"Kazekage-sama, are you really going to let Gaara leave the village? After all, he's..." In the Kazekage's office, Baki hesitated as he asked.
"It'll be fine. Not everyone knows his identity. You should go and return quickly," Rasa replied calmly. "Pay special attention to his reaction when he meets the Raikage, as well as when passing through the Countries of Frost and Hot Springs..."
"Yes." Baki nodded solemnly.
Traveling from the Land of Wind to the Land of Lightning meant crossing nearly half the Ninja World.
Throughout the journey, Baki and the two accompanying ninjas stayed alert, while Gaara did whatever he felt like doing, completely unconcerned about any dangers they might face.
Every time their eyes met, Gaara would look away evasively.
This made Baki increasingly uneasy—what if they didn't fall victim to enemy shinobi, but to Gaara himself instead?
Luckily, although Gaara seemed eager to act out, he ultimately held back.
On the third day of their journey, they finally entered the Land of Lightning.
"Gaara, do you feel anything?" Baki asked, glancing back at the distant Country of Frost fading behind them.
Gaara gave him a strange look but said nothing.
Sighing, Baki muttered, "Gaara, don't act like this when we meet the Raikage later. The Kazekage wants you to observe carefully."
"Let me fight her?" His young voice carried excitement mixed with cruelty, completely unbothered by the fact that his opponent was one of the Kage while he was just a child.
"Not a fight," Baki said helplessly. "Anyway, you'll understand once we get there."
Upon entering Kumogakure, after an official announcement was made, Yugito courteously received them.
As Baki engaged Yugito in awkward conversation,
Gaara sat quietly on the sofa in the waiting area. Inside Gaara, Shukaku was even more subdued than usual, gazing at Yugito in disbelief.
Yugito wasn't paying attention to him. She flipped through the documents Baki handed over, carefully reading each page before stamping it. Her mind swirled with uncertainty.
What kind of important documents could possibly require a delegation from Suna to personally hand-deliver? What exactly was Sunagakure trying to accomplish?
With a forced smile, Baki led Gaara and the others out of the Raikage Tower, leaving the Raikage's office behind.
Kaguya rubbed her chin thoughtfully, observing Gaara and his companions growing smaller from her vantage point.
["So the One-Tail came willingly as an offering?" she murmured to herself. "Who should I send next?"]
Kaguya shifted her focus to monitoring others' activities.
Yugao was currently serving as a site foreman in the Snow Country...
As for Hinata, her Tenseigan remained unstable...
Tsunade had withdrawn into Konoha to cultivate in seclusion...
Hiroki seemed much the same...
"Gaara, did you find anything?" Baki asked as they walked down the streets of Kumogakure.
"Find what?" Gaara paused briefly before replying, "It's strange. He was afraid of her."
Although he hadn't specified exactly who that person was, Baki understood—he meant Shukaku.
Upon hearing this, Baki fell into thought.
Given One-Tail's temper, this seemed almost impossible.
Shukaku couldn't help but start cursing under his breath: "Brat! Don't spew nonsense at me! You think I'd be afraid of her? Like hell! Come back here right now and I'll beat her until she's groveling on her knees!"
"Unbelievable! Brat, you actually dare spread rumors about me!"
Gaara scoffed inwardly, choosing to ignore it.
You only dare act tough now that you've been released—how courageous!
Anyway, since the recent resealing, this was already the maximum extent Shukaku could go. He could no longer directly manipulate Gaara's thoughts as he once did.
After lunch, the group set off again toward the village.
Truthfully, Baki still didn't fully grasp what Gaara had meant, so they needed to return immediately and report to Rasa.
Meanwhile, Hiroki brazenly appeared within the Land of Lightning.
Wiping sweat from his brow, he couldn't help muttering to himself, "Man, I thought the Land of Wind was hot, but this place is worse!"
Standing along a major southern road in the Land of Lightning, Hiroki waited patiently for Gaara and his team.
The spot he chose was a key passage linking the continent and the only route back from the Land of Lightning to the Land of Wind.
As for whether he could locate Gaara and the others, he wasn't worried at all.
The citizens of the Land of Lightning had dramatically different skin conditions compared to those from other countries—
Either extremely dark or unusually pale.
In contrast, people from other nations usually had more evenly tanned complexions.
Even without anything else, during just a short walk down the street, he had already drawn many curious glances.
Even if Gaara's team used [Transformation Jutsu], he would still recognize them easily.
His eyes had evolved into Tenseigan, not gone blind—and retained most of their former functionality.
Around afternoon, he finally spotted his targets.
Leading the group, Baki wore traditional Sand Ninja attire, with white cloth covering half his face.
Behind him walked two similarly dressed young men, both under twenty years old.
Among these two, one specialized as a Puppet Master while the other was a Taijutsu ninja.
With flaming red short hair, Gaara followed behind them, expressionless.
Hiroki calmly began tailing them.
Frowning, Baki turned his head for another glance.
Unable to resist curiosity, Gaara also looked back at him.
Strange—once again, he sensed Shukaku's fear.
"One-Tail, why are you afraid of him and her?" Gaara asked.
"Bullshit! I'm scared?!" First erupted furiously, then slightly nervously, Shukaku shouted, "Quickly loosen my seal a bit—you won't be able to defeat him!"
Gaara ignored him again.
The group silently continued walking together until finally there were no other pedestrians around.
Baki exchanged looks with the others before they simultaneously dashed outward.
In the blink of an eye, they vanished from Hiroki's sight, leaving him standing alone in the middle of the path.
One of the Sand Ninjas unfurled his scroll, summoning forth a human-shaped puppet.
Under the control of this puppet master, the puppet's head rotated a full three hundred and sixty degrees. Its mouth sprang open, firing countless steel needles glowing with an eerie green light straight toward Hiroki.
Hiroki extended his palm.
"Shinra Tensei? Pfft! Close enough…"
With the Tenseigan activated, a wave of repulsive force erupted from his body, scattering the incoming poison needles.
"Clang! Clang! Clang!" All the needles ended up embedded in the ground.
At the same time, [Blade of Wind] slashed toward him.
Baki's attack followed closely behind.
Chakra formed at his fingertips like sharp blades, accompanied by a whirlwind as the wind blade surged forward.
Hiroki shook his head but still released another pulse of repulsion.
A violent explosion rang out, leaving several deep and shallow gashes across the ground.
The wind blade twisted midair, changing course. It kept spinning, slicing through the ground with deadly force—but Hiroki stood untouched.
Just as Hiroki was about to speak, a sharp whistling noise came from behind him.
He tilted his body sideways and dodged the sword strike. Green chakra surged around his right hand as he formed a glowing sphere of chakra in his palm, then hurled it at his attacker.
The moment the energy ball pierced through the opponent's body, even though not seriously injured, the taijutsu ninja's face turned pale. "What? My chakra's being drained…"
Kicking the ninja down, Hiroki shouted toward a certain direction: "Keep trying. Or just send out the Jinchuriki of the One-Tail directly."
"He's a Konoha ninja. How did he find out about this place? Could it be—he already knew we'd come here?"
Frowning tightly, Baki stared at the forehead protector on Hiroki's head, utterly confused about why he had shown up so conveniently.
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