Naruto: IHCS Ch. 138

A sharp, searing pain suddenly struck. The Third Kazekage's body plummeted from midair. He landed in a disheveled half-kneeling position, gritting his teeth to support himself.

The agony tearing through his body made his vision spin.

He shook his head slightly, struggling to stay conscious. His body grew unbearably heavy. Even raising an arm felt difficult.

Across from him stood Akasuna, a bright grin tugging at the corner of his mouth.

Another wave of weakness surged through him. His legs began to tremble. Even his half-kneeling body could hardly maintain balance. Taking a deep breath, he tried to summon chakra to dispel the abnormal state.

But the moment he moved, a sharp stabbing pain burst from within.

Boom.

He collapsed helplessly onto the ground.

"Impossible..." he muttered under his breath, a trace of panic flashing in his pupils.

"When did you poison me?!"

He carefully recalled every detail of their battle.

Every one of Akasuna's attacks, thousands of threads, sharp blades... He had defended against them all.

Not a single strike had truly touched his body. Then when... did the poison enter him?

Another, stronger dizziness surged. His breathing turned ragged, cold sweat beading across his forehead.

"Kazekage-sama, I never really understood you all."

"When fighting, just fight. Why waste so many words?"

"Now... I finally understand."

Akasuna crouched in front of the Kazekage.

If the Kazekage hadn't spoken so much, how could the poison have spread so quickly through his body? Looking at Akasuna before him, a terrifying thought rose in the Kazekage's mind.

"It wasn't through direct attacks..."

"From the very beginning... the poison had already been spreading ever since you appeared..."

His breathing grew more labored, vision blurring.

"Why betray us?"

"Why betray Suna?"

He demanded through clenched teeth.

Akasuna raised his brows in feigned surprise, replying innocently:

"I didn't betray you. I didn't betray Suna."

The Kazekage's pupils widened in shock.

"From the very beginning, I was never one of you, never from Suna at all! I'm not even Akasuna. So how could betrayal exist?"

Leaning close to the Kazekage's ear, Akasuna whispered softly.

Bloodshot veins spread across the Kazekage's eyes.

"This poison was prepared especially for you."

Akasuna stomped down on the Kazekage's back, halting his desperate crawl toward the doorway.

"This toxin was extracted from the poisons of Hanzō, and refined into a new venom. Aside from me, no one possesses the antidote."

The Kazekage coughed up blood. To be able to obtain poison from Hanzō's salamander...

"You're from Ame..."

Akasuna gave no reply. A kunai appeared in his hand. He brought the weapon closer to the Kazekage.

The kunai's tip pressed against the Kazekage's forehead. His pupils gradually lost their focus, dimming into emptiness.

Akasuna's grin widened. He pushed forward with force, blood sprayed forth.

The Kazekage's office was left in shambles. Everywhere bore traces of battle and splattered blood.

---

In the distance, the village began to stir with alarm.

The clash inside the Kazekage's office had not gone unnoticed.

"That direction..."

An ANBU in a mask stood on a rooftop.

"It's the Kazekage-sama's office!"

Without waiting for further orders, the ANBU dashed forward like arrows loosed from a bowstring, rushing toward the Kazekage's building.

Their figures streaked through the moonlight, swift and nearly imperceptible. When they finally arrived at the office, the sight before them made them gasp sharply.

A puppet, cleaved in half, lay abandoned in the middle of the corridor.

The ANBU exchanged uneasy glances.

A puppeteer?

The one who attacked the Kazekage's office was a puppeteer!

An ominous premonition pressed down on each of their hearts. Ever since Karasu had perished on the battlefield, Suna's puppeteers were reduced to only Akasuna and Chiyo.

But Akasuna was supposed to be deployed on the frontlines.

Could it be... Chiyo?

No, that was impossible.

They reached the door of the Kazekage's office. The room was almost completely destroyed. Documents were scattered across the floor, stained black by blood and iron sand.

Two heavily damaged puppets lay discarded in the corners.

At the center of the room, the Kazekage stood upright, his back to the doorway. His robe of office was tattered, yet his figure remained tall and unyielding.

At his feet lay a motionless body.

The ANBU quickly recognized the corpse.

Akasuna.

A gaping wound marred his chest, blood gushing freely to form an ever-spreading pool of deep crimson. His eyes were wide open, devoid of any light.

"Kazekage-sama!"

The ANBU rushed forward.

"Are you injured? What happened here?"

The Kazekage slowly turned around. The forehead protector of Suna concealed his brow.

"Akasuna betrayed us. He attempted to assassinate me... but failed."

The ANBU stared in shock at Akasuna's corpse, then at the seemingly unscathed Kazekage.

Akasuna, one of the most respected ninjas of the village.

How could he possibly have betrayed them?

"This... how could this be possible?" a young ANBU ninja blurted out. As the echo of his voice lingered in the cold air, he realized what a foolish thing he had just done.

