Gaara slowly opened his eyes. What entered his vision was Temari's worried face, with tear marks still at the corners of her eyes.
"Gaara, you finally woke up. I thought you would never wake up again."
Kankurō, Baki, and the others all let out a sigh of relief, then all together looked worriedly at Gaara's hand.
Sunagakure had only just gotten back on track, yet Gaara was already written off for this season—his career might even be over at this point.
Gaara's gaze fell onto the white cloth wrapped around his hand. His hand still hurt badly. Gaara's face turned pale, but he endured it.
Temari gently stroked Gaara's face. "You idiot, why would you joke around with your own life?"
Gaara did not speak. In front of Kairen, he had been completely defeated—he lost his dignity, and he also lost the village.
He felt that he was no longer worthy of being a ninja.
But Gaara still could not help worrying about the village.
"How is it now? Has that person left?"
Temari sighed. "No. The entire council of elders has attached themselves to him. Anyone who dared to resist was suppressed."
"The only reason we still have a place to stay is because that little bear I picked up took pity on us."
"And also, his name is Moku Kairen."
What Gaara cared about most was still Kairen's next move, so he asked,
"What is he doing?"
Hearing this, Temari's expression became somewhat strange, but she still said it.
"He brought a huge number of shadow clones… to plant trees and build houses!"
"Plant trees?!"
Temari nodded.
"I didn't expect him to possess the First Hokage's Wood Release. He condensed a massive number of shadow clones, tore down the villagers' houses, and the entire village has started greening projects."
"..."
Everyone fell silent. Gaara stared at the ceiling, not knowing what to say.
They originally thought he was someone who came looking for trouble, but it turned out he was a real estate developer.
"Right!"
Temari suddenly remembered something, her face filling with anger.
"Those damned elders, for the sake of their own interests, keep squeezing out the Kazekage faction. Quite a few people have already been thrown into prison by them."
"They even arranged people outside to monitor us!"
Gaara stared at the ceiling, neither sad nor happy.
Temari looked at the white cloth on Gaara's abdomen that had been dyed blood-red, her heart aching.
"With no hands, what will you do in the future? No, I'll go beg him—have him use Wood Release to heal you."
Gaara, after all, still had people he cared about. He weakly raised his head and shouted,
"Don't go. This was my own choice. A Kazekage without hands poses no threat to him."
Temari tenderly stroked her younger brother's forehead, making him lie down obediently.
"Stop talking. Even at your peak you couldn't hurt him at all—how could he possibly care about your threat?"
Temari left behind that sentence and went out the door. Kankurō followed and called out to stop her.
"Sis, we have nothing now. On what grounds can we ask Moku Kairen to heal Gaara?"
Temari stopped in her tracks.
What Kankurō said made sense. In a single day, they had fallen from the upper echelons of Sunagakure back to ordinary people.
They no longer had any bargaining chips that could move Kairen.
Temari clenched her teeth and said firmly,
"No matter what the price, I will make him heal Gaara."
She rushed out the door. Outside stood two of Gaara's little followers.
They were very concerned about Gaara's condition. Seeing Temari, they anxiously asked,
"What happened to Lord Gaara?"
Temari's face was full of urgency. She did not answer them, and in the blink of an eye she used Body Flicker and left.
Seeing Temari in such a hurry, Yukata and Matsuri immediately became even more anxious.
"Lord Gaara must be close to dying, otherwise Lady Temari wouldn't be this panicked."
...
As soon as Temari stepped out of the courtyard, it was as if she had entered an unfamiliar world.
After not seeing it for just one hour, Sunagakure was already completely different from the village in her memory.
The former earthen walls had been dismantled. Rows upon rows of wooden houses rose up, surrounded by lush greenery.
The vitality the great desert had awaited for years had been completely resolved by Kairen in just one evening.
Temari could not help but question whether Kairen was a demon who had occupied Sunagakure, or a savior who had rescued the village.
"Haha…"
Children's laughter flowed like a clear spring, clinking and ringing amid the greenery.
Temari turned her gaze over. It was a garden, extravagantly built with water to form a pool.
When had the children of the Land of Wind ever seen so much water? One after another they rolled up their pants, splashing and playing in the water, occasionally even gulping down mouthfuls of this luxurious foot-washing water.
Temari watched silently. This was all brought by a demon.
Was it a demon's trap, or a god's blessing?
Next, Temari looked again at a group of figures in uniform—Kairen's shadow clones.
No matter where you went in this village, you could see their busy figures.
Some planted trees, some built houses, and some whistled at the girls in the village.
It was precisely through these shadow clones that Kairen had changed the entirety of Sunagakure.
"Catch that cat! It dares to yowl just because two hairs were plucked—how outrageous! We must stew it!"
Temari then saw—
A group of shadow clones, in utter chaos, chasing a cat. After catching it, they actually squeezed its eggs.
She shook her head.
With her brain, she still couldn't quite understand Kairen's way of doing things.
On the contrary, another group was truly detestable.
They were members of the council of elders, starting to suppress dissidents in the village, leading a group of people to arrest others all over the streets.
Kairen's shadow clones merely watched, with no intention of stopping them.
A white-haired Sunagakure ninja spotted a beautiful, slender blonde woman and immediately opened his mouth.
"I suspect you're a spy from the Land of Water. Come with us."
The blonde woman was full of anger. The young man beside her clenched his fists, and a little girl next to them likewise raised her weapon.
This was a squad—a squad led by Shira, with members Sen and Yome.
And Sen, as an original character, also had a place in the Naruto doujin world. Kairen had once been fortunate enough to take in a few of those works.
As for Shira, he was a taijutsu prodigy who developed Seven Heavens Breathing.
In terms of taijutsu talent, he could even rival Rock Lee.
The white-haired Sand ninja led a group forward, preparing to snatch people away to do filthy things.
Shira assumed a stance, preparing to attack.
Sunagakure was no longer the Sunagakure of the past. Former comrades had become enemies who would stab you in the back.
Temari stepped out, blocking in front of the Collaboration Army.
"Stop!"
The white-haired man recognized Temari.
"Gaara's sister. As expected of Sunagakure's number one beauty. Heh heh, Elder Chōhei has taken quite a liking to you."
"If you know what's good for you, follow Elder Chōhei from now on. Otherwise, neither of your two brothers will be allowed to live."
"How dare you!!"
Even the shadow clones couldn't sit still after seeing this.
The reason they had let the council of elders run wild was to dismantle Sunagakure's former shadow powers. They would do bad things, and then Kairen would come out to do good things.
When necessary, they could even use their heads to win people's hearts.
They never expected that the dogs they were raising would start coveting their master's food. How could this be tolerated?
One shadow clone blew itself up, feeding back everything it had seen.
Immediately after, the troops within the village began moving toward Elder Chōhei's nest, preparing to confiscate his household.
Temari was still confronting the white-haired group when a group of Kairen's shadow clones suddenly rushed out.
None of the white-haired men dared to utter a word, their faces full of ingratiating smiles.
"Arrest them all."
The group was full of panic, not knowing what they had offended. "My lord, my lord!"
Kairen's shadow clones did not listen to their sophistry. They dragged them away.
Temari looked on in a daze, not understanding why Kairen's shadow clones had stepped in.
Hadn't they always stayed aloof, merely watching the chessboard?