Sunagakure’s architectural style was completely different from Konoha’s.
Most of the buildings were made from sand, clay, and concrete, giving the village a distinct appearance.
After entering Sunagakure, Shanks and Hatake Sakumo went to an inn.
“If I ever get another mission in the Land of Wind, beat me to death and I still won’t come,” Shanks grumbled.
“Whoever wants to come can come.”
His lips were almost cracked from the dryness, and his throat felt like it was burning.
“Stop complaining,” Sakumo said.
“What do we do now?
The jinchūriki is one of every village’s highest secrets.
It won’t be easy to investigate.”
“According to what I heard, the First Kazekage once asked Auntie Mito for advice on sealing techniques during the first Five Kage Summit,” Shanks said.
“And Chiyo is the First Kazekage’s wife.
Now that there’s a problem with the jinchūriki’s seal, she’s definitely involved.”
“As long as we find her, we should find the right place.”
“How do we find them?” Sakumo asked.
“We’ve never seen what they look like.”
“Well…”
Only then did Shanks remember something.
The current Chiyo was not the old woman who appeared in the anime.
Even though her husband was already dead, she was still a famous beauty of the shinobi world.
“Wait.
I have an idea.”
Sakumo thought for a moment and said, “The jinchūriki matter is definitely serious.
I estimate most of Sunagakure’s high-level combat strength is gathered around the sealing site right now.
Something this big can’t be completely unknown to the village.
Tomorrow, we can go out and ask around.”
“That works.
Let’s go out and walk around first.
There are a few eyes watching us.
Newly arrived refugees wouldn’t act uninterested in the village.”
Through Observation Haki, Shanks could sense several chūnin watching them nearby.
This was a normal procedure in every village.
They would observe the newcomers for a few days and withdraw if nothing seemed wrong.
“Come on.
Let’s see what Sunagakure has to eat.
We’ve been living on soldier pills for days.
My mouth is almost forgetting what real food tastes like.”
“Did you bring money?” Sakumo asked.
“Don’t talk to me about money.
It hurts our friendship.”
Shanks put on the air of a rich man and pulled out his money pouch.
Inside was a pile of large bills printed with the faces of the First and Second Hokage.
Sakumo covered his forehead.
“Yes, but we’re in Sunagakure right now.
And our identities are refugees from the Land of Wind.
How are you going to use a pile of Land of Fire money?”
“There’s such a rule?”
Shanks was stunned.
“Of course.
The academy taught basic national economy and regional knowledge.
Didn’t you know?”
Sakumo looked at him as if he were staring at a poor student.
“Damn it.
The ninja academy teaches that too?”
Shanks had never heard of it.
“For future missions, the academy explains the general conditions of every country,” Sakumo said proudly.
“Fine, top student.
Amazing.
Then did you bring any?”
“I brought some.
But since I didn’t know we were coming to the Land of Wind, I didn’t bring much.”
“Then after the people watching us leave in a few days, we’ll look for merchants and see if we can exchange some Land of Wind money,” Shanks said.
“Let’s go out first,” Sakumo replied.
The two entered a barbecue shop.
“Boss, four portions of barbecue,” Shanks called.
“Can you finish all that?” Sakumo asked.
“Heh.
When it comes to eating, everyone present is my little brother.”
Shanks looked proud.
Back in Konoha, if the Senju Clan had not been rich, they really might not have been able to feed a big eater like him.
After all, he had the physical rules of the One Piece world.
The stronger the body, the more heat and energy it needed.
Normally, Shanks could eat an entire wild boar in one meal.
Eating soldier pills all this time had been pure suffering.
“Did you hear?
Recently, there have been strange cries in the village at night.
The ninja lords have been moving around constantly.”
“Yeah.
My home is near that side.
Every night, a lot of ninja lords rush past my door.
I heard the strange sounds are coming from the cave behind the village.”
Shanks and Sakumo had just sat down when they heard two villagers at the neighboring table talking.
The two exchanged a look.
Shanks walked over.
“Hello, uncles.
I just arrived in the village today.
Didn’t people say this is the safest place in the Land of Wind?
Why would there be strange cries at night?
It can’t be a monster, right?”
Shanks put on a frightened expression.
“You’re one of the refugees who arrived today, aren’t you?” one villager asked.
“Yeah.
Our village was wiped out by bandits.
I barely escaped.
I heard Sunagakure has many ninja lords and is very safe, so I came here.”
“Safe is safe,” the villager said.
“It’s just that recently, strange sounds often come from the back mountain at night.
The ninja lords have already sealed the path leading there.
I heard Lord Kazekage is there too, so it should be fine.
As long as you don’t run toward the back mountain, nothing will happen.”
“Okay, I understand.
Thank you, Uncle.”
Then Shanks shouted to the shop owner, “Boss, bring these two uncles a pot of wine.
Put it on my bill.”
“Haha, how embarrassing,” the villager said, clearly pleased.
“It’s nothing.
I should thank you instead.
Otherwise, I might have wandered over there without knowing.”
Shanks returned to his seat and exchanged another look with Sakumo.
