Temari stared at the dark crimson hair swinging in the wind. He might have been her own little brother, but she could still admit that he was actually getting to be good-looking.
She was standing behind him on what the villagers called the “wind-reading hill,” which offered an unbroken view of Sunagakure. Temari knew her brother’s sole moment of respite came from looking out over the village from this hill where the wind blew endlessly year-round.
“You need something, sis?” he said, turning just his face toward her. The character “love” was carved into his smooth, sleek forehead.
Gaara of the Desert.
The people of the village had trembled upon hearing that name until a few years earlier. And now? He was the leader of Sunagakure and an authority within the alliance. He was essential to the world of the ninja, all thanks to Naruto.
Having housed a tailed beast within himself from a young age like Naruto, Gaara firmly believed that he could only love himself and that everyone else was an enemy; he would have nothing to do with anyone, even his own sister Temari or his older brother Kankuro. The Gaara of that time refused to let them into his heart. He had no mercy even for his sister and brother. If he didn’t like someone, he would kill them. He didn’t have to express his rage in words; the intense bloodlust radiating from his entire body amply communicated the message.
The only one who had ever seriously gone up against him and those ideas of his had been Naruto.
Naruto never gave up on Gaara; they had both been forced into lives as jinchuriki, after all. After a deadly battle exceeding any human framework, the two gradually came to respect one another. When the Akatsuki had pulled the tailed beast from her brother’s body, Naruto had ungrudgingly shared his own chakra with the dying boy. Gaara saw Naruto as a friend.
It was then that her brother had started to change.
His awkward personality evolved slowly, bit by bit. The way he spoke to and interacted with Temari and Kankuro changed, his attitude toward the villagers changed, and his feelings toward people from other villages changed too. And then all those people came to accept Gaara.
She was truly grateful to Naruto, and she thought warmly of his birthplace of Konohagakure. The people of that village were extremely proud as shinobi; most were unshakable.
Abruptly, his face jumped to life in the back of her mind. Clicking her tongue lightly, Temari felt a stinging pain deep in her chest.
“What’s the matter, sister?”
“Oh, uh.” Temari stood next to Gaara. In his worried eyes shone a clear light. His earnestness—a younger brother caring for his big sister—was almost painful to her. Before she knew it, Temari was averting her eyes.
Sunagakure was always dry. It was in the middle of the desert; it never rained. The sharp wind carried more than a few grains of sand.
“I just got some sand in my eye.”
“That’s strange. Not like you at all.”
“I-I guess so.”
Those born in Sunagakure were accustomed to dealing with sand and wind. Sand did not hit them in the eye. Getting sand in her eye was just an excuse.
“Shikamaru…” His name suddenly came from Gaara’s mouth, and Temari couldn’t stop herself from stiffening up in surprise. Rather than questioning why the name would make his sister freeze up so dramatically, Gaara continued matter-of-factly: “He’s been weird lately. Whenever I see him at the alliance headquarters, I get the feeling that his heart isn’t in it. Maybe he’s been working a little too hard.”
“So you think so too.”
Gaara nodded. “I couldn’t view people in a favorable light until a few years ago, but now I feel like it’s the opposite. I’m deeply concerned about everyone’s behavior and well-being. I think I’m probably extra sensitive to the workings of other people’s minds.”
Her little brother had always been serious at heart. If he believed in something, he followed through mind, body, and soul. Once he decided to open his heart, he did so unreservedly, with the utmost thoroughness. So it was no surprise that he would have noticed minuscule changes in Shikamaru.
“He’s hiding something.”
“Mm-hmm,” Temari agreed.
“He thinks more seriously than anyone else about the alliance and the future of ninja. I don’t think he’d do anything to hurt the alliance.”
Gaara was talking about the fact that all the hidden villages in the alliance had an obligation to report any national or international matters or problems that might have an effect on the entire organization. Temari also saw that Shikamaru was withholding some not-insignificant matter happening within Konohagakure, something even a man like him was unable to hide completely. She thought it likely that whatever it was, it was going to end up being a problem for all ninja.
“Can you think of anything it might be?”
Temari was the one within the alliance who worked with Shikamaru the most, which was why her brother was asking her. “It’s not that I can’t, but…I can’t be sure.”
Still silent, Gaara nodded.
“He’s been fairly seriously investigating the missing shinobi and rogue ninja from the Great War.”
Gaara shifted his gaze from Temari to look out at the village once more. A crease formed between his eyebrows. He was thinking.
Suddenly, the wind got stronger. The sand hitting her face hurt.
“Maybe I’ll ask Naruto,” Gaara muttered. “Will you go for me, sister?”
