CHAPTER 164: CHAPTER 164

*Bang! Bang! Bang!*

The loud banging on the door made Temari and Kankuro, who were inside the room, jump in shock.

"Hey! Open up!"

Baki’s rushed voice came from outside. From how he sounded, it was clear he wasn’t in a good mood.

The two of them exchanged a confused look, not sure what had gotten into him to be so worked up in the middle of the day.

Temari grumbled under her breath as she opened the door.

"What the heck..."

"What are you doing here at this hour?"

Baki looked down at the two who had come to the door with a dark expression.

Judging by the looks on Temari and Kankuro’s faces, they clearly didn’t know what had happened.

"You idiots! Didn’t I tell you over and over to keep an eye on that guy!?"

Temari froze for a second. She and Kankuro had been in the room the whole time, and they hadn’t seen Gaara leave.

In fact, neither of them had really seen him leave the room at all. Everything had been calm for the past month, and with the exam coming up, they thought Gaara wouldn’t cause any more trouble.

It was just a few days until the exam—why mess things up now?

They had just been talking about this earlier.

"It’s the middle of the day. There’s no way he’d go out now, right?"

Going out during the day to start something would be way too obvious, especially since they were in Konohagakure.

If anything major happened before the official Chunin Exam, they’d be held responsible.

Besides, they didn’t come here just to become Chunin. If Gaara pulled something crazy now...

And if that made Konohagakure start suspecting their ally nation of plotting something before the real plan even started, things would get messy fast.

Temari and Kankuro’s faces changed. They quickly turned and ran to the next room, slid open the door, and looked inside.

The room was dim and completely empty.

"You’ve gotta be kidding... Where would Gaara even go?"

If Gaara left on his own, it definitely wasn’t for anything good. But what was he planning now?

He had been surprisingly quiet for a few days because of his injuries, and after he started to recover...

He didn’t show any bad mood or signs of acting up. At the time, they were actually relieved.

Great. So he was just saving it all for right before the exam to make their lives harder?

"Don’t tell me he went to..."

Temari pressed her lips together. She was starting to suspect Gaara had gone to look for that kid from the Hidden Mist Village.

But why now, after all this time?

It made no sense.

Kimimaro had broken through his defense before. If Gaara went to fight him again without thinking, who knows what could happen?

Back in the prelims, if Hatake Satoru hadn’t stepped in to stop them...

Gaara might have ended up being the biggest wildcard in their whole plan.

"Let’s just hope nothing goes wrong between them."

Baki walked up to the window, looking out with a serious expression.

Whether Gaara had gone to find the guy from the Mist, or to stir up trouble with Konohagakure, neither option was good.

Right now, they were still supposed to be allies with the Leaf. If they were caught too early, it’d ruin everything.

On top of that, Konohagakure’s Anbu had already started moving. Gekko Hayate’s death had put everyone on high alert.

To be honest, the Sand had never really treated their alliance as anything solid.

Any Konoha ninja who had seen war before probably knew that already.

If Konoha picked up on even the smallest clue, there’d be no chance to catch them off guard.

And now Kirigakure was involved too.

Baki thought back to the Fifth Mizukage’s young, almost childlike face.

He didn’t know what Kirigakure was up to, but with such a young Mizukage, they probably weren’t that strong.

Even if they weren’t a huge threat, it was best to stay away from them.

Especially since the Genin from that village with Kekkei Genkai were also a pain to deal with.

...

Inside the hospital room, the four people stood off, staring each other down. No one was letting their guard down.

Gaara had already told them about his past and why he was here.

He came to kill Kimimaro. He didn’t even try to hide it.

On one hand, Kimimaro was clearly strong. If left alone, he’d be a threat. Not necessarily to others—but to Gaara himself. And that was more than enough.

On the other hand, Gaara believed he could prove he existed by killing anyone who wasn’t him. But he couldn’t kill Kimimaro, and that made him feel awful.

"Your thinking is way off... this guy’s seriously dangerous, Naruto."

Kimimaro should be able to protect himself, but the two of them? Their strength isn’t even close to those two guys.

It honestly feels like we just rushed in here to get ourselves killed.

Shikamaru, while holding Gaara in place, whispered to Naruto beside him.

But who would’ve thought—Uzumaki Naruto, the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki, was already feeling a deep connection with Gaara.

I get it. They’ve both gone through the same kind of pain.

But the difference lies in who they met along the way.

When Naruto was little, Hatake Satoru brought him to hang out with other kids, which completely changed how they saw the Nine-Tails.

He even made a bunch of friends because of that.

By the time Hatake Satoru left the village, Naruto had already started to heal emotionally.

Later on, Iruka came into his life, and then Sasuke too. He didn’t grow up totally alone.

Gaara, on the other hand, was the opposite. He was strong, a top fighter, but his own father kept sending people to kill him.

Sure, he had siblings—Kankuro and Temari.

But rather than real family, they felt more like tools sent to watch over him.

They didn’t really mean much to him.

"I do feel bad for you, but it’s three against one now. Do you really think you can kill all three of us?"

Kimimaro’s pale green eyes shifted slightly as he asked in a flat voice.

He actually understood Gaara’s mindset. When the Kaguya clan pulled him out, it was to be a weapon—a tool for killing.

But he was also pulled onto a different path.

It wasn’t the same as Naruto’s, and his personality was totally different too.

But compared to Gaara, who just went completely down the dark path, Kimimaro was still different.

Too bad this isn’t a sob story contest. He had no interest in swapping life stories with someone trying to kill him.

This is life or death. Feeling sorry for your enemy doesn’t mean anything.

Maybe Gaara can’t kill you, but the two of us? We’re not beating this guy.

Shikamaru looked at Kimimaro with a troubled face.

He was silently begging him not to provoke Gaara anymore—if they started fighting, they’d all be caught in the middle.

And judging by Naruto’s current state, they probably couldn’t count on him either.

"If someone gets in my way, I’ll kill them all."

---

Read 30 advanced Chapters on my patreon

patreon.com/GustinaKamiya

---