Chapter 74: Voluntarily Becoming Prisoners
"This kind of sinful thing should not exist in this world."
Temari took a deep breath, her expression blank as she tore all the manuscript pages in her hands into pieces.
Shiromo didn't care.
Although he could restore them with Crazy Diamond, after thinking about it, he decided to forget it.
Next time, he'd just publish a new story.
Hmm…
Maybe he'd write one about a father abusing his son, the son wanting to kill his father, and then the son's demon core getting crushed by someone.
"That's the terrible personality of the Sunagakure Village's eldest young lady, huh? Aren't you forgetting something?"
"Forgetting what?"
Temari followed the direction Shiromo indicated. The commotion at the center of Konoha had grown smaller and smaller.
What did that mean?
The battle was about to end.
And it definitely wasn't going to end in Sunagakure's victory.
Temari finally realized, earlier, the guy riding the bird and throwing bombs around was someone Shiromo had sent to support Konoha.
And there was more. She remembered her father, Rasa, once mentioning that Amegakure had allied with Kirigakure and Iwagakure.
That meant the Suna ninja fighting in Konoha were facing multiple factions at once.
There was no way they could win.
Temari's face instantly turned pale.
They had lost. They were going to become prisoners of war.
And this was a war they had initiated themselves…
Gaara was really going to be "rewarded to the troops."
Temari subconsciously looked toward Gaara on the ground, only to see Naruto, having recovered a bit of strength, trying to stand up.
But the way it looked, he was just wriggling around on top of Gaara.
"Gaara!!! No! Let go of Gaara!"
Kankurō, who arrived late, rushed over from the distance. Seeing this scene, he let out a tragic cry, shoved Naruto aside, and hugged Gaara tightly.
"You should know that Konoha people value food the most. They usually make sure to eat every single grain of rice in their bowl…"
Shiromo said this without any particular expression or gesture. Normally, there wouldn't be anything wrong with it.
But Temari was exactly the kind of person who overthought everything.
Someone inviting her to check room reservations at a hot spring inn could already make her imagine they were about to do it.
Hearing Shiromo's words, her body stiffened instantly. "N-Not to that extent… right?"
"Yeah, yeah! I even lick every last drop of soup from my ramen!"
Naruto climbed up from the ground, scratching his head and grinning.
Screw your ramen!
Temari was in no mood to deal with Uzumaki Naruto right now. Her brain was spinning at full speed, thinking about what to do next.
"I've got it!"
Temari suddenly figured it out.
Why had he helped Konoha? Why had he come here and told them all this?
This might have been his objective all along.
Temari pulled out a roll of bandages from behind her, wrapped them around her mouth, then twisted against a tree, binding her own hands to her body.
"Nani?! What is Temari doing?! We're all still here! What are you doing? Th-This… could this be the legendary Turtle Binding Armor?!"
Kankurō stumbled back two steps in shock.
"Mmm, mm?!"
Temari wanted to explain why she was doing this, but realized she had already sealed her mouth beforehand. Her eyes widened in panic.
Crap, crap!
She'd been too nervous and acted first, forgetting to explain!
Now forget Kankurō, even her target, Shiromo, probably had no idea what she was doing!
"This foolish beauty is saying she wants to become a prisoner of Amegakure, to avoid falling into Konoha's clutches, right?"
Shiromo smiled lightly.
"Mmm! Mmm!"
Temari nodded vigorously.
"So that's it. I understand now."
Kankurō suddenly realized.
To protect Gaara, and everyone's physical health, they absolutely couldn't fall into Konoha's hands.
After that, Kankurō also took out bandages. He symbolically tied up Gaara on the ground, then bound himself as well.
Once everything was done, Shiromo walked in front. Temari and Kankurō followed behind, both with their hands bound and mouths sealed.
Gaara lay on Kankurō's puppet, being dragged along.
Temari felt completely lost.
What was Sunagakure going to become now?
They had chosen to cooperate with Orochimaru and attack Konoha because they were poor and lacked funding, and now they had lost.
Once war reparations came into play and the daimyō cut their funding again…
How were they supposed to survive?
"Oh right, I forgot to tell you, your father is already dead."
Shiromo stopped walking.
"Mm."
Temari didn't show any strong reaction, only lowered her gaze slightly.
Kankurō and the unconscious Gaara were about the same.
As Shiromo said, Rasa had utterly failed as a person, both publicly and privately.
The only consolation was that his betrayal of the village's hero was still not publicly known. At least in that regard, his reputation hadn't completely collapsed.
But within the family, his children knew exactly what kind of person he was.
"I don't mean he died in battle. He was killed by Orochimaru a long time ago."
"So if Konoha wants to demand reparations from you, you can firmly insist that Orochimaru impersonated the Fourth Kazekage from beginning to end and deceived you."
"You can even turn it around and suspect that Orochimaru's defection from Konoha was just a cover, bait to lure you in and wipe you out in one go…"
"Of course, the goal isn't really to extract reparations from Konoha. It's to complicate the situation so you can avoid a lot of trouble."
"As for Orochimaru, he's about to become a high-ranking member of our Amegakure organization."
"When that time comes, you'll be prisoners. Just give a little something as a token, and we can release you."
Shiromo spoke calmly.
After all, in the original story, the three of them never seriously thought about avenging their "father-killing enemy," Orochimaru.
A Gaara who hadn't been Talk-no-Jutsu'd would probably be happier seeing Rasa dead than Nezha seeing Li Jing die. (From chinese movie Ne Zha)
A Gaara who had been Talk-no-Jutsu'd could understand Rasa, and naturally let go of the hatred as well.
"Mmm?"
Temari looked at Shiromo in confusion.
"You want to ask why I'm helping you?"
"It's simple. Rasa is dead. The next Kazekage will be among you."
"If, in the future, you want to properly develop Sunagakure, then come find us. At that time, we'll be allies."
"Mmm! Mmm?"
"…Stop with the mmm-ing already. Do you think I can read minds?"
Shiromo sighed and ripped the bandage off Temari's mouth.
"I'm asking, when you say 'give a little something as a token,' what exactly do you want?"
Temari stared seriously into Shiromo's eyes.
"…Granny Chiyo's swimsuit photos."
"Oh."
"..."
"What?! Who?!"
Temari's eyes flew wide open.
"Don't misunderstand. I'm asking on behalf of a friend in the organization."
Shiromo waved his hand calmly.
To prevent Sasori from completely abandoning all emotions in puppet form, he needed something to stimulate him.
"…That 'friend' you're talking about, aren't you actually talking about yourself?"
Temari narrowed her eyes.
"…Are you sick? Fine, then add one of yours."
Shiromo rolled his eyes.
He wasn't some soldier boy.
What kind of nonsense was that about women being like wine, the older, the richer?
(End of this chapter)