This time, he had an old monk in his grasp, the white robes standing out sharply in the night.
Sasori dragged Bunpuku as he ran toward the Ancient Kingdom of Roran, moving quickly as though he had made up his mind about something.
This time, Sunagakure's ninja pursued him even more frantically. Some even summoned their contracted beasts.
But when they reached the ruins of the Ancient Kingdom of Roran, all they found was a stretch of collapsed rubble.
And Sasori was gone again.
Bunpuku was gone too.
Only the old monk's corpse had been left at the edge of the ruins, lying peacefully with a faint smile still on his lips.
"He killed Lord Bunpuku!"
"He drained the Dragon Vein dry! The Dragon Vein's fluctuations are gone!"
"That damned madman! First he killed the Kazekage, then the Jinchuriki, and now he drained the Dragon Vein!"
"Damn it! Chase him! We have to catch him!"
"Chiyo must be held responsible for this!"
"First we lost the Third, then we lost the Jinchuriki. What are we supposed to do now?"
"This village has no future."
Sunagakure's ninja cursed loudly amid the ruins, their voices scattered across the desert by the wind and sand.
Meanwhile, Mirai had already left Sunagakure.
He walked along the road back to the Land of Fire with light steps, even humming an off-key little tune.
His Shadow Clone had made a few rounds outside and dumped all the blame onto Sasori.
Right now, Sunagakure's people had nothing but "Sasori killed the Kazekage, Sasori killed Bunpuku, Sasori drained the Dragon Vein" on their minds. They would never suspect that a red-haired outsider had actually done all of it.
That way, no one would know the One-Tail was in his hands.
Sasori probably never imagined that killing the Third