Chapter 533: Kakashi's Trouble
Tokiwa returned to Temari's residence looking somewhat frightened and recounted everything she had witnessed.
Naturally...
She included all of her own speculation.
Namely, she believed that Naruto had been the one to make the first move. Once he had successfully won Gaara over, however, he became passive.
So although it looked like Gaara was the one taking the initiative this time, the real situation might not be so simple.
Obviously, Tokiwa's interpretation matched Temari's perspective perfectly.
Temari also didn't believe Gaara had been born the type of shinobi who formed deep bonds.
Forget being a "bond-type shinobi."
Not long ago, Gaara hadn't even shown the slightest affection toward either her or Kankurō. Back then, he had been nothing more than a bloodthirsty madman.
"It must have started back then..."
Temari suddenly recalled Gaara's experience during the Chūnin Exams.
At first, Gaara had believed that Sasuke, the one who had learned Kakashi's Thousand Years of Death, was also the one who possessed Chidori.
As a result, he had lowered his guard against Naruto.
Then, during their battle, Naruto completely broke through his defenses.
One of Jiraiya's perverted novels once said that the shortest route to a woman's heart was...
By the same logic, no matter how cold and aloof a man seemed there was still warmth…deep inside.
Gaara must have been seduced by the naturally flirtatious Uzumaki Naruto back then!
"So... what do we do now?"
Tokiwa asked Temari.
By now, she no longer cared about her bet with Naruto.
She had definitely won the bet.
But whether she had truly won in reality...
That was another matter entirely.
At last, Tokiwa finally understood the meaning of the ancient story Lord Ye Loves Dragons mentioned in Amegakure's Ancient Tales. (Meaning: someone claims to love or admire something, but when they encounter the real thing, they are frightened or reject it.)
She had thought that, as a middle-aged woman who had lived for so many years, there was nothing she hadn't seen before.
Yet after actually witnessing Gaara's actions...
Her heart had suffered a devastating blow.
As for the bet...
Before leaving, she had endured her emotional pain long enough to secretly take several photographs.
Perhaps because Gaara had been completely immersed in his little world with Naruto, he hadn't noticed her at all.
As expected...Love really did make people stupid.
"Don't panic. Calm down first. Let's focus on training."
Temari said those three sentences in a row.
Rather than answering Tokiwa, she was really trying to comfort herself.
After thinking it over, Temari realized that Gaara was the Kazekage.
She wasn't in any position to forcefully separate two lovers.
It would be better to let Gaara eventually discover for himself that he could never compete with Sasuke...
Then give up on his own.
Besides, the threat of the Ōtsutsuki still hung over everyone's heads like a sword.
Even if she wanted to stop Gaara now, she would first have to find another way for him to train.
Could she?
Obviously not.
She barely understood Sage Mode herself.
How was she supposed to come up with an alternative?
Inside Temari's house, the three female shinobi who had each taken one of the training manuals had all arrived.
Originally, she had been worried that Tokiwa would be discovered if she got too close while observing Gaara, and had even considered asking Yome to use her special dōjutsu instead.
Now, she immediately threw that idea out.
Granted, Yome was three years older than she was.
But she still looked like a child.
Making a child watch something like that would be far too cruel.
Besides, even Tokiwa, a middle-aged woman, had been left traumatized after seeing it.
If those girls, who were still young, saw the same thing...
Wouldn't it become a lifelong psychological scar?
What if it somehow pushed all of them into becoming lesbians?
Wouldn't Temari be committing an unforgivable sin?
Thinking that, Temari told Tokiwa not to bring it up again and instead had her begin teaching Sage Mode to the three women waiting in the living room.
Fortunately, she and Tokiwa had talked outside.
The three inside knew nothing about it.
However...
Temari quickly realized a problem.
Because Sage Mode training emphasized efficiency...
Gaara's method actually seemed like it might work.
It could even be applied to other people.
For example, Naruto's assistance increased Gaara's efficiency by one thousand percent.
But for ordinary people...
As long as it wasn't themselves, even having a complete stranger help would still improve efficiency.
Standing outside the living room, Temari didn't dare go inside.
She certainly didn't dare tell anyone about this discovery.
She was afraid her house would end up turning into QQ Space.
Meanwhile, Kakashi finally found his target, Hōichi, outside the village.
The intelligence Gaara had given him was very detailed.
It even included information that Hōichi intended to betray him and assassinate him.
After all, meeting Hōichi could be dangerous.
Gaara had no intention of setting Kakashi up.
After reading the intelligence, Kakashi wasn't particularly concerned about Hōichi himself.
What concerned him was Gaara's intention.
Since Gaara was willing to spare Hōichi's life, then unless absolutely necessary, Kakashi couldn't kill him either.
Which led directly to the situation he was facing now.
Kakashi informed Hōichi that Gaara had selected him as one of the first people to train in Sage Mode.
After hearing the news, Hōichi repeatedly confirmed that among all the male shinobi, only he and Gaara had been chosen.
The moment he was certain...
He immediately ran off and came here.
To a desolate rocky cliff.
From the far side of the cliff came repeated sounds of impact.
The sound felt oddly familiar to Kakashi.
It was like someone was training in taijutsu.
Hōichi glanced back at Kakashi, who had followed him, ignored him completely, and walked straight toward the cliff.
Then he shouted downward,
"Shira! I told you long ago! A mere taijutsu specialist like you would never be valued! See? Gaara abandoned you!"
"What did you say?!"
A furious roar came from below.
A figure shot upward like an arrow, landing directly in front of Hōichi with an angry expression.
"..."
Kakashi looked Shira over.
Aside from not wearing a green skintight jumpsuit, he looked remarkably similar to Guy...
And Lee.
Kakashi guessed that Hōichi had come here to sow discord.
According to the intelligence, Hōichi himself had been persuaded into rebellion by someone else's manipulation.
Afterward, he had also tried recruiting others to join his rebellion.
Unfortunately for him...
The reforms in the Land of Wind had made life far too comfortable.
The burden that had oppressed everyone for over a thousand years had finally been lifted.
Other than ambitious schemers and stubborn old conservatives, almost no one wanted to join them.
Shira was one of the people Hōichi had targeted.
Shira had a very good relationship with Gaara.
If Hōichi could persuade Shira to betray him, the chances of successfully assassinating Gaara would increase considerably.
But despite trying for a long time, Hōichi had never found an opportunity.
Who would have thought that today...
Gaara would personally hand him one?
Training in Sage Mode was such an incredible opportunity.
Yet Gaara had left out the fiercely competitive Shira.
Wasn't that practically handing Hōichi the perfect chance?
"Don't get so worked up, Shira. If you don't believe me, ask the man behind me. He's the famous Copy Ninja, Hatake Kakashi."
"Kakashi, come on. Tell Shira whether his name is on the list for Sage Mode training or not. Don't lie."
Hōichi stared directly at Kakashi.
"He's right. However..."
Kakashi didn't tell a comforting lie.
Judging from Gaara's attitude, his mission wasn't simply to stop Hōichi.
Preventing him from rebelling wasn't enough.
He had to make Hōichi sincerely return to Gaara's side.
As for the man named Shira...
If he really was the same type of person as Guy and Lee...
Then there was no chance he would ever betray Gaara.
There was nothing to worry about.
(End of this chapter)