Chiga: Livening Up the Mood

The Katsumi Village Chief, who had been watching Kushina's expression, immediately asked when he saw her reaction, "My lady ninja, do you already know what this beast is?"

Kushina nodded, then said, "Old man, if possible, could you and Qiren step outside first? My disciple and I need to discuss this."

"Alright, then we'll leave it to you!"

The Katsumi Village Chief nodded and led Qiren out of the room.

Only after the two had left did Kushina turn to Chiga and say, "This is troublesome!"

"How troublesome?"

Chiga had already prepared himself after seeing Kushina's grim expression.

Kushina explained, "This beast is called a Red Rock Boar. It's the Summoning Beast of some small clan from Iwagakure in the Land of Earth."

"A Summoning Beast? The Land of Earth?"

Chiga's expression turned serious as well. This place was not far from Konoha, yet a Summoning Beast from Iwagakure had appeared here. That made the matter far more serious.

An Iwagakure-specific Summoning Beast appearing here meant that a team of Rock Shinobi was nearby.

Ninja usually operated in teams and rarely acted alone.

But if only one person had come, that would be even more troublesome. It would mean that person was extremely strong!

"Based on Qiren's description of this Red Rock Boar's size, it should be around Chunin level. Its owner probably isn't much weaker either."

Kushina had already ruled out the possibility that there was only one Rock Shinobi.

Most Summoning Beasts' strength was tied to the ninja's own strength. Someone like Naruto, who could summon Boss Toad while still a Genin, was basically cheating!

"Damn it! What the hell were those ninja patrolling the border doing? A team of Rock Shinobi actually managed to sneak into the heart of the Land of Fire without a sound!"

Kushina slapped the table and roared.

"A bunch of useless idiots! The enemy has already reached the village gates, and they still haven't reacted at all!"

"When we get back, I'm making the Third Hokage dock an entire year of their pay!"

Kushina spent a full half hour cursing out those border ninja, and she even dragged Minato, who was stationed at the Land of Lightning border, into it, declaring that she would make him pay when they returned.

Chiga had every reason to believe Kushina was using this as an excuse to vent. Because his mission had been urgent, Minato had hurriedly left the village without having time to apologize to Kushina, and she had been angry about it for a long time.

During that time, Chiga had become familiar with the Crow in his arms and was feeding it rations.

Seeing that Kushina still had anger to vent and seemed ready to curse some more, Chiga softly said,

"Teacher Kushina, now isn't the time to scold them. The important thing is, what do we do next?"

"Whew, you're right." Kushina calmed herself and rested her chin on one hand as she thought. "What we need to consider now is why they went through so much trouble to come here. Assassination, sabotaging supplies, or gathering intelligence?"

Although the war had ended, the Land of Earth and the Land of Fire had not resumed diplomatic relations. If ninja from either country appeared in the other's territory and were discovered, they could only blame themselves if they died.

"Could it be..."

Chiga also pondered the Rock Shinobi team's objective. After thinking for a long while, he suddenly cried out in shock, "Could they be lost?!"

"Idiot, don't spout nonsense and disrupt your teacher's train of thought!"

Kushina had thought her disciple had discovered something, only to get such a perfunctory answer. She immediately punched Chiga on the head.

"I was just livening up the tense atmosphere!"

Chiga bared his teeth and rubbed his forehead. Seeing Kushina about to hit him again, he hurriedly said, "Intelligence. They came here to collect intelligence!"

During the half hour Kushina had spent cursing, he had already thought through many things.

Kushina lowered her fist and stared at Chiga in surprise. "How do you know?"

"First, we can rule out sabotaging supplies. There's no need to come so deep into the Land of Fire, this close to Konoha.

"And as for assassination, according to our mission, this village spotted that Red Rock Boar five days ago. That means they arrived at least more than five days ago.

"Five days without making any move in these secluded mountains clearly means they aren't here to infiltrate Konoha for an assassination. They can only be waiting here for their intelligence operatives who infiltrated Konoha!"

"Not bad!"

After hearing Chiga's explanation, Kushina suddenly examined him carefully, as if she had only just met him.

"What is it, Teacher Kushina?"

Seeing Kushina fall silent, Chiga asked in confusion.

Then, Kushina's face suddenly filled with killing intent. Her hand moved, and a flash of cold light streaked through the air. The next instant, a Kunai rested against Chiga's throat.

Feeling the icy chill at his neck, Chiga's entire body stiffened.

The Crow in his arms was startled as well. It let out a low cry, seemingly warning Kushina.

Kushina said coldly, "Talk. Who are you, and what did you do to my adorable disciple?"

"Stop messing around, Teacher Kushina!"

Chiga rolled his eyes irritably and pushed Kushina's Kunai away.

If he had not caught the trace of mischief in Kushina's eyes, she really would have fooled him. He had nearly dropped to his knees and cried, "Mercy, my queen! I really am your beloved disciple!"

"Haha, I was just livening up the mood too." Seeing that Chiga had figured it out, Kushina familiarly patted his head and teased, "I saw your legs shake!"

Chiga: "..." More than his legs had shaken. She had nearly scared him into wetting himself.

Seeing that Chiga was somewhat unhappy, Kushina hurriedly praised him. "But I really didn't expect you to analyze so much, Chiga. Very impressive!"

With a dark expression, Chiga slapped Kushina's hand away and muttered, "Teacher Kushina, if you used your brain more instead of putting all your thoughts on Senior Minato, you could have figured it out too."

It was really that simple. Only someone who disliked thinking as much as Kushina did would fail to see it.

"Now that we know their objective, it's time to think about what to do next!"

Ignoring Chiga's jab, Kushina fell into thought again.

If she had been alone, she would not have considered so much. She would have charged straight over. Whether it was one team or two teams of Rock Shinobi, she would fight them on sight. If she could not win, escaping should not be a problem.

But now she had Chiga with her, her first disciple. Besides, she rather liked this disciple.

"Teacher Kushina, there's one more thing I haven't said yet!"

Kushina's scare had nearly made Chiga forget that there was another important piece of information.

"What else do you know?"

Kushina froze upon hearing that. Chiga figuring out why they had come was already surprising enough; she had not expected there to be more.

"I also know that the enemy might not be that strong!"

"Oh? How did you determine that?"

Kushina did not quite believe that.

How strange. Why were so few people investing? Did they all think so poorly of me?