After finishing their barbecue, the two returned to their lodging.
“How was it?
What did that child talk about with the villagers?”
The chūnin monitoring Shanks and Sakumo had noticed Shanks speaking with two villagers, so one of them went over to ask.
“Oh, nothing much.
The two villagers were talking about the strange cries from the back mountain.
The child was afraid there might be monsters, so he asked about it.
He’s just a kid.
Of course he’d be curious about that sort of thing.”
The chūnin who went to ask clearly had children of his own.
“That’s fine, then.”
The leader of the monitoring team did not take it seriously.
After all, many people in the village knew about the strange cries from the back mountain.
They simply did not know it was related to the jinchūriki.
“Looks like the tailed beast is making a huge disturbance in Sunagakure,” Shanks said.
“Even the villagers know about it.
They just don’t know it’s a tailed beast.”
“Do we go back and report to Lord Hiruzen now?”
“Not yet.
If we go back and forth now, the ninja watching us may discover something.
We’ll wait a few days.
Once the monitors leave, we’ll go to the back mountain and check it ourselves.”
Shanks thought for a moment.
“They shouldn’t be able to finish reinforcing the seal in such a short time.”
“That works.
For the next few days, we’ll act normally.”
For the next three days, the two went out every day and wandered around as if everything in the village was new to them.
The ninja watching them finally withdrew.
The recent friction with Konoha was intense, and they had other tasks.
They could not keep monitoring two refugee children forever.
“They’ve left,” Shanks said.
“Tonight, we’ll go to the back mountain and scout the situation.”
“Shouldn’t we report to Lord Hiruzen first?” Sakumo asked.
“There probably isn’t time.
Haven’t you noticed?
The tailed beast’s cries have been getting weaker over the past few days.
I think they may complete the seal reinforcement tonight.”
“Then what do we do?
There are only two of us.”
“We’ll go tonight and look at the situation.
If there’s no chance, we leave.
There’s nothing else we can do.”
Shanks shrugged helplessly.
That night, the tailed beast’s cries were indeed much weaker than the night before.
“Move.
Looks like they’re going to finish tonight.
We need to hurry.”
Shanks grew anxious.
When the two reached the back mountain, they saw many shinobi guarding the outer area.
From the distant cave, strange roars still rang out from time to time.
“Too many people.
This is hard.”
Even Shanks had no good solution.
The weakest of the guards were special jōnin, and the Second Kazekage, Shamon, was probably inside the cave too.
If every person there spat once, they could drown Shanks and Sakumo.
“Let’s wait and watch,” Sakumo said calmly.
“If there’s no chance, we go back.”
From inside the cave, voices rang out intermittently.
“Shamon, you bastards!
Let me go!
Otherwise, I’ll make you regret it!”
“Shukaku, stay obediently inside Bunpuku’s body.
We won’t harm you.”
The Second Kazekage tried to persuade it.
“You bastards!
I’ll beat you all to death!
Yah!
Yah!”
The One-Tail’s resistance became more and more intense.
“Lord Kazekage, this won’t work.
The One-Tail is resisting too violently.
Bunpuku’s body won’t be able to withstand it.”
A beautiful brown-haired woman who was maintaining the seal gritted her teeth as she spoke.
Before she finished, the One-Tail spat out a Vacuum Bullet that slammed into the barrier.
Bang!
“Hurry!
Strengthen the seal with full force!”
The brown-haired beauty immediately shouted.
But the second Vacuum Bullet was already ready.
It fired.
Bang!
Crack!
Several cracks appeared across the barrier.
The shinobi guarding outside the cave also became tense.
“Looks like the One-Tail is resisting fiercely.”
Hearing the situation inside, Shanks decided to gamble.
“Sakumo, the moment I finish shouting, run toward the village entrance as fast as you can.”
Without waiting for Sakumo’s response, Shanks jumped out.
He pretended to be panicked and ran toward the cave entrance.
“Kid, you can’t come here.
Hurry back!”
The guards outside became alert when they saw an outsider approach.
But after seeing that it was only a child, they assumed he had taken the wrong path and warned him.
“Ah, I’m here to find Auntie Chiyo,” Shanks said anxiously.
“I’m her son’s friend.
Her son was captured by Iwagakure shinobi.
Please hurry and tell her.”
“What?
Lord First Kazekage’s son was captured by Iwagakure shinobi?”
The shinobi beside him immediately lost his composure.
He rushed into the cave to report to the Kazekage and Chiyo.
Inside the cave, Chiyo and Shamon were rapidly reinforcing the seal when a shinobi rushed in.
“What happened?” Shamon asked.
“Lord Kazekage!
Lady Chiyo!
Your son was captured by Iwagakure shinobi!”
The shinobi hurriedly reported to Chiyo.
“What?”
Chiyo’s expression changed.
“How do you know that?”
“A child came running outside just now and asked us to notify you.
He’s still outside.”
“Bring him in.
I’ll question him myself.”
Chiyo could not help growing anxious.
That child was her and the First Kazekage’s only son.