The Fourth Kazekage, Rasa, had originally been on his way to Konoha.
As Kazekage, it was necessary for him to understand the current strength of the allied nations' ninja forces.
Although he did not believe anyone could surpass Gaara, Gaara was still an imperfect weapon. If there were more incidents of him losing control, Rasa feared that he might one day be unable to defy the demands of the elders and the daimyō, and would be forced to personally eliminate his own son.
Yet every time he recalled Karura's final appearance, Rasa, as a father and as a husband, was overwhelmed with guilt.
But he was, first and foremost, the Fourth Kazekage of Sunagakure. As a ninja, the village had to take absolute priority.
As for the debt he owed Gaara and Karura…
He would atone to them in the Pure Land after death.
...
When Orochimaru appeared, accompanied by the young man named Kimimaro, Rasa and his two bodyguards immediately pulled their distance.
He was the Fourth Kazekage, and the other was Orochimaru, once known as one of the Sannin.
This confrontation should have been evenly matched, but the turning point came from Rasa's misjudgment of "Kimimaro" and his lack of intelligence regarding Shikotsumyaku and the cursed seal forms.
Both bodyguards were killed almost instantly.
This battle between the Kazekage and Kimimaro was a brutal struggle for both sides.
Rasa manipulated heavy golden sand to withstand the endlessly calcifying, indestructible white bones, while also remaining wary of that despicable man Orochimaru launching a sneak attack at any moment.
Rasa's expression was grave.
The sound of sand colliding with bone was deep and thunderous.
Focused entirely on attacking and searching for openings, none of them noticed that, in the distance, a figure was suspended in the air by fine streams of sand, calmly observing the battle.
That figure wore a green Kazekage hat identical to the one hanging at Rasa's waist. He was dressed in a dark red double-breasted coat, with two belts around his waist, from which hung a brown gourd about the size of a pet cat.
—It was none other than the Fifth Kazekage.
—Gaara!!
Seeing this scene, Gaara's first reaction was that his father and Kimimaro had once again been revived by Orochimaru using Edo Tensei.
His second reaction was that Orochimaru had betrayed Konoha once more.
Then what about Naruto?!
What had happened to Naruto, the Seventh Hokage?!
Worried about his first and most important friend, the Fifth Kazekage Gaara did not hesitate for even a moment. He immediately manipulated his sand and launched an attack at Orochimaru, who stood off to the side preparing to act.
Slow-moving sand spread beneath Orochimaru's feet.
Sand Coffin…
Sand Waterfall Funeral!!!
The Orochimaru before his eyes was crushed to pieces by Gaara's Sand Release.
Foul-smelling blood splattered across the ground.
"Orochimaru-sama!!"
Distracted by the sight, Kimimaro was seized by the Fourth Kazekage Rasa, who took the opportunity to imprison him layer by layer within a bizarre, staircase-shaped pyramid formed from golden sand.
Afterward, the Fourth Kazekage stared at the distant figure and demanded,
"Who are you?!"
Unable to judge the situation and having just endured a fierce battle, he did not rashly move closer.
"Careful, Orochimaru isn't dead yet."
The moment the words fell, the blood splattered across the ground transformed into countless small snakes. They slithered away in all directions, then regrouped and reassembled into a humanoid shape...
Seeing Orochimaru like this, Gaara was not particularly surprised.
It had been a long time since he last saw this man. Naturally, he had no idea that by the era of the Seventh Hokage, Orochimaru had already shed another skin, one even more refined and unsettling, beautiful yet androgynous, neither distinctly male nor female.
"You betrayed the Hokage?" Gaara glared at him.
Orochimaru's gaze fell on the hat atop Gaara's head, the character for "Wind" clearly visible, a symbol reserved only for the Kazekage.
He paused briefly, then flicked his tongue across his lips like a snake.
"How interesting. Two Kazekage?"
"Answer me! Where is Naruto?!!"
As the most devoted Naruto supporter among the Kage, Gaara more than lived up to that title.
Orochimaru's mind turned rapidly. He immediately realized that this Kazekage likely did not belong to this era, perhaps from the past or the future.
