Chapter 540: The Safest I'd Ever Felt
As everyone knew, the ninja world actually had the existence of a hidden "Will of Heaven."
To put it simply, it was fate itself—the force that determined everything.
That was why beings like the Great Toad Sage could glimpse certain key turning points and make prophecies.
During the early days of the series and throughout the Shippuden era, this "Will of Heaven" remained hidden, and the ninja world still largely operated according to logic.
But once the Ōtsutsuki Clan descended during the Boruto era, the influence of this "Will of Heaven" began permeating the entire world.
Things like the infamous Uchiha suplexes or the Ōtsutsuki elbow strikes were all examples of people being unconsciously influenced by fate.
The process became less and less important.
No matter what happened, events would always reach the predetermined outcome.
As a result, the entire plot started feeling more like one of those bizarre supernatural rule stories.
There was also the matter of voices.
Kimimaro's voice somehow sounded exactly like Namikaze Minato's, causing Naruto to misunderstand all sorts of things.
Now, Shira was someone who practiced a Breathing Technique.
He was also an original side character who had never become connected to Shiromo.
Naturally, he had no way to resist the influence of Heaven's Will.
To his ears...
Kakashi's voice, combined with that one line "What do you think life is?!" felt exactly like hearing the voice of Yoriichi Tsugikuni, the founder of Breathing Techniques from another world.
So, in an instant...he became completely obsessed.
He became convinced that Kakashi was his hope.
He was only one sentence away from saying to Kakashi exactly what Mitsuki once said to Boruto, "You are my sun."
"Kakashi! Please, promise me!"
"You are my hope!"
"The hope of the ninja world! "
"You are the sun!"
Shira excitedly grabbed Kakashi's hands.
...Well.
The "sun" line had arrived after all.
"Kazekage...Kazekage-sama? Gaara!"
At a complete loss, Kakashi could only turn to Gaara for help.
"Kakashi, I actually think Shira-sensei makes a good point."
"Naruto told me that after promoting Sage Mode, only the Land of Water remains. Once Sage Mode has been spread there as well… I hope you and Shira-sensei can work together to make another contribution to the ninja world."
"Although I haven't personally learned Shira-sensei's Seven Heavens Breathing Method, I've studied it. It truly is a profound yet fundamental way of training taijutsu."
"Its only flaw is that it is still not complete. Shira-sensei understands that himself. If no one improves it, then this may be all it ever becomes."
"But…If someone helps him...its future potential is impossible to predict."
Gaara earnestly tried to persuade Kakashi.
However...the logic behind his argument felt rather strange.
It even gave Kakashi a certain impression.
Or perhaps it wasn't just an impression.
It almost sounded as if Gaara were flattering him...trying to force him into helping.
Could this somehow be for Naruto's sake?
---
From Temari's point of view, having heard from Tokiwa that Gaara and Naruto supposedly had an improper relationship, this only made Gaara's moral decline seem even more obvious.
Never mind whether Shira's proposal was reasonable.
Just looking at how passionately Shira was clinging to Kakashi...something already felt wrong.
It didn't seem like Shira wanted Kakashi's help.
It felt like he wanted Kakashi's body.
Normally, Gaara should have calmed Shira down first before carefully asking about the details.
Instead...
He immediately sided with him.
The whole thing gave Temari a bizarre feeling.
Shira was Gaara's sensei.
Kakashi was Naruto's sensei.
If their sensei ended up together...
Then Gaara and Naruto could naturally end up together too.
Temari had originally intended to stop this.
But after thinking it over...
She decided there wasn't much point.
Shira being Gaara's sensei was only nominal anyway.
He had merely taught him some basic taijutsu.
Of course, Temari didn't mean that this prevented Shira and Gaara from being considered equals to Kakashi and Naruto.
Rather...
Shira was simply an unknown nobody in the ninja world.
He wasn't worthy of the famous Kakashi.
Rumor had it that Kakashi's current harem already included Might Guy, Yamato, Uchiha Obito, and even his own grandmother.
Even so, he still wasn't satisfied and had his eyes on their village's Granny Chiyo.
Born a hopeless flirt, Kakashi had produced an equally hopelessly flirtatious student in Uzumaki Naruto.
How could someone like that possibly be interested in Shira?
Even so...
The atmosphere had become so overwhelmingly awkward that Temari couldn't stand it any longer.
She dragged away the extremely reluctant trio of gossip girls, along with the three Sage Mode trainees, and left first.
---
Kakashi had no way out.
After discussing it for a while, he finally agreed that once the Land of Water promotion was complete...
He would follow Orochimaru's research department in Amegakure as a model and establish a development team.
Shira would be welcome to join.
Kakashi's meaning was very clear.
There was no way this research could be done by just the two of them.
They needed to recruit more people.
Just like the shortcut to Sage Mode.
If Jiraiya had worked alone...nothing would have come of it.
Naruto's involvement had led to the shortcut.
Then Inuzuka Kiba's participation had created an entirely new branch by combining Sage Mode with Summoning Beasts.
Many hands made it work.
More people meant more ideas.
Who knew?
Someone's brain might suddenly take an unexpected turn...
And one flash of inspiration could easily save months of painstaking research.
---
"Tokiwa, aren't you staying with the Konoha group?"
"Once they finish talking with Gaara, they'll probably leave immediately. Besides, you won that bet of yours."
Temari smiled after noticing that Tokiwa had followed them over as well.
"The atmosphere over there was too strange. I wasn't comfortable."
Tokiwa shook her head.
"Uncomfortable? Why? Is it because everyone on that team besides you is a male ninja?"
Pakura frowned and guessed.
But she was clearly wrong.
Among everyone present, despite wearing an outfit that exposed her back similar to the clothes Konan wore beneath her Akatsuki cloak, Pakura actually had the most conservative mindset.
Although she accompanied the trio of gossip girls as their sensei...
In reality...
She was the one learning from them.
Every single day, they managed to completely reshape her worldview.
"No."
"When I was with that team… It was the safest period of my life. I never had to worry about anything."
"Kakashi likes men and elderly women. That has nothing to do with me."
"Naruto likes Gaara and Sasuke. That has also nothing to do with me."
"Konohamaru...that little brat was actually the most dangerous person in the group."
"But unfortunately…Because he overworked his body while training Sage Mode during puberty…"
"Let's just say, not only will his little brother never become unmatched under heaven…"
"I'm afraid in the future it might not even..."
As Tokiwa spoke...Her words started heading in a very questionable direction.
Noticing the curious looks from everyone around her and realizing there were still several young girls present, she abruptly stopped.
Although, to be fair… those girls probably knew just as much theory as she did.
The one who understood the least...was still Pakura.
"..."
Silence immediately filled the air.
Pakura wore an awkward expression.
After glancing at the trio she had brought along, she suddenly thought of something.
Turning toward Temari, she said, "Speaking of that… I suddenly have a theory. Just a theory. You can all help me judge whether it makes sense. Temari… Don't get angry."
"A theory? Why would I get angry?"
Temari asked in confusion.
(End of this chapter)