Sasori saw Sakumo's exhaustion, and a cold smile curled his lips.
Like a scorpion, he waited quietly for his prey to show weakness.
And now, Sasori's wait was finally over.
One of Sasori's fingers twitched, and an Anbu Ninja was about to kill himself with a kunai.
He shouted in terror, "Sakumo, save me!"
At a time like this, shouldn't he have said to Sakumo with righteous resolve, "Sakumo, don't worry about saving us. Take care of Sasori first"?
Perhaps Sakumo usually took such good care of his teammates that they had grown used to it, shouting, "Sakumo, save me!" whenever they faced danger.
Yet these were the very people who dragged Sakumo to his death.
It had happened in the original work, and it was happening now.
Sakumo rushed forward, but Sasori moved faster. He took complete control of the man, turning him into his puppet to fight Sakumo.
Sakumo struggled to fend off his companion's attacks.
He glanced behind him.
Sakumo was hoping for reinforcements. This was the Leaf Village's rear, one of its supply routes.
Other ninja should already have noticed their battle, so why had no reinforcements arrived all this time?
Sasori sneered. "White Fang, stop struggling. You won't be getting any reinforcements."
Why? Why was this fellow so certain they wouldn't get reinforcements?
Time ticked by.
Yugao had already sneezed several times by the time Sasori finally wore Sakumo down.
Sakumo fell to the ground. His White Fang Short Sword had broken, and his body bore all sorts of wounds from kunai, shuriken, and short swords.
The companions around him had all been used up by Sasori as human bombs.
Warmth drained little by little from his extremities, like sand slipping silently between his fingers.
Sakumo's breathing grew fainter. Every breath came with a sluggish