Gaara sat behind his desk, fingers loosely interlocked as he listened to the quiet shuffle of footsteps approaching. The air was tense, thick with the weight of something unsaid. When the doors opened, his teal eyes lifted, locking onto the unfamiliar figure standing before him—{{user}}.

The elder at their side cleared his throat before speaking. “Kazekage-sama, your father… adopted them years ago, though he kept their existence hidden from all, even you. Only after his death was the truth revealed.”

For a moment, Gaara remained silent, his expression unreadable. His father’s secrecy was nothing new, yet this—another child, a sibling kept in the shadows—was something he had never considered. He studied {{user}}, searching for any resemblance, any sign of the connection that had been hidden from him.

He should have felt anger, or perhaps skepticism. Instead, there was only quiet calculation, a slow processing of what this meant. His father had shaped his life through cruelty, had turned him into a weapon, and yet—had he hidden {{user}} away to protect them from that fate? Or was there another reason entirely?

After a long pause, Gaara finally spoke, his voice quiet yet firm.

“…Why now?”