chapter 92

"Haaa," I sighed as I looked at myself in the mirror.

"Everything is as usual," I tied my blond hair into four ponytails and wrapped my war fan around my waist, supporting it with one hand.

I walked out from the house, which was some distance away from the Kazekage's office. This is where we all lived in the past, me and my two brothers. One of them is always immersed in puppets, and the other is Kazekage, so the only person who lived inside the house is me.

Looking around, I couldn't help but sigh again. The land was barren, and the desert stretched as far as the eye could see. There was no greenery around us, and the food we received from the capital of the Wind Country was exchanged for our Shinobi services.

There was also the water problem; we had to use it carefully, not spilling even a drop. If we had just enough water sources, we could grow at a faster rate than any of the other hidden villages.

Thinking of all this, I entered my personal training ground. It was nothing special, with some stone boulders scattered around and one or two rare trees.

It was my daily training routine, practicing all day here until I became exhausted or Gaara had some missions for me.

I put my hands on the ground to feel the earth, but there was nothing I could sense.

"It's the same as usual."

I daily tried to awaken Magnet Release. I could feel that I had it, but I needed some kind of push.

My brother had 'Sand Release,' and my father had 'Gold Dust,' so why couldn't I have it? After all, I am the firstborn.

The reason is that Gaara's kekkei genkai was awakened due to him being the jinchuriki of the One-Tailed Beast, and now that he is not the jinchuriki, he still has the Sand Release.

"What am I missing?"

"Maybe I need to practice Earth Style. After all, Magnet Release is supposed to be a mixture of the Wind and Earth elements."

"Forget about it. I don't have an affinity for Earth, and trying to learn it would cost me years."

"Haa... why am I so weak?" I slammed my huge iron fan into the ground, shattering it on impact.

"Every village has someone powerful with kekkei genkai or other abilities. Konoha has Sasuke with Sharingan, Naruto with his Ice Release, and his Earth Style is unparalleled. He's also the jinchuriki of the strongest bijuu. There are Byakugan users and a rough ninja with Storm Release.

I don't want to admit it, but the Hokage is the best medic ninja in the world. As for the other villages, Kiri has the Seven Swordsmen and Mizukage with two kekkei genkai. They excel in assassination. Kumo's Raikage has immense strength and speed. They have the jinchuriki of the Eight-Tails and a member with Black Lightning. And as for Iwa, the Tsuchikage has Dust Release, and his granddaughter has Lava Release."

"Our village is the weakest of the Five Hidden Villages. Even after Konoha was destroyed some months ago, it's now on top again due to just one person. And here I am, playing with my fan. I'm not even a Kage-level shinobi yet.

The only thing I'm best at is Wind Style. Maybe I'm the best Wind Style user in the entire village, but then again, I haven't heard of anyone else having the Wind Element outside of Suna."

"Why can't our village have geniuses like Konoha?"

I couldn't help but wonder what they feed their children. But then again, we are in the middle of the desert, and they are in the middle of the forest. The differences in resources.

And how do I know all this? Because we have planted spies in every village, and we know about their basic moves. I know in our village there are many spies; they are all like cockroaches. Every time you kill one, another one will appear.

"Well, enough of my ranting, I should train."

I started swinging my fan, creating wind blades that cut through my stone boulders and the ground. I kept practicing my war fan and Wind Element techniques until I became exhausted.

I was elated as I took out a water bottle and started drinking from it. I couldn't waste a single drop of it. First, we had too little water, and second, it cost much more than anything.

After drinking the water, I let go of the bottle and sat on a stone, pondering how to efficiently use my Wind Style and Taijutsu. While I contemplated, I felt a presence outside of the training ground.

"Come in," I commanded, my cold and stoic face returning.

"Lady Temari, Kazekage wants to see you," the ANBU ninja said respectfully to me.

I waved my hand, and the ANBU ninja disappeared from there.

'I guess it's about the war. Who was the person who started the war? I swear, if I encounter him, I will kill him,' I couldn't help but curse the person.

We are already on our toes, and I know we are allies with Konoha and the other three hidden villages to attack Konoha.

Our village is in a dire situation. If Konoha gets destroyed, they will attack us next. And if our village participates in the war, many of our ninja will die.

