After Teizawa left, Ino took a shower.
By the time she stepped out of the shower room, she looked completely refreshed.
The hot water had washed away the sweat and some of the traces of exhaustion, but it could not wash away the blush on her face or the smile at the corners of her lips.
She checked herself in the mirror.
After making sure there was nothing obviously amiss, she finally took a deep breath and pushed the door open.
Her steps still hurt a little.
But as a ninja, what was this much pain?
She had gone through training far more painful than this countless times.
Still, this kind of soreness was different from the kind training brought.
Ino's face flushed again.
She shook her head, forcing those messy thoughts out of her mind, then quickened her pace toward the entrance of the sand bath house.
From a distance, she spotted a slender back.
Sakura was standing at the door.
Her back was to Ino, and she did not move at all.
Ino walked over and hesitated for a moment before speaking.
"S-sorry, Sakura!"
Ino forced out a smile, trying to make her voice sound natural.
"It was just too comfortable. I stayed in the sand bath house too long."
A clumsy excuse.
But at that moment, she could not think of a better one.
Sakura turned around.
"I-it's... fine."
Her voice was flat, and her expression looked a little dazed.
She seemed completely absent-minded.
Ino froze for a second.
Only now, still basking in her own sweetness a moment ago, did she notice that something was off about Sakura.
Compared to Ino, glowing and flushed with color,
Sakura's face was frighteningly pale.
Her eyes were a little red, and even her lips had gone faintly white.
She looked as though something important had been torn out of her.
"Sakura, what's wrong?"
Ino asked with concern.
Sakura snapped back to herself at once.
It was as if she had just been yanked out of some horrible memory.
She forced a smile onto her face, and that smile was so stiff it made Ino's heart ache.
"N-no... it's nothing... I just thought of Asuma-sensei..."
At the mention of Asuma, Ino's mood sank too.
That man who always had a cigarette in his mouth, lazy-looking and yet so dependable, was never coming back.
"Come on, let's head back."
Ino changed the subject, not wanting to stay immersed in grief any longer.
She hooked her arm through Sakura's.
Then they started walking back toward the inn.
After a few steps, something occurred to her.
"Oh, right..."
She lowered her voice, though she could not completely hide the excitement in it.
"I'm coming back tomorrow. The sand bath here feels amazing, and the massage was... really relaxing too."
As she said that, her eyes flickered slightly.
She absolutely could not tell Sakura that she was coming back to see him.
Sakura's steps faltered for a moment.
Coming back tomorrow?
That sentence flashed through her mind again.
"If you don't want Sasuke to find out, then be good and come back tomorrow night."
That voice, that tone, cold and expressionless, seemed to echo right beside her ear.
Her body trembled slightly.
"Sakura?"
Noticing something was wrong, Ino looked at her in confusion.
Sakura bit down hard on her lip.
So hard it looked like she might draw blood.
Then...
"Mm."
She answered softly.
So softly it was almost impossible to hear.
Ino did not think much of it. She simply kept walking with Sakura's arm linked through hers.
The two girls walked side by side beneath the moonlight.
One's steps were light, and her face carried a smile she could not hide.
The other's were heavy, her eyes empty, as though her soul had gone missing.
The night wind blew past, stirring a few fallen leaves.
Far off in the distance, the lights of the village still flickered.
And the man who had left one of them filled with joy and the other with dread
was standing by the window of the sand bath house.
Watching those two figures slowly disappear into the distance,
a meaningful smile rose at the corner of his lips.
"Interesting,"
Teizawa said softly.
Then he turned and vanished into the night.
...
Over the next few days, the village seemed to have been infused with vigorous new life.
In the daytime, hurried figures could be seen everywhere.
Craftsmen carried their tools toward the eastern district.
Clerical staff moved between departments with thick scrolls in their arms.
Team after team of ninja left the village to carry out assignments.
One thing worth mentioning was this:
The Sand Village had already abolished the old mission system.
Ninja no longer needed to go out and accept missions one by one.
Their stipends would be arranged uniformly by the village, and they would enjoy all kinds of village benefits.
But in exchange,
they had to complete whatever duties the village assigned them.
In other words, ninja had truly become tools that acted under orders.
At that very moment,
even the elderly who usually lounged lazily by the walls in the sun
were standing by the roadside with canes in hand.
Their half-closed eyes watched everything, flickering with complicated emotions.
The village had come alive.
Truly alive.
...
In the desert southeast of the Land of Wind, on the road leading toward the coast,
a convoy was making its way forward with difficulty.
Gaara walked at the very front, while the supply column stretched behind him in the middle of the formation.
Behind him were three hundred elite Suna ninja, along with twenty wagons loaded with supplies.
What those wagons carried
was the "seawater desalination technology" Teizawa had personally entrusted to him.
It was not just a few simple blueprints.
It was a complete, comprehensive plan.
From the construction principles behind the distillation equipment to the material selection for pipeline laying and corrosion protection,
every detail had been written out with total clarity.
It was as if Teizawa had seen it with his own eyes and built it with his own hands.
Gaara recalled Teizawa's words before departure.
"Once you reach the coast, pick the site and build the plant first."
"After the equipment is finished, then begin laying the pipelines on a large scale."
"Remember, this is the lifeline of the Sand Village."
"I'm leaving it to you."
Gaara tightened his grip on the scroll in his hand.
A lifeline.
He lifted his head and looked toward the east.
There, a blue expanse none of them had ever truly known was waiting for him.
Behind him, one Suna ninja quietly asked his companion,
"I heard that technology can turn seawater into drinking water. Is that really true?"
"The Kazekage gave it to us. How could it be fake?"
"Then from now on... we won't have to worry about water anymore?"
"It's not just that. Think about it - with water, we can farm, raise livestock..."
The man paused, his eyes bright enough to look frightening.
"We can live like actual people."
The convoy kept moving forward in silence.
But every person's steps seemed heavier than when they had set out.
...
In the eastern district of the village, construction work was in full swing.
The clanging of metal rang out one after another.
Inside the enormous workshop, dozens of puppet masters were hard at work.
Some crouched by worktables polishing parts.
Some stood beside half-finished puppets, adjusting mechanisms.
Others argued heatedly in the corners.
Deep inside the workshop, a massive metal puppet frame was taking shape.
Kankuro crouched by the skeleton, a complicated component in his hand as he tried to fit it into a joint.
His brows were locked tightly together, and fine beads of sweat had formed on his forehead.
"No, that angle's wrong."
Granny Chiyo stood beside him, her aged fingers tracing angles in the air.
"Three degrees to the left. Try again."
Kankuro adjusted the angle, and this time the pieces finally aligned.
Click.
A perfect fit.
Kankuro let out a long breath and grinned.
But Chiyo did not smile.
She turned and looked toward the other side of the workshop.
There, Sasori was standing before another puppet.
It was a puppet he had reforged with Sand Iron as its base material.
Teizawa had promised him that if he was willing to stay,
he would be allowed to continue pursuing his research.
Now, the first batch of Sand Iron had arrived.
He could finally begin trying.
Sasori reached out and slowly ran his hand across the surface of the puppet.
The black metal gleamed with a cold sheen, hard and frigid.
As if it would never rot away.
"So this is... eternity?"
he murmured to himself.
Chiyo looked at his back, and a complicated emotion passed through her clouded eyes.
Relief.
Heartache.
And something she could not quite put into words.
Maybe this child really had found a place to belong.
She withdrew her gaze and turned back to the work in front of her.
"The next joint - two degrees to the right."
(End of Chapter)
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