As everyone knew, the shinobi world actually had a hidden force of "Heaven's Will" operating behind the scenes.
In simpler terms, it was destiny—the force that decided how certain things were supposed to unfold.
That was what allowed beings like the Great Toad Sage to glimpse key turning points in history and make prophecies about them.
During the early era and throughout Shippuden, Heaven's Will remained relatively subtle. The shinobi world, for the most part, still operated according to logic.
By the era of Boruto, after the Ōtsutsuki clan descended, however, its influence seemed to seep into every corner of the world.
Things like the legendary Uchiha wrestling throws and Ōtsutsuki elbow strikes were clearly examples of the people involved being corrupted by Heaven's Will.
The process mattered less and less.
No matter how absurd the path became, everything would eventually arrive at the predetermined result, until the entire plot started resembling some bizarre set of supernatural rules.
Then there was the matter of voices.
Kimimaro had once sounded so much like Namikaze Minato that Naruto suffered an entire chain of misunderstandings because of it.
And now Shira was a shinobi who practiced a breathing method, an anime-original background character who had never developed any connection with Makoto.
Naturally, he possessed absolutely no resistance to Heaven's Will.
To Shira's ears, Kakashi's voice combined with that particular line sounded almost like the call of Tsugikuni Yoriichi, the founder of breathing techniques from another world.
So Shira immediately became obsessed.
Kakashi was his hope.
He was only one step away from copying Mitsuki and declaring to Boruto:
"You are my sun."
"Kakashi, please agree! You are my hope! The hope of the shinobi world! You are the sun itself!"
Shira excitedly clutched Kakashi's hand.
Well.
There it was.
The sun had arrived after all!
"Lord Kazekage! Kazekage? Gaara!"
Completely at a loss, Kakashi could only turn toward Gaara with a desperate look for help.
"Kakashi, I think Shira-sensei has a point."
Gaara responded with a completely serious expression.
"Naruto already told me that the only place left for you to spread Sage Mode is the Land of Water."
"Once you finish spreading Sage Mode there, you could work with Shira-sensei and try to make another contribution to the shinobi world."
"I haven't personally practiced Shira-sensei's Seven Heavens Breathing Method, but I've studied it. It truly is a basic yet profound form of taijutsu training."
"Its only weakness is that it still isn't complete."
"Shira-sensei understands that. If nobody improves it, it may remain at its current level forever."
"But with someone helping him develop it, there's no telling how high its future potential could become."
Gaara earnestly tried to persuade Kakashi.
The problem was that his reasoning did not feel particularly logical.
It gave Kakashi a strange impression.
Perhaps it was not merely an impression.
Was Gaara deliberately flattering him and trying to force him into helping?
Could this somehow be because of Naruto?
Meanwhile, from Temari's perspective—having already heard Tokiwa's account of Gaara and Naruto's supposedly improper relationship—this was yet another sign of her little brother's downfall.
Forget whether Shira's argument made sense.
The way Shira was currently staring at Kakashi with such overwhelming enthusiasm was already suspicious.
It did not look as though Shira merely wanted Kakashi's assistance.
It looked as though he wanted Kakashi himself.
Under normal circumstances, Gaara should at least have told Shira to calm down before carefully asking what exactly he wanted to accomplish.
Instead, Gaara immediately began arguing on Shira's behalf.
The whole thing gave Temari a terrible feeling.
Shira was technically Gaara's teacher.
Kakashi was Naruto's teacher.
If their teachers ended up together, then Gaara and Naruto could naturally follow their example.
Temari had originally intended to intervene.
Then she thought about it and realized there probably was not much point.
Shira was only nominally Gaara's teacher anyway. He had merely taught Gaara some basic taijutsu.
And Temari did not mean that this made Shira somehow unequal to Kakashi and therefore prevented Gaara and Naruto from being equals.
No.
Her concern was much simpler.
Shira, an obscure nobody in the shinobi world, simply was not good enough for the famous Hatake Kakashi.
According to the rumors, Kakashi's existing harem already included Might Guy, Yamato, Uchiha Obito, and even her grandmother.
And despite already having all of them, he still shamelessly looked elsewhere and coveted Granny Chiyo from Sunagakure.
The naturally promiscuous Kakashi had truly lived up to the saying that a famous teacher produced an outstanding student.
He had personally trained the naturally promiscuous Uzumaki Naruto.
How could someone like that possibly be interested in Shira?
Even so, the atmosphere around the area had become so overwhelmingly suspicious that Temari could no longer endure it.
She dragged away the three reluctant gossipmongers, along with the three kunoichi currently training in senjutsu, and left first.
Kakashi, trapped with no real way out, eventually reached a compromise with Shira.
After completing the Sage Mode campaign in the Land of Water, Kakashi would take inspiration from Orochimaru's research division in Amegakure and establish a development team.
Shira could join that team.
Kakashi's meaning was very clear.
There was absolutely no chance he was going to conduct this research alone with Shira.
They needed more people.
The Sage Mode shortcut itself had proven exactly why.
If they had only relied on Jiraiya, nothing would ever have happened.
Naruto's involvement produced the shortcut.
Kiba's involvement created an entirely different branch based on combining Sage Mode with a summon.
More people meant more strength.
More importantly, more people meant more ideas.
If someone's brain suddenly went off in a bizarre direction and produced a flash of inspiration, that single thought might save them months of painstaking research.
…
"Tokiwa, aren't you going with those Konoha guys?"
Seeing that Tokiwa had followed them, Temari smiled.
"Once they finish talking with Gaara, they might leave immediately. And you did win your bet, remember?"
"The atmosphere over there was too strange. I couldn't get comfortable."
Tokiwa shook her head.
"Uncomfortable? Why?"
Pakura, who had come along with the three resident gossipmongers, frowned thoughtfully.
"Because everyone in that group except you is male?"
Obviously, she had guessed wrong.
Of everyone present, Pakura was ironically the most conservative.
Never mind that she wore a backless outfit almost as revealing as what Konan wore beneath her Akatsuki cloak.
When it came to her mindset, she was still painfully traditional.
Pakura supposedly traveled with the three gossipmongers as their teacher.
In reality, she was their student.
Every single day, they found some new way to destroy and rebuild her worldview.
"No."
Tokiwa shook her head.
"When I traveled with that team, those were some of the safest days I've ever experienced. I never had to worry about anything."
"Kakashi likes men and elderly women. Nothing to do with me."
"Naruto likes Gaara and Sasuke. Gay af. Nothing to do with me."
"Konohamaru, despite being a little brat, was actually the most dangerous of the three."
"Unfortunately, he started squeezing every bit of energy out of his body to train Sage Mode while he was still growing, so as for how impressive his future prospects will be…"
Tokiwa's explanation gradually began drifting somewhere it really should not.
Under the curious gazes of the others, she suddenly remembered how many young girls were standing nearby and stopped herself.
Although, realistically speaking, some of these girls might already possess more theoretical knowledge than she did.
The person who understood the least about any of this was probably still Pakura.
"…"
The group fell silent.
Pakura looked awkwardly at the three girls traveling with her.
Then a thought suddenly occurred to her.
She turned toward Temari.
"Speaking of that, I just thought of something.
"It's only a theory, so don't get angry. You can all decide whether it makes sense."
"What theory?"
Temari looked confused.
"Why would I get angry?"