Pakura walked through the sandstone archway that marked the entrance to the newly formed city along with the returning villagers.

The motif of a snake with nine claws, the antlers of a deer, the fleshy whiskers of a catfish and the mane of a lion was etched into the stone.

Each scale of the chimera glinted with a multi-coloured brilliance under the light of the sun.

It was apparently an azure dragon, or Qinglong if one went by the calligraphy on the apex of the archway.

If one looked closer, they would find that each scale had been filled with a glass of a different colour.

There was a total of four gates. One in each cardinal direction. The others had a tiger, a tortoise and a rose finch depicted on them in similar levels of detail.

The new city wall was square in shape and aligned perfectly with the square base of the central pagoda.

The city had been divided into four sectors via its diagonals:

The Azure Dragon sector was the residential area.

The White Tiger sector was the economic area.

The Rose Finch sector held all the schools and hospitals.

The Black Tortoise sector was for industries.

A 500-metre-wide belt had been left empty between the city walls and the sectors to facilitate military mobilization during sieges.

She walked through the residential complexes that had been arranged with both utility and aesthetics in mind as she watched shinobi from the logistics department scurry about apportioning the villagers’ residences and shopfronts based upon the title deeds they carried.

She stopped her footsteps in front of a hollow, perforated pillar of transluscent glass, reminiscent of a flute. It was one of many that dotted the village.

Around it was a circular patch of open land, cordoned off by a fence made of waist-high, ornately carved stone pillars.

A variety of ochre rocks with reddish venations were artistically arranged within it, forming a rock garden.

She narrowed her eyes at the golden filigree on the pillar.

A similar filigree could be found on all such pillars as well as the central pagoda.

It was the handiwork of the fourth Kazekage with his golden sand in collaboration with the monster’s power over flame.

The runes were similar to those on the city wall which maintained the new wind-based formation which manipulated the sandstorms outside the city into a natural barricade.

Her eyes widened in realization. That man was the source of the formation. Suna owed him another debt.

A complicated feeling welled up in her. A complicated mix of unwillingness and gratitude.

All he had to do was ask.

On a whim, he had interrupted the daily lives of all the residents of village and left them in a state of anxiety, cooped up within the shelters, for the three days and three nights he had spent on building the city.

In the confusion, many had prioritized their loved ones’ safety or lost the deeds of their property and were now homeless.

He had done it, not out of malice, but just because he couldn’t be bothered to inform them even a day ahead of time.

He had desecrated the graveyard.

Again, not due to malice but stemming from an indifference towards their sentimental attachments.

All he had to do was just ask.

Then again… maybe she was wrong to judge a God by the standards of mere men.

All that he had done had so far worked out positively.

But, from his manner, it was clear that, to him, the entirety of Suna was an interesting toy.

Sunagakure, one of the five great hidden villages, a plaything for a bored God.

The problem was, children often broke their toys.

The confusion slowly seeped out of her eyes as a cold determination took its place.

Taking out a shuriken, she once again studied the pillar.

It was similar to the pillars of sand, which had been the very first of his creations in the process of building the city.

Her intuition told her it was somehow important.

Flicking her wrist, she sent the projectile at the pillar with enough force to shatter it. Enough, that is, if it were a normal pillar of glass.

The golden runes flared and a thin membrane of light appeared on the pillar, deflecting the shuriken.

The air coagulated and the world drained of colour as a profound vision aimed at her.

It was as if she had awoken a slumbering monster and it was looking at her with displeasure.

She had experienced the oppression of a tailed beast before… it paled in comparison.

It was a struggle to keep herself from kneeling. She shivered, close beads of sweat seeping out on her forehead.

Then, just as suddenly as it had come, it disappeared.

She slowly straightened up, wiping the sweat away with quivering hands.

She was a ninja. She would endure.

She leaned against a wall, breathing deeply to regain her composure.

Breathe in. Breathe out.

Inhale confidence. Exhale doubt.

The mantra repeated in her mind as she felt the tension and worries drain away.

After an interminable amount of time, she resumed her journey to the central pagoda, the new location of the Kazekage’s office.

Her credentials were inspected at the bottom of the stairs before she was allowed up to the pagoda.

She paused before the gate to take in the sight of the building from up close.

It suffered from none of the problems you would expect a glass building to have.

The golden runes ensured its integrity as well as the privacy of its occupants.

The light seemed to distort within the glass, bringing out its beauty, at the same time, obscuring the sight of its interior.

Awed yet again by the prowess of the man, she stepped inside.

It felt like a new world.

From the interior, she had an unimpeded line of sight. The glass seemed to widen her field of vision, giving her a panoramic view of the entire city.

The sight of the tastefully arranged buildings made of sandstone in shades of ochre, grey and red, with highlights made of glass, took her breath away.

Her determination wavered for a moment before condensing. What he had given, he could take away.

Unless a method to restrain him could be found, he was too great of a threat to ignore.

She walked up the stairs to the ninth floor which housed the Kazekage’s office.

She paused to arrange her face into a mask of indifference before entering the office.

Rasa looked up as she entered, “Ah yes… I’ve been waiting for you. There has been reports of increased troop movements at the Hidden Mist border and you are to reinforce the investigative squad there to prevent them from being wiped out. Time is of essence. You should leave within tomorrow.”

Pakura accepted the mission scroll and with a salute, left the office.

A Kazekage who couldn’t protect the dignity of the heroes who had died for his village wasn’t a Kazekage worthy of respect.

She was sure this assignment was a ploy to keep her away from the village in order to reduce her influence and for Rasa to consolidate his own.

She didn’t care. Support for her cause had been flagging anyway, what with the display of might and the beautiful city.

She exited the pagoda and leapt from roof to roof until she reached her quarters.

Packing swiftly for her trip, she shouldered her pack and made her way towards the city wall.

By the time she reached it, night had fallen.

On a whim, she walked up the wall to a vantage point and turned back to take in the nightscape.

The soft moonlight illuminated the pillars, which glowed silver under its baptism.

The light from the lamps lit by the city’s populace was refracted and reflected between the glass highlights of the buildings until it seemed that the city was immersed in a multi-coloured fog.

It was a fairyland.

She ridiculed herself silently. Every glance at the new Suna weakened her resolve.

Maybe, leaving for some time was for the best.

Turning her head resolutely, she set out towards the Hidden Mist border.

At her speed, it took only a few minutes for the village to fade into the endless dunes that glowed silver under the moonlight.

She settled into a steady rhythm to conserve energy and let her mind wander.

One moment he wasn’t there, the next moment, he was.

His amber eyes shone with a hypnotic light as they met hers.

The last thing she heard before her world went dark was:

“Girl, I have an agreement with your superiors. It seems you aren’t very popular with them. But worry not, you’ll be very popular with me. I’m sure a first generation kekkei genkai like you will make for a great test subject.”