Crushing the Hundred Puppet Performance, Temari's Kiss

The aftershocks of the white tiger had not yet subsided.

Sasori stood still, his ten fingers spread open, the broken ends of the Chakra Threads dangling weakly from his fingertips.

The sky...

One hundred puppets.

Not a single one remained.

Not even a fragment remained.

"... You say your art is eternal."

Naruto tilted his head, blue steam rising from his shoulders, and said in a tone as if he were talking about the weather, "But why do I feel like it's not even as long as the time it takes me to yawn?"

The scorpion did not answer.

He looked down at his empty hands.

I looked up again at the empty sky.

Then he did something unexpected.

He smiled.

That was an expression that a puppet body shouldn't have.

The curve of his lips was stiff and awkward, like a muscle component that hadn't been used in a long time being forcibly activated.

"Interesting."

His voice was very soft.

"Your body... is more perfect than any material I've ever seen."

Naruto didn't reply.

Because his senses were telling him something else.

Thirty meters away.

The Chakra signals within Gaara's body are rapidly diminishing.

Like a candle that's almost burned to the bottom.

"I don't have time to chat with you."

Naruto looked away, and the blue steam dissipated from his body.

The strain Gate of Wonder his muscles caused them to ache slightly, but the Sage Body's restorative abilities were rapidly healing the torn fibers.

He strode forward.

Scorpion didn't stop him.

"... I was going to ask you if you would be willing to become part of my collection."

The scorpion tilted its head.

Naruto paused for a moment.

He turned his head, his peripheral vision catching a glimpse of the exquisitely crafted puppet boy.

"That thing on your chest."

Naruto grinned. "It's your heart, isn't it?"

Sasori's optical sensors captured a fleeting glint of silver in Naruto's eyes.

--The biological perception of the Sage Body.

His secret was seen through at a glance.

"So."

Naruto continued walking forward, his steps unwavering.

"You just told me I had a forty-minute time limit, did you mean you wanted me to let you go so I could go and save people?"

The wind blows across the Gobi Desert.

Scorpion was silent for two seconds.

"... Maybe."

Naruto smiled.

The laugh was brief.

"You're lucky. I'm in a good mood today."

He walked up to Gaara, knelt on one knee, and placed his right hand on Gaara's chest.

Scalding golden Chakra surged from his palm, like midday sunlight pouring into a dried-up riverbed.

Yang Release).

The purest and most yang life energy was forcibly poured into Gaara's broken meridians.

The long-range Sealing Jutsu that was drawing chakra from the One-Tail Chakra —the moment it came into contact with Naruto's Yang Release, it disintegrated completely, like ice meeting boiling water, emitting a faint hissing sound.

"..."

Scorpion watched this scene unfold.

Then he looked down at the core that was flashing in his chest.

The dark red light grew weaker and weaker, flashing by.

It wasn't Naruto who did it.

It was him.

"Eternity...?"

The puppet boy's body slowly fell backward.

A small cloud of dust rose from the sand.

The dark red light went out.

Sasori of the Red Sands.

He died.

Gaara's chest rose and fell again.

Naruto withdrew his hand and wiped the sweat from his palms on his trouser leg.

I stood up and twisted my neck.

"Click."

A crisp sound.

Just then--

A cloud of dust rose from the horizon.

Dozens of figures rushed over at top speed.

The woman at the head of the group was a hunched old woman.

Chiyo.

And the pursuing forces of Hidden Sand.

They stopped about twenty meters away from Naruto.

It wasn't a deliberate stop.

My legs are weak.

Chiyo Chiyo's cloudy old eyes swept across the battlefield.

The ground is a sinkhole, hundreds of meters in diameter, as if it had been casually pinched by a god.

On the left – Deidara lies face down in the sand, missing half a row of teeth, motionless.

On the right – Sasori of the Red Sands's puppet body lies face up on the ground.

The scorpion-shaped container on his chest lost all its light.

In the middle—a boy with short blond hair, one hand in his pocket, is yawning.

Twelve years old.

One person.

Chiyo Chiyo's lips trembled three times, but she couldn't utter a single word.

A Hidden Sand Jonin behind him dropped his Kunai to the ground.

He didn't even realize it himself.

"Gaara is alright."

Naruto gestured with his chin toward the red-haired boy on the ground, "The One-Tail wasn't extracted, so he's alive. He just needs to recuperate for a few days."

To describe it lightly.

It sounds like they're talking about what they ate for lunch today.

Chiyo shifted her gaze from Sasori's corpse to Naruto's face.

She opened her mouth, as if to say something.

But another figure was faster than her.

A gust of wind swept through the crowd.

Temari).

Her face was pale, her lips were chapped, and her eyes were red-rimmed.

Having chased him all the way from Hidden Sand to here, his legs were almost completely numb.

But she was running.

He stumbled and fell as he ran.

One of the shoes fell off.

She doesn't care.

Twenty meters.

Ten meters.

Five meters.

Naruto turned around, just about to say something--

A soft, warm body bumped into his chest.

Temari gripped his collar tightly with Temari.

My whole body was shaking.

Her head was buried in the crook of his neck.

I didn't cry.

But his breathing was completely disordered.

Scalding hot.

Each breath struck Naruto's collarbone.

"... You've come."

Her voice, muffled in the crook of his neck, was so hoarse it was almost inaudible, "You really came."

Naruto didn't say anything.

He raised his right hand and placed it on the back of her head.

My palms are warm.

The movements were very gentle.

Temari's shoulder twitched.

Then--

She looked up.

Her eyes were red, her nose was red, and her ears were red.

Under the stunned gaze of all the Hidden Sand—

Stand on tiptoe.

He kissed her.

My lips are chapped.

But it's very hot.

It has a salty taste.

It was sweat from running all the way.

Chiyo: "..."

The entire Hidden Sand pursuit force. "..."

Naruto's right hand slid from the back of her head to her waist and pulled her closer.

They kissed for ten seconds.

Temari, took a half step back, and her ear tips were so red they looked like they were about to bleed.

She realized what she had just done.

In front of so many people.

In front of Chiyo.

In front of all the Hidden Sand Jonin.

Temari's face turned red from her neck to her forehead at a visible speed.

But she didn't bow her head.

Naruto looked down at her.

The corners of her mouth slowly curved upwards.

What's the rush?

He reached out and wiped a grain of sand from the corner of her mouth with his thumb.

"There's plenty of time to go back."

Temari slapped his hand away.

Her face turned even redder.

"... Shut up."

Naruto burst out laughing.

Then he turned around, picked up the unconscious Deidara from the ground with one hand, and carried him like a bag of trash.

With his other hand around Temari's waist.

"I'm back."

He glanced at Chiyo.

"Grandma, my brother-in-law has woken up. You can carry him back yourselves."

The golden figure embarked on its journey home.

Behind him, Gaara, who had just woken up, sat up halfway and watched the departing figure.

The perspective is complex.

Reverence.

Gratitude.

There's still a sliver...

I feel incredibly fortunate.

Fortunately, this person is on my side.