"Sand... Village... ninja..."
At the border of the Land of Fire, over a thousand Sand Village ninja were leaving in an orderly manner.
But at that moment, a vast voice suddenly echoed from the sky, making every ninja instinctively tense up and stop where they stood.
"Big sister, is that..."
At the very front of the ninja force, three figures exchanged glances.
Without the "love" character on his forehead or those dark circles beneath his eyes, Gaara was quite the handsome young man.
He no longer carried the gloomy, bitter expression he had when he first appeared as the little panda. Instead, after Naruto had talked him down, he had become somewhat gentle and composed.
As for Kankuro, he still had that messily painted face.
Temari looked up, her expression extremely complicated. "He's here..."
"Him?"
Kankuro's expression shifted, and Gaara became wary as well.
"Buzz!"
A blaze of golden fire descended from the sky, drawing the gazes of every Sand Village ninja upward.
Wuye slowly descended, his wings of golden flame gleaming beneath the sunlight, making him look like a divine being...
The Sand Village ninja were stunned for a moment.
This was Konoha's legendary Hokage, the man who had cast the ninja world beneath his own halo for more than a decade...
Temari secretly curled her lip.
"Kirigakure Village paid two hundred million, Kumogakure Village paid three hundred million, and Iwagakure Village paid five hundred million." Wuye looked down at the elite Sand Village ninja before him, his tone casual. "How much does Sand Village plan to pay?"
The Sand Village ninja: "..."
The divine being had fallen from his pedestal...
Temari's face darkened. "Sand Village is the poorest. We can't afford it!"
Wuye folded his arms and looked at her calmly. "You can pay with people instead."
Temari: