Chapter 40

"Alright, Temari, the jokes stop here..."

At that moment, a man with the kanji for "love" etched on his forehead stepped out from inside.

"Gaara, hello~"

It was Gaara, one of Xing Liu's targets in his visit to Sunagakure, who had come over to stop Xing Liu and Temari from chatting.

Xing Liu wasn't unfamiliar with this man standing before him; in fact, they were rather acquainted.

Whether it was during the Chūnin Exam proctoring or months ago when he accompanied Minato to a high-level meeting in the village, Xing Liu had exchanged words with Gaara countless times.

When Gaara saw Xing Liu greet him, he nodded and then turned to Temari, who was looking at him speechlessly. "Didn't I tell you that we were expecting guests these days?"

"Why does it feel like you haven't prepared at all?"

"Uh... Is there a saying that I've already prepared everything, but you just can't see it?" Temari responded, gesturing to their already-arranged accommodations.

"..."

After a brief silence, Gaara forcefully changed the topic. Initially, he had hoped to demonstrate his authority as the Kazekage in front of outsiders...

But now, he just wanted to dig a hole and hide his embarrassment...

"Alright, you two siblings stop messing around in front of me. I've known you both for so long. If I still can't see through your terrible acting, then I'd be wasting all those years as a slacker."

Temari and Gaara exchanged a look and, rather than pretending any longer, invited Xing Liu to join them in defeating the Akatsuki organization.

"Xing Liu-sensei, I know you must have noticed that Akatsuki is planning to raid Sunagakure in the coming days, which is why you've come all this way to assist us."

"Therefore, as the Fifth Kazekage of Sunagakure, I formally invite our ally from Konohagakure to help us repel the Akatsuki organization."

"Huh? Didn't my older brother already send you a formal invitation?" Xing Liu had thought that Minato had called him over after receiving Gaara's formal invitation.

But to his surprise, Minato had already sent for him before any official invitation from other villages had arrived...

If this had happened during the Second or Third Great Ninja Wars, he would definitely have been mistaken for a spy and captured by the guards...

"We did send an invitation to the Fourth Hokage, but they've never been able to find a suitable candidate to send," Gaara explained awkwardly to Xing Liu.

"After all, when dealing with Akatsuki, a top-tier rogue ninja organization, numbers alone aren't enough. If the person coming isn't suitable, they'll just be sent to their deaths..."

"Alright, I'll take it as that. But do you know when exactly those Akatsuki members will arrive?"

"After all, I've left my newlywed wife from yesterday just to help, so the sooner this is handled, the better."

Seeing that Xing Liu wasn't joking, Gaara and Temari quickly handed over the intelligence they had received for Xing Liu to review.

Otherwise, if other villages found out that the reinforcements they had waited so long for were only coming because Gaara feared his wife would be lonely, they wouldn't know whether to laugh or cry.

"Xing Liu-sensei, this intelligence was brought back by our ninja scouts from the border before you arrived."

"According to the information they provided, Akatsuki has sent two members: Deidara, codename 'Seiryu' [Blue Dragon], and Sasori, codename 'Tama-Nyoi' [Jade Woman]." Gaara handed the confidential file over to Xing Liu.

"Ah, so it's the 'artist' duo?" Xing Liu looked at the familiar names in the confidential file and handed it back to Gaara.

"I remember that Sasori came from your village, right?"

"How does it feel, being betrayed by a former village companion who brought an enemy back to catch you?" Xing Liu teased Gaara, laughing to himself.

"The feeling isn't quite as pleasant as you put it. In fact, I think it's terrible..."

"If those people had been a little warmer back then, my village might have had an S-ranked ninja."

"With an extra S-ranked ninja in the village, I wouldn't need this salted fish here to help..."

Hearing Gaara's gloomy tone, Xing Liu found his frustration from being sent by Minato dissipating completely.

"Heh... I guess the quickest way to get rid of my bad mood is to listen to someone else's misfortune~"

...

So, aside from making time every day to have a meal with Saki-chan, Xing Liu spent the rest of his time helping Gaara and Sunagakure prepare their defenses.

One night, however, something unexpected happened. A large bird made of clay appeared flying over Sunagakure, carrying a young man with a yellow ponytail and a small, sturdy puppet in the shape of a scorpion.

"So this is the village where the One-Tail resides? Why is everything surrounded by sand? My skin has been so dry for the past few days," the young man with the ponytail grumbled.

"Is the area around Sunagakure supposed to be sand or gold?" A rough voice came from inside the scorpion puppet. "And didn't you spend the last few days on that bird? How could the sand possibly blow onto you?"

"Right, right, a person inside a puppet has the nerve to complain about me... Next time, how about you step out of that big and heavy puppet before talking?" The young man looked down at the village, which was illuminated with a warm light from the buildings.

"This doesn't seem as devoid of humanity as you said. Those lights from the buildings look quite cozy..."

"Maybe it's just that my heart is too cold?"

As soon as the puppet finished speaking, it jumped down from the large bird in mid-air.

---

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