Becoming more passionate wasn’t necessarily a bad thing.
Young people ought to act like young people.
What Daimaru disliked was the sudden eruption of emotions, when uncontrollable impulses caused undesirable consequences.
Fortunately, over the years, he had learned quite a few methods to sort out and guide his emotions.
Through proper self-discipline, he had never stopped training rigorously.
He couldn’t claim his strength had improved by leaps and bounds, but his foundations were exceptionally solid.
Otherwise, there was no way he could have repeatedly escaped disaster in the perilous Land of Wind.
By the time Daimaru finished washing up, the female ninja next door had apparently grown tired and finally stopped cursing.
Living in a communal apartment had its drawbacks.
If you happened to get a bad-tempered neighbor, life could become rather miserable.
And Daimaru had been particularly unlucky.
When he first moved in, this had been the only vacant suite available.
At the time, he had wondered why such a good room had been left empty.
Now he knew the reason.
His neighbor, Sayo, was a female ninja with an exceptionally foul mouth and a vicious temperament.
She specialized in puppet techniques and mental secret arts.
Originally, she could have been considered a young lady from a respectable family, yet she had chosen to move here instead.
Her relationships with the surrounding residents were poor, and after Daimaru moved in, arguments between the two occurred every few days.
Fortunately, everyone usually left early and returned late, rarely seeing one another.
Their conflicts never escalated beyond verbal exchanges.
Listening to the howling wind outside the window, Daimaru gradually drifted off to sleep.
…
Early the next morning, a refreshed and energetic Daimaru headed out briskly.
The traces left behind by Gaara’s loss of control the previous night had already been cleaned away, as though nothing had happened.
Following the familiar streets, Daimaru arrived at a familiar doorway just in time to run into one of his teammates of many years opening the door.
“Yo, Tokiri.
Long time no see.”
Daimaru greeted him warmly and threw an arm around his shoulders.
“Did you miss me?
Things must’ve been inconvenient without me on missions, right?
Starting today, I’m back—”
Caught off guard by Daimaru’s enthusiasm, Tokiri looked awkward and said apologetically,
“Daimaru, I’m sorry.
A lot has happened while you were gone.”
“A lot?”
Daimaru looked at the uncomfortable Tokiri in confusion.
“You look strange.
Are you feeling unwell?”
“No, that’s not it.”
Tokiri answered guiltily.
“During that last C-rank mission, none of us expected you to survive, so…”
“That’s right.
What’s the problem?”
As Daimaru grew older, more and more memories had become clear.
Although this body’s physical qualities were decent, it seemed to be cursed with terrible luck.
During nearly four years as a Genin, he had encountered all sorts of bizarre accidents.
More than two months ago, he had even faced what had seemed like certain death, swallowed by the endless sea of sand.
From top to bottom, nobody in Sunagakure had believed Daimaru could survive such a hopeless situation.
To honor his heroic sacrifice, the village had posthumously awarded him the title “Red Sandstorm.”
Unexpectedly, after the fact, Sunagakure’s ANBU corpse disposal unit had dug the barely living Daimaru out from the sea of quicksand.
As winter passed and spring arrived, the Sunagakure hero “Red Sandstorm,” who had narrowly escaped death, recovered completely.
Thus, today, he had come to visit his former teammates.
“Actually…
our squad has already received a replacement member…”
Tokiri bowed deeply, unable to meet Daimaru’s eyes.
“I’m truly sorry!”
“What do you mean?”
Daimaru took a moment to process what he had just heard.
“You mean…
you don’t need me anymore?”
“I’m sorry.
At the time, all of us thought you were already dead, so…”
“Did Teacher Satetsu agree to this?”
Satetsu was a veteran bald Jonin of Sunagakure and, officially, Daimaru’s squad leader.
“He originally disagreed.
But later, mission requirements became too urgent, and they had no choice but to temporarily add someone else.
Things just ended up this way.”
The matter had already been settled.
There was nothing Daimaru could do about it.
“Who is the new member?”
“Komaza.
You know him—that guy with the terrible temper.”
“Him, huh.”
His abilities were acceptable, but he was arrogant, conceited, looked down on others, and wasn’t particularly popular.
Lowering his voice, Tokiri said,
“Honestly, we all think you were the better teammate, but now…
it’s too late.”
“Then…”
Daimaru released his grip from Tokiri’s shoulder.
His mouth opened slightly, yet he didn’t know what to say.
“I have something else to do, so I’ll be leaving first.
Take care of yourself.”
After saying that, Tokiri walked away without looking back.
In the blink of an eye, Daimaru had become all alone.
He smiled bitterly.
Originally, he had planned to take several missions before the Chunin Exams, earn some money, and purchase better-quality ninja tools.
Now, all those plans had gone up in smoke.
Depressed, Daimaru returned to his apartment.
After thinking for a long time, he found himself unwilling to accept reality.
If this continues, things are going to get bad.
Forget participating in the Chunin Exams or the Konoha Crush operation—even a lone Genin isn’t qualified to accept missions.
Am I supposed to just watch Temari and Nara Shikamaru flirt with each other?
His plan to extinguish the budding romance between those two before it even began was about to die before it had even started.
According to his original strategy, he could either eliminate the still immature Team Ten inside the Forest of Death, knocking them out directly, or lead his own squad through the trials and disrupt the order of the third preliminary matches.
As long as Temari and Nara Shikamaru were placed in different brackets and never interacted, Daimaru’s objective would essentially be accomplished.
But now, it seemed that his greatest obstacle was simply obtaining the qualifications to participate in the Chunin Exams.
His luck truly was terrible.
After exhausting every possibility and finding no solution, Daimaru finally steeled himself and decided to request an audience with the Kazekage.
He had done nothing wrong.
Tokiri and the others couldn’t really be blamed either.
But the issue of him having nowhere to belong required someone with authority to solve—and in Sunagakure, the highest authority was the Kazekage.
Wasn’t it perfectly reasonable for his future father-in-law to solve his future son-in-law’s problems?
Sunagakure’s administrative headquarters was spacious and imposing.
After waiting for quite some time, Daimaru finally received permission to enter.
Unlike the approachable atmosphere of Konohagakure’s Hokage, Sunagakure’s environment felt noticeably more severe and oppressive.
Daimaru could not clearly see the appearance of the Fourth Kazekage, Rasa.
Dressed in robes, wearing a broad hat, and with a dust veil covering his face, the Fourth Kazekage appeared exceptionally mysterious.
“So you’re Daimaru.
What business do you have with me?”
“Lord Fourth, I’ve encountered a problem that only you can solve.
I had no choice but to trouble you.”
“Oh?
Let’s hear it.”
“It’s like this…”
With a serious expression, Daimaru briefly recounted how he had been gloriously declared dead in the line of duty, only to survive by sheer luck and return to find himself with nowhere to go.
“Lord Fourth Kazekage, I originally hoped to become a Chunin as soon as possible and devote myself wholeheartedly to the village.
I never expected everything to come to nothing.”
“I humbly ask Your Excellency to give me another opportunity so I may continue serving the village faithfully.”
(End of Chapter)