Hiruko's tail stinger pierced into the Third Kazekage's body.
The Third Kazekage coughed up a mouthful of blood, his eyes wide as he stared at Sasori in disbelief: "Wh-why?"
"Why? If you're asking me why, then I'll let you die knowing the truth."
Sasori unrolled a scroll, summoning the Father and Mother Human Puppets.
"Now, do you understand why I did this?"
Seeing the two Human Puppets Sasori summoned, the Third Kazekage looked bewildered.
He knew that these two Human Puppets were created based on Sasori's parents.
But what did that have to do with Sasori killing him?
Sasori saw the Third Kazekage's bewildered expression and immediately became furious. Although his voice was steady, the anger within was palpable: "You still don't understand?
During the Second Shinobi World War, if not for your negligence, could Konoha have attacked the Land of Wind? If not for your negligence, my parents wouldn't have died at the hands of the Konoha White Fang.
And now, I'm going to make you pay the price for your mistake back then! The price of your life!"
The Third Kazekage's already disbelieving eyes widened even further in shock.
Is this guy insane?
Instead of blaming the Konoha Ninja, he's blaming him.
Back then, he was commanding the battle outside the Land of Wind; who knew Konoha would directly send people to attack the Land of Wind?
It's not like after Konoha invaded the Land of Wind, he could discuss with the Konoha Ninja during the battle, 'Hey, you Konoha Ninja can't kill Sasori's parents,' right?
In war, casualties are normal. He too was prepared for sacrifice during the battle. No one wants to see their comrades sacrifice, and he didn't intentionally send Sasori's parents to their deaths.
The Third Kazekage angrily roared at Sasori: "Your parents sacrificed themselves for the Village with honor, and you, as their child, have defiled their honor! Sasori! You cannot be forgiven, I will... *cough*!"
As the Third Kazekage spoke, he couldn't hold it in and spat out a large mouthful of blood.
The blood he spat out was distinctly black.
And black lines appeared all over the Third Kazekage's body.
These lines were the Third Kazekage's blood vessels, which had turned black due to the poison.
Sasori sneered coldly: "What honor? That kind of thing that disappears with time is useless. As I said before, the tail has potent poison. Concentrating Chakra will only make the poisoning accelerate and deepen."
Sasori emerged from Hiruko, standing before it, and gently caressed Hiruko's head, revealing a chilling smile: "You should be satisfied with my Hiruko, right? The human body will decay one day, rot into a pile of white bones, and eventually even the white bones will weather into a pile of dust.
But this Hiruko! It is the ultimate art that will never decay, never rot, and never disappear. This is eternal art!"
The Third Kazekage's body trembled.
Sasori first said that the human body would eventually decay, then said that Hiruko would never decay.
Coupled with Hiruko's extremely lifelike appearance.
The Third Kazekage was incredibly shocked: "This is... a Human Puppet you made?!"
Sasori's chilling laughter grew increasingly eerie: "That's right, this is the eternal art I created, a Human Puppet! Kuto, I'll take your body. I will make good use of your body and turn you into a Human Puppet."
The Third Kazekage's limbs grew cold, not only because of the poison but also because of Sasori's madness.
The Third Kazekage never expected that Chiyo's grandson, who was highly respected in Sunagakure, would be so deranged.
Just as the Third Kazekage was about to fight to the death, Sasori acted first, manipulating Hiruko to directly bind and restrain the Third Kazekage with its tail.
As Hiruko's tail tightened, the Third Kazekage felt immense pain.
Moreover, the poison Sasori used was specially made by him, quick-acting and potent.
Sasori even felt that the Third Kazekage's resistance to the poison was quite impressive, considering how long he had lasted.
However, no matter how impressive, it was useless.
As Hiruko's tail tightened, its sharp tip pierced the Third Kazekage's skin, allowing more potent poison to enter his body.
Sasori wanted the Third Kazekage to die in agony.
Now the Third Kazekage was completely powerless, and a life review appeared in his mind.
After becoming a Ninja, he fought for Sunagakure.
After taking over as Kazekage, he worked diligently, not daring to slack off for a moment, hoping that Sunagakure could prosper under his leadership.
Yet, ironically, he did not die at the hands of an enemy, but at the hands of someone he trusted.
The Third Kazekage once again thought of what Kiba had reminded him.
If he had listened to Kiba's words back then, would today have a different outcome?
But there were no 'ifs'; this was the reality, the reality that he was about to die.
After the life review stopped, the Third Kazekage closed his eyes, his entire body went limp, and he completely lost his life.
Sasori expressionlessly glanced at the Third Kazekage's corpse, then placed it inside Hiruko.
As he put the Third Kazekage into Hiruko, a piece of paper fell to the ground.
Sasori stepped forward and picked up the paper.
Looking at the contents on the paper, Sasori's eyes narrowed slightly: "Kiba... is that the kid?"
In the entire Sunagakure, the only one who could create unique Human Puppets before was Sasori.
Because the Third Kazekage discovered Kiba's talent for making Human Puppets, Kiba, under passive resistance, made two Human Puppets to fool the Third Kazekage.
And the Third Kazekage praised Kiba's Human Puppets in front of Chiyo, so Chiyo showed this Human Puppet to Sasori.
After seeing it, Sasori felt it had some potential.
Because most Human Puppets are hollow inside to accommodate various mechanisms, this makes it difficult to perform very precise movements when manipulating them.
But the Human Puppet Kiba made was not hollow; it had a skeleton inside its body.
The presence of the skeleton allowed for very precise manipulation of the Human Puppet.
However, that was about it; there was nothing else that caught Sasori's attention, and it couldn't compare to his Human Puppets at all.
Now his Human Puppet can also achieve a very precise level, because Human Puppets inherently have skeletons.
When it comes to making Human Puppets, if he says he's second, no one dares to say they're first!
"Heh, so he went to Konoha as a spy?"
Sasori fumbled through the Third Kazekage's corpse and successfully found Kiba's letter.
Then Sasori took out a blank scroll and began writing, imitating the handwriting on Kiba's letter.
After writing, Sasori casually threw the scroll onto the bloodstained sand.
Sasori took one last look at Sunagakure behind him, then turned around, manipulating Hiruko, and disappeared into the desert.