He had actually questioned the Kazekage!

The Kazekage's gaze swept across the ANBU present, and his eyes settled on the young ninja who had spoken.

"Without my orders, Akasuna secretly returned from the front lines to Suna, claiming he had important intelligence to report, yet he tried to kill me the moment I let down my guard."

The ANBU immediately dropped to one knee.

"We were late. Please forgive us!"

The Kazekage waved his hand lightly.

"No need to blame yourselves. Even if you had been here, you could not have dealt with him. If I hadn't been prepared in advance, I might not have been able to withstand him either."

His gaze fell on Akasuna's corpse, and a faint, nearly imperceptible glint flashed in his eyes.

"Take the body away. Lay it to rest properly, after all, he did once render great service to the village."

"Yes!"

Two ANBU stood up and carefully approached Akasuna's body.

"Clean up this office as well. I don't want unnecessary panic spreading because of this incident."

The Kazekage's eyes swept over the ANBU.

"Yes!"

The ANBU immediately got to work.

After leaving the wrecked office to them, the Kazekage returned to his own quarters.

Inside the room, the Kazekage, or rather, the one who had taken over his body, Choso, stared at the new face in the mirror.

He had already removed the forehead protector. Choso's fingers traced along the sutured line on the forehead, and the corners of his mouth lifted into a satisfied smile.

"A fine vessel indeed," he muttered softly. His voice was entirely different from the Kazekage's, though less cold and severe.

"The Magnet Release... the authority and status of the Kazekage... Truly a body without a flaw, no matter how one looks at it."

He closed his eyes, feeling the power coursing through this new body.

The Kazekage's Magnet Release was indeed formidable. But more importantly, his identity as Kazekage.

As the leader of a hidden village, he now held the authority to mobilize all the resources of Suna.

A crow perched on his shoulder, gently pecking at his hair.

The Kazekage stroked the bird's smooth feathers, soothing it patiently.

"Don't worry."

Outside, the desert wind began to howl, sweeping up the sand.

---

The next day.

The first rays of dawn dispelled the night over Suna.

At the two-story Chiyo household, the front door was lightly knocked.

"Just a moment."

Chiyo, who was working with Sasori on puppet crafting, replied softly. For some reason, an ominous premonition suddenly rose in her heart. She glanced at Sasori, still absorbed in tinkering with his puppet, suppressed the unease within her, and slowly stood up.

She opened the door. Outside stood several masked ANBU.

The leading ANBU bowed slightly to her.

"Chiyo-sama."

The voice that came through the mask was unusually low and heavy.

Chiyo's eyes swept over them, and her heart suddenly sank.

"What is it?"

The ANBU was silent for a moment, then took a deep breath and said, "Last night, Akasuna infiltrated the Kazekage's office and attempted to assassinate the Kazekage."

The air instantly froze.

A wave of dizziness washed over Chiyo.

She forced herself to maintain an outward calm.

Then came the ANBU's next words.

"He was struck down on the spot by the Kazekage."

As the words entered her ears, the world seemed to tilt and spin. She opened her mouth but no sound came out.

The boy she had watched grow up, how could her son betray the village?

How could Akasuna betray the village?

He loved the village so much!

In the deathlike silence, a sharp, clear cracking sound rang out from the living room.

She whipped her head around to see Sasori standing at the entrance to the room, the puppet he'd been working on lying broken at his feet.

His pupils were wide, fixed on the ANBU at the door.

"Father... is dead?"

The ANBU froze where they stood, unsure how to respond to the scene.

"Please accept our condolences. The Kazekage has ordered a proper burial for Akasuna, after all, he rendered great service to the village..."

Before he could finish speaking, Chiyo slammed the door shut with all her strength.

Bang.

The ANBU stared at the now-closed door, sighed inwardly, and turned to leave.

Chiyo's whole body was cold. She didn't know what she might have said had she not closed the door in time. Her eyes stung, and everything before her blurred. Just as the tears were about to fall, she thought of Sasori.

No.

She couldn't cry.

She forced the tears back.

Step by step, she walked toward her grandson.

She wrapped him tightly in her arms.

"Why? Why did Father do that? Why did he want to kill the Kazekage?"

Sasori's voice entered her ears.

Chiyo stroked his hair softly.

"I don't know. I don't know."

"Father and Mother... they'll never come back, right?"

"Right?"

At Sasori's question, the tears she'd been holding back finally streamed down Chiyo's face.

Sasori looked at the tear-streaked face of his grandmother and had his answer.

"I'll fix it."

"This was Father's gift to me."

Sasori clutched the broken puppet, caressing it with care.

Chiyo looked at her grandson's figure and felt a pain that cut to her soul.

Why?

He was still so young... Why must he lose his parents at such an age?

Sasori rubbed his cheek lightly against the broken puppet.

"I want it to stay with me forever..."

Forever.

How could he make it last forever?