Gaara looked at Kiyosuke with admiration in his eyes.
If only… my father treated me like that.
Yashamaru sighed gently and said in a warm voice:
"Gaara-sama, this gentleman brought you a gift. Would you like to accept it?"
"Th-Thank you."
Gaara carefully held the snake in his hands. Kiyosuke had deliberately picked a non-venomous one for him.
"Just feed it mice or whatever else you have—chunks of meat work too. You don't need to feed it daily; every few days is fine. It won't bite and isn't poisonous. It's cold-blooded though, so make sure to let it bask in the sun now and then."
"Got it. I'll remember that." Yashamaru nodded, then looked at Kiyosuke and asked:
"And you are…?"
"Just a passerby." Kiyosuke smiled. "You really care about this child."
"I do." Yashamaru looked at Gaara holding the little snake and said, "He's the child my sister left behind with her life. His early life has been full of suffering."
"Then he needs to be healed with love." Kiyosuke said, "Lonely people are always moved by kindness and affection—because they've experienced so little of it."
"You know who he is?" Yashamaru asked.
"I do. And precisely because I know, I pity him." Kiyosuke looked at Gaara, who was treasuring the snake like it was the most precious thing in the world. "My own child was a bit like him. But now, he has friends, and he's not alone anymore. I knew he'd grow up just fine, but having friends still makes life easier. If you're worried Gaara might get lonely, let him keep more pets. It can ease that emptiness inside. Dogs or cats would be best."
"I understand." Yashamaru knew Gaara's situation all too well, so he didn't ask how Kiyosuke had managed to help such a child make friends.
Everyone feared Gaara—not because of who he was, but because of the One-Tail sealed inside him.
Maybe, just as this man said… he should get a pet.
After all… he's just a kid. A child who doesn't understand anything!
Unconsciously, he clenched his fists.
"Well then, we'll meet again. Goodbye, little one." Kiyosuke waved and turned to leave.
"Mm! Goodbye, mister!" Gaara waved back, smiling so brightly for the first time as he looked at the snake in his hands.
"Gaara-sama, would you like to raise more pets?"
"Pets?" Gaara looked at the snake in his hands, then nodded.
"Yashamaru, you pick for me."
"Mm. Let's get a dog."
"Okay!"
...
Nightfall
When Kiyosuke returned, Pakura had already finished cooking. He washed his hands and sat down.
"I ran into your village's Jinchūriki today."
"That kid?" Pakura paused. "I know of him, but haven't really met him. Just like Naruto, he became a Jinchūriki at birth."
They had no choice in the matter.
Their fathers sealed Tailed Beasts inside them the moment they were born.
"But that child's situation is much worse than Naruto's. His father is still alive—and doesn't love him." Pakura shook her head.
Naruto and Gaara's situations weren't the same. In Naruto's case, the Fourth Hokage had no other option. The crisis at the time demanded a quick decision, and he also had hopes for the future. That's why he made that choice. He also trusted Kiyosuke to never let his son suffer.
But Gaara… The One-Tail was sealed inside him immediately. His mother died, and his father despised him. His siblings feared him. No one wanted to play with him—only Yashamaru raised him.
To Gaara, Yashamaru was more like a father than Rasa ever was.
He was Gaara's only source of comfort.
"Still," Kiyosuke said, "he has an uncle who loves him. As long as that uncle is around, Gaara won't grow up twisted."
If Yashamaru had lived, Gaara wouldn't have gone down the wrong path.
Unfortunately, later on, Rasa had Yashamaru attempt to assassinate Gaara just to test if he could control the Tailed Beast. He even said things that shattered Gaara's heart—causing the One-Tail to rampage.
"So? Are you thinking of using Gaara against Rasa?"
"Of course not." Kiyosuke frowned. "I'm not that ruthless. If I controlled Gaara to kill his father, he'd be haunted by that for the rest of his life. Children are the world's treasures. I could never do something like that."
To be honest, that had been his original plan—to provoke a rampage from the One-Tail inside Gaara, then ambush Rasa in the chaos and let him die in the crossfire. Afterward, Pakura would step in to suppress the Tailed Beast and be hailed as the next Kazekage.
But now… the plan had changed.
"Then what are you going to do?"
"Puppets."
"Puppets?" Pakura asked in confusion. "You don't even know Puppet Technique. What do you need puppets for?"
"To assassinate the Fourth Kazekage, obviously. I have my ways. Over the next few days, I'll steal some puppets. Oh, right—where does Chiyo live? I'll go steal some from her."
"Chiyo-sama went into seclusion with her brother. Her puppets are probably still in her old home, but you'll likely only find some damaged ones."
"Then there's no time to waste. Let's eat quickly and head there tonight."
"Fine."
The two of them sped up their meal, washed the dishes, and under cover of darkness, rushed to Chiyo's old residence.
After the Third Shinobi World War, Chiyo-sama had basically retired. She rarely involved herself in Sunagakure affairs. The last time she'd taken action was when the previous One-Tail Jinchūriki was about to die, and a new one had to be found immediately.
By now, she was fully retired and no longer concerned with the village's problems.
Her house had long been abandoned, so Kiyosuke and Pakura easily broke in.
"Huh. The old lady didn't set any traps?" Kiyosuke sounded surprised.
Pakura rolled her eyes.
"This was her home. Why would she trap it?"
"I figured she would. With her personality—and considering she was once a top-tier puppet master—her puppets are super valuable."
"Other than the Ten Chikamatsu Puppets, Chiyo-sama's puppets weren't much different from standard ones. Maybe a few more mechanisms. I never learned Puppet Technique, so I wouldn't know what made hers special."
"Who knows. Where's the storage room? Oh, there it is."
Kiyosuke found the storage room and stepped inside.
A flame lit up in his hand.
Suspended from the ceiling were rows of wooden puppets—each more unnerving than the last. The scene was eerie and unsettling.
If someone stumbled upon this in the dead of night, they'd be scared out of their mind.
"Puppet masters are freaks, huh?" Kiyosuke muttered as he looked around. "Working in such a creepy space… just look at this setup."
"Pretty normal, honestly. But there's a lot of puppets here."
"Doesn't matter. Let's grab a few first. I'll study them when we get back."