The setting sun cast long shadows over Sunagakure, and the heat of the day gradually gave way to the chill of night. Shira did not go straight home. He sat alone on a rock at the training ground, letting the sweat dry in the cooling air.
Once he had calmed down, a clear sense of danger replaced the passion that had filled him during the day.
He had stood in front of Gaara and rebuked those children. After that momentary satisfaction, the price might be far greater than he imagined.
Fourth Kazekage Rasa. The man who regarded Gaara as nothing more than a weapon and might already have begun carrying out a secret plan to eliminate him.
He would never allow an uncontrollable "unexpected factor" to approach his most important "weapon." Shira was a child with no background or talent as a ninja, whose parents were merely ordinary merchants. He could be erased at any time without causing the slightest ripple.
It was all too easy to "disappear" amid Sunagakure's wind and sand.
Taijutsu training could never be completed in a single step, and developing the Seven Heavens Breathing Method would require even more time and experimentation. He needed time and room to grow.
He needed to possess enough "value" to make the other party hesitate to move against him for the time being, or find a sufficiently influential "shelter."
His mind raced through the people in Sunagakure who might currently be able to counterbalance the Kazekage. At last, one name settled in his mind-Chiyo.
Ebizo's older sister, a legendary puppeteer of Sunagakure, a master of poisons and an unrivaled healer, with a status above ordinary affairs.
She was around sixty now and was gradually withdrawing from the center of power, but her immense prestige and still-formidable strength made the risk considerable.
Chiyo was eccentric, and disturbing her rashly might backfire. But she was the only person Shira could think of who might be willing, and who had enough influence, to make the Kazekage hesitate to act for the time being.
"I have to try." Shira clenched his fist, his gaze resolute. This was not an impulse, but the only path to survival he had found after weighing his options.
He did not go home. Instead, relying on his vague memories of the original story's descriptions and this body's knowledge of the village, he headed toward a more secluded area on its outskirts. It was where powerful members of the older generation lived in retirement.
After asking around and searching for a while, he finally stopped outside the courtyard of an utterly unremarkable-looking earthen house.
The courtyard was quiet and no different from an ordinary home, but Shira could sense an exceedingly faint scent in the air, a mixture of medicinal herbs and some kind of old wood.
He took a deep breath and straightened his training clothes, which had been soaked with sweat and then dried by the wind. Trying to look as respectful and presentable as possible, he raised his hand and gently knocked on the courtyard gate.
Knock, knock, knock.
The sound was especially clear in the quiet evening.
He waited a moment, but there was no response from inside.
Shira did not give up. He knocked again, a little harder this time.
A little while later, just as Shira was about to knock a third time, an old woman's slightly hoarse and impatient voice came from inside the gate. "Who is it? This old woman isn't selling anything, and I don't have time for idlers. Go on, get lost!"
It was indeed Chiyo's voice. Though aged, it was full of vigor and carried an unquestionable air of authority.
Shira's heart pounded. He steadied himself and spoke through the gate as clearly and sincerely as he could:
"Granny Chiyo, forgive me for disturbing you so abruptly. My name is Shira. I haven't come to sell anything, nor am I bothering you without reason. I have some questions about Taijutsu training that I haven't been able to resolve. I've heard that you're widely knowledgeable and well-versed in the many schools of the Shinobi World, so I've taken the liberty of coming to seek your guidance. I hope you can spare a moment to see me!"
He had deliberately avoided every sensitive topic concerning Gaara and the Kazekage, instead approaching her purely as a "student" seeking advice on Taijutsu. At the same time, he had paid Chiyo a small compliment on her learning.
There was a moment of silence inside the gate. She seemed not to have expected a child to come calling, much less say such things.
Creak-
The old wooden gate opened a crack. A short old woman with gray-white hair and a deeply wrinkled face, but remarkably bright eyes, poked her head out. Looking at Shira, who was still a little tot, she asked in puzzlement, "Taijutsu? Advice?"
Chiyo's tone was flat, but it carried an invisible pressure as she cut straight through Shira's pretext. "There's more than one Jonin in the village skilled in Taijutsu. Kid, speak plainly. Beating around the bush won't work on me. What exactly did you come to me for?"
Her insight far exceeded Shira's expectations. She had clearly seen at a glance that his request for Taijutsu advice could not be his main purpose.
