The thought had already started creeping into Naruto's head.
Was there something going on between Akira and Sakura that nobody knew about?
The more he thought about it, the more bitter it made him feel. Even if Sakura wasn't going to choose him, then shouldn't she at least wait for Sasuke to come back?
The way she had just volunteered to stay behind with Akira was way too unusual. It was hard not to read into it.
And on top of that, Naruto had already been suspicious back at the inn, wondering whether the two of them had been up to something behind closed doors.
Now, with Sakura acting like this, it felt to Naruto like his suspicions had just been confirmed. He wasn't an idiot. He could tell when there was a weird kind of tension floating between a guy and a girl.
After all, they were all sixteen now. In this world, that already meant adulthood.
At an age when emotions and hormones ran wild, it was perfectly normal for Naruto to start thinking along those lines.
But right now, the priority was recovering Gaara's body.
There was no way he could let that blond bastard run off with it.
So even though his thoughts were a complete mess, Naruto swallowed all of it and didn't say a word.
Akira, for his part, frowned slightly too, but he had no interest in explaining himself.
Kakashi and Naruto had a very good chance of catching Deidara.
Deidara had just used a large-scale jutsu, which meant his chakra reserves had to be running low. Kakashi could handle him.
And after the Nine-Tails had just been put firmly in line by Akira, Naruto's own Tailed Beast power was stable enough as well.
The moment Sakura spoke, she actually regretted it a little.
Naruto had already gotten the wrong idea yesterday, and now here she was volunteering this openly. At this point, there was no way to clear it up cleanly.
But then she thought it through again. She really was staying for tactical reasons. After all, she was the only one there who could neutralize Sasori's poison.
Once Kakashi left with Naruto, who kept glancing back over his shoulder every few steps, Chiyo's clouded old eyes flashed with sudden understanding, as if she had pieced together the whole story for herself.
"Young lady, this old woman thinks your taste is quite good. Akira really does seem far more dependable than those other two boys."
Chiyo had clearly mistaken the whole thing for some standard love triangle.
To her, scenes like that were nothing new. In shinobi teams across every hidden village, two boys competing over one girl was practically tradition.
In fact, one of the original ideas behind the three-person squad system had been to use that subtle dynamic between boys and girls to stabilize and motivate the team.
The girl in the group often became both the driving force behind the boys' growth and the lubricant that softened their conflicts.
It was an unspoken rule of team building across the great villages.
At those words, Akira's brow furrowed even deeper.
Sakura froze too, then turned bright red.
When she glanced over and saw Akira frowning, panic flashed across her face. She immediately started waving her hands in denial.
"Chiyo-hime, you've got the wrong idea! It's really not like that! I already like someone, and it's not Akira, and it's not Naruto either!"
As she said it, she cast Akira an apologetic side glance.
Because more than anyone else, she knew Akira had no interest at all in getting tangled up in that sort of nonsense.
Akira simply smoothed out his expression again, not in the least inclined to dwell on such a trivial interruption.
Very soon, his cold gaze shifted and locked onto Sasori.
"I have to admit, I didn't expect an explosion on that level to leave you alive. But either way, you're not getting out of here today."
"The puppet prodigy Sunagakure once called a once-in-a-century genius... I've been curious to see what that really means."
Akira looked toward the figure hidden inside Hiruko, the corner of his mouth lifting slightly.
But facing Akira, Sasori felt no ease whatsoever.
He knew better than anyone how destructive that earlier explosion had been, yet the ground around Akira hadn't even been torn up.
That level of defense felt absurd no matter how he looked at it.
Sasori's hoarse voice rasped out from inside the puppet shell.
"Itachi Uchiha mentioned before that you were strong. Kisame Hoshigaki also said you once injured him badly. At the time, when I heard you were only thirteen, I thought they were exaggerating. Looking at you now, I'd say you do have some substance."
Akira gave a small laugh. "Only some substance? Fine. It doesn't matter. There are only two endings for you today. Either you go back to Sunagakure and stand trial, or you leave your life here."
"I imagine Chiyo-hime didn't come all this way at her age for reasons much different from mine."
Beside Akira, Chiyo stepped forward with a grave expression and shouted sharply, "Sasori! Why did you defect in the first place?! And the Third Kazekage's disappearance... did you have anything to do with it?!"
In truth, Chiyo wanted with all her heart not to hear a yes.
Because if Sasori admitted it, then there would be no road left but one that ended in blood. Even as his grandmother, she would have no choice but to put duty before family.
Assassinating the leader of a hidden village was too great a crime.
And in a way, the Third Kazekage had also been one of Chiyo's own students.
The First, Second, and the village leadership had poured everything they had into shaping the Third Kazekage into a masterpiece.
His Magnet Style had stood above all of Sunagakure's history. He had been hailed as the strongest Kazekage of any generation.
He was supposed to be the village's hope, the pillar that would carry Sunagakure into a new age.
And yet that very man had vanished without a trace.
If Sasori had truly done it, then Chiyo had to give the village an answer.
Her eyes stayed fixed on him, filled with both pain and desperate hope.
Sasori looked at the only blood relative he had left in the world.
He stayed silent for a long while.
Then, in a voice empty of any visible emotion, he answered:
"Old woman... your guess was right. That's exactly what happened."