Prologue

Sand, sand, and more sand... what is that? Ah... just more sand. Amidst a scorching desert, a woman walked with slow and weary steps. Her body was thin and she looked quite weak, her body covered in very worn-out rags that couldn't protect her from the harsh conditions of the desert. She already had several marks of sunburn and burns due to prolonged exposure to the sun. Yet, even in these conditions, her eyes shone with a unique and unshakable determination as she looked at the small bundle in her arms.

*Strong wind*

The strong hot winds made the woman stagger a bit, but she remained firm.

"Just a little more..."

She whispered, taking a few more steps, but in the end, exhaustion was too much and she collapsed.

"Sorry... mom can't protect you anymore... Yuki... I'm so sorry."

She said, looking at the small bundle which turned out to be a baby. He seemed to be only a few days old, his skin wrinkled and his body quite fragile. Traveling with a baby like him in the middle of the desert as the woman did was condemning him to death, and due to the woman's poor condition, she couldn't feed the baby well, making him even more vulnerable.

Hearing the woman's voice, the baby seemed to react a little and tried to make a sound, but with his weak body, he couldn't do anything. The woman looked at the small baby and just hugged him a little and kissed his forehead with her chapped lips. She wanted to cry, but her body had already drained everything from her, and all she could do was watch her son's little face as she gradually lost her senses and sank into darkness, being welcomed by the comforting embrace of death.

The baby seemed to feel that his mother had just died and using his last strength, he started to cry. He seemed to know that he had no chance of survival and wanted to use his last strength to mourn the death of the one who gave him life.

At the same time

An elderly woman walked through the desert while carrying a small basket with some turquoise flowers. She had a tired and emotionless face as she traversed the large dunes with calm and slow steps.

Her name was Chiyo, an exceptional ninja from Sunagakure, a great master in the art of poisons, grandmother of the puppet master genius Sasori of the Red Sand, Elder of Sunagakure... and many other titles. However, at that moment she was just Chiyo, an old woman searching for desert flowers.

Normally, Chiyo didn't leave her house in Suna, even when the Fourth Kazekage needed her advice or her brother's, he came to them. After the Third Great Ninja War, any ambition, or rather, whatever her purpose was, all of it turned to dust and got lost amidst the sands of the Land of Wind. Her son and daughter-in-law were killed in the Second War, her grandson disappeared during the Third War.

The times Chiyo left home throughout the year could be counted on one hand, and they were only on specific dates like today. Her son's birthday would be in a few days, as well as her daughter-in-law's. She remembered when both were young, both learned the art of puppet theater from her and became a great force for Suna. She remembers that when they decided to get married, her son went on a journey into the desert to find a desert flower as a way to show his love for her.

To many, this didn't seem like much, but to the residents of the Land of Wind, it had another meaning. The desert flower was special; it grew only in inhospitable desert areas, and no one knew how or why such a flower grew in that place. It was like a unique miracle, amidst so much death, life emerged.

Many believed that such a flower was proof that even in the greatest adversities, there is still hope. For the more romantic, it was something like: "Even in the greatest difficulties, our love will remain firm and exuberant."

So every year, her son would go into the desert to find a flower to give to his wife, and after their deaths, Chiyo took up the task. She went in search of a flower to place in front of the graves of her beloved son and daughter-in-law.

"I found it."

Looking at the flower in front of her, Chiyo gave a melancholic smile as she woke from her memories. Shortly after picking the flower and preparing to leave, she heard a noise. "Hm?" Chiyo paused a bit and concentrated a little.

The hot wind hit her face, making her feel uncomfortable, but she remained in place.

"Was I mistaken?"

Although Chiyo said this, she stayed put and closed her eyes, trying to listen better. Even though it could be a mistake, a life of battles and wars had taught her to follow her instincts. After a minute of silence, she heard the noise again, this time more distinctly.

"A baby?"

Frowning, Chiyo ran to the east. Though she was old, she was still an elite Kunoichi and a Kage-level master. In mere seconds, she covered several kilometers until she stopped at a small dune where she saw a baby exposed to the sun, covered only with some rags, next to a woman dressed in torn rags, her body full of wounds and injuries, besides severe malnutrition and sunburn marks.

"What..."

When Chiyo was about to approach, she suddenly felt something and quickly disappeared from the spot, only to reappear about five meters away.

"Take the baby and fall back."

"Yes."

