When Temari heard Hoshino's words, her brows knitted tightly, and the Three-Star Fan in her hand tapped against the table without her noticing.
"Can we really do nothing but stand by and watch the village go on like this?"
"Those civilian ninjas and villagers are suffering every day, and we can't do anything?"
Kankuro lowered his head and fiddled with the puppet Crow in his hands. "Xiaoye's right," he said in a low voice. "We really don't have enough strength to change anything right now."
Gaara listened quietly, the sand in his hand flowing unconsciously into little whirlpools.
Hoshino reassured them, "There's no need to be too discouraged. In the Shinobi World, strength is important. As long as we grow stronger, we'll face a lot less resistance."
Temari's brows eased slightly. "You're right," she said firmly. "Strength is the foundation. As long as we become strong enough, those nobles and elders won't dare stop us so easily."
Kankuro looked up, fighting spirit rekindled in his eyes. "That's right! Instead of complaining here, we should make the most of our time and get stronger."
Though Gaara said nothing, a trace of resolve flashed in his eyes.
Perhaps he didn't care what happened to the village.
But when the companions he acknowledged made a decision, he would stand beside them without hesitation and strive for their shared goal.
Protecting his companions meant protecting the most precious thing in his life.
"Since everyone's so fired up, let's make a promise... We'll get stronger as quickly as we can and change this village together!"
Hoshino looked at the three of them, a smile curling the corners of his mouth.
Temari sprang to her feet. "All right! Starting tomorrow, we'll be stronger every day than we were the day before! The Sunagakure Quartet can't be missing a single member!"
Kankuro and Gaara stood up as well.
Four hands stacked tightly together.
"Go, Sunagakure Quartet!"
Winter gave way to spring, and time slipped quietly by.
Over the course of half a year, Hoshino had grown considerably taller.
The nine-year-old boy's face had shed its childishness, his jawline sharp as if carved by a blade, while his black eyes alone held a composure beyond his years.
He opened the mission scroll.
[S-Rank Missions: 3, A-Rank Missions: 28, B-Rank Missions: 22, C-Rank Missions: 45] [Mission completion rate: 89%]
What stood out most, however, was the note written in vermilion ink...
Sunagakure defense plan leak: investigation terminated.
For a full month.
The leads Team Six pursued had always broken off at critical moments. They had also encountered some kind of unknown resistance, and in the end the investigation had come to nothing.
Hoshino suspected that the matter might have involved more than one or two factions inside and outside the village.
And the old woman who had raised him.
Starting in the second month, her movements had grown increasingly secretive. Sometimes she even vanished for days at a time.
Hoshino had tried asking her where she went, but Grandma Chiyo had always avoided the subject, saying only, in a detached tone,
"There are some things you don't need to know yet."
Even so, Hoshino had a faint feeling that Grandma Chiyo seemed to be investigating something in secret.
He chose to remain silent and poured all his energy into making a breakthrough in the Puppet Technique.
The Qi of Divine Machine Hundred Refinements flowed through the Chakra Crystals, giving the "Spirit Puppet" series of puppets a revolutionary transformation.
The three newly added hidden compartments for crystals could now store Ninjutsu of three different attributes.
With a single command, a Spirit Puppet could even independently carry out complex instructions such as "guard," "assassinate," and "disguise."
His companions' growth had been just as astonishing...
With her love and talent for Wind Release, Temari had made tremendous progress over the past six months.
At the same time, her control of the Three-Star Fan had grown more deft, allowing her to switch attack methods nimbly in battle and leave enemies unable to guard against her.
Kankuro, meanwhile, had devoted himself wholeheartedly to studying the Puppet Technique.
He had joined Hoshino in establishing a factory dedicated to producing the "Spirit Puppet" series of puppets and improving traditional puppets.
His role among the four had gradually shifted toward logistics.
All because of something Hoshino had said...
"In this village, apart from Grandma Chiyo, you four are the ones I trust most. I can't trust anyone else."
As for Gaara, Hoshino had kept a constant watch on his mental state.
He had even drawn on his knowledge from his previous life to analyze Shukaku's personality and get him to reconcile with Gaara.
It was too soon for Gaara to be a Perfect Jinchuriki, but at least Shukaku no longer interfered with his training or sleep.
To that end, Hoshino had also promised Shukaku that he would give him his freedom, and that he could have some contact with Gaara as well.
A child's temperament was always easy to coax, after all!
In an underground laboratory in Sunagakure, Hoshino and Gaara stood before a huge artifact-refining furnace.
Inside the furnace, various rare materials gradually fused under the intense heat.
Over the past six months.
While handling his Anbu missions, Hoshino had also gathered the rare materials needed to refine artifacts through various channels.
At that moment, Hoshino formed the Tiger seal with both hands.
The Gold Dust boiling inside the artifact-refining furnace suddenly went still, as though held aloft by an invisible palm.
"With Qi as the guide, with spirit as the furnace..."
The boy's clear recitation of the incantation echoed through the basement, and the runes engraved on the furnace walls lit up one after another.
Three Chakra Crystals floated above the furnace opening, intricate refining array patterns emerging on their surfaces.
By combining Divine Machine Hundred Refinements with Sunagakure's Sealing Jutsu, he had made the artifacts he produced possess the properties of both Qi and Chakra.
Chakra remained the energy supply, but the energy used to drive the artifacts was Qi.
Though it couldn't form Senjutsu Chakra, it still amounted to adding an anti-counterfeiting mark.
Before long, the liquid metal in the furnace churned violently, and the artifact-refining furnace let out a piercing hum.
"Gaara, it's time!"
The flow of Qi from Hoshino's fingertips surged, his Hand Seals so fast they left afterimages, and another twelve Chakra Crystals engraved with the character for "seal" floated into a ring.
The moment he finished speaking.
Dark red Tailed Beast Chakra seeped out of Gaara's body, gradually coalescing into a phantom image of Shukaku.
The fat tanuki folded his paws and said, "Let's get this straight first: I'm only lending you thirty percent of my Chakra!"
Maintaining the artifact-refining hand seal, Hoshino laughed. "I'll throw in thirty jin of takoyaki and an hour of free movement."
"Deal, I'll give you fifty percent!"
Shukaku's tail slapped the ground excitedly, and his Chakra poured into the furnace like a torrent.
The liquid metal in the artifact-refining furnace churned violently under the impact of the Tailed Beast Chakra.
Hoshino bit the tip of his tongue, and his essence blood, mixed with threads of Qi, pierced into the boiling metal.
"Qian, three unbroken lines; kun, six broken lines... Split!"
At his command, the liquid metal burst apart into twelve perfectly round golden beads, a zodiac animal appearing in relief on the surface of each.
Rat of zi, ox of chou, tiger of yin, rabbit of mao... The twelve earthly branches flowed across the beads' surfaces.
Shukaku's Chakra turned into a sandstorm that ground the Chakra Crystals into stardust, which formed miniature Bagua arrays at the beads' cores.
"Dog of xu guards the west, dragon of chen coils in the east..."
Hoshino's ten fingers flew like they were weaving through flowers, and seventy-two threads of Qi wove a celestial star chart between the beads.
When the last Boar Bead settled into place.
The twelve golden beads suddenly rang out with a deep, resonant chime. Strung together by an invisible thread, they came to rest around Hoshino's wrist.
"We did it!"