At Sabaku Port, Yako stood on the shore, looking out over the distant sea.
He had left a Flying Thunder God formula on Pakura. If he wanted to, he could have resolved every problem surrounding her himself.
The Mist ambush. Her grievous injuries. All of it.
But Yako had not intervened.
He had let Pakura experience betrayal with her own heart, and endure the slow recovery of her wounds with her own body.
If she then went through one more pilgrimage, she would truly devote herself to the Three Gods Faith.
Hidan was a born zealot. There was no need to worry about the strength of his faith.
Pakura was different.
Pakura needed to be cultivated.
A ship docked.
All of Sabaku Port's piers had been destroyed, and in their place a single narrow temporary gangway had been erected.
Pakura, pale-faced, slowly walked down the gangway.
Before her lay the same Sabaku Port, still shattered into ruins.
Avoiding the laborers carrying cargo back and forth, she stepped onto the shore.
She let out a long breath.
She was finally back...
But then another thought surfaced.
Was this really still the Land of Wind she had once loved?
Did it deserve that love?
After a few steps, Pakura suddenly felt that something was off.
Then she remembered—her forehead protector was still in her ninja pouch.
She had not put it on.
The Sand forehead protector disgusted her now.
The workers at the docks were no longer looking at her like a mighty Sunagakure kunoichi.
They were looking at her like a beautiful ordinary woman.
That gaze felt strangely unfamiliar.
Refusing to dwell on Sunagakure for the moment, Pakura moved to an empty place and quietly chanted the names of the Three Gods.
Very soon, she received guidance.
Leaving the harbor behind, she came to a hidden spot behind a reef.
There, half-hidden by stone, was a triangular rock. A square hollow had been carved into it, and inside the hollow were three tiny figures.
If she had not already known what the Three Gods were, Pakura would never have connected these crude little carvings to those terrifying beings.
This was the shrine.
A shrine of the Three Gods Faith.
She knelt and prayed before it.
After a while, a hand suddenly came to rest on her shoulder.
Back in the Hall of the Three Gods, Miqū had told her that if she returned to Sabaku Port, she would see him again.
There were so many things she wanted to say to him.
So many things she wanted him to confirm.
"Those damned Mist ninja... what did they do to you? Such a beautiful back, and now it's covered in scars!
Pakura, I'll search the entire shinobi world if I have to. I'll find some miracle medicine to erase them."
Pakura usually wore clothing that exposed her back, but she herself did not know what her back looked like now, nor did she care at the moment.
There were many pale pink marks there now—scars left behind by kunai. She had no idea when they would fade completely.
Pakura looked at the man before her with dazed eyes, hardly daring to believe it.
"Miqū... Thunder? Are you really the leader of the Calamity Organization?"
"It's me."
Pakura threw herself into Yako's arms.
Yako stroked her back and let out a sigh.
Poor Pakura.
She had been betrayed by her own village.
Unlike Yako, who always hovered at the edge of betraying Konoha and therefore never gave the village a chance to betray him first.
A shinobi began to mature the moment they started doubting their village.
Yako was practically overripe.
He had never truly believed in Konoha to begin with.
Half an hour later.
Whether Sabaku Port belonged to Sunagakure or Kirigakure, whether countless people had died there or not, the waves still continued to roll onto the beach, one after another, whispering against the sand.
Amid the sound of the surf, Pakura's long, slender back rose and fell above him, her narrow waist and full hips forming a perfect contrast.
Only after everything ended did she finally go limp against Yako's body, breathing hard.
"No one will find us, right?"
"No," Yako said. "The Mist were ruthless. Sabaku Port's nearly been emptied of people. No one's coming here."
Pakura rested for more than ten minutes before finally getting up to gather herself.
"Thunder, I'm going back to Sunagakure now. In the Hall of the Three Gods, you told me to stop Sunagakure from joining the Shinobi Alliance?"
"That's right. Sunagakure is already the weakest of the Five Great Villages. It shouldn't be stepping into waters like these," Yako said. "I want you to gain more power inside Sunagakure. Rise into the upper ranks. Then work with Plague to spread the faith of the Three Gods throughout the Land of Wind."
