I am really sorry for the delay. I will try to post the next chapter in August but I can't promise anything. Thank you so much for you patience.
Chapter 6
After this break the three children left the shop a new envelope in hands. Temari opened it hastily and extirpated the last indication which they had obtained: "friend or enemy, protector or murderess, friendly or dangerous" were the words that Sasori had written on the small sheet.
''How can we be friends and enemy at the same time?'' Gaara asked
His two elders shrugged, no more advanced than him. This enigma was complicated, more than the others. Obviously their sensei had decided not to be nice to them. Time was playing against them, soon the two hours granted by the adult would be alloted and they would have failed. They could not fail, Sasori would not be happy and maybe he would not want to be their teacher anymore, not to mention their parents ... What would Rasa think if the children of the kazekage, his children, had lost against an enigma, and Karura, their mother who supported and encouraged them constantly ... No they were going to achieve it, too many people they loved would be disappointed if it was not the case.
"Friend or enemy," Kankuro murmured
"... protective or murderous ...", his sister continued.
"... friendly or dangerous," their younger brother concluded.
They repeated these sentences several times, how someone or something could be on two sides at once, it made no sense. By dint of thinking again and again a connection was made in them. It depended on which side you placed yourself, and they knew the object that was able to possess this duality.
"A weapon !" they exclaimed in chorus, which made them laugh.
''Vey well, then direction the Gunjinteki district. » Kankuro said.
His siblings approved and all three resumed their run in the streets of Sunagakure. The neighborhood they were going to join was also in the northern part of the city, and not far away if like them, you were aware of some shortcuts. While running, they discussed which of the arms shops was the one chosen by the jonin. They ended up opting for the one that sold several kinds of weapons and had the best reputation. They went in, and sighed when they realized there were a lot of people. They decided to split in order to know which employee held, what they hoped to be, the last envelope of this treasure hunt.
Gaara was wandering alone in the alleys of the shop, intimidated by the fact that he was no longer with h two elders. He was very shy in nature and did not dare to approach strangers. He stared at the man on a stepladder a few feet away from him, it was just the both of them in the aisle and yet the little boy could not open his mouth. He was desperately waiting for him to notice him and ask him what he wanted.
"If you do not say anything he will not see you," Shukaku pointed out.
"I know but he's busy, it would be impolite to disturb him" the little boy replied.
"He's an employee, he's used to being disturbed, and then you can not wait patiently for him to pay attention to you. It' only the first staff member we meet, and if he is not the our man we would have lost time. Sasori gave you two hours, you want your sister and brother to fail because you were scared. "
"I ... I'm not scared!" he said.
"Very well then prove it to me" the demon provoked.
''As you want !''
Gaara inhaled deeply to give himself courage. He was not afraid, he was going to do it. Shukaku was right he had to prove he deserved to be a shinobi and he wanted his siblings to be proud of him.
"Excuse me," he tentatively tried.
The employee did not hear him, and continued to put the boxes he had in his hand in the beam. The Sabaku No was not discouraged, he was going to show the creature that was sealed in him that he was capable of it.
« Please ! » he shouted.
The adult nearly dropped from his stool, surprised by the little boy's voice. He caught himself and looked down at the voice that had just called on him.
"Oh sorry I did not see you little man," he apologized as he walked down the steps of the stool. "May I be useful to you?" he asked him.
''I...I...''
The words were stuck in his throat, he was blocked and his hands were shaking. The man seeing this tried to reassure him by passing a hand through his hair.
"You're as reserved as my little brother" he said, "do not worry, I will not hurt you" he swore.
Gaara stared at him for a few seconds, he did not look mean, nor did he seem to lie. He smiled tenderly at him and still had his hand in his hair. The little boy relaxed, he had to overcome his shyness if he wanted one day to succeed his father at the post of kazekage.
"My sister, my brother and I are trying to solve an enigma that our teacher Akasuna no Sasori did for us, and I wanted to know if you had an envelope for us?"