“Sure.” Temari was surprised at how bright her voice sounded.
“I could ask Kakashi directly, but he’d no doubt give me the runaround,” Gaara continued. “So we’ll ask Naruto about Shikamaru first. If it turns out he’s facing some unusual or difficult situation, we have to do everything in our power to help. They can use as many of the shinobi of Sunagakure as they need.”
“Shikamaru is a Konoha ninja, right?”
“The era of drawing lines between Suna and Konoha is over. We need him in the alliance. It’s only natural that we help him.”
“Thanks.”
“There’s nothing for you to thank me for, sis.”
Temari bowed her head, and tears fell from her eyes. She raised her face again and smiled at Gaara as she wiped them away.
“The sand is really getting in your eyes today, hm?”
∞
“C’mon, hey! Sakura, you listening to me?” Naruto said, elbows resting on the mountain of books piled so high they reached his chest. Supporting a sullen face with both hands, he stared at Sakura’s back while she raced around busily along the bookshelves lining one wall. “Haven’t seen Sai in more than a month already, and that jerk Shikamaru was seriously ice cold. So c’mon, you guys hiding something from me or what?”
“We’re not!” she shouted, hackles raised, her words smacking the pout off of Naruto’s face. “Don’t you have a mission or something?”
“I’m done for today.”
“Well then, just go and eat your ramen at Ichiraku, go home, go to bed!”
“Whaaaat? But I mean, you haven’t been at the Hokage Residence in ages, and I came all the way over just to say hi. That is a seriously cold attitude for a former Team Seven member, y’know.” Naruto pursed his lips and looked at Sakura.
She stopped in front of him and glared, hands on hips. “I am incredibly busy right now working with Lady Tsunade to systematize medical ninjutsu and build an organization within the alliance! I just came today to get the materials Lady Tsunade left here when she was Hokage! I don’t have time for this! Not to mention I’m doing all this in my private time! I only have time after I’m done with my missions. I’m actually really busy! Which is why I don’t have time to listen to your dumb stories! Okay?!”
No sooner were the words out of her mouth than she had turned back to the bookshelves. “What’s happening with you and Hinata lately anyway? Wouldn’t she be way more willing to listen to you than I would?”
“What? You jealous?”
Racing back over to him, Sakura rapped Naruto on the head. He dropped headfirst to his knees on the stone floor, and Sakura stared down at him, face twisted up in demonic rage. “As if I would be jealous! I have Sasuke, you know!”
“R-right,” Naruto responded, staying down. His eyes, which had been so completely relaxed until that moment, took on a hard look. Sensing this, Sakura turned serious as well. “But, you know, lately, I’ve had a really bad feeling.”
“The tailed beast in you acting up?”
Nine Tails still resided within Naruto, along with the vestiges of the other eight tailed beasts. Naruto’s body was, in a manner of speaking, the jinchuriki for Ten Tails. In the last Great War, after becoming the jinchuriki for Ten Tails, Obito had gained a power rivaling that of the Sage of Six Paths, the founder of ninjutsu. And in keeping the tailed beast within his body, Naruto also housed a part of the abilities of the Sage of Six Paths.
Sakura knew that Naruto’s “bad feeling” was something different from what a regular person would feel.
“It’s nothing about the tailed beasts. It’s just this feeling I have, y’know?”
“So then maybe you’re just imagining things?”
“That’s cold… You’re basically giving me zero credit?” Still on the floor, Naruto started sulking again.
“I know you’re worried is all. You can’t help it. But Sai and Shikamaru are both amazing ninja. If they really needed your help, they would ask for it, and even if they didn’t, Lord Hokage would come and tell you.”
“Whaaaaat? You can’t trust Master Kakashi, okay?”
“He’s way better than you!”
Sakura sent an explosive kick flying toward Naruto’s backside. His body shot into the air and came up perpendicular against the wall. Dropping into a fighting crouch, Naruto looked at her with something like fear.
“Quit blabbing at me and go take care of your own work. That’s what Sai and Shikamaru want too. Especially Shikamaru. He’s working insanely hard in the alliance and in the village to make you Hokage, you know. You better not let him down.”
“I know all that. That’s exactly why I’m worried about them, okay?”
Sakura sighed. “Get it together. You think so highly of these friends of yours. They’re not going to do anything stupid and end up dead.”
“Dead?! Don’t say stuff like that! Knock on wood!”
“Oh, come on! I say one thing, and you come back with something else. Seriously annoying!” Sakura mimicked Naruto’s own way of speaking. “Go home and go to bed!”
Flying kick.
Soaring through the air, Naruto broke the door and exited the room.
Watching him go, Sakura smiled and waved a hand.