The news of Third Kazekage's disappearance spread on the morning of the third day.
At first, Kazekage's secretary noticed something was wrong. There was a regular elders meeting that morning, but Kazekage did not show up.
This has never happened before.
Third Kazekage is always punctual and will send someone to inform you in advance even if something is delayed.
The secretary went to Kazekage's Office.
The door was open, but there was no one inside.
There were still unfinished documents spread out on the desk, and there was still half a cup of cool water in the tea cup.
Everything felt like the pause button had been suddenly pressed during normal operation.
By noon, the entire Sunagakure senior management knew about it.
By evening, the news could no longer be suppressed.
Kazekage is missing.
These four words are like a huge stone smashed into a calm lake, causing not ripples but huge waves.
Since the founding of Sunagakure's village, there has never been a case of Kazekage missing. Even in the most chaotic war years, all Kazekage's died clearly.
Either he died in battle and his body was snatched back by his subordinates for burial, or he died of illness in his bed, with elders guarding him before his death.
No one has ever disappeared so completely, so cleanly, as if they evaporated out of thin air.
The Presbyterian Council held an emergency meeting.
Several elders were quarreling red-faced. Some said it was Konoha, some said it was Iwagakure, some said it might be an insider who committed the crime, and some said maybe Kazekage just went out temporarily for something and would be back in a few days.
But everyone knows that the last statement is self-deception.
Three days. Three whole days. If Kazekage is still alive, there is no way he will not contact the village.
The search team sent one team after another. All members of Anbu were dispatched. All available ninjas in the village were looking for him.
But Sunagakure is surrounded by endless desert. When the wind blows, no trace will be left.
No clues. No witnesses. No clues.
Third Kazekage It's like being swallowed by sand.
Chiyo is sitting in his room, the sky outside the window is already dark.
She did not attend the elders' meeting today. She declined due to physical discomfort.
She didn't want to hear those quarrels, those speculations, those mutual excuses. She needed time to think about some things.
The third day Kazekage disappeared.
It was also the day after she discovered that Xie was missing.
To be precise, she discovered it earlier than the Presbyterian Church. On the night when Kazekage disappeared, she knocked on Xie's door with a meal as usual.
No one answered. She thought Xie was acting like a puppet again and didn't want to be disturbed, so she left the food at the door and went back.
The next morning, she went to collect the bowl. The rice was left there intact, without even a bite being touched.
She started knocking on the door. She kept knocking for a long time. No one answered.
So she finally opened the door.
The room was empty. The unfinished Human Puppet was still there on the desk, the curtains were still drawn, and everything was as usual. But Scorpion was not there.
The quilt was cold and there were no signs of sleeping on the bed. She searched the entire room and found nothing that could tell her where the scorpion had gone.
Then she noticed something.
The small shelf on the desk where bottles and cans are usually placed is missing a bottle.
She had seen that bottle before. Xie had put some things he prepared in it. She didn't know what it was, and Xie never told her.
Chiyo Standing in that empty room, she suddenly felt something blocking her chest, so heavy that she couldn't breathe.
She remembered many things.
I think of Scorpio becoming more and more silent in the past few years. I think of the way he looks at people, getting colder and colder, less and less warm.
I remembered that he never talked about his parents, never attended any parties, and never interacted with anyone.
I remembered that he would occasionally get up in the middle of the night and stand by the window alone, looking at the dark desert outside for a long, long time.
At that time, she thought the child just needed time. Time would heal everything.
When he grows up and becomes sensible, he will understand the impermanence of life and death and slowly come out of it.
But time did not heal him.
Chiyo Close your eyes.
She thought of a possibility.
She tried her best to suppress this thought. It was impossible. How old is Scorpion? Fifteen years old.
Who is Kazekage? Sunagakure is the strongest ninja. Even if Scorpion has the heart, he doesn't have the ability.
But once that thought comes up, it can no longer be suppressed.
She thought of Xie's obsession with Puppet Technique in the past few years. She thought of his research that she couldn't understand.
I remember the light flashing in his eyes when he occasionally mentioned Human Puppet.
That wasn't the light that a fifteen-year-old child should have, it was something else. She didn't know how to describe it, but she only knew that it would make her heart tremble every time she saw it.
Chiyo opened his eyes suddenly.
Her hands are shaking.
But she quickly calmed herself down. She is the elder of Chiyo. Sunagakure.
She has lived for decades and has never seen any big storms. She cannot panic. She must figure out what to do.
First of all, she couldn't let anyone know that Xie was missing too.
At least not now.
If Kazekage's disappearance really had something to do with Xie - she didn't want to believe it, but she had to prepare for the worst.
Then once this connection is discovered by others, Scorpio will be doomed.
Regardless of whether he did it or not, as long as there is suspicion, those people who usually dislike Chiyo will pounce on her and tear her and Xie into pieces.
No matter how high her status is at Sunagakure, she cannot withstand the charge of "murdering Kazekage".
So she had to suppress this matter.
At least, until she found Xia and figured out the truth.
Chiyo stood up.
Her movements were slow and steady.
This is what her decades of ninja career taught her. The more critical the situation, the less chaotic it is.
She opened the door and walked out.
There were several people from Anbu standing outside the door. They came to invite her to attend an emergency meeting.
She waved her hand and said she was still not feeling well, so she would not go to the meeting.
But as an elder, she will send her men to participate in the search.
Anbu people are gone.
Chiyo returned to the room, wrote a letter, stamped her personal seal, and then called one of her most trusted subordinates.
"Give this letter to the person in charge of the search team. From now on, you will lead a few people to be responsible for the area I have designated."
She circled several places on the Sunagakure map.
They are all remote areas outside the village and near the desert, as well as some places that Scorpio would occasionally go to when he was a child.
The subordinates took the order and left.
Chiyo stood in front of the window, looking at the dark night outside.
Kazekage is missing, and so is Scorpion.
She didn't know if there was any connection between the two things. She didn't even dare to think about it.
But she must find Scorpion.
You want to see people when you are alive, and you want to see corpses when you are dead.
If... if he really did it...
Chiyo Close your eyes.
That thought was too scary. She didn't dare to think about it.
"Shinobi World... It's going to be turbulent again..."