A/N
This novel is over in patréon, and the new story has begun. It's a Multiverse novel starting from DragonBall, Main character is Tien Shinhan, an alien from the race of Triclops.
That novel's gonna fully utilize the powerful abilities of Triclops, so look forward to that.
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Sato and Anko were running towards hidden sand village. They had been careful along the way; after all, this situation could be a trap.Sato was trying to connect the dots that Akatsuki has started hunting tailed beasts, and Sato, being a tailed beast, is asked to do a mission at the same time. There is a huge chance that this situation was indeed a trap.
But no matter how carefully he searched, he didn't find anything wrong. Instead, he smoothly reached his destination.
"I see it. That's the hidden sand village."
Anko notified Sato. Like Sato, she was also looking for a trap, but everything was normal along the way.
Anko now believed Sato was being overly cautious, and there was no trap in the first place. It was better if they observed Sand Village instead.
As for Sato, he knew what Anko was thinking, but he didn't say anything. He still kept his guard up while observing the sand village with her.
"Raikage sama. The buildings in this village look broken. Why is this place so barren?"
Anko's first impression of hidden sand was pretty bad. This village looked like it had been hit by a storm.
Buildings were broken, the people were dusty, and ninjas were running everywhere.
"This is werid. I know that the Sand village is poor, but it looks like a warzone in here."
"Someone probably attacked them on a large scale."
Sato commented grimly. He felt he had a pretty good idea of what had happened here.
This must be the work of Akatsuki. Only they have the courage to attack a hidden village like this.
"Please stop."
Suddenly, a rough voice spoke nervously.
This was the voice of hidden sand's gate guard. Sato and Anko were close to the village's entrance; the guard had seen them and asked them to stop.
"Let them in."
But after the guard stopped them, a female voice interrupted him. This was the voice of a blonde girl who came out of a military tent.
"I will take care of them. They are the hidden cloud's representatives."
"Please come with me. Raikage sama."
The blonde girl nodded to Sato with a serious face. Although her pitiful eyes told a different story, she was sad.
"Yes, Temari san."
The guard bowed and left as fast as he could; he wouldn't have stopped Sato if this wasn't his job.
Temari ignored the nervous guard and silently took Sato and Anko into her tent.
Thump
"Sato! They took Gaara! They attacked us and took Gaara away."
The second her tent closed, Temari instantly hugged Sato and started crying.
Sato noticed her pain and patted her back, trying to calm her down.
While they were at it, Anko felt like a third wheel. She also felt somewhat angry at Temari, thinking this girl was trying to snatch Hinata's man.
'Maybe I am thinking too much; she might be feeling sad and thus acting strange.'
Anko comforted herself like this and went to sit in a corner.
"It's fine. Tell me what happened. I am here to help."
Sato patted Temari's back; he had a gentle smile on his face and spoke in a soft tone.
It looked like he was comforting Temari, but internally, he was thinking about something else.
'Strange, I was sure hidden sand's invitation had a problem. But this is the real Temari.'
'She smells normal; she isn't trying to kill me or anything. Am I really thinking too much?'
Sato was frowning; if Sand Village wanted to kill him, this was their best chance. Maybe he was wrong.
No, it's possible the mission to save Gaara itself was a trap.
That's probably why Temari seems normal, because she doesn't know that the mission has a problem.
"Sato! It's the Akatsuki. Two people from Akatsuki came into our village."
"One of them was Hidden Stone's rebel Deidara. That guy started throwing bombs everywhere and captured Gaara when Gaara tried to defend us."
"The second one looked like a puppet master, but we don't know who he is."
Temari sobbed a bit more and then got a hold of herself somehow. She stopped hugging Sato and took a soft step back.
"But that's the official excuse; we think that puppet master might be Sasori. A rebel from our village."
"He is elder Chiyo's grandson. He rebelled against a hidden sand village years ago."
Temari told Sato some news she wasn't supposed to tell. This made Anko raise her eyebrows. Temari might be punished by her village for this.
But Sato understood Temari's intentions and assured her.
"I understand. I won't tell anyone that you told me this. If someone asks, I will say we found out about this ourselves."
"I am both Raikage and your friend. Your information will help us complete the mission in a safer way."
Sato smiled and thanked Temari. Even though he didn't believe in friendship, he knew Temari did believe in it.
Playing the friendship card against such people was useful.
"Thank you, Sato. I know I could count on you."
And it worked like a charm. Temari looked like she had found a backbone.
She took out a scroll from her backpack and handed it to Sato.
Sato opened it and started reading. As he read, Temari continued speaking.
"Your mission is to find and rescue Gaara."
"Hidden Leaf Village is also doing the same mission. They are looking for Gaara right now; they left before you guys came."
"Elder Chiyo went with them. She wanted to confirm if that's really her grandson, Sasori."
Temari explained the contents of the mission. Sato didn't say much in response; he just casually asked.
"Which team did the hidden leaf send? If they are our partners in this mission, I want more information about them."
Temari knew this information, so she replied confidently.
"They sent a good team. They have Kakashi, the copy ninja. There is Naruto, the nine-tail jinchuriki. They also had Sasuke, the next Uchiha clan head."
"Oh, there was also a pink-haired genin with them, called Sakura. But I think she's there to make up numbers."
"She's super weak but seems unaware of her own weakness. Why someone so trash is a part of this godly team, I don't know."
Temari shrugged, but this information made Sato pause for a second.
"Does this Sakura know medical ninjutsu?"
Sato asked curiously. At this point in the original story, Tsunade would have trained Sakura because Tsunade cared about Naruto and wanted to somehow help him.
Tsunade also wanted to rebuild the Sanin team through Naruto's team. Sakura got trained purely due to Naruto's influence. So Sato wasn't sure if this would happen again.
"Medical ninjutsu? No, Kakashi said they don't have a medical ninja on their team."
"Sato, are you thinking Sakura might be hiding her strength? And that's why she's on Konoha's team?"
Temari tilted her head with a smile, then said it funnily.
"We also thought so at first. We thought Konoha wouldn't add this garbage to Kakashi's team. But it looks like they made a mistake."
"If you ask me, she didn't seem interested in training. She was busy harassing Uchiha Sasuke."
"Forget her being a medical ninja; it looks like she didn't train a single day after leaving Ninja Academy."
"She's practically worthless, so you can ignore her completely."
Temari chuckled, thinking how absurd this team was. If she had to guess, Sakura was on the team because the jinchuriki liked her.
She was 100 percent sure Sakura wasn't a secretly strong person.
"Yeah, maybe Konoha made a mistake. Haha."
Sato laughed dryly.
It looks like after Sato revived Tsuande's brother, Tsunade started focusing on training her brother.
Because of Sato, she didn't care about Naruto either. Sakura didn't get to train using Naruto's connections this time.
"Well, that's all I know about people from Konoha."
Temari shrugged; she didn't care about Konoha ninjas. She only mentioned their abilities because they might help Sato.
And after giving Sato information about Konoha ninjas, Temari officially announced his mission.
"Sato, your mission is the same as Konoha's mission. You can help them if they need it; they will also help you if you ask."
"The sand Daimyo has promised that he will meet you after the mission. The mission rewards will be discussed with you directly."
"And finally, please save Gaara. Raikage sama."
Temari bowed to Sato. She hoped Sato could bring Gaara back. Her brother Kankuro was currently poisoned, she might lose him soon. She didn't want to lose Gaara too.
Advanced chapters ahead on patréon
www.patréon.com/ImagineMaker