Without concerning themselves with how Coulson and the others left, Pakura, Temari, Kankuro, and Gaara returned directly to the Sand Puppet Shop.
It was late at night when Temari brought Pakura to a room on the second floor of the puppet shop.
"Teacher Pakura, this will be your residence from now on."
"All the toiletries in the room have been prepared, all brand new. If you need anything else, you can let me know."
Pakura glanced at the room, which was decorated luxuriously, much better than her room in the Sand Village before. She couldn't help but marvel at the abundance of resources in this world.
"Everything here is quite complete. There's nothing else you would need to prepare."
After confirming that Pakura had no other requests, Temari was about to bid farewell and leave.
"Temari, come and sit here. Tell me about the changes in the Sand Village after the Third Great Ninja War."
Pakura wanted to know what path the Sand Village, ruled by Rasa after her death, had ultimately taken.
She didn't have much confidence in a person who betrayed her, but she had to admit that Rasa's ability to control gold was a good addition for a village in need of development right after the war.
Hearing Pakura's words, Temari thought that as a hero of the Sand Village, Pakura must have had some expectations for the days of peace that the Sand Ninjas experienced after the Third Great Ninja War.
"Sure thing, Teacher Pakura."
Temari sat on the sofa and began to tell Pakura everything she knew about the history of the Sand Village after the Third Great Ninja War.
As Temari spoke, Pakura's heart was filled with a sense of responsibility, mixed with disdain, disappointment, anger, and sorrow.
On one hand, she coldly sneered. "Rasa, you're nothing special. You did something so despicable just to secure your position as Kazekage, yet you still failed to lead the Sand Village out of its predicament."
"Instead, you made the villagers' lives even harder, reducing expenses and losing many missions to Konoha."
On the other hand, she truly felt sorry for the villagers of the Sand Village. Despite her death, their lives hadn't improved. The Sand Village was still the weakest and most impoverished of the five major ninja villages.
As Temari finished her account, she mentioned how the Sand Village was deceived by Orochimaru and joined forces with Sound Ninjas to attack Konoha, only for their Kazekage, Rasa, to be killed by Orochimaru midway through.
The attack on Konoha turned out to be a disaster for the Sand Village. They suffered losses without gaining any real benefits.
Although Orochimaru killed both the Third Hokage and the Fourth Kazekage, it felt more like the Fourth Kazekage was just a sacrificial pawn.
Hearing this, Pakura couldn't help but curse, "Rasa, you idiot."
At the same time, she couldn't help but lament: She trusted the village and was betrayed and killed, while Rasa trusted his allies and was killed. Perhaps this was karma.
Hearing Pakura cursing her father, Temari didn't know what to say, but she didn't have much of a rebuttal either. She remained silent, but after some thought, she spoke up:
"However, Teacher Pakura, Orochimaru was also brought to this world by Lord Charles. Moreover, he was from the timeline during the Second Great Ninja War."
Upon hearing that Orochimaru from the Second Great Ninja War had been brought to this world, Pakura paused. Then thinking of her disciple, she asked:
"Do you know Maki?"
"She's my disciple. How has she been in Sunagakure?"
However, Pakura didn't get the answer she wanted. Temari shook her head.
"Teacher Pakura, I don't know Maki. I'm not very familiar with her situation."
"Perhaps among the Sand ninjas brought by Lord Charles, someone will know about Maki's situation. But since she is your disciple, I'm sure she has been doing fine."
Pakura couldn't help but feel a bit melancholic. It seemed that her departure hadn't led her disciple to establish her own reputation in Sunagakure as she had hoped. After all, Maki had once strived to become one of the top shinobi in Sunagakure.
Having gathered enough information, Pakura didn't inquire further about the ninja world but asked about something else.
"Temari, what is this physique-enhancing serum that Agent Coulson mentioned earlier?"
"That's a kind of enhancement potion developed by Lord Charles for ordinary people. It doesn't have much effect on ninja."
"It can strengthen the physical qualities and abilities of ordinary people. Lord Charles also has a similar product for sale."
"We mainly use it at the Sunagakure Puppet Shop to exchange for some metal materials, similar to chakra metal."
Pakura nodded thoughtfully. After briefly understanding the operation of the Puppet Shop here, she didn't hold up Temari any longer. After all, she had plenty of time in this world to learn more.
Then Pakura spoke up, "Temari, thank you for telling me about the future of Sunagakure. It's late now, so you should go rest."
"Teacher Pakura, it's my duty."
"Get some rest. See you tomorrow."
As Temari left, Pakura washed up and then entered dreamland in her bed.
Meanwhile, upon returning to the S.H.I.E.L.D., Coulson immediately raised Pakura's danger level and harbored doubts about her identity as a jonin.
Was this person really just a jonin?
Her destructive power seemed even more terrifying than that of the Jonin-level ninja Kakashi Hatake.
…
The night soon passed.
On the other side, in the underground caves of Jotunheim, Thor stood up.
"Charles, I'm back to my best condition now, and my divine power has fully recovered. We can set off."
Seeing Thor full of energy, Charles nodded.
"Good, let's go."
Charles stored the items he had taken out in the underground caves back into his storage space and then set off with Thor towards the direction of the Jotunheim Palace.
Along the way, he cast a concealment spell on himself and Thor to prevent them from being detected before they reached the Jotunheim Palace.
Flying through the air, Charles and Thor encountered more and more Frost Giants and Mountain Giants the closer they got to the Jotunheim Palace.
A large number of scouts were dispatched by both clans to find the two of them. However, they never expected that their targets would come looking for them, and they were already making their way towards the Jotunheim Palace.
To avoid creating too much disturbance and sonic booms from their flight, the two of them didn't fly too fast.
After spending some time flying, the Jotunheim Palace finally appeared in their sight.