"The world of genjutsu isn't bad. Reality is too cruel; it only makes this void larger and larger..."
On the day she heard of the Eye of the Moon Plan, the string Chiyo had always held onto seemed to snap.
She had endured more pain than Sasori; if reality was hell, she was someone who had always lived in hell.
But could she turn dark like Sasori?
Chiyo was an Advisor of Sunagakure and an elder of the Village; all the children were waiting for her guidance.
She could point the way for the Village, but no one helped her clarify her own path.
Chiyo could only move forward in pain, for she was the Flower of Shinobi who could guide the sand even if withered.
There is always a group of people who must carry certain burdens to move forward for you!
This is a Ninja!
Hiss hiss hiss—
A Red Tail Scorpion slowly crawled down the steps, its legs extending and alternating section by section, its body steady as a piece of moving hard armor, without shaking or trembling.
This was the poisonous Red Tail Scorpion that Chiyo had just given to Ryou.
But this scorpion seemed a bit different; it was twice as large as before, with the character for "Sasori" on its abdomen, and the median eyes on its back seemed to have human-like agility.
Yet it lacked human spirit, possessing instead a death-like loneliness and indifference.
"Are you Sasori?!"
Chiyo was shocked, staring intently at the Red Tail Scorpion on the ground.
Her greatest suspicion toward Ryou was his gaze; even if you mimicked a person's chakra and scent perfectly, you couldn't mimic the charm of their gaze.
The eyes are the windows to the soul, and even more, the projection of the spirit.
To see a woman's charm, look at her eyes; if she doesn't notice, look hard at her chest and legs.
At this moment, Chiyo was absolutely certain that the Red Tail Scorpion on the ground was her grandson—Sasori, the real Sasori, not the Ryou outside wearing Sasori's face.
"Sasori, how did you become like this? Did that imposter outside turn you into this?"
Sasori snorted: "It's his handiwork!"
Chiyo said angrily: "Good, good, good! To dare treat my grandson like this, I'll go kill him right now!"
Chiyo manipulated her puppets, about to go risk her life against Ryou.
But Sasori's next sentence made Chiyo stop.
"Insisting on giving me a bleeding body of flesh, how boring!"
Chiyo paused, looking at Sasori's abdomen: "Sasori, you—"
Sasori glanced at Chiyo: "Old woman, you're still so pitiful, shedding tears at such an old age."
Chiyo wiped away her tears and stared closely at Sasori: "Sasori, tell me, did you turn yourself into a human puppet?"
No one knows a child better than their parents. Since Sasori no longer has the parents of his parents, the one who knows him best is Chiyo!
Based on some hidden traces before Sasori defected, Chiyo naturally deduced that Sasori had already begun touching the forbidden realm of a Puppeteer—the human puppet!
Sasori snorted coldly: "Old woman, you understand me quite well. That's right, three years ago I turned myself into a human puppet."
"Not just me, the Third Kazekage was also turned into a human puppet by me."
Chiyo was shocked: "So that's how it is; you were the one who killed the Third Kazekage."
Sasori was disdainful: "Didn't you know long ago? Why keep deceiving yourself?"
"..."
Chiyo fell silent. Yes, she had been deceiving herself ever since she saw the materials for those human puppets Sasori left behind.
She should have realized long ago that her cute grandson had fallen.
She had just been deceiving herself.
Chiyo shrank back into that dark space: "I'm sorry, Sasori, I failed to protect your parents."
"..."
Sasori quieted down. The grandmother and grandson remained silent in this dim space; neither was willing to speak and break the silence.
Their meeting from beginning to end was not happiness, but sadness.
Chiyo didn't know how to face Sasori, who was no longer human.
Sasori didn't care about others' opinions.
After a long time, Chiyo finally asked about Sasori's recent situation.
"Sasori, who is the person impersonating you?"
Sasori said somewhat exasperatedly: "Uchiha Ryou. I went to join Uchiha Madara and met him on the way. I originally wanted to meet Uchiha Madara through this guy."
"I didn't expect this hateful Uchiha to have a rebellious heart; he's not in league with Uchiha Madara. He defeated me and smashed all my original puppet bodies."
"After taking my regeneration core, he impersonated me and returned to Sunagakure."
Chiyo listened carefully, recalling the details of her contact with Ryou. When she scolded Ryou before, he had yawned.
So he had exposed himself back then.
Chiyo asked again: "His goal is Shukaku, right?"
It wasn't hard to guess; Ryou, as a lackey under Madara, couldn't have come to Sunagakure for a New Year's visit.
And Madara's goal had already been made public to the Ninja World: to capture the Nine Tailed Beasts of the Ninja World.
Sasori nodded: "Correct. He impersonated me to enter Sunagakure because he wanted to capture the One-Tail Shukaku."
Chiyo snorted coldly: "Arrogant! Although Sunagakure is weak, it is still one of the Five Great Ninja Villages. Does he think he can capture a Tailed Beast all by himself?"
Sasori's voice remained low and cold: "He is not arrogant. On the contrary, he has already given Sunagakure quite a bit of face. Because, if he felt like it, he could destroy all of Sunagakure right now."
"Because he possesses the Wood Release of the First Hokage!"
"(((ﾟДﾟ;)))."
Chiyo was terrified: "Wh... what? Wood Release! An Uchiha possesses the Wood Release of the First Hokage?"
Sasori nodded: "Otherwise, why do you think the Third Kazekage and I were defeated so miserably? Now, even death has become a luxury!"
Chiyo immediately wanted to rush out and tell Rasa to assemble Sunagakure's Ninja forces to deal with Ryou.
But suddenly, her body went out of control.
Sasori's eyes turned into a pair of three tomoe Sharingan, emitting an evil yet beautiful ocular power. This was Ryou projecting the power of genjutsu into Sasori's eyes.
"Old woman, I forgot to tell you, besides Wood Release, his Sharingan is also close to the Mangekyo Sharingan."
"Uchiha Ryou, you brat, you actually came to deceive an old woman nearly sixty years old."
Chiyo's vision slowly became blurred.
Sasori snorted: "Don't worry, it's just to let you sleep. When you wake up, you won't know about me and will firmly believe that bastard Uchiha Ryou is me."
Chiyo fell asleep in the basement.
Afterward, Sasori released chakra threads to set up a simple wooden bed for Chiyo and found some blankets to cover her.
The desert at night is a bit cold; don't let the old thing freeze to death.
Having finished all this, Sasori raised his front claws and walked out of the basement.