Ninja World Live Stream: My Pet Rabbit is Kaguya?!

"No need to worry about that," said Kitahara Kaede.

"Oh…" Shukaku thought it made sense.

After all, this was the guy who raised the Sage of Six Paths' mother as a rabbit.

Something like that… who else could even pull it off?

So yeah, it figured Kaede had the confidence to back his words.

Though, what Shukaku didn't know was—there was no need for Kaede to deal with Pain at all. Black Zetsu could handle it.

Or rather, the whole thing was orchestrated by Black Zetsu to begin with. If he couldn't even handle one measly pawn, then what business did he have being the mastermind behind the scenes?

······

Kaede and Shukaku arrived at the coastline.

They helped up the collapsed Naruto and Sasuke. Across from them lay a lifeless shell.

Sasori was one of the top-tier puppet masters, and the more skilled a puppet master, the more unique their craft.

So Sasori didn't just turn others into puppets—he had turned himself into one.

His body was fully operated by a green core.

Shukaku spotted the core. As a thousand-year-old tailed beast, it had seen a lot, so it quickly understood that while Naruto and Sasuke had defeated Sasori, they hadn't destroyed him.

Opening its huge mouth, it prepared to unleash a Wind Style technique to finish the job.

"Don't destroy it just yet," said Kaede.

"Huh? You want to return Sasori to the Sand Village?" Shukaku asked.

"No," Kaede replied. "Sasori is a member of the Akatsuki. We'll inform Amegakure and have them pay ransom to get him back."

"The Sand Village has already become a Konoha branch village, and they're broke. Consider it a bit of 'aid.'"

"Besides, isn't the first thing a new boss does usually about handing out cash?"

"Winning people over," Kaede added casually.

"And the poorer the Sand Village is, the more useful they'll be."

"Uhh…" Shukaku was dumbfounded.

"…Damn."

It realized Kaede wasn't even the one footing the bill for this whole "winning hearts" thing.

That's so like you.

Shukaku's mouth hung open in awe, then it quickly nodded enthusiastically.

Genius.

······

Naruto, thanks to his Uzumaki constitution, recovered quickly. Sasuke still needed some time.

Their battle against Sasori had been a hard one—possibly their toughest yet.

But it was also because of that—being pushed to the edge of life and death and fighting against Kage-level opponents—that they were rapidly growing stronger.

They really were the poster boys for "plot armor." And there were two of them.

By dusk, both were fully conscious.

"Sharingan!"

Sasuke revealed his eyes—not the familiar, somewhat embarrassing single tomoe, but now double tomoe.

He was making clear progress.

"So the mission's done. Are we heading back to the village now?" Naruto asked, already fully recovered.

"Nope," Kaede said. "Since we're here in the Sand Village anyway, let's take care of another hidden mission."

"Hidden mission?"

······

Next morning.

Sunagakure.

The environment in the Land of Wind's Sand Village was brutal—remote, full of yellow sand, and severely lacking in water. Even drinkable water was an issue, let alone anything luxurious.

These days, though, it wasn't even about lacking water.

Ever since the end of the Third Great Ninja War, when the Five Great Shinobi Villages signed another peace treaty, things hadn't been great for Sunagakure.

From the standpoint of the Land of Wind's leadership, the Sand Village was too weak to be worth further investment.

And unlike Konoha, whose ninja were in high demand and missions were plentiful, Sunagakure had no prestige. On top of their harsh environment, few people were commissioning their services.

That led to a vicious cycle—no funding from the Land of Wind, fewer missions, and a village that grew increasingly poor.

At this point, "poor" didn't even cut it anymore.

"Temari…"

"What do we do now?"

"Shukaku's gone, Gaara may be alive, but he's brain-dead…"

"And Granny Chiyo…"

"Granny Chiyo is gone too."

Inside Sunagakure's council chamber, Kankuro paced anxiously.

The upper echelons of the village had been in meetings since last night—but they were pointless. Midway through, the meetings simply stopped.

There was no hope.

Not long ago, the Kazekage had decided to take advantage of the Chunin Exams to attack Konoha—partly to show off Sunagakure's strength, and partly because if the plan succeeded, they could loot plenty of resources to help with their crisis.

It was also meant to prove their worth to the daimyo of the Land of Wind and secure increased funding.

The result? Maki-sensei was captured. 80% of their jonin and chunin were ambushed and detained near the Fire Country's borders.

Refuse to cooperate? Those shinobi weren't coming back.

So what did Sunagakure have left?

Granny Chiyo.

And now Granny Chiyo was gone too—traded her life to bring Gaara back.

But Gaara, now without Shukaku, was no longer a Jinchuriki.

So what use was he?

The few remaining higher-ups in the village tried to hold a meeting again… but they couldn't get past the hopelessness.

There were no options left.

And then they read the letter Kaede had handed them.

The one who killed the Third Kazekage… was Chiyo's own grandson.

Unthinkable.

The Third Shinobi War had cost Sunagakure dearly—now they learned the biggest blow came from inside?

The enemy was right beside them all along?

At this point, for the Sand Village, everything had reached rock bottom.

"There's no other way," Temari said. "We have to go with the original plan—join Konoha."

"Even if Granny Chiyo is gone…"

"Or rather, because she's gone, the rest might be more willing to accept it."

"This is the only way we can preserve what's left of the Sand Village," Temari added.

Sunagakure was already devastated—not only had they lost the Fourth Kazekage (who Temari never had much feeling for), but with his death, one of the village's pillars collapsed.

And now, the other pillar—

Is this what they mean by "tragedy seeks out the already suffering"?

Just as things were at their worst, more calamity piled on.

BOOM!

A thunderous sound rang out, the ground shook twice.

"What was that?" Kankuro froze.

Through the windows, they could see something—but only a massive figure outside.

Then came the sound of panic from the streets.

"Not good…"

"Shukaku's back…"

"Is he here to rampage through the village?!"

Shukaku rampaging through the Sand Village?!

Kankuro stood frozen as he saw Shukaku's massive hand tearing through the Kazekage's office.

You've got to be kidding!

There's no Kazekage there anymore! What are you even attacking it for?!

"Quick, go stall him—buy us some time!" Temari ordered. "I'll organize the evacuation."

"Huh?"

"Me… go fight?!" Kankuro was horrified.

Temari said seriously:

"There's no one else left in the village. It's just us now…"

"We need to lure Shukaku away and get the villagers to safety."

"But me—fight?!" Kankuro cried. "Can't I be the one to help evacuate the villagers instead?"

"..."

So basically, Kankuro chickened out.

Gaara was still mentally vacant from the soul-for-soul exchange with Chiyo, and without Shukaku, he was also weaker.

So now…

"Who's afraid of who…"

Temari seemed to be pumping herself up.

"Fine, you go help evacuate. I'll go stall him."

"I'll try to rally the remaining ninja to buy us time," she said.

"Ugh… alright."

Kankuro let out a breath of relief, but also felt a bit ashamed—because this meant Temari was probably walking to her death.

---

Chapter 270+ on my patreon.com/dzeref887

Update Schedule:

WebNovel = 3 chapters/day

Patreon = 10 chapters/day