Shira's heart jolted, but now that things had come to this, backing down would mean all his efforts had been for nothing. He took a deep breath and raised his head to meet Chiyo's gaze, which seemed capable of seeing through a person's heart. He decided to risk revealing part of the truth, hoping his sincerity might earn him a chance.
"You see through me, my lady." Shira became even more respectful, though his tone remained neither servile nor overbearing. "I came into contact with Lord Kazekage's son, Gaara, today. As a result, I may have attracted some unnecessary attention."
"I know how insignificant I am, and I fear that even this little bit of attention could bring consequences I cannot bear. I ask for nothing else, only the time and safety to continue training in Taijutsu and prove my worth. I heard that you are a pillar of the village, fair and impartial, so I came here at the risk of my life. I did not mean to deceive you; I only seek a chance to survive!"
He humbled himself as much as possible, made his predicament and fear clear, and elevated Chiyo as someone "fair and impartial," subtly expressing his intention to seek shelter.
Chiyo stared intently at Shira, and the air at the courtyard gate seemed to freeze. Naturally, she knew about Gaara's special circumstances, and she understood the Fourth Kazekage's attitude even better.
The child before her was frighteningly perceptive and remarkably bold. His mind was nothing like what a five- or six-year-old child should have.
A full ten-odd seconds passed before Chiyo slowly spoke, her voice betraying neither pleasure nor anger. "Kid, you're bold. And you're smart, but sometimes smart people die faster. What makes you think I'd go against the Kazekage's will for a nobody like you?"
"I wouldn't dare!" Shira immediately lowered his head. "I would never ask you to oppose Lord Kazekage. I only hope that, if some inexplicable calamity does befall me, you might, for the sake of our bond as fellow villagers and the slim possibility that I might truly forge a path in Taijutsu, ask a question or... let out a sigh."
Shira had chosen his words carefully. He was not asking Chiyo to protect him directly. Rather, he hoped that if he met with an "accident," a figure like Chiyo showing some concern or even merely raising a question would be enough to serve as an invisible deterrent against similar incidents that might follow.
At the same time, he had once again emphasized his "potential" as a bargaining chip.
Chiyo fell silent again. She looked at the child before her. His fear was real, but so were his ambition and calculation. A child with no talent for Ninjutsu wanted to make a name for himself through Taijutsu? And he wanted to borrow her influence too?
Absurd, yet somewhat interesting.
After a long while, she suddenly gave a grunt. Her tone remained cold, but she relented. "Taijutsu? Tell me, then. What are these 'questions' you can't resolve? If your questions are hopelessly stupid, get out right now."
Shira felt a sudden surge of relief. The old woman had given him a chance.
"Yes! Thank you, my lady!" He suppressed his excitement and immediately began asking his questions about breath control, balancing muscular explosiveness and endurance, and how to draw out the body's potential to the greatest extent without causing permanent damage.
These questions combined his knowledge of sports science from his previous life with his vague understanding of Taijutsu in this world. They were basic yet reached deep into the heart of the subject, and were far beyond anything an ordinary child could have asked.
Chiyo listened expressionlessly, but gradually, a faint trace of surprise flickered in her bright eyes. The kid was not just fooling around. He really was thinking about some very profound matters. Though his ideas were immature, the direction he was taking was somewhat interesting.
She would occasionally interrupt him with a pointed question or two, or challenge him with examples of precisely applied force from puppetry.
A visit originally made in search of shelter had, before either of them realized it, truly become a discussion about physical training.
By the time Chiyo finally chased Shira out of the courtyard, saying, "It's late, and a noisy little brat should be going," the setting sun had sunk completely beneath the sea of sand.
Standing outside the gate, Shira knew that his greatest gain today was not those scattered pieces of guidance.
It was that he had successfully planted a "seed" in Chiyo's mind-a seed about "a strange kid following the path of Taijutsu who might be worth keeping an eye on."
That seed might not be enough to make Chiyo step forward and stand against the Kazekage for him, but it was enough to give certain people a slight pause if they wanted to make him "disappear by accident."
That was enough.
Enough to buy him precious time. For the rest, he would need to prove his worth through sweat and tireless effort, so that the seed could truly take root and sprout.