I walked out of the training grounds as I looked at the villagers who had nothing to do with the war and would suffer the consequences.

Soon, I knocked on the door of the Kazekage's office.

"Come in," I heard my brother's voice and entered the office.

Looking at my brother, I felt he was under pressure, the pressure of war and what is going to happen to the village.

"Gaara," I greeted him.

He looked at me for a moment and indicated for me to sit in the chair.

"So, how's your training going on?"

"It's fine," I replied to him.

"Why did you call me? Do I have to go on some mission?"

He shook his head. "You remember the message we got from the Hokage?"

I nodded to him. "So you have decided to assist Konoha?"

"Yes, we have to assist them or we will be the next target," he said.

"Why don't we become allies with the other three hidden villages?" I curiously asked him, although I knew the answer.

"Because they are our allies, and Naruto is my friend. I can't betray him. Remember, we attacked them in the Chunin Exams, and they let us go. They could have at least captured or killed us."

I nodded to him. He was right; we really didn't have any choice but to assist Konoha. But we had to prioritize our village first, or this war would be meaningless even if we win in the end.

"Friend... Why do you consider him a friend? He didn't come on your rescue mission," I was curious to hear his answer, although I knew why.

"I don't know how to answer your question, but he understood me at that time and extended his hand to pull me out of my darkness. Not coming on my rescue mission, he was on another mission when that happened, but he sends me his regards from time to time."

"Oh... I didn't know that."

"You should make some friends yourself, or do you want to be single all your life?"

"What are you talking about?" I simply replied to him. After the Chunin Exams, he became more open to us, and now that he mentioned friends, I really didn't have any friends.

"So why did you call me?"

"I told you that someone will come from Konoha to discuss things. That person is coming," he said with a slight smile.

"And it's him," I could tell just by his expressions.

He nodded to me.

I pondered for a while before speaking, "you have to ask him something in return."

"We are already in their debt," he calmly said.

"No… I am not asking from Konoha, I am asking about your friend,'' I know it sounds ridiculous but for the sake of the village, and from what I know, he will not refuse him.

"I can't do that, he is my friend and doing it, I will always be in his debt," he replied.

"You know he is powerful and can solve our problem in some minutes," I reasoned with him.

"And don't friends help each other?"

I looked at my brother; he was in deep thought. I knew I was persuading my brother, and we had very few ninjas who could use water style with their pitiful chakra reserves, but they were the ninjas who provided water to the village when necessary. From what our spies had told us, Naruto had massive chakra reserves and was proficient in water and earth style. If Gaara could convince him, we could have at least one year's worth of water reserves.

"What if he asks for something in return that we are not capable of giving back? What then?" he asked me.

"We will deal with that later. Now, when he comes, do what I say," I started to tell him what to do.

After chatting for a while, I stood up beside Gaara with my expressionless face. After all, ninjas had to hide their emotions on duty.

Waiting for a while, I started to feel cold. 'What the fuck, why am I feeling cold in the middle of the desert?'

Then I heard a knock on the door. The guards opened the gate after Gaara gave them permission, and with every passing moment, the temperature dropped a few degrees.

The door opened as he entered the room. The first thing I noticed was that he had a cocky grin on his face, and he wasn't even hiding it. Then I looked around him. He was around 177 cm with messy, spiky, slightly long red hair, wearing a white t-shirt and black pants.

'Handsome' was the first word that came to my mind. Since the last time I saw him, he had changed completely, but he was the most handsome man I had ever seen.

I don't know if he was making the surroundings cold subconsciously or consciously, but one thing was sure: he was powerful, and he didn't even hide it.

'Bastard, he's showing off,' I thought.

"It's been a while, Gaara," he said in a cheerful manner as he extended his hand.

Gaara stood up from his chair and shook his hand. I could see that my brother was genuinely happy.

"How have you been?" Gaara asked.

"Haha, I am kicking as always. What about you, Kazekage Sama?" He said.

"Don't call me like that, and I am also fine," Gaara said while sitting on his chair and indicating for him to sit as well.

"That's good to hear," he said and briefly looked at me, waving his hand with a smile and saying, "So you're Gaara's sister. It's nice to meet you."