"All right. I understand."
Leaving Sabaku Port behind, Pakura returned to Sunagakure.
On the rooftop of the Kazekage building, Rasa stood with a puzzled, regretful look on his face as he watched Pakura slowly walking down the central avenue below.
He had clearly handed Pakura over to Kirigakure.
And yet those useless Mist fools had failed to kill her.
Even from a great distance, Pakura raised her head.
The instant Rasa met her eyes, his heart sank.
She was different.
Her eyes were different.
The Pakura from before had been innocent and passionate.
Innocent because the Third Kazekage had valued her highly and protected her well.
Passionate because she had desperately wanted to devote herself to the village and the Land of Wind. She had been a shinobi in the purest sense of the word.
Rasa turned and left the rooftop, heading downstairs.
He would personally go greet her.
Who wouldn't praise him for his humility after that?
But when he reached the lower floor, he found that Chiyo had already gotten there first.
Before Chiyo could act, Rasa stepped forward and greeted Pakura.
"Those despicable Mist ninja really did deceive us. We agreed to exchange peace accords, and yet they dared attack our envoy.
Pakura, are you all right? Were you hurt?"
Chiyo let out a cold laugh.
After the Third Kazekage's disappearance, Rasa had become quite the polished politician in no time.
It was one thing to casually send people he disliked to their deaths.
It was another to stand here now and lie without blinking.
Pakura's pupils contracted slightly, but she did not expose him.
"Advisor Rasa, those Mist ninja were weak. Even their ambush was useless. I killed them all."
Rasa cursed inwardly. That fool Gensui had been too careless. He wanted Pakura dead, yet sent trash to do it.
Chiyo stepped forward and said, "It wasn't that the Mist were weak. It was that you were strong enough to survive their ambush.
A great shinobi war is imminent, and Sunagakure needs capable people more than ever.
I propose that Pakura be brought into the upper ranks. Let us convene a high-level meeting immediately."
Rasa wanted to refuse on the grounds of her youth, but Ebizō, standing beside Chiyo, immediately voiced his agreement.
Chiyo and Ebizō were both advisors of Sunagakure. Between the two of them, they had many subordinates and considerable influence.
Rasa thought bitterly that his teacher had truly left him a rotten mess to inherit.
His gaze drifted toward the southwestern quarter of Sunagakure.
That was where Shukaku's Jinchūriki was being held.
He needed to find a way to obtain Shukaku as soon as possible and strengthen himself.
Outside the high-level meeting room, Pakura stood beside Chiyo at the end of the corridor, beneath a window, waiting for the others to arrive.
"Lady Chiyo, I heard something while I was in the Land of Water."
Chiyo turned to look at her, unsure what she was getting at.
Pakura said, "I heard that several villages are preparing to form an anti-Konoha alliance. A Shinobi Alliance to move against Konoha."
Chiyo had heard whispers of the matter as well.
But for something this important, she still knew very little. Someone in the village clearly did not want her to know the details.
That someone was Rasa.
Chiyo said, "Rasa's been guarding information from us as if we were thieves. Pakura, you've heard more than I have. What do you think of it?"
Pakura answered, "Lady Chiyo, Sabaku Port was nearly slaughtered into becoming an empty city by the Mist.
Working with other villages is no different from bargaining with tigers.
And going against Konoha is even more uncertain. Who knows whether Sunagakure will be used as bait to lure the enemy in... or as cannon fodder to cover the rear?
What I mean is, we cannot take part in a war like that."
Chiyo nodded slowly.
"Rasa is using the search for the Third Kazekage to gather followers to his side.
Ebizō and I are still capable enough, but we are old.
More and more people would rather follow the younger Rasa.
His becoming the Fourth Kazekage is already all but certain.
But I cannot accept working with Iwagakure or Kirigakure. We have grudges against both of them—especially Iwagakure, which has bullied us for years.
I hate Konoha too.
But I'd rather wait until the Iwa ninja and Konoha beat each other bloody, then enter the war afterward."
Pakura let out a quiet breath of relief.
At the very least, for now, Advisor Chiyo was on her side.