The poison had been working for over a year. Slow-acting by design, but nothing stays invisible forever, the symptoms would eventually surface, and even if the Kazekage himself missed them, Chiyo would not.
The window for acting while still holding the element of surprise was closing.
Yuji had been monitoring the Kazekage's condition carefully throughout, and his assessment was clear: striking now, while the man was off guard and the poison had already degraded his chakra pathway response, offered a high probability of success.
His own familiarity with the Kazekage's Iron Sand techniques had been built over years of observed sessions. He understood the ability well enough to know its constraints.
Under normal conditions, the Iron Sand held a degree of natural suppression over Blood Release, the density and magnetic control could intercept or deflect blood-based attacks in most configurations.
The weakness was timing. If the density couldn't be increased instantaneously, Blood Release at full speed could thread through the gap before the defense closed.
The poison had compounded this by subtly degrading the Kazekage's chakra circulation over time, corroding the pathways slowly enough to avoid detection, but enough to reduce the casting speed of his techniques.
During the entire conversation in the Kazekage's room, Yuji had been genuinely nervous, though nothing on his face had shown it.
If they failed, escape was possible, but the subsequent consequences, attracting Chiyo, Ebizo, the Anbu, would have been severe. As an additional precaution, Sasori had added a second toxin to the tea he served, something Yuji had developed specifically for this purpose.
Everything proceeded without incident.
[Host has killed a plot character. Negative experience points awarded.
Note: As the killed character is the Hidden Sand Village's Kazekage, and the cause and timing of death have not significantly deviated from the original plot, the reward has been reduced.
As a current member of the Hidden Sand Village, until the host's identity as the killer is exposed, no corresponding hatred points will be generated.]
Yuji walked back alone through the village's nighttime streets and listened to the notification fade.
The unease he felt had nothing to do with the reward.
The Hidden Sand Village's future was now in his hands in a way it hadn't been before. Everything up to this point had been preparation and positioning. This was the actual beginning.
Sasori left the Kazekage's residence shortly after. An Anbu member passed by on routine patrol, glanced through the window, saw the Kazekage lying on the bed apparently asleep, confirmed no abnormalities, and moved on.
That night, no one else knew.
The following day Yuji appeared at the factory construction site and the hospital as usual, managing the various tasks his positions demanded of him. He stayed out of everything else deliberately and waited.
A day and a half later, a notice arrived summoning him to a meeting.
When he walked into the Kazekage's office, nearly the entire senior structure was assembled, Chiyo and Ebizo at the center, Sasori among the Anbu members present, everyone's expression carrying the same weight.
"What happened?" Yuji asked, stepping through the door with the look of someone who had come directly from something else.
He was genuinely busy. That much was true.
"Lord Kazekage is missing," Chiyo said, her face serious. "Sasori discovered it."
"Missing?" Yuji let the surprise register in his expression. "How is that possible?"
One of the other officials filled in the details. Then someone looked at him.
"Yuji. You met with Lord Kazekage that night. What did you discuss?"
"Factory matters," Yuji said. "I had some questions about the branch facility plans that I hadn't been able to resolve, so I went to ask his opinion."
He recounted the conversation in careful detail, the parts of it that were entirely true.
Chiyo and the others accepted the account without suspicion. Yuji's version matched Sasori's exactly, and the content was mundane enough that there was nothing to catch on.
"Did you notice anything unusual at the time?" Chiyo asked.
"No," Yuji said.
The room moved into open discussion, everyone contributing their theories. The Third Kazekage simply disappearing without a word was inconsistent with his character, he was not a man who abandoned his post without explanation, and leaving without going through the main gate made even less sense.
Some speculated a classified matter. Someone raised the possibility of the Daimyo's estate. Others pushed back immediately, visiting the Daimyo wasn't something requiring secrecy, so why leave in such a manner?
The panic underneath the discussion was visible even when the words stayed measured. Losing a Kage without warning had no precedent in the village's recent memory. Chiyo and Ebizo's presence was the only thing keeping the room from sliding further.
Chiyo questioned the Anbu and Guard Corps members who had been on patrol that night. Their accounts were consistent, no one had seen the Kazekage leave through any gate.
The last confirmed sighting was the routine patrol check through the window of his residence after Yuji's departure, the Kazekage apparently resting. The following morning, when he hadn't appeared for work, Sasori had gone to check and found nothing.
A thorough search of the village had produced the same result.
"Perhaps Lord Kazekage has some private matter to attend to," someone offered. "We can't reach him now, but once he's finished, he'll return."
"Abandoning his post without a word, leaving no instruction, is absurd for a Kage regardless of the reason," Chiyo said, with audible irritation. "He should have at minimum left some explanation."
Only she and Ebizo carried the standing to say something like that about the Third.
Yuji sat quietly and watched the room.
None of them were thinking in a dangerous direction. That was understandable. The Third's strength was legendary within the village, the notion that someone could enter, eliminate him without a trace, and leave without disturbing a single patrol was simply not a framework anyone's mind was reaching for.
And scanning the entire ninja world for a candidate who could accomplish that, Yuji and Sasori would not appear on the list.
They were talented and rising fast, but the gap between their perceived capability and what would have been required to kill the Third Kazekage, in the estimation of everyone in that room, was still enormous.
Being insiders made them even less likely to be considered.
"Perhaps we wait a little longer," Yuji suggested, at the right moment, in the right tone. "Lord Kazekage will likely return when his business is concluded."
"That's all we can do for now," Chiyo agreed.
She took charge of the village's pending affairs and issued a clear instruction to the Anbu and Guard Corps, the Kazekage's absence was not to become common knowledge.
"Yes."
The meeting wound down and the senior officials began filing out, still murmuring theories to each other, still carrying the puzzled and slightly unsettled air of people confronting something that didn't make sense without any of the information that would make it make sense.
Watching them go, Yuji thought that if he stepped forward right now and told them plainly that he had killed the Third Kazekage, they would either assume he was making a bad joke or conclude he had lost his mind entirely.