I could have ignored him if he were anyone else, but he was an important figure in Konoha and a friend of Gaara. "It's Temari, and nice to meet you as well," I said while maintaining my cold face.

"Hmm, you're not as good at acting as you think," he said to me with a smile.

"What do you mean?" I asked him. How could he say that to someone's face? Didn't he care that the person might hate him?

"It's nothing…" he waved dismissively. 'He ignored me just like that.' He started to irritate me. It was the first time someone ignored me, but why? Why couldn't I reply to him?

"So how do you feel after becoming Kazekage? Now that you are Kazekage, girls will be sticking to you, heheh…" he said while putting his hands on the table and cupping his chin with his hands.

I could see my brother starting to become embarrassed at his question. This meeting was supposed to be about the upcoming war, and he was talking about girls and that stuff.

"Or do you scare them with your scary face, tch tch, poor girls…" he said in a pitiful tone.

"Naruto… this is not the time for this,'' I could feel Gaara's embarrassment. He is not really a talkative person, and he looks so innocent in front of this devil. I guess Gaara has never talked to any girls besides me.

"Fine, fine, whatever you say. So when are you departing with your ninjas?" he asked him.

"We will leave when you say but…"

"But what? Don't hesitate to ask your friend…" he said.

"But you have to help our village," Gaara said.

"Of course, we will divide the loot and slaves in half after winning the battle," he said.

"Slaves…" I exclaimed while looking at him.

"Do you think we will kill all of them? Nah… we want some free workers, and they will be the best. Don't you want some free people working for you?" he said, and I could see his eyes flash with excitement.

'He is dangerous…' I could only nod to him. I hadn't been to war, and this is a new experience for me. I don't know what would happen to those who serve in battle, and now I know they will be used as slaves.

"I want your help, not Konoha," Gaara said.

"Oh… tell me, if you're asking me to personally help you, this could be called a betrayal, that a Konoha ninja is helping Suna, but whatever, tell me what do you want…" he said to Gaara.

'Fuck… I haven't considered that, but from his expression, he doesn't seem to care. That may be a good thing or a bad thing in the long run.'

"Ohh… I haven't considered that," Gaara said.

"Fine, tell me what you want. This thing can be a secret between us, you know, dark secrets between friends. Oh… god, I love secrets… now tell me, do you have a crush on some girl that you want me to kidnap her…'' he said excitedly.

"No, it's not like that," Gaara said with embarrassment.

"Hhh… here I thought it's something exciting. So what help do you need?" he said in a pitiful voice, as if someone had crushed his hopes.

"We want water…" Gaara said.

"How much?"

"Equivalent to your chakra…" he said.

"Hehe… do you want to flood this whole village…" he chuckled.

"Do you have that much space?" he asked seriously this time.

"You are good at earth style, aren't you?" Gaara said.

There was silence for a while before he spoke with a smile, "Fine, I will do that. You won't have the water problem for almost 50 years. But what can you give me in return…"

He looked at Gaara and then at me, and swear to God I felt chills down my spine.

"What do you want…" Gaara asked.

"It's nothing serious. When the time comes, I will ask you, and your water problem will be solved after the war. Is that okay?" he said, to which Gaara nodded.

And I could reason with that. After all, he is doing this behind his village's back, and if he didn't ask for something in return, I would have found it more suspicious. I know no human is a saint.

"You can gather your ninjas and head towards the Konoha borders. In three days, you will meet the Konoha army," he said.

Gaara nodded to him.

"So that's it… I should be going…. After all, I have to save someone's ass," he mumbled the last part to himself, but everyone heard it.

"Did you say something?" Gaara asked.

"No, it's nothing…" he said while standing up, and with a nod, he walked out of the room.

"Haah," I released a heavy breath, and the temperature in the room started to rise again.

"Temari," Gaara began.

I looked at Gaara.

"Did I make a good decision?" he asked me.

"I don't know, time will tell us. I hope it's for the good," I replied.

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An~ end of the chapter, how do you like the chapter? Why Temari felt chills to his gaze, and what about slaves… 

What was Naruto talking about saving someone, who is it, is it Sasuke or someone else. 

And guess who will introduced  it in the next chapter. 

1. Karin Uzumaki 

2. Orochimaru will be back in the game. 

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