Two men wearing tactical clothes and ANBU masks appeared in front of Chiyo. One of them ran towards the baby while the other drew his sword and attacked Chiyo. Chiyo remained calm and dodged the man who advanced against her, simultaneously throwing three kunai at the man trying to get the baby. Wanting to avoid being hurt, the man near the baby quickly dodged, but at that moment, he noticed thin chakra strings attached to the kunai that quickly wrapped around the baby and pulled him into the old woman's arms.

"Take her down; we need to get him back."

"Yes."

Chiyo observed the situation with some concern. Although she was a Kage-level ninja, the two in front of her were at least Jonin level, indicating they weren't easy enemies. Moreover, she was without her ten puppets and was protecting a baby, which made everything even worse. Looking at the baby slightly, she sighed a little.

"Sorry, boy, but I need to do this."

She then dodged the attack of one of the masked men who tried to strike her from behind and quickly stretched the fingers of her right hand, spreading her chakra threads to attach to the body of the dead woman. Upon connecting the threads to the corpse, Chiyo frowned. Although the external appearance indicated that the woman was quite injured, after connecting her threads to her body, she 'saw' the woman's body from the inside and could see how damaged it was.

'Torn muscles and tendons, broken bones, organs... some are missing... what the hell did they do to her? No, the question is, how did she survive?'

With a 'puppet' in the field, Chiyo felt she had more chances of winning. Not that she didn't have them before, it just would be difficult to kill the two ninjas in front of her and thus prevent news about the baby from spreading. The ninjas observed Chiyo's actions and calmed down a bit. Both stared at each other a little before one of them spoke first.

"Chiyo?" 

"You don't seem to be from Suna if it took you so long to recognize me. So why not tell me, who are you?"

"That's not important. We don't want to cause trouble for Suna, so just hand over the baby."

"And if I say no?"

"Then you die."

Chiyo just smiled a little at the words of the brat in front of her and quickly controlled the corpse to attack. The ANBU ninjas quickly dodged the blows of the 'puppet.' Although it was a corpse, in Chiyo's hands, it was an extremely dangerous weapon. After colliding with the place where the ninjas were, a cloud of dust formed in the area.

"Water Style: Water Bomb Jutsu" x2

 Two large water balls were suddenly fired at Chiyo at high speed, but she remained unfazed and quickly used a substitution jutsu, appearing elsewhere while continuing to control the woman's corpse, now holding a kunai in each hand.

The corpse then engaged in close combat with the two ninjas. Its movements seemed like a kind of dance orchestrated by Chiyo, but she was not pleased. Using a corpse as a puppet might seem simple, but it involves many variables. First, it doesn't have proper joints to perform many movements, and if too much force is applied, it can easily be destroyed.

"Now."

Both ninjas quickly advanced and cut off one of the hands and the head of the puppet. However, at that moment, one of them noticed that the woman's corpse advanced with extreme speed towards one of the ninjas and punched him with its severed hand.

"Damn..."

The woman's hand hit him squarely, and due to the high level of deterioration of the corpse combined with the great pressure applied by Chiyo, the arm shattered as it pierced the ninja's stomach.

A grotesque scene unfolded. The headless corpse of a woman with a destroyed and mutilated arm used its bones to drive deeper into the ninja's stomach, causing an agonizing and bizarre death.

But Chiyo didn't bother to pay attention to this and quickly controlled the corpse to grab the sword of the dead ninja and cut off the destroyed arm while dodging the indifferent and deadly attacks of the other ninja who seemed unconcerned about his companion's death.

Chiyo was a little startled by this kind of indifference. No matter the ninja, when seeing a companion die, they would show at least some type of emotion, but this one in front of her just kept attacking.

But she didn't worry much and quickly controlled the headless, one-armed corpse to advance. The ninja tried to make another effort, but when he saw he wouldn't succeed in getting the baby, he decided to retreat. However, how could Chiyo allow someone to come into Suna's territory and leave as they pleased? When the ninja prepared to flee, he was attacked from behind by the corpse of his former friend.

His heart was pierced by a kunai from his former companion while his head was quickly severed by the woman's corpse.

Seeing the head roll, Chiyo sighed a little and quickly controlled the new corpse as well, before leaving the place. She wouldn't leave traces of the battle here; it was risky. Besides, these two ninjas might have some value for Suna, so she decided to take them with her.

As she made her way back, Chiyo reflected on the fight with the two ninjas. 'That level of indifference, almost like a machine... Genbu? What is Konoha doing here?' Although she suspected, she wasn't sure and needed the interrogation team to sift through the memories of the corpses before concluding anything. Meanwhile, she looked at the young baby in her arms, and a touch of tenderness shone in her eyes as she carried him back to Suna.