∗ ⋅◈⋅ ∗
No Longer Loved
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He hasn't aged a bit.
The trio has bewildered looks on the scarlet-haired puppeteer. Deep in those hazy-looking eyes, they were hollow without a hint of life.
Chiyo remembers Sasori's youthful face when he was a child. Two decades later, his physical appearance looks like his teenage-self but is mentally an adult. Sasori focuses his gaze on his grandmother; she has a skeptical facial expression. A ghost of smile etched his lips. "What's wrong, Chiyo obaa-san? Are you filled with emotions that you are unable to speak?" He asked her like it was a mockery. She doesn't utter anything other than looking all overwhelmed. "That's not surprising. After all, it's our first reunion in twenty years." His calming voice spoke almost haughtily.
"While I'm at it, I'll show you something special." Sasori slips a scroll out of his sleeve. He raises it in his hand to show it to the trio. "It's guaranteed to move you." The scarlet-haired man uses his fingers and begins unraveling the scroll. "A collection gave me a hard time when trying to kill it, but," he reveals the number 'three' inked onto the paper, "that's why I like this best of all," He said. Sasori sounded a bit excited to summon out his next creation.
A loud explosion erupts, and a puff of smoke comes out of the scroll. Chiyo's eyes enlarged in horror, and her mouth gapes open. "T-That...It couldn't be!" She was trembling with her words but can speak. She recognizes the features on the puppet. "That's...the Third Kazekage." Chiyo stuttered, pointing her index finger at it. Sakura and Misa become flabbergasted.
Sasori lets out a depraved laugh. "How about it? Doesn't that take you back, Chiyo obaa-san?" The man continues delivering scornful remarks to mess with her emotions. "Ten years ago, the Third Kazekage suddenly disappeared from the village. He was the most elite shinobi of all Kazekages. Sasori, why?" Chiyo looks dead in the eyes of her grandson. He caused so much grief and anger to the people from Suna that he does not regret anything. The rogue speaks, "Do you mean to say that a retired old lady with one foot in the grave is about to avenge the Third Kazekage? Tough luck." His endless cruel words indicate of a vile person he is.
Misa thought about Chiyo's story once again. The older woman told her that Sasori committed horrendous acts against Suna. It became crystal clear that he was responsible for the death of the Third Kazekage and left the village without a trace. "I'd have too many regrets if I were to die now. I have bad enough with my grandson who got himself mixed up with a bad crowd, but to think that you'd betray the village." Chiyo spills out her hostility at him.
It doesn't stop there. Orochimaru murdered Gaara's father a few years back. The moment that happened during the Chunin Exams—Orochimaru was involved in the attack and disguised himself as the Fourth Kazekage to lure Sarutobi Hiruzen as his bait. The mystery has been kept a secret for half a decade, but now there is an answer to all of it. "Indeed, I was originally paired with Orochimaru back at the Akatsuki, so I did lots of things," Sasori stated, a small piece of information about his cooperation with the Sannin.
"Unfortunately, I must take you three out and go capture that Jinchuriki." He tells them in his gentle voice yet malicious. His fingertips have threads of chakra to control the inanimate object. "So, shall we get right to it?" His killer smile grows. Sasori drew out the puppet and went for the three kunoichis. "Die!" The criminal yells mercilessly. Under its sleeves, the tool reveals multiple blades with poison on them. Chiyo staggers and immediately uses her chakra strings to move Sakura and Misa from getting pierced. Luckily, Hiroki's tail blocks them on time when Chiyo picked it up.
"Not bad, Chiyo obaa-san. You've got some pretty good moves." Sasori gives out a half-hearted response. "In that case, how about this?" He starts using the other arm of his weapon. It opens a row of Kanji writing on it. Chiyo's jaw drops. "Oh, no!" She gasped in terror. "Take this!" Sasori clamors. He maintains a swarm of porcelain arms. The object has a mind of its own when slithering in the air and aims for Sakura and Misa.
Using her manipulation tactic, Chiyo makes them fall straight to the ground. Sasori furrowed his brows—he wonders if he got them. But to his dismay, the weapon barely touched anyone. Chiyo flicks her chakra strings, sending Sakura and Misa out of the sea of arms. Just then, the object opens, and poisonous smoke diffuses into the atmosphere. "Hold your breath, you two!" Chiyo demanded. Misa quickly makes hand seals, but the poison instantly spreads in the air. Sasori has on a dark smirk. But all of a sudden, he hears a shouting voice.
