Rasa

From behind Gaara, Hui saw the Fourth Kazekage—Gaara's father, Rasa—and his guards. She sighed inwardly. Even now, Gaara probably still held on to some hope for the man he called "father."

"It's okay, Gaara. Lord Kazekage doesn't mean me any harm," Hui said with a faint smile. Gaara furrowed his brow as he looked at her, the sorrow in his eyes seemingly not yet faded.

But the Fourth Kazekage's gaze shifted from cold indifference to scrutiny. He looked at Gaara and sneered inwardly. Using the Transformation Technique? How ridiculous. But I don't have the patience to deal with him anymore.

"Hui Youling?" This time his gaze fell on Hui. She didn't avoid it. Stepping out from behind Gaara, she respectfully said, "Lord Kazekage."

The Fourth Kazekage studied the child standing before him, neither cringing nor defiant. Given her audacity in approaching Gaara, her demeanor didn't seem all that surprising.

Still, he had to make sure Hui Youling wasn't a spy sent by another country. Gaara had become a threat to the village, but that didn't mean he intended to let someone else take advantage of the situation.

When the Fourth Kazekage remained silent, Hui Youling didn't panic. She simply stood there with her head lowered in respect. This was a marketplace, and she had no idea why Rasa had stopped them here.

But this wasn't the place for a fight. He'd hurried over to intercept her; perhaps their outing had drawn too much attention, especially since she'd brought Gaara here. Still, Hui Youling didn't regret it.

The Fourth Kazekage glanced around. Everyone was watching them, and he didn't want to cause a commotion. He had no intention of fighting here, either. Looking at Hui Youling, he ordered coolly, "Hui Youling, come to my office. I have some questions for you."

Hui turned to Gaara, only to find him staring at Rasa, his eyes still clouded with sorrow and disappointment. Her heart ached for him. All she could do was smile at him and say, "I'll come find you later. Make sure you take good care of your little cactus!"

Gaara shifted his gaze back to Hui. Seeing her gentle smile, he furrowed his brow slightly, but eventually nodded. Hui gave him a playful wink, and Gaara forced a crooked smile.

The Fourth Kazekage took it all in, a mocking look in his eyes. "Let's go," he said coldly.

Hui turned to look at Rasa. Zhan suddenly spoke. "Heh, Hui Youling, looks like you've gotten a little too pleased with yourself."

"You really think Sunagakure is Konoha? Someone like you has no business getting close to Gaara."

Hui's eyes were calm and unreadable. When she looked up again, she found herself in the Inner World. Zhan stood some distance away, smiling faintly at her. Beneath Zhan's feet stretched a pitch-black body of water, where countless little snakes seemed to swim, twisting and writhing together.

Hui looked down at her own feet and saw that she stood on clear water. Yet beneath its surface lay heaps of white bones, their ridges plainly visible through the water.

She lifted her eyes to Zhan, her face blank. Zhan had gone to a lot of trouble to create a scene like this. Perhaps she would have panicked in the past, but now all she felt was scorn.

Hui Youling looked at Zhan with eyes like still water and said in a voice as cold as ice, "Shut up."

Zhan's brow furrowed sharply. After a moment of silence, she said in a low voice brimming with anger, "Hui Youling, don't push your luck. You need to understand that I have just as much right to control this body!"

As Zhan spoke, fresh red blood began to seep from the bones beneath Hui Youling's feet, staining the water all around her. Hui thought she heard wailing echo in her ears. At any moment, the bones might crawl up to the surface.

Hui sneered inwardly, her expression unmoved. "So what? I'm still the one in control. Zhan, I will never let you disrupt my life. Don't even think about fighting me for this body."

When Hui Youling finished speaking, Zhan suddenly laughed. "Heh... Hui Youling, you're so naive."

Hui frowned as she looked at Zhan. A sudden pang of pain shot through her heart, as though she were remembering all sorts of things, but the memories were too hazy. She bit down hard on her lower lip. "Zhan, if I can't even control you, then there's no point in my existence. Don't think you can come out and wreak havoc, destroying everything!"

Zhan watched Hui Youling from a short distance away and laughed softly. At last, she lifted the corners of her mouth into a grin. "We'll see."

Hui laughed, too, looking at Zhan with scorn. "You can't just erase me."

Zhan's smile froze. "Get lost!"

As soon as Zhan said it, Hui found herself back in the outside world. Rasa still stood some distance away. The time she'd spent in the Inner World had felt like no more than an instant outside.

"Tch..."

Hui hadn't expected Zhan to have gained this kind of power. From the moment Zhan first appeared, their struggle had already begun. Hui had always been in the open, while Zhan stayed hidden.

As long as Hui was surrounded by negative emotions, Zhan seemed to thrive and grow stronger. Hui couldn't imagine what would happen if she ever lost control of Zhan. But she had come this far; she couldn't afford to lose.

Hui Youling looked up at Rasa, the man who was Gaara's father in name and had become Gaara's nightmare. She wanted so badly to ask him if he even deserved to be called a father.

But no matter how much she disliked or resented him, she couldn't let any of it show. The man before her was the Kazekage of Sunagakure, someone even her teacher couldn't easily defeat. Besides, she was in Sunagakure. She didn't want to do anything so foolish.

Hui followed the Kazekage. The two guards moved aside, but they kept well away from Gaara, watching him warily. They even looked at Hui Youling as if she were some kind of outsider.

Gaara glanced around. Everyone was watching, eager to see what would happen. Yet when their gazes fell on the Kazekage, they showed nothing but respect and awe. Rasa was taking Hui Youling away, with the two guards following close behind her like they were escorting a prisoner for questioning.

Gaara watched Hui leave in silence. Once she had disappeared from sight, his expression instantly turned cold. He glanced at the onlookers, irritated, then quickened his pace and left. As expected, he still didn't like these people. He hated crowds and hated the way they looked at him.

The merchant caravan that had hired Hui Youling had also seen what happened. The merchant was still reeling with shock. How had the hired ninja managed to offend Lord Kazekage? What would happen to his business now?

Thinking this, he hurriedly ordered his men to handle the sales, then grabbed his money and rushed to the Kazekage Office Building.

Hui Youling was brought to the Kazekage Office Building. Rasa sat behind his desk, watching her with cool scrutiny, as if sizing her up. Hui stood straight without looking away and met his gaze. She no longer had a smile on her face.

"You're a wandering ninja? Which village were you from?" Rasa finally asked, his voice cold, as if he were interrogating a prisoner.

The identity of a wandering ninja was one of her usual disguises. She'd even changed her gender to male, and that was what she'd reported to Sunagakure. It seemed Rasa had learned about "him" before he came to apprehend her.

"Lord Kazekage, I came out to train with my teacher. But now I'm traveling and studying on my own. I'm from Konoha." Hui answered each of Rasa's questions in turn, her voice steady.

"Konoha?" Rasa said, a hint of distance and hostility in his voice. Still, he asked, "Who's your teacher?"

"My teacher is Orochimaru," Hui replied in the same calm tone, entirely unaware that she'd just said something shocking. Even now, she didn't realize how famous Orochimaru, the foremost of the Sannin, was.