Sunagakure, the Kazekage's office.
The Third Kazekage stared at the mountain of documents piled in front of him with a headache.
As the strongest Kazekage in Sunagakure's history, he had shaken the ninja world with his masterful Magnet Release: Iron Sand Technique.
Yet today, he was completely helpless before a report concerning the "defense budget."
Attached to the report was also a jointly signed proposal from the Council of Elders, sternly demanding that he immediately cut "nonessential expenditures" and prioritize repairs to the border watchtowers.
Of course he understood the importance of border defense. Just last month, an Iwagakure reconnaissance team had been lingering near the border between the Land of Wind and the Land of Earth.
He simply had not expected that the moment he invested money into the training system for the next generation of ninja, those elders would denounce it as a "nonessential" expense.
Sunagakure did not possess fertile land like Konoha, nor abundant water resources like Kirigakure.
The only thing it could rely on was its people.
But now, many people in the village cared only about immediate benefits.
The Third Kazekage sighed. He suddenly felt that the First Kazekage had probably chosen to become Kazekage not because he wanted the position, but because no one else was willing to do the job.
Knock, knock, knock.
A knock sounded at the door.
"Come in."
The door opened, and a red-haired boy walked inside.
He appeared to be around fifteen or sixteen years old, with delicate features and an expression so calm that it bordered on indifference.
"Sasori." A deeply complicated smile appeared on the Third Kazekage's face. "It's already so late. What do you need from me?"
Sasori of the Red Sand bowed slightly. "Lord Kazekage, I recently improved a new type of puppet joint. I wanted you to take a look."
The Third Kazekage stood and walked around from behind his desk.
His attitude toward Sasori had always been different from that of Sunagakure's other senior officials.
Sasori's parents had been killed by Konoha's White Fang during the Second Shinobi World War.
As Kazekage, the Third had always felt guilty about it.
He knew that he had failed to protect the village and failed to give the red-haired boy from Chiyo's family a complete childhood.
That was why, when Sasori first tried to stab him with a poisoned puppet needle, he had merely taken the needle away with ease and said in front of everyone, "The child simply misses his parents too much and lost his judgment for a moment."
He had not punished Sasori. Instead, he gave him a better laboratory and more rare materials.
Later, Sasori attempted to assassinate him a second time, but he still did not pursue the matter. He even granted Sasori special access to the archives in the Kazekage Building.
The entire village thought Lord Kazekage had gone insane for indulging someone who had tried to assassinate him twice.
"A new type of joint?" The Third Kazekage stopped three steps away from Sasori. "What principle does it use?"
"I designed a double-layered nested structure that increases chakra transmission efficiency by twenty percent."
The Third Kazekage nodded slightly.
Truthfully, he was not very knowledgeable about puppetry. Matters concerning puppet masters were best left to Granny Chiyo.
But Sasori looked extremely serious while explaining it, so he listened just as seriously.
"Show me."
Sasori placed the puppet in his arms on the ground and lightly curled his fingers. Five chakra threads shot from his fingertips and connected precisely to the puppet's four limbs and head.
Almost at the same moment, the puppet rose to its feet with an exceptionally fluid motion.
The Third Kazekage's eyes brightened slightly. "It is indeed more flexible than before."
"It isn't only more flexible." As Sasori spoke, the index finger of his right hand curled slightly.
The puppet's right arm suddenly sprang open, and a folded blade extended from its wrist.
"I also improved the poison. Once it enters the bloodstream, it spreads to the central nervous system within three seconds. After fifteen seconds, every muscle in the body loses the ability to contract voluntarily."
"That is a very detailed explanation."
"A good puppet master should understand every drop of poison on his weapon."
The Third Kazekage stepped forward and bent down to carefully examine the structure of the folding blade.
"The way this blade is stored is ingenious. How did you do it?"
"I added a set of spring-loaded triggers inside the joint." Sasori walked to his side. "Look here. You only need to press this spot."
He pressed it, and a faint click came from the puppet's wrist.
As the Third Kazekage lowered his head to look, he suddenly felt something lightly prick the back of his neck.
He instinctively raised a hand and touched the spot. His fingertips found a tiny bump on his skin.
When he lowered his hand, he saw a small bead of blood on his fingertip.
"Sasori." The Third Kazekage's voice sank. "This is the third time."
"Yes, Lord Kazekage." Sasori took a step back. "The first two times, I lost."
The Third Kazekage's vision suddenly blurred. He reached out and supported himself against the edge of the desk.
"Why... Why? Have I... not treated you well enough? What happened to your parents..."
"Don't mention my parents."
For the first time, emotion entered Sasori's voice.
"The first two assassination attempts really were because of them," Sasori said. "I transferred my hatred for Konoha's White Fang onto you. I believed you had failed to protect them."
He raised his head and looked into the Third Kazekage's eyes.
"But I was wrong."
"Killing you would not bring them back. Hatred cannot solve anything. It would only make me uglier and uglier, more and more like the kind of person I despise."
The Third Kazekage froze.
He had never imagined Sasori would say such things.
"Then why are you still doing this?"
Sasori was silent for a moment.
"Do you know what eternity is?"
"What?"
"Parents die. Friends betray you. Villages are destroyed. Even someone like you, hailed as the strongest Kazekage in history, will grow old, become sick, and die."
Sasori's voice carried an almost devout obsession.
"Only by preserving the most beautiful thing at its most perfect moment can it truly be called art."
The Third Kazekage stared into Sasori's eyes.
There was no hatred in them.
No anger.
There was not even any of the emotion he had expected to see.
There was only a pure and terrifying obsession.
Sasori took a scroll from his ninja tool pouch and slowly unfurled it.
"And you, Lord Third Kazekage, are the most perfect material I could find."
"You're insane." The Third Kazekage felt the dizziness growing stronger.
"Perhaps." Following the sequence of the formula, Sasori layered seals over the Third Kazekage's body one after another. "But art requires sacrifice."
"You call murder art?"
"No." Sasori's voice was almost gentle. "I call eternity art."
The glow of the sealing technique gradually enveloped the Third Kazekage's entire body.
In the final moment before his consciousness sank into darkness, the Third Kazekage heard Sasori speak once more.
"Besides, Lord Kazekage, did you really think I would be foolish enough to confront the strongest Kazekage in history in a direct one-on-one battle?"
Sasori's voice grew farther and farther away.
"I am a puppet master, not a samurai. Using poison is the most natural thing in the world for someone like me."
Strangely, the Third Kazekage's final thought was this:
Years from now, how would Sunagakure's history books record his death?