"Hyōton: Hyōgan Domu!"
His gray-brown orbs widened out of his face as the smoke began fading away. The girls are inside of an ice dome. Sasori noticed it was Misa that did the jutsu. The S-Rank criminal is baffled. He couldn't specify how she was quick on her feet to create the ice dome. Misa has her arms raised with fury in her eyes. "Sugoi, Misa-chan." Sakura was overwhelmed by the ice technique. It's quite enchanting too. The ebony-haired girl plays a content smile. Then, the ice dome mystically shattered into pieces.
"You have certainly caught my attention." Sasori grins, referring to Misa. "I would've thought a beauty like you would die so easily. I have mistaken myself." He remarked. A frown written on her face shows that she is furious. The man controls his puppet to make it float in midair. "I better hurry up and use this thing." Sasori did a hand seal. Chiyo, Sakura, and Misa were confused by what he meant. The puppet opens its synthetic mouth to spill out charcoal-colored sand. "As I thought, that puppet...uses the Third Kazekage's jutsu." Chiyo recognizes it. "What is that?" Sakura questioned. The elderly woman replies, "The most feared weapon of Suna. Satetsu." Her ears listened to whistling noises and watched how they can morph into different shapes.
Chiyo starts pulling out the next puppets that left Sasori a bit stunned. His first creation was his parents. He remembers the picture from his childhood where they were smiling, and his mother held him in her arms. They looked happy. Happy to be a family. It all changed after learning about the tragic incident. His parent's love doesn't exist in his heart. Sasori felt the magnificent power running through his blood.
To sin and perish.
"Satetsu Shigure!!" His voice boomed.
The charcoal sand hardened into minuscule grains and attacks them in a vast range. Recoiled, Chiyo operates the female puppet to grab Sakura and Misa. Sasori looks up ahead as the dust faded. His gray-brown orbs widened a little to discover that Chiyo used his father as a shield with a visible chakra. "Did you alter it a little? It looks like you've upgraded it compared to the time I was playing with them." Sasori can see that his grandmother did some work on them.
For some reason, the woman tries to move her fingers, but she couldn't. That's when she realizes some specks of sand got on the inanimate object to avoid going any further. She hears a dark chuckle. "Don't you know that you have to dodge this jutsu and not shield it?" Sasori delivers an element about his jutsu. It's indestructible. Suddenly, he managed to gather all of the solid sand and forms them into deadly shards of blades. "I won't let you get away the second time," Sasori muttered. The rogue springs his arms out and launches them. "Who's going to die?!" He cries out like a madman.
Sakura makes her way to protect Misa and takes cover. A rumbling noise erupts the cavern. Once the area settled, the two kunoichis slowly open their eyes. They distinguished that the female puppet took the blow for them with a shield of chakra. Sakura and Misa parted from their embrace to stand right back up.
Sasori, on the other hand, discovers something new about his grandmother. She has a prosthetic hand. The scarlet-haired man spoke, "Though only the arm, turning your body into a puppet...it seems we think the same way." He divulges the fact that they both became human puppets. Chiyo's artificial hand falls apart, and she doesn't have more weapons left. It led to the unfortunate moment of the battle. Sasori will execute them.
The Kazekage puppet begins transforming the Satetsu into enormous shapes that the trio becomes appalled. Misa frowns and clutches her two fists. She turned her head to detect Sakura's shocked reaction. Misa did her best to comfort her friend by reaching over to hold her hand. The pink-haired kunoichi jolted then looks at Misa. "Don't be afraid. Don't let anything take advantage of you." Her grip tightened in Sakura's grasp. Reassuring helped her boost her confidence.
Lady Chiyo eyed Sasori that her trance gets broken when both Sakura and Misa stand right in front of her. "We'll be taking over Chiyo obaa-sama!" Sakura tells the elder that she fell bewildered. The young shinobis insist on going against the S-Ranked criminal. Misa speaks, "If you use us, he can't stop our moves with the Satestu. We may not have the skills of a puppet master, but we can perform our abilities, and just like our master, we have guts!" She proclaimed. Their determination has Chiyo believe in them. She can tell how much they praise Tsunade. "Alright!" The older woman fully agreed and attached the chakra threads to the girls.
