Little Frog Wallet in Danger!

"Maybe Kakuzu hid all the funds somewhere~" White Zetsu said something completely off-topic.

Obito ignored him. "Didn't you say there was a suitable candidate in the Land of Earth?"

Black Zetsu answered, "Konan has already gone to find him. Apparently, he's someone who likes explosions."

White Zetsu laughed. "That guy and Konan will definitely have a lot in common. Say, do you think they'll blow up Iwagakure? Will they~?"

"Shut up." Zetsu closed its two huge Venus Flytrap-like leaves and slowly sank into the ground.

Obito touched his mask. "Hang in there. We're almost there!"

"Hang in there. We're almost there." Kakashi comforted the restless Naruto and Sakura.

This was already the fourth day since they had set out. The desert really wasn't a place for people to stay. It was freezing at night and unbearably hot during the day.

If he hadn't previously agreed with Jiraiya that they couldn't casually use Flying Thunder God while traveling during missions unless necessary, Naruto would have flown straight to Gaara's side long ago. He had even given Gaara a Kunai before.

Along the way, Naruto constantly used Chakra to make water and cool himself down, but he was still so hot he wanted to stick out his tongue. "I can't believe Gaara runs around doing missions in a place like this every day. Come to think of it, is that Sand Armor of his for sun protection?"

Sakura was also disgusted by the environment here. With this sunlight and blowing sand, even sunscreen couldn't stop it. Once they got back, she would have to take care of her skin for a while. Luckily, she studied medicine. She just didn't know whether she would still have to worry about things like this after learning the Strength of a Hundred Sealings Technique. "Naruto, give me some more water."

Sasuke silently followed Sakura in mooching water off Naruto. He didn't like this place either, but he didn't say so. Did that make him seem a little tougher than Naruto? If he hadn't accepted water from Naruto, he probably would have felt more confident thinking that.

Naruto said viciously, "When we get back, I'm definitely going to teach Gaara that if you want to get rich, build roads first, have fewer children, and plant more trees!"

Sakura interrupted, "Um, Naruto, I don't know where you heard that, but the ninja world generally encourages people to have more children."

"..." Naruto thought about it and realized that seemed to be true, but that wasn't the point. "The point is to plant more trees and improve the environment."

"Planting trees in the desert is very difficult. It's not like they have the First Hokage's abilities." Kakashi did think of someone, but if that person came to the Land of Wind to do landscaping, he would probably work himself to death.

Naruto naturally knew it was difficult. With the skills of Gaara and his siblings, this lousy place had no chance of getting better.

With one swing of Temari's giant fan, an entire forest would be gone. She was a textbook case of indiscriminate deforestation. Logger Vick would admire that efficiency, while Briar and Bramble would weep;

When Kankuro made a Puppet, he had to pick out only a tiny bit of usable material from countless pieces of wood. That was a waste of resources—where there's trade, there's slaughter;

As for Gaara, there was no need to mention him. With both hands pressed to the ground, he could crush even the best Black Crystal Soil from QQ Farm into sand. He was practically the chief culprit behind Land Desertification.

With the three siblings wreaking havoc like that, no matter how good a place was, it wouldn't survive their destruction.

The four of them chatted about random nonsense to distract themselves, and at last arrived at the entrance to Sunagakure Village.

The four stopped, and a ninja soon came over to question them. Kakashi cooperatively handed over their documents.

The walls outside Sunagakure Village were far taller than Konoha's, with only a narrow gap they called A Sliver of Sky left open.

Naruto quietly sensed the area. There were quite a few ninjas standing guard above, and he also discovered that the Chakra of the gatekeeper was much weaker than Izumo and Kotetsu's. He didn't even seem as strong as Iruka.

"Pardon me. Please follow me." After confirming their identities, this weakling led the four through the gate.

"Captain Yura, these four are Konoha ninjas. They've come to deliver a letter to Kazekage-sama."

"I know. Leave them to me." Yura nodded, signaling for him to return to his post, then said to Kakashi, "You must be tired after traveling so far. I'll take you to see Kazekage-sama."

Yura wore a white headscarf, had a small tuft of beard on his chin, and side-swept bangs covering one eye. Naruto felt that if he dyed his hair blond and drew on curly eyebrows, he could cosplay Sanji.

If Naruto remembered correctly, this guy was a spy Sasori of the Red Sand had planted. It was just that his memories had been sealed, so even he himself didn't know he was a spy now.

Naruto figured he had to give Gaara a heads-up. If they didn't take precautions, then in the future Yura might be the one who led the demons... led Sasori here.

Following Yura to the center of Sunagakure Village, they saw that the Kazekage Office Building looked from the outside like a ball with the character for wind written on it. It actually matched Gaara's spherical ninjutsu quite well.

"Kazekage-sama, the Konoha ninjas have arrived." Yura knocked open the door, ushered Team 7's four members inside, gave a salute, and left.

Besides Gaara, Baki and Temari were also in the office. It looked like they were helping him handle matters.

"Welcome to Sunagakure Village." Gaara stood and greeted them.

Naruto looked at Gaara's appearance and almost laughed. Thirteen-year-old Gaara had not fully grown into his features yet. Wearing that Kazekage robe, he looked like a child mischievously playing dress-up in an adult's clothes. He was actually kind of cute.

Kakashi solemnly handed the scroll to Baki. No matter how young Gaara was, he was still the leader of a village, and they had to show the necessary respect.

Only after Baki checked that there was nothing wrong with the scroll did he hand it to Gaara. Gaara skimmed through it and said, "Thank you for your trouble. I'll write a reply shortly. If you don't mind, please take a look around Sunagakure Village."

"Really?" Sakura was a little happy. Traveling such a long distance had been tiring, but if they could go shopping, that was another matter entirely.

It was Naruto and Sasuke's first time here as well, and they also wanted to look around.

Temari said, "It's okay. I'll be your guide, and I'll help arrange a place for you to rest too."

Compared to Konoha's bustling streets, Sunagakure Village was much less prosperous. Its buildings were also almost all the same earthy yellow. Naruto had seen too little of the world to know anything beyond calling it exotic. He couldn't say what place it resembled exactly.

Temari introduced, "Although Sunagakure Village isn't as prosperous as Konoha, we have some specialties. For example, that toy store sells toys made with the most basic Puppet techniques. Even people who don't know Puppet Arts can control them easily, and they're quite popular with children."

Naruto was very interested and bought several, intending to give them to Laifu and Hanabi.

Seeing Sakura's lack of interest, Temari continued, "That cosmetics store over there has many good sunscreen and moisturizing products. They work very well, and the girls of Sunagakure Village all like them."

Sakura immediately perked up. She had been worrying about exactly that!

Naruto followed along and bought a bunch too. He could give them to Old Mom, Hinata, and Karin. Come to think of it, Haku probably wouldn't need any...

"Oh, and there's this place too. Sunagakure specialties and snacks..."

Naruto instinctively covered his Little Frog Wallet...