Everyone else.. "…"
Kakashi opened his mouth, intending to refuse, but then reconsidered.
Naruto and Konohamaru were still just kids. Teaching even one person successfully would already be difficult enough for them.
Kakashi, on the other hand, was Konoha's Copy Ninja.
With great ability came great responsibility.
He supposed teaching a few extra students would not hurt.
The group soon returned to Sunagakure.
Gaara pulled out the village's ninja registry and began screening candidates one by one.
After searching for quite some time, however, he set aside only a single shinobi's file.
Kakashi stared at it in confusion.
"Only one?"
Had Sunagakure's talent pool really withered this badly?
Sage Mode did not require someone to already possess overwhelming strength. Even Konohamaru, a genin fresh from the Ninja Academy, had managed to learn it.
Ultimately, what mattered was talent and comprehension.
Gaara had spent so long screening the registry, yet only one file had made the cut while the remaining stack was nearly exhausted.
Did that mean he had no confidence in anyone else?
Bang!
The Kazekage office door was violently kicked open.
"Gaara, you can't screen candidates like this!"
Temari stormed inside and immediately began lecturing him as his older sister.
"You might think you're protecting them, but you're actually denying them a path to grow stronger. We're shinobi first and women second!"
She had apparently guessed exactly what Gaara was doing.
"Huh? Gaara, did you remove all the female ninja?"
Naruto looked at him in surprise, then cautiously asked:
"Why? Gaara… are you discriminating against women?"
"Of course not! Naruto, what the hell are you saying? Gaara was only thinking about their wellbeing!"
Kankurō immediately jumped up to defend him.
"Kankurō, enough. This was indeed my mistake."
After reflecting and admitting fault, Gaara retrieved several files he had previously discarded.
They finally had enough candidates to form a proper group.
Honestly, there would not have been anything wrong with having only one.
Iwagakure had also begun with just three people: Ōnoki, Kitsuchi, and Akatsuchi.
In any case, it was now obvious that every file Gaara had rejected earlier belonged to a kunoichi.
Whether due to some historical peculiarity or sheer coincidence, most of Sunagakure's named shinobi—and by "named," that meant characters who had actually appeared in the original story—were women.
Generally speaking, any shinobi important enough for history to record their name possessed at least some ability.
With one exception.
Daimaru, Temari's admirer who was later revived through Edo Tensei, somehow managed to die during a genin-level assignment.
The man had given himself the impressive title Red Sandstorm, only to perish during a C-rank mission.
C-rank missions were officially described as assignments where injuries were merely "possible."
For example, escorting two wealthy women while they shopped and carrying their bags had once counted as a C-rank mission for Might Duy.
Daimaru was nothing more than a walking punchline.
Aside from him, Sunagakure possessed very few notable male shinobi.
The number became even smaller if one limited the list to those still alive during Gaara's era and loyal to the village.
First, Ebizō, Granny Chiyo's younger brother, was immediately eliminated.
The poor man was already ancient and could barely get himself upright. Gaara could not possibly summon him here and demand that he "masturbate" for Sage Mode training.
Among the remaining male shinobi with some talent was Yūra, a ninja from the Third Kazekage's era who was around Kakashi's age.
Unfortunately, Yūra was secretly Sasori's spy.
After Sunagakure formed an alliance with Amegakure, Yūra became something resembling a diplomatic liaison between the two villages.
He was not technically a missing-nin, but Gaara certainly no longer regarded him as one of his own people or trusted him with important duties.
The other candidate was Hōichi, a disciple of Bunpuku, the previous One-Tail jinchūriki.
That was the only file Gaara had initially selected.
Strictly speaking, however, if Gaara judged Hōichi by the same standard as Yūra, he should not have been selected either.
Hōichi also had problems.
Gaara's rise to Kazekage had faced opposition in both the original timeline and the present one.
That opposition only intensified after Gaara adopted Makoto's reform plan and brought the daimyo's political authority under Sunagakure's control.
Over time, the opposition gradually stopped daring to challenge him openly.
One hidden dissident, however, had contacted Hōichi and successfully convinced him that Gaara needed to be removed.
Hōichi's strength was mediocre, but his technique was unusual and particularly effective against jinchūriki.
He could launch chains resembling those of the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path and drag a Tailed Beast's power directly out of its host.
Nobody knew why Bunpuku—a jinchūriki himself—had invented such a technique and taught it to his disciple.
Had he been worried that future jinchūriki might live too comfortably?
In any case, Hōichi was technically a rebel.
He simply had not gotten around to rebelling yet.
Gaara therefore planned to reform him through shared Sage Mode training, hoping Hōichi would abandon his prejudice and accept Gaara as Kazekage.
The female shinobi Gaara restored to the list were—
Yome, an all-rounder three years older than Temari despite looking like a tiny twelve-year-old girl barely four feet tall.
Although she was nearly as short as Ōnoki, her taijutsu was exceptionally agile.
She was also skilled in medical ninjutsu, including the Mystical Palm Technique, and qualified as a sensory ninja.
True to her name, her eyesight was extraordinary. By narrowing her eyes, she could clearly see objects several kilometers away.
Yome had even developed a technique around that ability.
As long as water droplets or mist existed within several kilometers of her, she could use them as visual relay points and greatly expand her surveillance range.
Among ordinary shinobi, it was an extremely powerful long-distance sensory technique.
Next was Saya, a twin-tailed puppeteer who used a horrifying doll.
Her puppet-control skills might have been slightly inferior to Kankurō's, but she possessed one major advantage:
She could build her own puppets.
Unlike Kankurō, whose entire career strategy was basically loot, fight, and extract.
Saya also possessed an ability similar to the Mind Body Switch Technique.
The final candidate was another medical ninja named Ameno.
She was Sunagakure's only Water Release user and belonged to the same generation as the others.
All three possessed excellent talent.
As for Maki, Yukata, and Matsuri—the trio currently training under Pakura—Gaara did not include them.
First, none of them had displayed exceptional talent yet.
Second, if they wished to participate, they could join a later training group or come once Pakura gave her approval.
With that, Gaara finished assigning everyone.
Kakashi, however, felt a headache coming on.
He should never have opened his mouth earlier.
What was wrong with only one candidate?
Why had he insisted on asking?
Now what was he supposed to do?
Teach three female ninja personally?
At that point, Kakashi truly would become the infamous pervert everyone accused him of being.
"I've got it."
"I think these three kunoichi should be taught by Ms. Tokiwa. She's already mastered Sage Mode herself…"
Kakashi glanced around.
"Speaking of which, where is she?"
"Enough, enough. She's resting at the place I arranged for her."
Temari took the three kunoichi's files from him.
"I'll handle these three. You can teach the remaining candidate, Kakashi."
She handed Hōichi's file to him.
"Thank you."
Kakashi accepted it and sighed in relief.
"Tch."
Seeing his reaction, Temari curled her lip.
Kakashi probably genuinely believed a male student would be easier to deal with.
"What are you looking at?"
Temari suddenly noticed Naruto craning his neck to peek at the files in her hands and immediately frowned.