Negotiation

Rasa felt a jolt of alarm. Orochimaru's disciple—while he couldn't be certain of the truth behind that claim, intelligence reports indicated the boy's strength was by no means weak, and he didn't appear to be lying. Why would he dare approach Gaara? Was it confidence born of his own power? More importantly, did they know Gaara's true identity?

No matter how he looked at it, there seemed to be a web of conspiracies surrounding Orochimaru's disciple approaching Gaara, yet the boy carried himself with such openness—it was hard to tell if he was being naive or simply ignorant.

He continued to ask coldly, "Why have you come to Sunagakure? And how do you know Gaara?"

Hui Youling answered without a moment's hesitation, "I've been traveling around, and my studies brought me to Sunagakure. I simply wanted to see the village; I have no other motives."

"As for knowing Gaara, I just happened to run into him because I couldn't sleep. I felt we hit it off, so I decided to make friends with him."

"Wanted to see Sunagakure?" Rasa seemed unconvinced, completely ignoring the mention of friendship, as he had never believed anyone would be willing to be friends with Gaara, let alone a stranger.

"Please, Kazekage-sama, rest assured. No matter how capable I am, I pose no real threat to your ninja village. Besides, I arrived with a trade caravan, and I will naturally leave with them," Hui promised, then added, "If you are still worried, you may have me watched at any time."

Rasa fell silent again, weighing Hui Youling's words. His gaze swept over the boy repeatedly. A disciple of one of the Sannin, Orochimaru, and a ninja from the allied Konoha—there were no serious infractions to speak of. Killing him here didn't seem appropriate, and since he wouldn't be staying long, there was no need to invite trouble. It was better not to act for now.

"You may leave," Rasa said flatly, though his mind had already begun calculating countermeasures.

Hui bowed. "Farewell, Kazekage-sama." She turned and walked away.

Stepping out of Rasa's office, Hui stood at the doorway for a second or two in silence, her mind racing with a thousand thoughts. There was relief, but also sorrow. She was truly grateful that Orochimaru had trained her to maintain such a composed exterior, though it was clear she had only managed to muddle through for now.

Gaara had shed his disguise and had been waiting outside the Kazekage building the entire time. The few ninjas nearby stood far away, not daring to approach him.

Seeing Hui finally emerge, he felt a weight lift from his heart, though his face remained expressionless.

Hui spotted Gaara below and ran up to him, delighted. "Gaara, let's go."

Gaara's gaze drifted across his surroundings. Every ninja watching them was terrified by his look. They were merely shocked that someone could approach Gaara and fearlessly interact with him. This person's presence was far too conspicuous, but they knew his end would only be death; the thought brought them a sense of malicious glee.

Hui didn't even notice that ever since she saw Gaara, a faint smile had lingered on her lips. In her heart, she thought, Even if he's still young and hasn't gone through those things yet, Gaara is still so reliable. I'm so happy I could find you, Gaara...

Hui noticed the surrounding gazes, but she never cared. If anything, she only wanted to shock them further. She stepped forward and took Gaara's hand. His small hand wrapped around hers, and Gaara turned his green eyes toward her, looking somewhat confused.

Hui grinned, her eyes filled with hope as she stared at him, unable to hide her affection. "Let's go. How about you take me to the places you usually go?"

Gaara gazed into her black eyes—they were still so bright, all the warmth reflected in them. He liked looking into Hui's eyes, and he liked watching her smile.

"Mn," Gaara replied softly, leading Hui toward his usual training grounds.

Hui blinked, her gaze lingering on the person leading her ahead. How lucky she was to have met him.

Hui looked at the surrounding environment; it was all sand, likely to facilitate training. The current Gaara hated Sunagakure, and Hui Youling felt the same. She still held to her original thought: she couldn't stay by his side forever, but she hoped he wouldn't forget her. To ensure that, she had to do something bold.

"Gaara, let me see what your strength is like," Hui said, tilting her head toward him.

Gaara didn't seem happy at all upon hearing this. His face darkened, the surrounding atmosphere dropping to freezing point. Sand began to swirl around them, and a dangerous aura drifted through the air.

Hui had anticipated this, but she didn't back down, continuing to look at Gaara with a light smile. She was already accustomed to this terrifying atmosphere; compared to Orochimaru, who would smile while launching ruthless, unexpected attacks, this was far better.

Seeing that Hui remained completely unaffected, Gaara slowly raised his pale green eyes to look at her, asking with hesitation and surprise, "You aren't afraid?"

Hui pouted, teasing, "I know Gaara wouldn't hurt me. Besides, please trust in my strength, okay?"

Gaara's pupils constricted. Trusting that he wouldn't kill—it was the first time anyone had ever said that to him. But sometimes it wasn't a matter of whether he wanted to or not; he simply couldn't control his emotions. He was still afraid that he would lose this friend because of his own loss of control.

"Gaara, actually, you can control yourself. You just have to stop looking at the expressions on those people's faces." Hui didn't know why she suddenly said something she shouldn't have known, but she didn't want to see the look of hurt in Gaara's eyes.

Gaara frowned, looking at Hui with a probing gaze. Hui Youling shrugged and continued, "Gaara is so powerful; how could those pieces of trash possibly understand?"

The smile on Hui's lips turned somewhat eerie, and her eyes filled with killing intent. "In my eyes, those people aren't even worth killing. They can't even put up a fight. Gaara, you should be even stronger—strong enough that those pieces of trash can only look up to you. Why bother doing it yourself and dirtying your hands?"

At the same time, Zhan, standing silently in the inner world, felt her smile slowly widen.

Speaking such firm words, yet when faced with this situation, you are still influenced by me. Hui Youling, you have a weakness after all. A version of you like this has no value.

Indifference and a carefree, unrestrained life were the only truths. Wasn't destruction far more interesting than creation?

Moreover, a tough and resilient heart was the source of true strength. Others thought Hui Youling was as tough as a boy, but she knew Hui Youling was fragile—just a fool forcing herself to become strong. Such coercion would never be true strength. Only she was truly resilient; no one could stop her path, not even Hui Youling.

She could already imagine Hui Youling's end: to be devoured and replaced by her. Hahahaha...

As Hui Youling thought about how these people treated Gaara, and the future betrayal of Yashamaru, the killing intent in her heart became difficult to control. She was usually not like this, but whenever it concerned Gaara, she found it easy to lose control. Yet, she was clearly trying to guide Gaara and stop him from killing!

Hui felt her expression must be terrifying right now, so she quickly raised her hand to cover her eyes, her smile fading. Gaara was actually startled to see that look on Hui. They were truly alike, especially that bloodthirsty gaze. He had seen it in his own eyes, too. Whenever that happened, the only things he saw in others' eyes were fear and hatred.

It was rare to see Hui not smiling, and she had said those things. Did she really understand him? Could she really feel what he felt? Yet everything seemed so real. Hui could also have a bloodthirsty side, a look of disgust. He wasn't afraid; he just felt that this was perhaps what it meant to be of the same kind. Hui wasn't some gorgeous flower; she was more like that prickly cactus.

The malice in Hui's eyes, hidden behind her hand, began to dissipate. She calmed her heart before lowering her hand to look at Gaara. Gaara's expression was calm, his gaze fixed entirely on her.

Hui looked back at Gaara and saw him lift the corners of his mouth slightly as he said, "Alright."