a word.
"You can't find them?"
Hiashi's voice was very soft.
But every word carried heavy weight.
The ninja kneeling at the front shook his head. His voice sounded dry as sand.
"Clan Head-sama, we followed the direction Hinata-sama and Neji left in for dozens of miles."
"But every trace was erased. Very cleanly. So cleanly it was as if they had never existed at all."
Hiashi was silent for a long time.
He thought of that Kazekage…
He suspected there might be something wrong with that man, but he had no evidence.
"Keep searching."
Hiashi stood and walked to the window, turning his back to them.
"Alive, I want to see them. Dead, I want their bodies."
"Yes."
Footsteps gradually receded.
Hiashi looked out at the sky dyed red by the setting sun.
An indescribable anxiety welled up in his chest.
Hinata was his daughter.
She was also the future of the Hyuga clan.
Nothing could happen to her.
Across Konoha's streets and alleys, rumors began to spread.
People whispered to one another in teahouses.
People murmured in taverns.
People stopped by the roadside to discuss it.
The Hyuga clan's young lady had gone missing. The Hyuga clan's genius had gone missing too.
Some said they had been kidnapped. Some said they had eloped. Some said they had been assassinated…
No one knew the truth.
And no one could find it.
(End of Chapter)
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