Land of Fire, Konoha Village.
A pale sliver of dawn had appeared at the edge of the sky, while the deep crimson heavens in the distant opposite direction were slowly becoming clearer.
At this moment, the three members of New Team 7 other than Sakura, along with Rock Lee, were desperately searching for traces of the people from Hidden Sand Village.
"Kakashi, Sasuke, Rock Lee, do you feel like the village's security has gotten tighter?"
Naruto sent a message to the other two.
"Yes. There are quite a few more Anbu shinobi on my side."
"Yeah, same here. But most of them are basically rushing toward the passages leading out of the village."
"As long as we haven't been discovered, it's fine!"
Naruto sighed as he spoke, unable to resist complaining.
"It's a shame. If everyone could come search, things would be much more convenient. Unfortunately, every one of them has a family, and only the four of us are orphans. Haha."
Naruto's cold joke received no response. Only after a long while did Rock Lee reply with a sentence.
"Konoha Village really does produce a lot of orphans... What a pitiful world... It has made even my youthful passion fade quite a bit..."
As Rock Lee spoke, he suddenly spotted a boy sitting atop a distant building. The boy was looking gloomily at the moon that was about to disappear from the sky.
"Why isn't he asleep at this hour? And he has red hair... Could this be..."
Rock Lee's gaze locked onto the other boy. The boy seemed to notice his stare as well, and his cold eyes quickly swept toward him.
"Confirmed! It's an alternate version of Gaara!"
Rock Lee was excited inside.
*But that guy's panda eyes are way too heavy... He's so young, yet he's