The next morning in the Land of Grass.
A sleek, black Indra's Ship had landed at the entrance to Kusagakure.
After stepping out, Shen handed a coded letter to the village leader of Kusagakure.
The Kusagakure Leader, who had originally planned a grand welcome, wore an oddly puzzled expression after reading the letter.
Shen, his Sharingan instantly activated, took a step forward. "You know my name, I assume?"
"I certainly know the name Uchiha Shen." The Kusagakure Leader quickly regained his composure.
As the leader of an allied village, he had naturally learned a few secrets from the Third Hokage.
Details like Shen being an Anbu instructor and division head were already well-known across the ninja world.
What he personally knew, however, was much more specific—detailed accounts of Shen's abilities in ninjutsu, taijutsu, and genjutsu.
"Good," Shen said suddenly, lifting his gaze toward the distant horizon. "Looks like I won."
"What?" Still confused, the Kusagakure Leader followed Shen's line of sight and saw a small earth-yellow speck flying across the sky. It all clicked in an instant.
"I'll organize our people as soon as possible. We can leave tonight."
"Thank you for your support," Shen said respectfully with a slight bow before walking over to the co-pilot's seat of the Indra's Ship.
"What is this?" Nayou opened the small box he handed her, puzzled by his gesture.
Shen pulled out the sunglasses inside and gently helped her slip them on. "We still need some disguise."
Nayou, who already exuded immense presence, looked even more intimidating once the sunglasses were on.
"It's time to get off. People from Sunagakure have arrived," Shen said, then turned and walked away directly.
Better not push the gentlemanly act too far.
Besides, he always felt that their current ambiguous relationship must be due to past physical contact causing misunderstandings.
"Hehe." Nayou's lips had barely curled upward when they shifted into a faint smirk.
When she stepped down and stood before the Kusagakure Leader, her presence intensified sharply once again.
It left Shen, standing with his back to her, feeling quietly exasperated and oddly moved.
Fortunately, the awkward silence didn't last long—it was broken by the arrival of Falcon Aircraft and Gerissen's cheerful laughter nearby.
"Little Shen! Long time no see! It's me, your Uncle Geri!"
At once, Shen wore a look of forced discomfort as memories of his embarrassing history in Sunagakure came flooding back.
He pursed his lips and turned his head sideways, pretending not to recognize this person at all.
Seeing this, Nayou couldn't help but smile slightly as she recalled that somewhat awkward yet strangely joyful memory.
Gerissen, completely unaware of being ignored, continued joyfully, "Little Shen, how come after a few years you don't want to acknowledge your dear Uncle Geri anymore? I even brought you a present!"
Hearing those words, both Shen and Nayou shivered involuntarily.
Gifts from Sunagakure could only mean one thing—those things again.
"Thank you, Uncle Geri. Nawaki will love it," Shen said politely while stepping forward, enthusiastically steering the conversation toward the figure still vomiting midair.
Gerissen smoothly stepped into the conversation, "Little Nawaki? I remember he loved eating these things the most. Isn't he here?"
"He's still flying up in the sky," Shen, who had successfully dodged blame, replied with a glowing face and a smug expression.
However, his happiness didn't last long before he spotted two approaching figures.
At just one glance, he recognized exactly who this couple was.
They were the mechanical engineering experts—those capable of turning living people into puppets while preserving their chakra and combat techniques—the parents of the Red Sand Scorpion (Sasori).
Moreover, they were also the victims killed by Konoha's White Fang using an unknown technique!
Stunned for a moment, Shen immediately associated their deaths with that terrifying move that sent chills down anyone's spine.
After a brief pause, he silently mourned for three seconds for the red-haired man standing before him, then instantly switched to a cheerful smile, "Uncle Geri, who are these two?"
Gerissen turned sideways and began the introductions, "Shen, these two are our Sunagakure commanders, Lord Mamba and Lady Angel."
"It's nice to meet you. I've already heard quite a few stories about you from Gerissen on the way here," Mamba said as he extended his hand.
After shaking hands, Shen turned toward Angel, "So this must be Lady Angel, Lord Mamba's wife, right? You two really are a perfect match."
"Oh come now, don't call me 'sister.' I'm already a mother of a five-year-old!" Angel side-eyed while slightly tilting her head, perfectly expressing her inner feelings.
"Really? May I call you Angel Onee-san then?" Saying that, Shen glanced at Mamba's bright red hair.
He couldn't help but notice something like a hat hidden in that wild red hair.
"Eh, of course you can." Angel smiled awkwardly, not expecting that she would still be called "sister" at her age.
"Thank you, Angel Onee-san."
Before the words had even faded, Shen's address had already drawn glances from two different directions—one directly in front of him and another behind.
"So may I call you Little Shen then?" Mamba, smiling, immediately counterattacked.
"Er…" Shen suddenly realized he might have been too enthusiastic.
And staring at the other man's fiery red hair made things slightly awkward, "Ahem, it's just that seeing Lord Mamba's red hair makes me feel especially connected somehow."
Suddenly understanding, Mamba nodded, "Now I get it! So it looks like young Shen here gets along well with the Uzumaki clan!"
"That's right, that's right," Shen agreed, deliberately choosing to ignore the awkwardness of the previous moment.
Yet once again, a chill crept up from behind him.
"Um… By the way, this is Nayou, my—"
"I'm his deputy minister," Nayou interrupted bluntly, wearing sunglasses and exuding an ice-cold aura.
Glancing left at the visibly embarrassed Shen and then right at the imposing Nayou, Gerissen instantly caught on.
"Little Nayou, could it be you're jealous? It's perfectly reasonable for young Shen to call Lady Angel 'Onee-san,' isn't it? Not at all excessive!"
This time, it was Mamba's turn to feel awkward.
Initially, he'd merely felt slight discomfort deep inside, but once things were spoken out loud, those feelings had mostly dissipated.
However, Gerissen insisted on reopening a wound that had just begun healing, exposing it right in front of everyone.
Mamba couldn't wait to vanish from sight, but he had no choice but to keep a straight face.
"I'm not jealous. He's just my superior officer."
When Nayou said this in a completely flat voice, everyone except Gerissen could feel the chill that suddenly filled the air—just a little, but definitely there.
Shen, who only wanted to build a good relationship with this couple, intensely hated his old "kidnapping" habit.
He, who dreamed of assembling the ultimate mobile suit—the one and only Gundam—quietly vowed in his heart to overcome this bad habit.
The couple on the other hand observed the cold-faced Nayou and the flustered Shen with great interest.
"How wonderful youth is," Angel murmured with a soft sigh, and just like that, the tension at the entrance of Kusagakure melted away entirely.
"Sorry, it was my mistake." Shen, choosing the practical path, reluctantly apologized to Nayou.
"Hehe."
A cold chuckle cut through the air, like turning the freezer dial down another twenty degrees—if Shen wasn't frozen before, he surely was now.
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