My Techniques are a bit off

The next day, afternoon, near Sunagakure in the desert.

Link stood atop the head of the Mountain Drake, gazing at the Fourth Kazekage and his son, who were standing at some distance, using gold dust and sand beneath their feet to float.

Yesterday, the very first major hidden village he had single-handedly challenged was Kumogakure, followed by Kirigakure, interspersed with various small hidden villages.

Early this morning, he set off once again, directly speed-running Iwagakure—famously the most stubborn "hard bone." Yet no matter how tough the bone, or how hot-tempered one might be, in the face of outright power, it was all just a joke.

He left Sunagakure for last.

"Are you really the Link I know?"

Gaara asked, his expression heavy.

He couldn't understand how this friend of his, who had once changed his life and whom he and his siblings admired so much, could have become so deranged and unfamiliar. Also, since when did his friend adopt this hairstyle with bangs and glasses?

Link calmly surveyed them. This morning before setting out, he had carefully styled his bangs, which now fluttered slightly in the desert wind as he wore a wide-sleeved robe.

He spoke unhurriedly:

"No longer the Link you once knew?"

"Such a pity."

"Gaara, that Link you believed in…never existed to begin with."

"Nice!" someone thought. "Having a cooperative partner to help me act this scene out feels awesome." He strove to keep his face and gaze just the right amount off-kilter so Utakata's recording would be extra clear.

As for the background, Sunagakure at this moment was practically silent, a hush over everything. Countless shadows had surged into the village in an instant, deciding the outcome before they could put up a fight.

The weakest of those shadows possessed physical prowess on par with a special jōnin; the strongest could fight evenly with top-tier Kage-level. Adding their huge numbers, in an instant they could have leveled Sunagakure, had they wished.

"…"

The Fourth Kazekage's expression turned very complicated. After a moment of silence, he said:

"You once told me to try trusting Gaara as a father. But can you still make Gaara trust you now?"

"Heh."

Link curled his lips upward.

"So-called 'trust' is a form of dependence, a behavior of the weak."

"But I can't blame you for that."

"After all, humans are that kind of being."

"Putting faith in someone stronger than oneself; if they don't obey, they won't survive."

As he spoke, the shadowy army, like a vast tide, returned from within Sunagakure, merging back under Link's feet upon the Mountain Drake's head.

"Gaara, the sky, in fact…is colorless."

"It didn't lie to you—only your eyes lied to themselves."

"Heh."

The Mountain Drake raised its massive head, flapped its wings once, lifting its body into the air—allowing its master to finish that final, dramatically "cool" line:

"Admiration…is the greatest distance from real understanding."

With that, the Mountain Drake accelerated abruptly and, in an instant, carried Link and Utakata off beyond the horizon.

Gaara stood stunned, staring off into the distance.

"Let's go back and prepare," the Fourth Kazekage calmly said. After all, last night they had gotten word of what had happened in Kumogakure and Kirigakure. Through communication lines, they knew that if the Sixth Hokage was truly insane enough to face the entire world, they had to resist.

They'd guessed the Hokage might show up, so neither Iwagakure nor Sunagakure put up much intense resistance—just a few probing attempts.

But none of it was effective. They still didn't know what had happened in Konoha or why the Sixth Hokage was acting like this. That bizarre shadow jutsu—how to handle it? As of now, it was anyone's guess.

"Link wouldn't do this."

Gaara suddenly murmured.

The Fourth Kazekage glanced sideways at him, saying nothing.

"He's not like this," Gaara repeated resolutely.

"He was always so gentle."

"He must have some other reason. I want to go find him!"

With that, he formed a single seal, sand raising him into the sky toward where the Mountain Drake had departed. But soon, gold dust locked him in place.

Holding out a hand, the Fourth Kazekage controlled the gold dust without harming his son the Jinchūriki, and in a low voice commanded:

"Go back."

No room for objection.

Gaara looked at his father's emotionless eyes for a long while before lowering his gaze.

Trust—still too difficult. If even his own father couldn't trust his son, could he, in turn, trust Link?

"Not bad, not bad."

Link finished watching the recorded footage and nodded in satisfaction. Taking off the uncomfortable glasses he had worn, he remarked to Utakata:

"You've really got potential—you could be a proper cameraman!"

"A movie cameraman?"

Utakata asked curiously.

In the shinobi world, films certainly exist, and Konoha has had movie theaters for ages, plus some TV programs. But everything is backward compared to, say, Earth—there was rarely time to develop entertainment, given the constant wars.

"About that level," Link said while editing the video inside Web Net.

"If one day we want a Web Net Cinema, filming movies we can share on Web Net, we can do it. Right now, the movies out there are mostly kids' adventures or romance, even some borderline adult films. But we can make comedies, horrors, fantasies—any kind. Web Net simplifies the filming process a lot. I've already tinkered a bit, setting up a simple editing tool."

"How would we shoot a comedy, for instance?"

Utakata asked, intrigued.

"Well, for example—"

Utakata listened in silence, occasionally asking questions. Though outwardly calm, he was quietly excited. Filming some fictional stories as a movie for all to see sounded really interesting.

Having roamed around alone in the past, he'd never encountered anything like that. Now, hearing it from Link, it indeed made his heart race.

"Tsk, I do look so dashing as Aizen—no, I mean, wow, I look awesome," Link chuckled lightly while editing. Then he sighed regretfully:

"Only issue is, I looked a bit too short. You should have used more upward camera angles from below, so the perspective makes me look imposing."

"Er, but in those situations, lying down on the Mountain Drake to get that angle wouldn't have been very convenient."

Utakata couldn't help but laugh.

"Ha… guess that's the trade-off."

~~~

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