Chap.65 Chestnut Dunes

Tony stopped his foot in mid-raise and turned around to look at the person who called out to him curiously. Almost everyone he knew was in Konoha, so the fact that someone knew his name outside of the village was interesting.

"Temari?" How long! It was hard to forget Gaara's sister's spiky blonde hair. "What brings you here?" Tony asked.

—I should be the one to ask you that question, this is my village!

—What if I tell you that I came for tourism?

"I wouldn't believe you.

"Good, because it wouldn't be the truth either," Tony agreed as he turned and started to walk away. "Nice to see you again, see you."

—Yeah… —Temari felt that something was out of place— Hey, come back here!

-What do you want? Tony sighed tiredly.

"Answer my question seriously!" —Temari complained as he stomped several times on the ground in protest.

"Okay, okay," Tony raised his hands in surrender, "You don't know how to take a joke."

Temari narrowed her eyes at him, the threat implicit in his gaze.

"I just came to deliver something to your village on behalf of the Hokage, maybe try some local specialties and open a business, nothing more" Tony opened up to placate the annoying kunoichi a bit.

"So you're a messenger?" Temari raised one of his eyebrows.

"I think so," Tony agreed as he looked at her, "Actually, now that I think about it, it's great that we ran into each other." Given what happened to the previous Kazekage (by the way, my condolences) I have no idea who is in charge of the village. Could you enlighten me?

The Kazekage who died, Rasa, was the father of Gaara, Kankuro, and Temari, so his death should have made them sad. IT SHOULD, but since he was a terrible father who used and treated his youngest son as a weapon of war, there really wasn't much drama with his sons' deaths. And since not enough time has passed for Gaara to win the approval of the village and be named the new Kazekage, Tony is somewhat at a loss. If only Pakura were still alive...

—Chiyo-sama and Ebizo-sama are the ones running these things at the moment —Temari told him as he gestured for her to follow her— I just hope for your sake that whatever you bring is good news. The village superiors are not happy lately.

Tony rolled his eyes at the statement, though he appreciated the advice. The sand village failed to attack Konoha so after the incident they had to give generous compensation to bury the matter. Since their financial situation is already not good and they lost a Kazekage, to say they were in the red would be an understatement.

"As they say, don't blame the messenger for the message he delivers," Tony replied as he followed her and looked around, "By the way, does your village have any famous local dishes?"

-Hey? —Temari paused for a moment, thinking that Tony was being sarcastic due to the lack of food in his village, but then she remembered his fondness for food and understood that the question was genuine and without malice—In fact, we have Some. The fish from the sands are quite delicious if you can find them and we have a sweet made with dates and other products from the region.

"How about after I deliver my message, we go eat something?" Tony suggested. He didn't feel like wandering the streets in the heat, he preferred someone who knew where to try that food to take him with him.

This time, Temari turned around in surprise.

"Are you asking me on a date?" Her." She looked at him with wide eyes.

-What? —Tony didn't immediately understand how he changed the subject so quickly, it took her a few seconds to see that she had misunderstood—I don't know the streets of the village and I thought you could guide me. Even though you're pretty, we're still too young for such things, don't you think? —Seeing that Temari nodded somewhat uncertainly, believing that her words made sense, Tony sighed in relief.

Even Shikamaru was afraid of her when he married her, he had no interest in establishing a romantic relationship with someone so scary. He didn't care that his future wife had some character, but this was on another level.

"And what did I gain by taking you there?" —Now Temari was a little upset with herself for misunderstanding Tony, but for some unknown reason, she blamed it on the boy.

Why did it have to be so ambiguous?

Tony knew that he would have to give in or else he would only be in more trouble.

"How do you like this?" You take me to eat the specialties of your village and I will give you a big surprise in return.

-A surprise?

"I bet you'll love it," Tony swore.

Temari looked at him for a few seconds in silence.

"Okay," she agreed, "But! If I don't like your "surprise", I'll give you another one and it won't be pleasant at all. Understood?

"Sure," Tony shrugged without concern.

His idea was infallible.

After Temari took Tony to the Kazekage's office and delivered Tsunade's scroll to the sibling pair, she left before Chiyo could consider using her poisons on him.

-How are your siblings? he asked as they ate desert fish.

It turns out that the desert fish was actually a type of tuber that grows under the sand. Since its skin looks like fish scales, people gave it that name. The preparation method for it was to cut it into slices, cook them on hot stone plates and add some sauce.

—Kankuro has been studying his puppets, at this point it's like his habit —Temari said, not caring too much about having an informal chat— He's always preferred to be with those pieces of wood than with real people.

"And Gaara?"

"He... has changed," Temari sighed. "The encounter with Naruto has influenced him more than he expected, but it has been for the best. He no longer demands blood around and is opening up to people. I only hope that the people of the village can accept the change from him.

"Sure they will." Tony knew the story, he knew they would.

—Thank you —Temari felt better at the confidence imprisoned in Tony's answer— And my surprise?

"Next, I still have to try that candy you said!"

When they both finished eating, Temari looked at Tony somewhat shocked.

"How the hell did you manage to eat twenty plates of dessert?"

—I was adopted by the Akimichi clan, draw your conclusions —Tony replied with a smile— But let's not talk about how incredible I am, how about we go for that surprise of yours?

"Do you need us to go somewhere?" Temari asked puzzled.

"I just need a large sand dune, any of the ones outside your village will do." By the way, do you have any storage scrolls with you?

Temari shook her head.

"Let's go get some, you'll need them," Tony assured.

The food tasted better than expected and I was happy. After giving Temari the surprise, she would look for somewhere to stay for the night. The next day, she would think about what to do to open her business in the village.

…Some minutes later…

Temari, Gaara, Kankuro, and Tony were outside the village. It turns out that while Tony was accompanying Temari to look for the storage scrolls, they ran into Kankuro and after finding out that they were going to leave the village for who knows who, he decided to follow them so that nothing would happen to his sister. As for Gaara, Tony didn't even realize he joined the group and he considered himself a sensor-nin!

-And good? Temari was looking at him as if she mistrusted him and was going to run away.

"He Prepares the Storage Scrolls," Tony commented before stomping his foot on the base of the sand dune.

The massive dune began to darken in color and swell, before all the sand disappeared and was replaced by firm, round chestnuts.

The trio of brothers suddenly believed that they were in a genjutsu.

The scent seemed so real!

But it was impossible for several tons of chestnuts to appear out of thin air, so they made the release seal and looked again.

No, the chestnuts were still there.

"If you keep standing like this, the chestnuts will roast from the heat of the sun and the sand," Tony commented amused.

"Wait, are they real?" Temari asked unconsciously. Chestnuts were one of his favorite foods, while he couldn't stand things like octopus or squid. Unfortunately, chestnuts were too rare and stationary a commodity for the village and he could only eat them when he went out on missions in the surrounding territories during the right season.

"One hundred percent authentic and yours," Tony commented generously. The energy expended for transforming the dune into chestnuts was covered by the food he had with Temari, so if it wasn't enough, he didn't mind transforming a dozen more dunes.

As for why they were chestnuts, he simply remembered that according to the author, it was something that Temari liked.

"Is that how you turned my sand into sugar?" Gaara spoke suddenly.