Arrival at Sunagakure

After hearing the situation from Sasorigane, I roughly understood the events and the problem they were facing.

Some time ago, a red-haired ninja arrived at their clan with an arrogant attitude, demanding that they hand over the summoning scroll and be its sole user. The matriarch disagreed and demanded that the ninja undergo the clan's trials if they truly wanted help. However, this reply did not sit well with the other party, so they left, but not before poisoning Sasorigane's children.

The Scorpion Clan has deep knowledge of poisons, so initially, they weren't too concerned and could suppress the poison with little effort. Unfortunately, the poison's composition turned out to be much more complex than expected, and their treatment only triggered cruel effects. After several days, several children died, prompting the matriarch to desperately seek a solution.

That's when the gold mine came into play.

Apparently, they discovered that they could use a large amount of gold to prepare a compound capable of significantly slowing down the poison's spread while their children were in a deep sleep. But even today, it continues to spread throughout the bodies of the surviving children, and they are in a state close to death.

"Last week, there were seven; now I have only five children left," lamented Sasorigane as he clicked his pincers. "If you can solve the poison, we won't need the gold, and you can keep as much as you want. I'll even agree to your request that my clan only work with ninjas from your village."

"Alright, but I would need to take a sample of the poison to the laboratory to examine it before confirming if I can do anything to remedy it," I said.

The scorpion matriarch guided us to the place where they buried the recently deceased children and allowed us to unearth them to obtain the necessary samples. The bodies were still quite fresh and well-preserved, so it wasn't difficult to get what I needed.

They were already dead, and helping their clan in this way was something they would have done without hesitation, at least according to what we were told.

"How much time do the rest of your children have?" I asked to know how much time I have to work.

"A month will be their safe limit; beyond that point, even if they recover, they will be incapacitated and unable to lead the clan," calculated the matriarch.

"Alright, I'll bring you news before it's too late," I assured her. "By the way, you've been here for a while. Do you know how much gold is left in the mines approximately? My project requires a very large amount, and if it's insufficient, I might need to buy more."

"We've just been extracting the gold without really counting it, as long as there's more after extraction, it's enough for us," Sasorigane shook his head. "I'll have the little ones look around, and I'll give you an exact number when you return."

It's really hard to tell if he's lying to my face, but it works for me.

"It seems that I might have to postpone the visit to Sunagakure for a while," I reflected.

I need to know the estimated amount of gold in this place to get an idea of how much I'm going to get and what the remaining figure will be. But at the same time...

I turned to Pakura, who looked back at me somewhat nervously.

Well, I guess I can make a small deal with Sunagakure as a favor to Pakura. The gold they'll give me will serve me just as well, and Pakura is quite eager to talk to her apprentice. As long as it takes only a couple of days to do things, I'll have enough space to work on analyzing this poison.

As for the identity of the attacker...

Red hair, arrogant, an expert in poisons...

I can only think of one, Sasori of the Red Sand.

He probably wanted to gain control of the Scorpion Clan to have a free supply of exclusive poison for himself or use their bodies to make puppets; who knows what was going through the mind of that eternal art addict.

As we exited the mines, I took out my Den Den Mushi and made a call.

Puru puru puru, kachak!

"Lord Enel!" Haku's lively voice sounded from the small snail. "How's the scenery in the Wind Country? Is it true that it's very hot? Did you see any interesting food? You could... hey!"

"Behave and finish the exercise Pakura left you," Mariko's strict voice took over, and the snail underwent a real-time aesthetic change for added evidence. "Lord Enel, how can I assist you?"

I blinked and checked the number I dialed. Wasn't this Karin's Den Den Mushi?

I understand she might be busy, and Mariko was probably close to her daughter, but why did Haku answer then? No matter, let's focus on the matter at hand.

"You still call me Lord..." I took a deep breath and replied. "There's been an unforeseen situation on the way to Sunagakure, and we're a bit pressed for time. I need you to tell Ameyuri to relocate the village as I showed her to some nearby place."

"Is everything alright?" Mariko asked with a more concerned tone. "Is Pakura still with you?"

"Yes, everything's fine," I assured her. "It's just that after finishing the matter in Sunagakure, I need fast access to my laboratory for something urgent. If all goes well, we could have a clan of chakra beasts working for the village."

"That's great news! I'll make sure to inform Lady Ringo."

Now she's also giving titles to Ameyuri?

"Thanks, don't forget to tell her that I miss her," I added, thinking about the future.

Who knows how my fiancée will react when Pakura tells her what happened in Iwagakure, although I'm inclined to believe she'll laugh a lot about it and tease me for weeks. I think it's better to "soften" any possible more... violent reaction.

After hanging up, Pakura and I found a desolate place to summon the Kinton cloud and accelerate towards the vicinity of Sunagakure.

Pakura had a deep knowledge of the patrols that had been using the same pattern for decades, and it wasn't complicated to avoid them. By the time we landed, I thought Pakura would use the transformation technique, but instead, she used special makeup and some clever kunoichi tricks (quite ingenious, I must add) to look like a completely different woman.

"I'll attract less attention this way," she told me in a higher tone, probably hoping not to receive as many looks as before, as no one will see her altering her appearance with chakra.

Both of us passed through the checkpoint at sunset, while people looked at me as if I were crazy because I wasn't wearing appropriate clothes to protect myself from the heat and sand.

Even more surprising, I have no signs of sunburned or irritated skin, scratches from the sand, or bites on my bare feet.

Even my pale skin is an anomaly for the locals.

But it doesn't matter; I'm here as a "Kage" willing to make a trade with the village, so there's no need to hide. In fact, if they know how much money I'll make them earn, they might try some things to gain my good impression and receive what would be a VIP deal. But first, let's find a place to spend the night.