Houka followed the sound and, sure enough, spotted Naruto, Sakura, and the others at the corner of the street.
And...
Kankuro?
Temari?
Could that little brat Kankuro was holding be Konohamaru?
Well, well, well. Better to arrive by chance than early.
So next should be the part where Uchiha Sasuke threw a rock to show off, right?
Houka quietly used the Chakra Sensory Technique to scan the surroundings. Sure enough, he detected Uchiha Sasuke's chakra fluctuations in a tree. Besides that, he also found an extremely powerful yet abnormally unstable chakra presence!
That had to be Gaara.
At that moment, the show-off hiding in the tree had already picked up a rock and was preparing to use it to save Konohamaru.
Houka hurriedly picked up a rock from the ground and threw it before the show-off could!
The rock let out a shrill whistle as it flew through the air, striking the back of Kankuro's hand.
Smack!
Kankuro loosened his grip in pain, and Konohamaru fell to the ground. He immediately scrambled and crawled behind Naruto.
"Who was that?!"
Kankuro turned his head furiously and glared at Houka.
At the same time, Uchiha Sasuke in the tree frowned. He had practically taken his pants off—no, he had already raised his hand and was ready to throw the rock, yet someone had actually beaten him to it?
Uchiha Sasuke looked over coldly and saw a tall, thin young man standing at the street corner, his face full of arrogant aloofness.
"Putting on airs!"
Uchiha Sasuke snorted. He hated people like that the most!
He was just about to speak, but to his surprise, someone beat him to it again.
"Bullying someone else's kid in their own village isn't right, young man. You're getting a little carried away," Houka said with a