After all, he had thoroughly mastered techniques like Edo Tensei. It was only natural that he had studied the Second Hokage's theories on space-time ninjutsu as well. He simply had no interest in learning Minato Namikaze's signature techniques.
The Fourth Kazekage, Rasa, watched as Orochimaru revived and spoke with the young man who had just attacked him. He leapt forward several steps, closing the distance to within a hundred meters.
"Orochimaru! What exactly are you plotting?!"
Orochimaru let out a cold, eerie chuckle.
"My earlier objective was to stir up a storm in Konoha, to set a windmill that had long stopped turning back into motion. But now..."
He deliberately dragged out his words, his gaze shifting toward the other Kazekage standing slightly ahead of Rasa.
"Now, I'm far more interested in the secrets this one carries."
Gaara: "???"
He sensed something was off, but with Orochimaru in front of him, he could not afford to expose his back. He did not turn around.
Boom—!
Countless bone spikes burst through the golden sand defenses, erupting from the pyramid like bamboo shoots after rain, their sharp white shells proclaiming terrifying vitality.
Kimimaro had broken free from the golden sand prison created by Rasa. Desperate to protect Orochimaru, he had already pushed his cursed seal into its final form.
That seemingly overwhelming vitality, however, was nothing more than a brief flash.
The instant he confirmed that Orochimaru was unharmed, Kimimaro could no longer hold on and coughed up several mouthfuls of blood.
That sight stunned Gaara.
Kimimaro...
"You... you're still alive?!!"
He could no longer spare attention for Orochimaru. Gaara immediately turned around.
What he saw was normal human skin, ordinary sclera, no traces whatsoever of Edo Tensei.
"Father..."
The Fifth Kazekage murmured softly. His wide emerald-green eyes were filled with disbelief.
The one even more shaken, however, was the Fourth Kazekage himself, to the point of near confusion.
"I... Gaara?"
Was the person before him truly his youngest son, Gaara?
Had he not died by his own hand during a Tailed Beast rampage?
The thought stirred something subtle within Rasa's heart, a faint sense of relief he himself may not have even noticed, quietly taking root.
But a far more troubling question followed immediately after.
Why was Gaara wearing the Kazekage's hat?!!
Had Gaara seized the position for himself? But what reason could he possibly have to covet the Kazekage's seat?!!
Could it be that he intended to rule the village with tyranny, like the Fourth Mizukage once had?!!
It had to be said that Rasa did care for his son, but he was never able to truly trust Gaara. His thoughts instinctively drifted toward the bleakest possible conclusions.
Kimimaro had already steadied himself and stepped back in front of Orochimaru, ready to resume the fight.
Gaara looked at his still-living father, the Kimimaro who yet breathed, and Orochimaru, who lacked the hardened resolve born after the Fourth Shinobi World War.
He asked a question:
"What year is it now… in Konoha…?"
Orochimaru replied, "Konoha Year 60. Right now, the allied nations of Konoha are gathered here to take part in the Chūnin Exams."
Gaara: "!!!!"
Konoha Year 60! A Chūnin Exam attended by the allied nations!!
Then this means…
Twenty years ago?!!!
He didn't need to think hard to remember what had happened twenty years earlier.
His first time participating in the Chūnin Exams.
His first meeting with Naruto Uzumaki.
The first time he realized there was someone else living in the same hell of loneliness as him, yet choosing a different path, stubbornly reaching out to others, step by step, earning genuine trust through concrete actions.
And then, because of Orochimaru's scheme against Konoha…
His father, the Fourth Kazekage, died.
The Third Hokage, Orochimaru's former teacher, died.
Kimimaro, who was terminally ill, died.
Orochimaru used Edo Tensei for the first time, summoning the First Hokage and the Second Hokage from the Pure Land.
Too many things had happened during that Chūnin Exam.
Gaara was completely confused. He had clearly been on his way to participate in the Chūnin Exams hosted by Naruto Uzumaki, the Seventh Hokage.
So how had he ended up twenty years in the past?!
An illusion?!
No, it wasn't an illusion. He was a Kage. There was no way he wouldn't notice something like genjutsu.
Space-time ninjutsu?! Traveling through time and space?!!
