Chiyo and Ebizo believed it—they had to, even if they didn't. They also prepared to define the Third Kazekage's disappearance and suspected death as the handiwork of Madara during tomorrow's Elders' Council meeting.
In any case, they had to completely clear Sasori of any involvement in this matter.
Maki was somewhat skeptical; Space-Time Ninjutsu was too advanced for a lowly Chunin like her, and it was simply beyond her understanding.
She instinctively felt that someone as handsome as Lord Sasori couldn't possibly be such a cold-blooded and heartless person.
"Do the people of the Uchiha Clan really possess such formidable power?"
Pakura didn't believe it.
Mangekyo Sharingan and Space-Time Ninjutsu had all been brought up.
Pakura felt that Chiyo, Ebizo, and Sasori were all putting on an act for her, with the sole purpose of clearing Sasori's suspicion.
Ryou looked at Pakura and said, "You don't believe it? You can go try. Although your strength isn't equal to the Third Kazekage's, it's not far off."
"Uchiha Madara is in the Land of Rain. Why don't you go see for yourself if he has the Mangekyo Sharingan? See if he'll kick you to death like a stray dog on the side of the road?"
Pakura snorted, "I will avoid his edge for now. Once the Shinobi Allied Forces is formed after the Five Kage Summit, I will go challenge Uchiha Madara."
"I don't believe an old relic from the Warring States Period still possesses such great power."
Ryou, Chiyo, and Ebizo looked at Pakura in shock. No wonder Pakura was killed so easily by Kirigakure fodder in the original work?
It turns out this kind of person dies from their own stupidity!
Having someone like this as a Singlu for Ryou would even lower his standards; the only way to seal away her stupidity would be to turn her into a human puppet.
Ryou looked at Chiyo, "Old hag, is this the kind of soldier you've trained?"
Chiyo quickly denied it, "No, Pakura's Scorch Release was developed by herself. She has no master. It's normal for young people to be a bit ignorant of the world's vastness."
Pakura gave a cold snort, "Uchiha Madara must be in his eighties. To even be able to use Ninjutsu at that age is already impressive. I absolutely don't believe he still has his former strength."
Ryou barked, "Young people shouldn't be too aggressive!"
"Are you even young if you aren't aggressive?"
Pakura snapped back.
As Ryou and Pakura bickered, they soon arrived at the residence of Chiyo and Ebizo.
Chiyo's residence was deep within the sand dunes on the western side of Sunagakure. The outer walls were built with a mixture of Sunagakure's unique Kitsuchi and quartz sand, appearing deep earthy-yellow and blending perfectly with the surrounding dunes.
There was a medicinal garden and living quarters above ground, and an underground structure containing Chiyo's puppet room and poison cultivation room.
This place was far from the Village center, with few neighbors. It was quiet and perfectly suited for seclusion.
Hearing the noise, the servants who looked after Chiyo and Ebizo all came out to greet them.
"Sasori, you haven't been back to my place in so long since you moved out!"
Chiyo pulled Ryou into the house with a face full of smiles.
"Come, I'll take you to your old room."
"Ebizo, tell the servants to catch two stray dogs to nourish my Sasori's body. Also, arrange a room for Pakura and her disciple."
"This..."
Ebizo found it a bit difficult. The Land of Wind was a desert nation, hot and arid. Even stray dogs would look at it with disdain.
But difficult didn't mean impossible.
Most dogs in the desert were concentrated in oases and Village areas.
Some families in Sunagakure also kept dogs, and Ebizo planned to buy them at a high price.
Chiyo brought Ryou to the room Sasori once occupied.
"Sasori, this was your room as a child. I personally come to clean it for you every day!"
Ryou looked at Sasori's childhood room, and the Sasori within his body also reminisced through Ryou's senses.
It was an elegant room paved with warm yellow sandstone tiles. The walls were polished rammed earth, with light brown poplar wood trim at the corners, insulating it from the desert's daytime heat and nighttime chill.
There were many photos of Sasori's parents on the bedside table, the most prominent being a group photo in a yellow frame.
In the photo, Sasori's parents were dressed in standard Sunagakure attire, holding baby Sasori with gentle smiles. The photo paper was slightly yellowed, and the corners seemed polished from being repeatedly rubbed by fingertips.
Ryou felt Sasori trembling.
Twilight in the mountains easily brings back old memories. Of all the weapons in the world, only the past cuts the deepest!
Looking at these photos, one could imagine the lonely young Sasori silently staring at these pictures of his parents to alleviate his solitude.
After Sasori left, Chiyo would also frequently come here to look tenderly at her son, daughter-in-law, and little grandson... That White Fang really deserved to be cursed!
Ryou could understand that it was war, and Kunai have no eyes.
But when such a thing happens to oneself, one doesn't care about the context of war.
Even if White Fang was dead, he would have to be brought back to life only to be violated and killed.
Besides that group photo with his parents, there were also some mini puppet toys in Sasori's room, such as a little scorpion, a little Salamander, and a little crow.
They were likely toys Chiyo had personally made for Sasori when he was a child!
Chiyo used another "ultimate move." She opened a large cabinet used for storing oversized items and took out two puppets.
One was a male puppet with red hair and a black robe, and the other was a female puppet with long, smooth black hair and a green robe.
Their arms and faces were of a wooden puppet structure.
These were Sasori's "parents," his true parents.
Because young Sasori missed his parents too much, he had made these two puppets in their likeness to embrace him.
Sasori didn't represent eternity, but rather a lonely childhood.
Chiyo used Chakra Threads to bring the two puppets out and place them beside Ryou.
She peeked at Ryou's expression.
Ryou had seen Sasori's parents in Sasori's memories; they were like most traditional parents.
A father's back is like a mountain—silent, yet always shielding you from the wind and rain.
A mother's embrace is the softest harbor in the world.
Ordinary, yet sincere.
Ryou could feel Sasori trembling inside him; he seemed to want to come out and hug his parents.
But in the end, he suppressed it, only saying: "Boring emotions!"
Ryou had originally wanted to kneel and wail, putting on a good show for Chiyo, but seeing Sasori like this, it was clearly not the right way to act.
However, Ryou still wanted to show a bit of that heart-wrenching pain to indirectly probe Chiyo about the One's Own Life Reincarnation Jutsu.
"Old hag, actually, when I heard about Uchiha Madara's Eye of the Moon Plan, I thought he was a savior."
Chiyo quickly interrupted Ryou's words, "No, Sasori, that will always be an illusory world. No matter how real it seems, it's nothing but a hollow dream."
Chiyo knew what Sasori meant—he wanted to pursue a genjutsu world where his parents existed.
Ryou looked at the "Father" and "Mother" puppets and said, "Isn't life in this world just a great dream? Since death is the end of life, why must humans exist at all?"
Chiyo said, "Sasori, do you read a book by flipping straight to the last page? A person's value lies in their experiences. Whether good or bad, it is a story with a beginning and an end."
Ryou maintained his stance favoring the Eye of the Moon Plan, his voice growing slightly louder, "If a book is wrong, it can be revised and edited, but can a person?"
"Old hag, can you modify my ending into a family reunion? Why has my story been a tragedy from the very beginning?"
"..."
Chiyo fell silent.
Because you are only a person within the story. Your story isn't decided by the 'you' in the book; it was written by fate from the very start.