"The Third's power is magnetism. Therefore, weapons made from iron and steel won't work." Chiyo stated.
"Excellent," Misa said. "Ready, Sakura?" She has a fearless expression on her face. "Hai! Let's go!" Sakura directed as they start running their legs. Sasori controls the arrow-shaped iron sand to fire in their direction. Chiyo is pulling the chakra threads to dodge it. The girls slide backward and land on the ground. "Sakura, you take the first hit!" Misa ordered her to do so. The Haruno girl sprints and raises her fist. "Here I go!" She throws a robust punch at the incoming impact that flies straight at Sasori.
He immediately defends himself just before getting crushed. In a split second, a tint of lavender came to his view. The flower petals kept coming and trapped him on the spot. Sasori tries to set free, but abruptly, an icicle appears. He gasps and used his hands to catch it. The icicle almost cut his face by an inch close. Sasori met with beautiful eyes when the lavender petals vanished. Misa has an ice-like sword in her hands.
"I have you now." The Akiyama's once soft, sweet voice is daring and assertive.
✧: *.☽ .* ✧
Sasori grits his teeth as he tries to keep the ice from stabbing his flesh.
However, he can feel a seeping of blood on his hands like an actual blade. "Not yet." A wicked grin quirks his lips. Misa puts on a quizzical face. Sasori brutally kicks her in the abdomen and has her fall to the ground. The girl groans from the painful hit, but she doesn't stand a chance on that. With shaky legs, Misa is on her feet and picks up the elongated ice. She performed a Genjutsu on Sasori as a way to stall his attacks. Following up with that, she summons a new weapon; Hyōton Kōri Ken. The rogue then raised a brow; they won't back down at any time now. Shortly, he continues striking back until they all collapse.
Chiyo's chakra strings frantically controlled Sakura and Misa in the cavern. She watches them pummel the gigantic iron sands that cause thundering noises. Sakura uses her legs to kick one and gets slammed into the top surface with monstrous strength. But she gets alarmed when Sasori targeted Misa from behind. "Misa-chan! Over there!" Sakura's voice bellowed. Misa comes upon it and hurls her ice-like sword at the cube-shaped iron sand that collided to the very top. It began crumbling, and the entire cavern cracks wide open.
The sunlight welcomes them.
Sakura and Misa are standing side by side and look straightaway at their opponent. He hasn't forfeited. The only scratch on him was his hands. Blood drips down to his fingertips from the ice sword. Misa tries to gather ideas for a strategy. There's one possible way. She starts speaking with Sakura "It seems like we have no other options but to use Taijutsu. If we keep doing that, we might put an end to this. Also, remember what Tsunade said, 'The most important is the ability to dodge an enemy attack.'" Misa mentioned the Sannin.
Sakura nods her head, "Alright, let's go!" She commands. They thrash around with punches and kicks as Sasori generates his fingers to have his creations as a way to demolish them. At this point, the girls' are running low on chakra. They need to act fast, or else something worse could happen. Suddenly, Sasori stops attacking Sakura and Misa. They paused momentarily, but it was good timing to think of another plan. It instantly clicked in their heads, 'Weakness. To improve your ability is to figure out the enemy's weakness.'
After every moment in the battle, Sasori's chakra thread is the key to manipulate the puppets. He has movements that are like a pattern. It should be the answer.
The scarlet-haired criminal can speculate they're reading him carefully—no other choice but to start using more chakra. "Satetsu Kaihō!" He yells out. Sakura and Misa look up at the sky. The iron sand is transforming into much more lethal. It spreads in spikes that branch off irregularly, making it almost impossible to overview what is happening clearly. Their jaw drops as it kept morphing closer and closer. Chiyo controls them to get away from those deadly spikes. Midway, Misa did hand seals and unleashed the ice dome once again.
Panting heavily, she noticed the Satetsu Kaihō somehow stopped. The jutsu saved them. "Thank goodness," Sakura spoke under her breath. And yet, the dome slowly starts to crack. They can hear their heart pounding a thousand beats. "Dodge the spikes before it breaks!" Misa tells Sakura, and she understood. The ice-shattering rings their eardrums. They promptly bounded just before getting pricked. Misa puts her arms in front of her face to block the spikes. Though she felt her skin and kimono shredded. Her hand tries to reach for something in her tool pouch. On the other Sasori observes their weak state. Likewise, he can detect the cuts on Misa while Sakura has none.
