Gaara glanced back at the girl approaching him.
"If I remember correctly, your name is Sakura Haruno, right? The girl who was always following Sasuke around..."
"Yes. Naruto, Sasuke, and I were all in Team 7, led by our teacher, Kakashi Hatake."
Sakura stopped, a bitter smile tugging at her lips.
"But that was all a long time ago..."
Gaara noticed the tear tracks on Sakura's face, still not dry.
"You've been crying..."
"..." Sakura lowered her head without a word.
Gaara said, "At your age, having only just survived the catastrophe that destroyed your home, I can imagine the blow your young heart must have suffered. It's only natural to have a good cry, so I won't laugh at you."
Sakura looked up. "That's not why..."
Gaara said, "Isn't that even better, then? Did you come to see me about something?"
Sakura wiped the tears from her face and said solemnly, "You heard what happened in Konoha last night, but did you know? Naruto only attacked the village because someone evil was controlling his body!"
Gaara nodded gently. "I know."
Sakura was stunned. "Y-you... how do you know?"
Gaara's gaze grew distant as he recalled the past.
At the recent Five Kage Summit, powerful enemies had attacked twice, and the Five Kage had faced death time and again.
Those two battles were the real reason the Five Great Nations had been able to form an alliance!
Just before the Five Kage Summit ended, Tsunade had earnestly asked the other Kage not to reveal that Madara had possessed Naruto and used him to attack the summit.
Without Tsunade's permission, Gaara did not want to break his promise.
"I have my reasons for knowing. So, you didn't come to me just to get this off your chest, did you? After all,