"An envelope you say ... No it does not tell me anything, but I was on vacation these last days, I went back to work this morning, maybe that's why I do not know. You should ask my colleague Asae, she must be in the kunai department, do you want me to go with you? " He suggested.
"No, thank you very much, sir, I will find her by myself. Pardon me for abusing your time, and have a good day" he thanked, bowing respectfully.
"You're welcome, sorry for not being able to help you any more, good day to you too" the employee replied.
Gaara felt a little more confident, admittedly he did not get the envelope but he managed to speak with this stranger without stuttering too much and without the help of anyone. He continued his walk towards the path that had been advised to him.
He soon reached the shelf and noticed a woman wearing the same uniform as the man with whom he had discussed before. She was kneeling and marking something on a notebook.
''Hello'' he said.
She turned her face to him, and he noticed that she looked older than his mom but younger than Chiyo.
"Hello my boy, what can I do for you?"
He feels more at ease than with the adult male but because he was less fearful with women, and because she was at his height.
I would just like to know if a certain Akasuna no Sasori would have entrusted you with an envelope that his three students would have the duty to come and collect."
"It is possible, but what proves to me that you are indeed one of the people to whom I can give it?" she asked.
He furrowed his eyebrows puzzled why she asked him this question, the other people who had given them what they were looking for had not questioned them. It was strange. Suddenly he understood everything. She checked that he was the one to whom she had to hand over the piece of paper. She did not trust him naively, she did not know him and so was right to be suspicious. It was an experienced shinobi reflex, and if he wanted that envelope he would have to prove to her that he was the one to whom she had to hand it.
"Why do you have to get it back?" she asked when she realized he had grasped the reason for her behavior.
"My siblings and I have to solve a series of riddles prepared by our sensei. He gave us two hours to succeed," he told.
"For what purpose?"
"To test our logic, our sense of direction, and our ability to think in a limited time," he replied.
"Do you win something in return?"
"Yes, if we come back in the allotted time but we do not know what our reward will be" he said, anticipating her next question.
"You seem sincere, one last question, would you do anything to have it?"
''By anything she means kill her if necessary'' Shukaku said.
Gaara swallowed ... to kill her, he knew perfectly well that the ninjas sometimes had to murder to succeed on a mission, whether it was to recover an information, a document, an object, or a person ... Sometimes the very purpose of the mission was to take the life of one or more people who posed a threat to the country.
"I'd rather not, it depends on you, do you care more about your existence or about what I want, but if I could avoid killing you, I'd prefer" he confessed.
"You'll be a strange shinobi," she commented amused, "well, you deserved it".
She picked up the envelope he coveted in her notebook, and handed it to him. He took it without delay, smiling with pride.
''Thank you very much, maram, and have a nice day."
"You're welcome, my dear, and good afternoon to you too" she replied before he ran away.
Kankuro and Temari were going to congratulate him, they were going to smile and hug him like they did every time they were proud of him. He arrived at the end of the shelf at the same time as his siblings came out of theirs.
"I have it!" they shouted in chorus.
They widened their eyes before frowning their eyebrows, all three were surprised by the words of the other two members of his siblings.
"Wait a minute, it's impossible that you have it since it's to me that the store manager gave it" the brown said.
"It would surprise me a lot since it is to me that it was handed" the blonde contradicted.
"No it's me who has it" the little redhead objected.
"Let's go, let's clarify that outside" Temari pointed pushing her cadets towards the door.
Once outside they showed each other the three envelopes they had obtained. They were intrigued and confused, why did their teacher leave three envelopes this time?
"Maybe two are wrong and if we are wrong the one which was good would go up in smoke," the boy in the middle tried to explain.
His eldest sister and his younger brother sincerely hoped he was wrong, because at first sight the three pieces of paper were exactly the same.
"We could open them at the same time, what do you think?" the other male member asked.
Being short of time and ideas the two older Sabaku No accepted. What else could they have done?
"What is happening ?" asked Kankuro, who had closed his eyes.