The setting sun dyed the streets of the Land of Stars a warm orange-red.
After finishing a day of training and missions, the ninjas walked home in twos and threes.
The shops on both sides of the street lit up one after another. The aroma of food drifted out through open doors, mingling with the cool evening breeze and making people slow their steps without realizing it.
Gaara, Temari, and Kankuro walked side by side, their shadows stretching long behind them.
Kankuro had both hands behind his head, his puppet scroll slung over his back.
He looked up at the sky. The evening glow was shifting from orange-red to dark purple, and a few early stars had already popped out impatiently.
After a moment of silence, Kankuro said, "The Military Department's been making a lot of moves lately."
Temari nodded at that. Her brows furrowed slightly, keenly aware of the subtle changes in Star City lately.
The handover frequency of patrol squads had increased, supply orders at certain ninja tool shops had suddenly risen, and the occasional explosions from the training grounds were much denser than usual.
"I heard some seniors say in private," Temari said, lowering her voice, "that the last time the Land of Stars had such large-scale, frequent deployments was five years ago, when it went to war with the Land of Wind and Sunagakure."
The "Land of Wind" was already a somewhat distant concept.
Ever since that war ended five years ago, Sunagakure had been defeated and absorbed into the Land of Stars, while the Land of Wind's territory had also been incorporated into the Land of Stars' domain.
Now, that place was "Wind Prefecture," and many former Sunagakure ninjas had become ninjas of the Land of Stars.
Kankuro rubbed his chin, a thoughtful look appearing