From the side, a voice cut in, half-amused, half-cautious.
"Well, well..." Kabuto murmured, his glasses glinting faintly. He had been watching all along through his chakra sense. His lips curved into a faint smile. "So Gaara-kun dealt with our little spy..."
"Gaara!" Baki's voice rang out, sharp and alarmed as he rushed forward.
"Gaara-kun!" Kabuto too stepped out from the shadows, his tone laced with mock surprise.
Gaara turned his head slightly, his sand still shifting and hardening beneath his fingers. His expression remained blank, his stare devoid of acknowledgment.
Kabuto smirked, raising his brows. "Excellent job burying the man alive..."
But Gaara's eyes looked at him with nothing but disdain.
'This brat...!'
"Tch..." Kabuto's smile faltered. That silent rejection cut deeper than any blade. His fingers tightened around the kunai hidden in his sleeve, and in a flash he raised it, pointing it toward Gaara.
Before tension could snap, Baki stepped in, his voice commanding. "It's about time you leave!"
His hand shot out, grabbing Kabuto's wrist to stop him.
Kabuto's head tilted slightly, his glasses catching the moonlight, but his eyes were cold and sharp as his gaze slid toward Baki. That single glance, cutting from the corner of his eyes, sent a chill down Baki's spine. His grip faltered, and instinctively, he let go. A bead of sweat traced down his temple.
Kabuto's smirk returned, mocking and venomous. "Just don't mess up this plan."
His voice was low, deliberate, before he vanished into the night with a blur of movement, leaving only silence behind.
Baki exhaled slowly, feeling the tension linger in the air like smoke. He turned toward Gaara, who was still crouched, his sand slowly withdrawing into the gourd on his back.
"Go to sleep, Gaara," Baki finally said, his voice carrying both command and unease. "There's something I want to discuss tomorrow with the team."
Gaara rose, the faint scraping of sand fading as he stood tall. Without a word, he gave a short nod and walked off, his presence vanishing into the darkness of the village streets.
Baki watched him leave, the cold night wind brushing against his face. He swallowed hard. 'That boy... that killing intent. He isn't just a weapon... he's something far more dangerous.'
------
Hah! Hah! Hah!
Hayate panted heavily, clutching his chest as he leaned against the wall of a deserted alley. His lungs burned, each breath scraping his throat. Cold sweat rolled down his temple and dripped onto the silent stone beneath him. His mind spun with the memory of what had happened just moments earlier...
A few minutes prior when he was buried beneath the suffocating embrace of sand, Hayate's vision blurred. He had already prepared for death when suddenly, the sand around his mouth loosened, granting him a desperate gasp of air.
"Hah—!" He coughed violently, air flooding back into his lungs.
From the shifting earth before him, a figure emerged. It was a shape molded from grains, uncanny yet unmistakable. Just a meter away, Gaara's sand clone stood in eerie stillness, eyes cold and penetrating.
Hayate staggered, still bound, staring at him with both dread and defiance. His voice cracked as he forced out words through his ragged breathing.
"To think... our allied nation, the Village Hidden in the Sand, has already associated itself with the Sound..." His tone was bitter, almost self-mocking. "Truly... we've been played for fools..."
Gaara's gaze was unblinking, his voice calm but heavy with an unnatural weight.
"I am the Jinchūriki of the sand."
Hayate's teeth clenched. His fists curled despite the sand binding him.
"I KNOW!" He snapped, his hoarse voice echoing faintly underground.
He doubled over, coughing again, before lifting his glare back at Gaara. "I witnessed your rampage... during the exam."
For a moment, Gaara said nothing. He simply stared, his presence suffocating.
The silence itself was oppressive, pressing down on Hayate until the jonin's teeth ground audibly in frustration. Finally, Gaara's voice cut through the still air like the edge of a blade.
"I was sent here to unleash destruction on your village..."
Hayate's eyes widened, veins bulging in his temples as his rage boiled over. But before he could speak, Gaara continued, his tone never shifting, as if he were reciting simple fact.
"However... I have decided against it."
Hayate's breath hitched. His lips twisted in disbelief, almost mocking.
"Do you expect me to believe that, after what I just heard back there?" He spat, his voice shaking between anger and exhaustion. "You must be dreaming."
Gaara tilted his head slightly, unbothered. His inner thoughts flickered briefly. 'This is not getting anywhere.'
"I do not expect you to believe my words completely at this point," Gaara said evenly, the calmness in his tone contrasting Hayate's fury. "All I know is that I owe something to this village because of the that person."
Hayate blinked, momentarily caught off guard.
Gaara's sand loosened further, shifting against the stone floor as his words carried a weight beyond his years. "I do not want lives from both villages to be lost over a meaningless squabble for resources."
Hayate stared at him, stunned. This was not the bloodthirsty monster he had expected.
"I will allow you to escape safely," Gaara said, his voice lowering into something deliberate and resolute. "On one condition."
Hayate's eyes narrowed sharply. "You want me to keep my mouth shut?" His tone dripped with accusation.
Gaara's reply came instantly. "No."
That single word made Hayate falter.
"On the contrary..." Gaara continued, his eyes narrowing as his sand trembled faintly with his emotions. "I ask you to tell only one person who can work towards a solution to stop this attack."
Hayate's jaw slackened, his expression betraying his shock. "What?"
It was the last thing he had expected from the boy before him.
"I do not want to break this treaty that was forged after so much struggle," Gaara said, his calm words echoing in the hollow underground. "Only to repeat the same struggle again..."
With that, the sand that bound Hayate's body slowly dissolved, sliding off his limbs and collapsing back into the earth.
Hayate stumbled, his knees nearly buckling, but he kept his glare locked on Gaara, who stood motionless.
"Remember..." Gaara's final words lingered as he gestured, opening a narrow path above them. The moonlight filtered faintly into the underground chamber. "Tell only that person. And ask him to think very carefully over it."
With that, the sand clone's body lost its form, grains scattering and dispersing into the soil until nothing remained but silence.
Hayate stood there for a long moment, staring at the tunnel of light above, his breath ragged. Finally, he forced himself upward, breaking through into the surface.
The village stretched around him, calm and peaceful beneath the blanket of the night sky. The stars twinkled innocently, as if mocking the heavy truth now burdening his shoulders.
His fists clenched as he looked up at the Hokage Monument in the distance.
'I can only tell Hokage-sama...!'
---- ✦ ✦ ✦ ----
Spoilers for the next five chapters!
Chapter 251: Silent Execution
Chapter 252: The ANBU Beauty
Chapter 253: The ANBU Beauty (2)
Chapter 254: The ANBU Beauty (3)
Chapter 255: The Awaited Day
--- ✦ ✦ ✦ ---
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