The cavern remained eerily silent for a few moments, the only sound the fading crackles of the fire. The scent of blood melded with the stale air, thickening the atmosphere.
Temari's fan moved slightly in her grip, the leather making a faint sound. She approached Isan with a stony face.
"You executed a trainee from Sunagakure."
"A traitor.", Isan corrected, his voice unwavering. "One who watched his comrades fight for their lives and did nothing. One who switched sides before we even set foot here. And, most importantly, one who left you behind to die."
Temari didn't break eye contact. Outwardly, her voice stayed cold, steady, perfectly controlled.
"That's not your decision to make. Judging him, punishing him… that's the Kazekage's responsibility. Not yours. And especially not when you are a mere trainee."
Inside, though, her thoughts were far less certain.
She knew Isan was right. Juro had abandoned them during the sandstorm, leaving her and Maiku for dead. Then he'd turned up in a bandit camp, breathing the same air as the men who had beaten, chained, and nearly killed Suna's trainees. If it had been up to her, she would have dragged him before her father and let the Kazekage's judgment fall swift and merciless.
But that wasn't what happened.
And as much as she wanted to say Isan had acted without honor, a part of her, the part that had grown up watching her father keep Suna alive through brutal and pragmatic decisions; understood exactly why he'd done it. Juro would have been a liability on the trek home. Worse, he might have betrayed them again.
Still, she couldn't let that truth show. If the others started believing any trainee could decide who lived or died, the fragile order holding them together would shatter.
With a show of anger in her tone, she said.
"Isan, you're not the Kazekage. You don't get to choose who lives and dies."
He met her gaze steadfastly.
"I may not have the authority to judge. That belongs to Lord Kazekage."
Temari's lips twitched into a faint smile at his concession… until she heard his next words.
"But I won't let some cowardly rat live when he endangered my life, or the lives of those I care about."
The words rippled through the group like a cold wind. Some trainees looked away; others shifted uneasily, glancing between Temari and Isan, waiting to see if she'd reprimand him or side with him.
Shira broke the tension first.
"…What do we do with him?", he didn't look at Juro when he spoke.
Isan answered without hesitation.
"Even though he was a rat, he was still one of us. What do you think, Temari?"
"…Sure.", she said after a pause. "We bury him outside. Deep enough that the wind won't uncover him."
Two trainees exchanged glances before stepping forward. They took Juro's arms and began dragging the body toward the cavern entrance. Shira, silent, picked up the severed head and followed.
Temari turned back to Isan.
"This isn't over. You think this makes you strong, but it makes you dangerous."
Isan only nodded, unreadable.
Nevertheless, her warning although sweet and considerate in nature, was unnecessary.
He knew that the current Kazekage was a paranoid and jealous man - one who had brought more harm to the village than care or stability. A man that had his children grow into weapons he could use, planning and aiding in killing the Hero of Sunagakure, and, in the future, someone that would ally with Konoha' missing-nin, Orochimaru, to attack Konoha, only to receive what he deserved at the end.
Even though this last one had a good justification behind it - Suna's economy and influence had been in steady decline, the Wind Daimyō increasingly turning to Konoha for missions rather than Sunagakure.
It was a reckless gamble with a sort of grim logic behind it. The execution of the plan had been a disaster from the start. The alliance with Orochimaru was fragile, built on mistrust, and it ended with the Kazekage's death before the battle was even fought. In the end, the attack failed to destroy Konoha, and, ironically, relations between the two villages did not collapse into war.
The combination of Konoha's weakened state after the invasion and the unlikely bond between Uzumaki Naruto and Gaara, the Kazekage's own son, prevented tensions from spiraling into open conflict.
Temari held his gaze for a long moment. In the flicker of the firelight, her expression stayed cold… but her eyes softened just slightly, an unspoken acknowledgment passing between them. She didn't agree with how he'd done it, but she understood why.
She turned away before anyone else could see that flicker of agreement. Her boots crunched in the grit as she walked toward the pen where the freed trainees huddled.
She told herself she'd report everything to her father when they returned, every detail, including Juro's death.
But deep down, she knew she wouldn't emphasize it the way she should.
Because the truth she'd never speak aloud, not here, not now; was that she agreed with Isan.