Sasori stood before him, staring at his corpse for a long time.
Moonlight streamed in through the window and fell across his face, revealing no expression.
He reached out and closed the Third Kazekage's eyes, then pulled a scroll from behind his back and sealed the corpse inside it.
He turned and walked toward the door, glancing back at the office before pushing it open.
The documents were still on the desk, the chair was crooked, two senbon were pinned into the wall, and several drops of black blood stained the floor.
The next morning, the secretary would find the office empty, and all of Sunagakure would descend into chaos.
Sasori had no intention of concealing it.
He had even left behind two senbon as markers.
He knew Sunagakure's people would find them and know he was responsible.
He would become a rogue ninja of Sunagakure, hunted throughout the Land of Wind.
But so what? What meaning was there in the continued existence of a decaying village?
Sasori intended to pursue his own eternal art!
He walked out of the Kazekage Building. The moon had already shifted westward.
He followed a small path along the edge of Sunagakure, pausing as he passed a stretch of dunes.
He tilted his head and looked toward Sunagakure, the place where he had grown up, the place he had once believed he could make a life for himself.
Then he withdrew his gaze and continued onward.
Behind him, he dragged a corpse wrapped in a scroll, while two Human Puppet scrolls rested against his chest.
The place he was going was somewhere Sunagakure could not find, and neither could Grandma Chiyo.
The night grew deeper, and wind blew from the heart of the desert, whipping fine grains of sand against his face.
Sasori did