Ryou took the box from Chiyo and said, "That's a given, old woman. You are already old, just like the late glow of the setting sun, while I am the light of dawn."
"We are the end and the beginning of a day, but this is a form of inheritance. Aren't humans supposed to get better with each generation?"
Chiyo nodded; Sasori really did seem different after defecting.
Look at that—
My Sasori is truly talented.
But why does it sound a bit strange?
Chiyo rubbed her head in confusion. Ninjas were meant for killing; even the literature taught at the Ninja Academy focused on killing.
She really didn't understand the ways of cultured people.
Ryou interrupted everyone's contemplation and said, "Alright, it's getting late. Everyone, head home!"
Yashamaru took Temari and Kankuro by the hands and bid farewell to Chiyo's family: "Granny Chiyo, Ebizo-sama, thank you for the hospitality... We're leaving now."
"Temari, Kankuro, goodbye!"
Chiyo and Ebizo waved goodbye to the adorable Temari and Kankuro.
Ryou said to Yashamaru, "Yashamaru, wear women's clothes more often in the future. I think you look quite good in them."
Yashamaru was extremely embarrassed and quickly fled with Temari and Kankuro.
Chiyo grew a bit anxious. They say after three years without seeing a woman, even a sow looks pretty.
Sasori wouldn't—
Chiyo would rather believe Sasori had been possessed than believe his sexual orientation had changed.
As they were leaving, Kankuro turned back and shouted his dream to Ryou: "Sasori-sama, I will definitely become a Puppeteer like you!"
Ryou mercilessly crushed the child's innocence: "Kankuro, stop dreaming. With your talent, you're destined to be a scavenger for the rest of your life."
"Waaah..."
Kankuro immediately burst into tears. He thought having Sasori in Sunagakure was like the desert during the day, full of light and warmth.
But the desert at night was still cold!
Everyone was speechless, but they didn't know what to say.
After Yashamaru left with Kankuro and Temari, Chiyo approached Ryou and looked at him closely.
Ryou panicked, thinking Chiyo had discovered his identity.
Who would have thought she wasn't talking about that?
"Sasori, how about I introduce a girlfriend to you tomorrow?"
Sasori was seventeen or eighteen now, an age when a young man's Yang energy is peaking, and he'd get restless at the sight of any female.
Ryou breathed a sigh of relief. Fortunately, his identity hadn't been exposed.
He said casually, "No need. Just find me a couple of chickens. I've been wanting to try Desert Chickens for a long time!"
"What?!"
Chiyo and Ebizo were surprised to hear this.
Ryou quickly changed his tune, looking at Pakura: "Old woman, I think Pakura looks pretty good. Why not let her be my girlfriend!"
"Pah!"
Pakura's eyes instantly flared with anger: "Sasori, you bastard, keep dreaming!"
Chiyo was immediately displeased: "Pakura, what right does a woman nearly thirty like you have to talk about my Sasori? If my Sasori wanted to marry, the line of people in the Village would stretch all the way to The Pass at the entrance."
Pakura also had a fiery temper, and when it came to her life's major events, she wouldn't let Chiyo talk nonsense: "Old woman, this guy Sasori is extremely cruel and has absolutely no bottom line."
"Who knows how many evil deeds he did in secret during those three years without the Village's restraint?"
"Oh, Pakura, you brainless woman with big breasts. It's one thing to have no brains, but to call my Sasori a bad person?"
Seeing the two strongest women in the Village about to fight, Ryou quickly pulled them apart.
"Old woman, Pakura, stop arguing. It's late; we should sleep."
Pakura snorted and said coldly to Ryou, "Sasori of the Red Sand, I'm sleeping next door to you tonight. My intuition tells me you didn't come back to do anything good. I'm going to keep a close eye on you."
Ryou became angry on the spot: "Pakura, you hag! Just because you dress provocatively doesn't mean you can slander people. Why don't you just sleep right next to me? That way you can keep an even better eye on me."
"Fine, fine, fine, it's a deal!"
Seeing Pakura get her way and about to reach out her evil hands to defile her pure grandson...
Chiyo stepped in to stop it: "Pakura, you perverted woman, you're already at that age, stop trying to seduce my Sasori. Go sleep elsewhere."
Chiyo truly disliked Pakura.
Previously, she had looked at her with respect because of her outstanding military achievements in the war, but the more they interacted, the more she felt Pakura lacked brains.
Had so many people chosen to stay silent about the Third Hokage's matter because they had forgotten the Third Kazekage's kindness?
Wrong. It was because everyone had a sense of the big picture. In the current situation, even if Sasori killed the Third Kazekage, they had to tolerate him.
Pakura was loyal and brave enough to stand up and expose the matter of the Third Kazekage.
But then what? How would it end?
Pakura was only still alive because Rasa and his group needed her strength to deal with Madara.
Even now, she was kept in the dark, believing that going to the Land of Water was truly to sign a peace treaty with Kirigakure.
Moreover, Pakura was about ten years older than Sasori and possessed the dangerous Scorch Release.
Chiyo was truly afraid that one climax from Pakura would evaporate her grandson.
"Old woman, only you would treat your poisonous scorpion like a treasure!"
Pakura grabbed the awkward Maki and headed toward her room.
Chiyo snorted behind her, then said to Ryou, "Sasori, don't mind that woman's surveillance. During tomorrow's elder meeting, Ebizo and I will find a way to clear your suspicion of murdering the Third Kazekage."
"Using what you said before, we will push everything onto Uchiha Madara."
Ryou quickly finalized it: "It's not 'pushing.' It was originally done by Uchiha Madara. I, Sasori of the Red Sand, am pure and noble. How could I be the one to assassinate the Village's Kazekage?"
Chiyo said dotingly, "Yes, yes, yes, it was all that big villain Uchiha Madara's doing. My Sasori isn't such a bad person."
"That's fine then. After a day of traveling, I'm a bit tired. I'm going to rest."
"Okay, go rest, Sasori!"
Ryou then left, carrying the box containing the Red Tail Scorpion.
Chiyo and Ebizo watched Ryou's retreating figure.
Ebizo said with some concern, "Sister..."
Ebizo was the wise man of Sunagakure. With his wisdom, he naturally saw Sasori's oddity. This personality was completely that of a rogue, entirely different from the original Sasori.
Chiyo held up her hand to stop Ebizo's words of concern: "Ebizo! I'm happy today, so don't say those things."
Sigh...
Ebizo sighed in his heart and slowly left the basement, leaving Chiyo alone to guard this lonely space.
Sasori was lonely after losing his parents, but wasn't Chiyo also in pain?
She had lost her husband long ago, lost her son and daughter-in-law in the Second Great Ninja War, and in the Third Great Ninja War, her only grandson was suspected of killing the Third Kazekage and defecting.
Now her long-awaited little Sasori had returned, yet they were telling her that it wasn't Sasori, but a stranger wearing Sasori's skin.
He wasn't her grandson; her grandson had been killed by him, his skin flayed, and his body possessed.
Chiyo crouched in the darkness and wept silently.