The ebony-haired girl unexpectedly falls to the ground with a loud thud. Sakura gasps in shock. "Misa-chan, are you okay?!" She bent down and held her friend in her arms. Misa is breathing very faint. Chiyo recalled from earlier about her grandson's jutsus will have poison on them once you get wounded. The elder comprehends what happened to her. "She's been poisoned!" Chiyo yells out loud for Sakura to hear. The pink-haired kunoichi couldn't believe it.
Sasori's nefarious smile widens than ever. "The poison is starting to take effect. Her body will shut down, and she won't ever wake up." His finger vastly moves the strings and charges the Kazekage puppet. Under its sleeve reveals a long, petrifying blade.
"You're both finished." He declared.
Sakura embraces for impact. But all of a sudden, she witnessed Misa thrusts a punch at the approaching puppet. It broke into pieces as the spike branches became thin and began falling like regular sand. Sasori was flabbergasted. 'How is she in good condition?' Questioning in his head. He watched Sakura and Misa make their way to help Lady Chiyo. They effortlessly remove the big rock that crushed the older woman's hand.
"How did you avoid it? I thought the poison would affect you." Chiyo rambles in complete confusion. Misa etched a small smile on her face. "I used the same antidote that cured Kankuro. During the blowout, I grabbed it from my pouch and injected it into my body. It turned into harmless protein no matter how often I get hit with poison. I knew Sasori desires to see an opponent get defeated. My fall tricked him, believing that I got poisoned." She finishes clarifying.
"I see." Chiyo nodded.
"You scared me back there." Sakura pouts and placed a hand over her heart.
"Gomenasai!" Misa apologized, but she knows Sakura is not upset but relieved.
She dug through her ninja tool pouch to show them that she carried a spare. "If anyone gets wounded, remember to take this antidote. However, this will last around three minutes." Misa informed Chiyo and Sakura. They nodded their heads as a response. Afterward, the girls help treat Chiyo's broken arm.
Sasori now knows how the Akiyama is still standing. She injected a treatment; quite clever of her. He also discerns the fact that both of them were Medical Shinobis when they were healing Chiyo. The trio has sustained their energy that it's back to the beginning of the fight—three against one. Sasori is at his last resort. So he'll use himself.
"I haven't used this since I joined the Akatsuki. I can't remember when that was." His soothing yet toneless voice speaks. He rips away the Akatsuki cloak to show his whole appearance.
Misa's eyes are popping out of her skull. Every single detail in Chiyo's story has come alive. Sasori is indeed the Human Puppet. His body consisted of a pair of spinning claws attached to his lower back as poison drips, a stinger in the empty and open stomach cavity, and his name in Kanji on the left side of his chest. Sasori's name means scorpion. The man's once hazy-looking orbs are wide open in a maniacal way.
"If you're not going to attack me." Sasori beckons his arms to have his palms flat in the air. "Then I'll make the first move!" He cries out vehemently. A shot of fire went directly at the trio. They simultaneously scattered away. Sasori repeats with his flames at Chiyo, Sakura, and Misa that were hiding behind the rocks.
"Now...what will you do?"
✧: *.☽ .* ✧
Adrenaline rush.
Chiyo, Sakura, and Misa moved from place to place as Sasori relentlessly throw flames at them. He sees his grandmother high up in the sky. "Die, obaa-san!" He shouted, aiming for her. She was fast enough to pick up the remaining piece of the Kazekage puppet, which was the head. "Take this!" Chiyo yells back. "You wish!" Sasori ruthlessly fires to burn it. Misa comes out of her hiding spot. Three minutes are up, and she can now fight. Her hands swiftly perform a jutsu. "Hyōton: Samui Kōri Hari!"
A rain of ice senbon hastens at Sasori but to no avail when he controls his claw of blades. But that wasn't what she planned. "Sakura!" Misa calls out for her friend. They dash forward before Sasori can get to Chiyo. Sakura grabs for the chord attached to him. She kept pulling until it halts the criminal. The claw-like weapon almost sliced Chiyo, but it didn't. Sasori felt his body getting dragged and swinging in circles. When Sakura let go, all at once, she and Misa tear down their opponent with a sturdy punch.
