At this moment, Sasori of the Red Sand looked only five or six years old, but the future brilliance could vaguely be seen.
Especially with his expressionless demeanor.
Haruki recalled his life.
As the grandson of Chiyo and a genius puppeteer, Sasori was supposed to have an extremely bright future.
If he had not defected, perhaps the Fifth Kazekage would not have been Gaara, but him.
However, tragedy began with the Second Shinobi World War.
His parents died at the hands of Konoha's White Fang, Sakumo Hatake.
This made Sasori extremely withdrawn.
Loneliness led him to develop a special attachment to puppets, and because of his extraordinary talent, he eventually embarked on a path of no return.
He turned his only friend into a puppet, and even made himself into a puppet.
Just as he was preparing to avenge his parents, another event occurred; Sakumo Hatake committed suicide.
Thus, Sasori shifted his hatred to the Third Kazekage, blaming his negligence and incompetence for his parents' death.
He ambushed the Third Kazekage and turned him into a puppet, his most prized creation.
Later, under Konan's physical invitation, he joined the Akatsuki organization and ultimately died in a battle against Chiyo and Sakura Haruno, letting himself be defeated.
What can be said, he was a tragic figure created by war.
"Why do you want to kill me?"
Haruki squatted down, looking at the boy who had been silent since earlier, "If I remember correctly, this is our first meeting, and we have no grievances."
"You are a Konoha ninja and a friend of Sakumo Hatake. I also want him to feel the pain of loss," Sasori said, his voice having a distinctive childlike clarity.
Just as expected.
Haruki was not surprised.
Children in the ninja world mature early, and Sasori, being a genius, was no less talented than the likes of Kakashi, controlling the puppets 'Mother' and 'Father' at five or six years old, along with the poison from Chiyo, which could easily trouble even Jonin.
Not to mention, he himself was not much of a medical ninja.
Speaking of this, Sasori was also somewhat speechless; how could the intelligence from the Anbu be so off? The guy who easily smashed his two puppets was supposedly just a highly skilled medical ninja with weak taijutsu, genjutsu, and ninjutsu.
I really believed you guys!
Haruki pondered how to handle this guy.
Killing him directly would be meaningless and could break the cooperation with Sunagakure.
After all, he was Chiyo's grandson.
"Killing me won't help," Haruki shook his head and said, "If you really want revenge, you should go after Sakumo Hatake."
Sasori glanced at him but remained silent.
Of course, he wanted to kill Sakumo Hatake, but it was impossible now, so after seeing Haruki's profile, he planned to kill him first to vent his anger.
But things did not go as planned.
I can only say that I was too young and didn't think it through.
"Are you a puppeteer?" Haruki pointed at the two puppets lying on the ground, "Did you make these yourself?"
"Mm."
Though unsure why Haruki was chatting with him instead of killing him, he, not wanting to die before avenging his parents, started talking.
After his parents died, Haruki was the first person to chat with him.
It's weird.
Chatting with an enemy ninja.
"Good skills," Haruki smiled, "I have seen many puppeteers from Sunagakure, but you are the first to have such skills at your age."
Sasori felt odd.
Was he being praised?
What was with this guy?
"But not perfect," Haruki shook his head, "Have you heard of human puppets?"
"I've heard."
Sasori's heart trembled slightly; since learning puppetry from Chiyo, he had come into contact with human puppets.
Turning humans into puppets was against Sunagakure's rules, akin to inhumane experiments.
Although he didn't care, hearing it from Haruki's mouth felt very discordant.
Aren't you a celebrated medical ninja?
"But human puppets are also puppets. Have you thought about making puppets human-like? Perhaps more stunning and beautiful?"
"Is that…possible?" Sasori had never thought of such a thing, feeling unsure.
"When a puppet awakens human consciousness, it becomes another kind of human, eternal and beautiful. Isn't that art?"
Haruki coaxed the future Sasori of the Red Sand. No, it wasn't really coaxing; he was speaking of robots or Gundams from his previous life.
In a sense, the things Sasori pursued could be achieved by robots.
They do not disappear, decay, or rot, and they are intelligent.
"Eternal art..." Sasori's small eyes shone brightly, and his expression was no longer numb.
"Isn't it interesting?"
Haruki patted his little head and said, "I won't kill you, so I hope to see a surprise from you next time. Also, a small suggestion: Do you want revenge?"
"Yes!"
"From what I know of Sakumo Hatake's strength, killing him with human puppets is very difficult. It would take a long time and considerable luck to find a few very strong ninja puppets. But if you want to storm Konoha, it won't be enough to leave unscathed."
Haruki pointed out the window, "Unless…with a tailed beast."
Sasori instinctively looked at him.
Yeah, tailed beasts!
A powerful tailed beast could cause chaos in Konoha, greatly increasing the chance to kill Sakumo Hatake.
"Human puppets can use jutsu and bloodline limits from their lifetime. What if they were jinchuriki?"
Haruki guided, "Couldn't they also control tailed beasts?"
It was still a while before Gaara was born, and the One-Tails' jinchuriki in Sunagakure should be Bunpuku.
Sasori took a deep breath, feeling stirred.
He finally saw hope of killing Sakumo Hatake.
Haruki smiled.
Though things might not be as ideal as Sasori imagined, he was indeed happy at this moment.
Sorry.
Haruki glanced at Sasori. In the original story, his end wasn't great.
But maybe falling into his plan would lead to another path.
At this moment, he finally felt like a mastermind.
His plan came up after seeing Sasori.
Because of his intervention, whether the Nine-Tails incident would still happen was a question.
But he needed a valid reason to deal with Hiruzen Sarutobi and Danzo Shimura.
And Sasori was his backup.
You could say he was well-prepared.
Moreover, there were still many issues to solve.
Like how to prevent the Nine-Tails from interfering if the One-Tails attacked Konoha, and how to protect Konoha's civilians.
He didn't want to see a devastated Konoha.
But Haruki wasn't worried.
Because he was strong enough.
If things went as he wished, that would be best; if not, he would destroy it.
"Thank you."
Sasori didn't know what his future held, but at this moment, his gratitude was sincere as he found his path.
He collected the two puppets and left the room.
Haruki's busy day finally came to an end.
The excitement faded into silence.
Night fell, darkness enveloped.
A new dawn awaited to break.