Three days passed in the blink of an eye.
Having reached an agreement with Naruto, Gaara, Baki, Kankuro, and Temari led the surviving but demoralized Sunagakure ninjas from the Konoha Crush Plan onto the road back to the Land of Wind.
After a long and arduous journey, they finally arrived near the village.
Everyone let out a long sigh of relief.
When they had set out from Sunagakure, they had carried the hope—along with the entire Sunagakure leadership—that they could prove themselves by destroying Konoha.
They had hoped to turn around Sunagakure's plight and avoid a slow death caused by military budget cuts.
Yet now they returned in the humiliating state of defeated surrender.
Everyone's heart was heavy.
Gaara stood at the very front of the group, his short dark-red hair fluttering gently in the faintly warm breeze.
As he gazed at the village so close at hand, there was a trace of something different in the depths of his eyes.
It did not stem from the ceaseless killing intent and coldness of before, but rather from a resolve born of seeing reality clearly.
Then, Gaara's thoughts involuntarily drifted back to the night before he had left Konoha.
His private meeting with the Fifth Hokage, who knew a great deal of information and deeply empathized with him.
In the Hokage's office three days ago.
After hearing Naruto's vast plan for the future, which even involved the Tailed Beasts, Gaara fell silent for a moment before slowly asking, "Then... what can I do for such a future?"
He was accustomed to being assigned missions, or simply killing for his own sake. Suddenly becoming involved in such a grand plan left Gaara at a loss.
Naruto looked at the perplexed Gaara and said evenly, "First, I'll make you the Fifth Kazekage..."
Gaara's