When Mamoru's Shadow Clone walked out of the forest with Hinata and Shino, the smell of blood in the air made the three of them wrinkle their noses unconsciously.
"Whoa, so bloody, how disgusting." The Shadow Clone curled his lip in distaste, his gaze sweeping over the bloodstains on the ground.
"Two of them?" Kankuro subconsciously took half a step back, warily sizing up the three people who had suddenly appeared.
Temari gripped the giant war fan behind her and observed cautiously. "It's a Shadow Clone, right?"
Gaara's gaze coldly swept over the Shadow Clone, finally landing on Hinata and Shino who followed closely behind. That icy look made the two of them shiver involuntarily, their bodies instantly stiffening.
The air seemed to freeze for several seconds.
Finally, it was Temari who first broke the suffocating situation. She knew very well that if this standoff continued, she and Kankuro would be the first to break.
"Gaara, there's no benefit for us in clashing with them." Her voice trembled slightly as she forced a small smile.
"How about... how about we let it go?"
As she spoke, she carefully took a small step forward, her tone almost pleading. "Consider it as your sister asking you, okay?"
Mamoru raised an eyebrow with interest, crossing his arms over his chest, looking like he was watching a good show. He knew in his heart that if he wasn't worried about beating the Tailed Beast out of Gaara and causing the situation to spiral out of control, he would have acted long ago instead of standing here staring.
After a brief silence, Gaara responded flatly, "I understand."
As his voice sounded, the sand walls floating around began to slowly disintegrate, turning into fine quicksand. Some of the sand fell rustling to the ground, while another part, as if alive, skillfully bypassed Gaara's body and crawled back into the gourd on his back.
Temari and Kankuro breathed a sigh of relief in unison, their tense shoulders relaxing slightly. An invisible crisis of life and death was temporarily resolved.
"The older sister really has more influence." Mamoru gave Temari a meaningful look.
Then he turned to Kankuro and said mockingly, "The older brother is truly pitiful, scolded whenever he wants, and threatened with death at will."
Kankuro's features twisted immediately. Although what the other party said might be the truth, how could it be so infuriating coming from that mouth?
Veins popped on his forehead, his fists were clenched, and he cursed through gritted teeth, "Damn it, this guy is really too good at making people angry."
Temari slotted the giant fan back behind her back and looked at Kankuro with concern. She was worried that he would be driven ill by anger.
Gaara pulled the last strand of sand back into his gourd, condensed a soil plug in his hand, and plugged the mouth of the gourd with a casual "pop." He said nothing, only giving Mamoru a faint glance before walking toward the Central Tower on his own.
Temari and Kankuro exchanged a glance and quickly followed with mutual understanding. Before leaving, both of them reflexively looked back at Mamoru and the others, only to see the boy making faces at them, his expression so strange it was baffling.
Once Temari's group of three had gone far, Mamoru snapped his fingers and pointed at the three receding figures, laughing. "Let's head out too. It's rare to have someone clearing the path for us."
Having said that, he took the lead and stepped forward, while his Shadow Clone disappeared with a "poof" into white smoke.
Hinata and Shino were stunned for a moment before hurriedly following.
"Is this really okay?" Shino pushed up his sunglasses, his tone carrying worry. "What if another conflict breaks out?"
"No problem." Mamoru waved his hand dismissively. "If a fight really starts, we'll just get straight to it."
Hearing Mamoru's nonchalant answer, Shino sighed helplessly. He had long since grown accustomed to Mamoru's unscrupulous style, so he said no more.
Thus, a subtle scene appeared on the forest path—two teams from different ninja villages were moving one after the other. The team in front was shrouded in a tense atmosphere, while the team behind seemed exceptionally leisurely.
Gaara and his team had long since noticed the tail behind them. Or rather, the other party had no intention of hiding their tracks at all, following along in such a grand and blatant manner.
Gaara remained expressionless, walking forward with steady steps, as if he didn't care at all about the movement behind him.
Temari, however, couldn't help but frown frequently. The gaze from behind made her feel like there were needles in her back, making even her walking posture somewhat unnatural.
Kankuro's expression was even more colorful. He would shake his head one moment and turn back to glare fiercely the next, looking just like a schizophrenic patient.
Seeing that Gaara still hadn't spoken, Temari gave Kankuro a look. Being siblings, Kankuro understood immediately.
"What are you following us for?" Kankuro suddenly turned around and shouted loudly.
Mamoru's sneer immediately came from behind. "How funny, who's following you? Isn't this the road to the Central Tower?"
His tone carried obvious mockery, as if saying: I just like how you can't stand me but can't do anything about me.
"You're going to the Central Tower too?" Kankuro frowned deeply, eyeing them suspiciously. "Could it be that you've already collected both scrolls?"
"Idiot." Mamoru countered contemptuously, "Do you think I'd be short of such things?"
Although his tone was flat, the arrogance in his words was fully revealed.
Temari instinctively looked back at Mamoru, this person was asserting his presence at every moment. She knew very well that it wasn't bluffing, but arrogance carved into his bones.
"What?!" Kankuro shouted, refusing to be outdone. "You're not trying to trick us, are you? Who knows if you're planning to snatch our scrolls!"
Actually, when he said this, he knew in his heart that Mamoru probably didn't lack scrolls, but he just couldn't help but want to snap back and take the other party down a peg.
"What do you think my purpose for exposing the Heaven scroll was? It was to make those teams holding the Earth scroll deliver themselves to the door." Mamoru's lips curled into a sarcastic arc. "Judging by the results, it was very effective."
Kankuro's tense mood relaxed slightly as he muttered in a low voice, "Tch, only a lunatic like you would think of using this method to collect the scrolls."
Although he said this, he understood that as long as no conflict arose, there was indeed no conflict of interest on the surface. However, he still had to remain vigilant. Who knew if this lunatic would suddenly strike to eliminate them early?
Half an hour later.
In the distance, a towering dark shadow gradually came into view. As the distance closed, the full appearance of the Central Tower became clear.
This was a high tower with red as the main theme. From bottom to top, the area decreased layer by layer. On the second-to-last floor of the tower top, there was a protruding wide balcony, and a huge red lantern hung below the balcony, its ribbons snapping in the wind. Most striking were several dark high-voltage power lines extending from the tower top.
This discovery plunged Mamoru into deep thought.
What exactly was going on with the tech tree of this world? It was more than ten kilometers from Konoha to here, how on earth were these power lines set up?
While Mamoru was lost in thought, they had already arrived at the foot of the tower.
There was more than one entrance to the tower. Every three or four meters, there would be an identical large door, and a white seal with the character 'Open' written on it was pasted on the door seam.
(End of Chapter)
Read 50 Chapters ahead on
patreon.com/astralicity