He recalled the postwar debriefings after the Fourth Shinobi World War, based on the accounts of Kakashi Hatake, the Sixth Hokage, and Naruto Uzumaki, the greatest hero of that war.
They had mentioned that when everyone was trapped inside the God Tree by Infinite Tsukuyomi, during their battle with Kaguya Ōtsutsuki, the progenitor of chakra, she possessed unimaginable control over space-time and nature.
At the last Five Kage Summit, Naruto had also mentioned that Sasuke Uchiha had never stopped tracking the Ōtsutsuki clan and the traces of White Zetsu. Could it be that something had gone wrong in their original world, causing him to suddenly cross over into the past twenty years ago?!
Then after he arrived here, what had happened to his twelve-year-old self?
And Naruto! Had Naruto and the others also come to this world?
While the Fifth Kazekage, Gaara, was lost in thought, Orochimaru made a new decision in order to extract more information from him.
"I'll handle the Fourth Kazekage. Kimimaro, you deal with the newcomer."
"Yes, Orochimaru-sama."
The Fourth Kazekage, who had just been assigned to Orochimaru, still hadn't figured out what was going on. But he knew very well how dangerous Kimimaro was. Regardless of how Gaara had ended up here, he warned him,
"That man fights using bones. Especially in his Cursed Seal form, his strength increases drastically. He's extremely dangerous. Be careful!!"
There was no time for more. Those were the only words he could leave Gaara with.
Gaara nodded. Back when they were young, he had once fought Kimimaro. If not for Kimimaro's Kekkei Genkai disease pushing him to the brink of death, Gaara might not even have survived that encounter.
Even with superior combat experience and awareness, Kimimaro Kaguya still remained an opponent that Gaara had to be cautious of.
Meanwhile, Orochimaru's twisted sense of humor flared up.
Seeing the two Kages suddenly appear before him, he didn't hesitate to use Edo Tensei again, summoning the Third Kazekage from the Pure Land.
Upon seeing the Third Kazekage, the Fourth Kazekage, Rasa, glared with bulging eyes and cursed Orochimaru for his utter lack of humanity.
This wasn't the first time the Third Kazekage had been summoned by Orochimaru. Just like last time, he intended to simply dissipate and return to the Pure Land. However, he hadn't anticipated that Orochimaru's control over Edo Tensei had advanced to the point where he could control Kage-level individuals.
Yet, feeling the diminished power within his body, he realized it was less than a tenth of what he had when he was alive.
Upon seeing Rasa, the Third Kazekage paused for a moment before a faint smile appeared on his lips.
"So, you became the Fourth Kazekage," he said, seemingly without complaint. "You must have had a tough time with the village elders and the Daimyō of the Land of the Wind, right?"
Iron Sand and Gold Sand swirled through the air, dispersing and occasionally forming into shapes that collided with one another.
The two Kazekage fought while conversing.
Not far off, another battle was taking place amidst a sea of sand and stark white bones.
The Third Kazekage couldn't help but ask, "Who is that person over there? Someone who can manipulate sand... quite formidable."
Rasa blocked an attack. "If you're asking who he is, that's probably my youngest son, Gaara." Watching the vast sea of sand and the calm Gaara, Rasa found himself more worried about that battle than the one with the Third Kazekage.
If Shukaku were to go berserk, his current chakra reserves would be insufficient to both handle the Third Kazekage and forcefully restrain Shukaku's actions.
Just as his anxiety peaked, however...
The force that blocked Kimimaro Kaguya's devastating strike wasn't the Shukaku power he recognized!!
A woman he knew very well appeared behind Gaara!
She was a giant figure made of sand.
Though she didn't look particularly strong, she extended her arms faster than anyone or anything could react, enveloping Gaara in a tight embrace to shield him completely!
"Karura..."
Rasa's eyes widened in shock!!
He could never have imagined it!! At this critical moment, it wasn't Shukaku or the absolute defense of Sand Release that protected Gaara, but...
His wife, Gaara's mother.
—Karura.
…
Currently Available Public Information—
C-rank mission reward: Bring a person from another parallel world into Naruto's parallel world, or into any other parallel world.
S-rank mission reward: Extraordinary abilities, special ninja tools, ninjutsu, or permission to use forbidden techniques, and so on.