Soon after, they go over to Chiyo. She has never seen such remarkable teamwork in a long time. These young shinobis saved her life. "Arigatou, you two. I want to appreciate all of the effort and pride that you beautiful girls have done." The elder gives them a thankful look. They all smiled as the sun glows on their faces.
However, the delightful aura dies out.
Their ears pick up the sound of moving materials. Sasori repaired all of his body parts into one.
It's the last phase of this battle, and everything has switched around. Chiyo can use her artificial arm after Sakura and Misa transferred some chakra. She grabs it from the cracks with chakra strings. "This is the jutsu I sealed." She digs through her bag to take out a scroll. "I didn't think I'd ever use it again." Chiyo unties the string and unravels what's inside. "Now, let's put an end to this." She summons ten puppets in white cloaks and different features, and she is controlling them with her fingers.
"I'd expect no less from you, obaa-san." Sasori figured he should challenge in return. He opens the compartment on his right chest and grabs a scroll from his back to throw it up in the air. He outnumbered his grandmother with a total of a hundred. "I used this to bring down a nation!" Sasori presents a massive amount of his leftover creations. "I never thought I'd have to bring out my final device." He disclosed. It became perfect for this final battle.
The cut on the side of Misa's hip stung. She winces that made both Chiyo and Sakura worried. She can feel their eyes bore onto her. A subtle grin graces her lips. "I'll be okay. I know I will sound stubborn for this, but I must not give up until everyone is safe." Misa closes her eyes for a second then opens them. Bewitching gems that expressed willpower. "We can do this together!" She briskly does her hand seals.
"Hana Ninpō: Hyakkaryōran!"
A mass of vivid flowers blooming wildly with ignited flames hurls at the multiple puppets. Some burned into ashes. Chiyo uses her collection that each has several abilities. Sakura blasted them with punches and kicks. She stands back to back with Misa, who has the ice sword in her hands. "It's gotten more intense than I expected." The Akiyama is panting heavily. "Yeah, well, don't let your guard down at all times." Sakura makes a smirk.
Then they got alarmed by Chiyo. A puppet sliced her waist. She instantly took down the one that got her. "Don't worry about me. I'll handle the others. You two just focus on finishing Sasori." Chiyo demanded Sakura and Misa. Without questions, they obeyed and continued running through a swarm of dangerous inanimate objects. Misa lets out a battle cry; she tackled numerous of them as they kept coming. Chiyo told Sakura to grab an item from one of her puppets. It looked like a sphere with something inside. Misa clears the area to let her get past through. Now here's her chance. "Sakura, throw it!" She yelled out loud.
The Haruno threw a synthetic Shukaku head with shards of teeth and caught Sasori, trapping him against the rocks. All of a sudden, everything becomes silent. There were no puppets flying and eruptions. "We did it." Misa feels genuinely mollified. Chiyo looks at her unconscious grandson, "That seal completely suppresses all chakra. You can't use your chakra threads anymore. It's over, Sasori." She never thought she would be saying that last line in her life. Misa walks her legs to give Chiyo the antidote. "Here." She has it in the palm of her hand.
Sakura starts to overhear some rattling noises. Her heart dropped when she turned around. There is a puppet that has the 'core of living flesh' and ambushed the two. Misa defends Chiyo and waits for it to happen. Out of nowhere, the sound of guts getting punctured, and a splatter of blood lands on Misa's cheek. She felt her world stopped. The one who got stabbed was her beloved friend.
"Sakura!!!"
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Author's Note
Guess who's back? ME! 😝 I said this once but I'm saying it again, thank you so much for your patience becuz my studies were so hectic that I was unable to update more often. I am thrilled that I have returned and it feels amazing 🤩 Sorry that I also left this chapter at a cliffhanger 😅 just like in the original series. This is by far the most action writing but I know there's more to come 🔥 Also something about me is that I'm a big fan of Sasori's seiyuu 💖 He plays many of my fave characters in anime shows and it's heaven to hear his voice acting 😭 I got a little off topic hehe. Just a teensy-weeny spoiler about what happens after this arc. Your fave couple will have the spotlight ✌️✨ That is all I have to say and I hope you'd enjoyed the update 💕
Hyōton Kōri Ken - Ice Release: Ice Sword