Chapter 68: Sasori’s Descent into Madness
Ever since his encounter with Orochimaru, Sasori had undergone a complete transformation. With the ninja academy on summer break, there were no classes to attend, and the once mischievous and lively boy now seemed like a walking corpse. He ate and slept absentmindedly, his gaze often vacant.
At times, his brows furrowed deeply; at others, he would sit silently in a daze. Occasionally, he muttered to himself like a madman, and sometimes, as if struck by inspiration, he would grab a sheet of paper and start sketching designs. Chiyo watched all of this with growing concern. Her precious grandson, the apple of her eye, was behaving so erratically that she feared he might lose his mind. If that were to happen, how could she face her late husband, Reito, in the afterlife?
Things took an even more drastic turn when Sasori locked himself in his workshop with a mountain of materials and puppet manuals. He refused to come out, taking care of all his needs—eating, drinking, even relieving himself—inside.
When Chiyo brought him meals, he completely ignored her, consumed by either sketching blueprints or carving wood. He stopped brushing his teeth, bathing, and even sleeping, staying awake through the nights. His once bright eyes were now bloodshot, crusted with sleep, and his body had grown visibly thinner.
Chiyo's heart ached terribly. She tried persuading him, coaxing him, and even scolding him, but Sasori remained stubbornly unresponsive. Eventually, he went so far as to lock the workshop door from the inside, leaving only a small window through which meals could be passed.
This left Chiyo utterly distraught. She was so frustrated that she felt like hanging herself. With no outlet for her anger, she unleashed her fury on Sasori's parents, Kumaki and Shuji Akasuna, berating them mercilessly.
"You heartless pair! As parents, all you do is busy yourselves outside while your child is on the verge of losing his mind! Don't you care at all?!"
The Akasuna couple, however, were just as baffled. Though they were often busy with work, they always made time for their son. How could they have foreseen such bizarre behavior?
"Do you think he might have been traumatized by something?" Shuji muttered.
"Hmm?!" Chiyo's eyebrows shot up. That made sense! Swallowing her pride, she went to seek help from Rasa, the head of Sunagakure's Intelligence Division.
Rasa, overwhelmed with his own workload, was caught between laughter and tears. "I'm so busy I wish I could split myself in two, and now you want me to investigate your grandson's psychological issues?" Still, since the request came from his former superior and wasn't an unreasonable one, he assigned a few idle intelligence agents to look into it.