Fooling

"Yuzuru!"

Kushina Uzumaki walked up to Uchiha Yuzuru's side and called to him softly.

Uchiha Yuzuru glanced at Kushina in surprise and could not help saying, "Why are you talking so quietly? Did you leave your vocal cords at home?"

"You're the one who left your vocal cords at home!" Kushina Uzumaki was furious. She plopped down across from Uchiha Yuzuru, crossed her arms, and looked out the window.

This guy had no eye for things. Couldn't he tell she had dressed up carefully?

Confused by Kushina Uzumaki's behavior, Uchiha Yuzuru scratched his head, then pushed the small cake on the table toward her.

"I ordered it for you."

At that, Kushina Uzumaki's lips curved into a lovely smile. "Why isn't there a little spoon?"

Uchiha Yuzuru looked up in puzzlement. "Kushina, what's gotten into you today? Didn't you usually just pick it up and bite into it?"

"You!!!" Kushina Uzumaki's hair began to flutter without wind, and her eyes looked as though they were about to spit fire.

In the end, she simply gave up. They were already so familiar with each other; there was no need for her to put on an act.

"Yuzuru, what did you mean by what you said last night?"

Uchiha Yuzuru looked around and said lightly, "Let's talk at my place. We can take a look at the vegetables you planted while we're there."

Kushina Uzumaki grew even more curious upon hearing that.

She wolfed down the small cake in a few bites, then stood up. "Then let's go quickly."

Seeing Kushina Uzumaki's brisk, fiery manner, Uchiha Yuzuru helplessly picked up a tissue and wiped the corner of her mouth.

Kushina Uzumaki's face immediately turned visibly red.

"Yuzuru, us doing this... n-no, isn't this a little inappropriate?"

"What's wrong?"

"N-nothing. It's getting late. Let's hurry up and go."

After arriving at the Uchiha Clan Land, Uchiha Yuzuru and Kushina Uzumaki entered the room together.

Watching Uchiha Yuzuru busy setting up a barrier, Kushina Uzumaki asked in confusion, "Yuzuru, why are you being so mysterious? What exactly do you want to say?"

Uchiha Yuzuru did not answer, merely focusing on what he was doing.

Only after the barrier had been completed did he sit down across from Kushina Uzumaki.

Although Hiruzen Sarutobi and Shimura Danzō could not yet reach into the Uchiha Clan at this time, it was still better to be cautious.

"Kushina, what do you think about what happened when you were kidnapped yesterday?"

Hearing Uchiha Yuzuru's question, Kushina Uzumaki thought for a moment before saying, "I heard those three Cloud Ninja say that my chakra was special and held great value for their village, which was why they came to kidnap me."

After Kushina Uzumaki finished speaking, she saw Uchiha Yuzuru shake his head and could not help asking, "Yuzuru, is there something wrong?"

Uchiha Yuzuru's expression turned serious. Staring at Kushina Uzumaki, he said in a deep voice, "Kushina, I'll tell you my analysis, but you need to make psychological preparation beforehand."

Seeing how serious Uchiha Yuzuru was, Kushina Uzumaki became nervous as well.

Uchiha Yuzuru was a Squad Captain in the Konoha Military Police Force and especially skilled at analyzing all kinds of intelligence.

Had he discovered something after all?

Thinking of this, Kushina Uzumaki sat up straight and nodded. "Yuzuru, go ahead."

Seeing this, Uchiha Yuzuru stopped beating around the bush and got straight to the point. "I suspect that your kidnapping last night was closely connected to the village's higher-ups."

Although she had made psychological preparation in advance, Kushina Uzumaki still opened her mouth in shock upon hearing Uchiha Yuzuru's words.

"Yuzuru, I don't understand. What do you mean?"

She was the future Nine-Tails Jinchuriki. The Konoha higher-ups should have been desperate to protect her. How could they possibly let Kumogakure abduct her?

"Kushina, think about it. Normally, isn't there an Anbu squad watching and protecting you around the clock?"

Kushina nodded. "Yes."

"Then why was there no movement from the Anbu at all after you had been taken away for so long last night?"

Kushina Uzumaki froze.

She had never really thought about that.

"Maybe the Cloud Ninja took advantage of the Anbu's shift change..."

Before she could finish, Kushina Uzumaki realized something was wrong herself.

Even if the Cloud Ninja had taken her away during the Anbu's shift change, the incoming Anbu would certainly have notified the Hokage immediately once they discovered she was gone.

Those Cloud Ninja had not traveled very quickly while taking her away. Under normal circumstances, there was no way no one would have noticed after they had taken her for so long.

"Yuzuru, could the three Cloud Ninja have killed the Anbu after the shift change?"

Uchiha Yuzuru shook his head. "You saw the skills of those three Cloud Ninja yesterday. They actually weren't that strong. Even if the Anbu were no match for them, could a three-man squad not even find a chance to send a distress signal?"

"Taking a step back, even if those three Cloud Ninja were all Jonin and cleanly killed the Anbu protecting you, could they really abduct you—a future Jinchuriki—out of Konoha without a sound?"

"With so many Anbu, Jonin, and Barrier Team members in Konoha, would no one have noticed anything?"

Kushina Uzumaki fell silent again.

She had never considered things from those angles before, so she had not felt that anything was amiss.

Only after hearing Uchiha Yuzuru's analysis did she realize how unusual this incident was.

Konoha was recognized across the Shinobi World as the strongest ninja village.

Whether in ninja strength, barrier sensing, or every other aspect, Konoha stood at the pinnacle of the Shinobi World.

The difficulty of silently abducting a highly valued future Jinchuriki from Konoha was beyond imagination.

Moreover, Jonin were scarce resources in any village. Coming into Konoha to kidnap her while risking the possible loss of three top-tier combatants...

The risks and rewards simply did not match.

But no matter how small the chance was, it was still possible, wasn't it?

Maybe those people from Kumogakure really were that insane.

Maybe those Cloud Ninja were experts in stealth attacks and escape.

Maybe those Cloud Ninja possessed secret techniques that let them pass through barriers without being detected.

That was right. It was still too early to draw conclusions. More evidence was needed.

Unable to accept reality for the moment, Kushina Uzumaki kept searching for excuses in her heart.

After a long while, she finally spoke in a somewhat hoarse voice. "Yuzuru, continue."

Uchiha Yuzuru nodded and went on. "After kidnapping you, those Cloud Ninja didn't split up to confuse pursuers, nor did they carefully check their route to erase their tracks. Later, they even chose to travel with you on foot... Every sign showed that they had no intention of concealing their whereabouts."

"Unless they were rookies! But if they were rookies, then they couldn't have silently kidnapped you from Konoha."

Seeing Kushina Uzumaki's face turn pale, Uchiha Yuzuru did not stop. He continued his analysis. "Also... from Kumogakure's perspective, since they sent three Jonin to kidnap you, that showed they attached great importance to this matter. So why was there no one to meet them after they succeeded?"

"No matter how brainless they were, they couldn't possibly treat the lives of three Jonin as a joke, could they?"

"I thought it over and over. There is only one possibility that can reasonably explain everything—"

"The so-called Cloud Ninja kidnapping was actually a play staged by Konoha's higher-ups themselves!"

Kushina Uzumaki bit her lip and tried hard to control her emotions. "If things are really as you say... then what was their purpose?"

"Kushina, do you remember?"

"Minato came over that night too."

Uchiha Yuzuru did not directly answer Kushina's question. Instead, he asked, "I can't figure out why Minato was able to notice that you had been kidnapped."

"I happened to discover the Cloud Ninja kidnapping you because I was on night watch. Why was Minato running around the village in the middle of the night instead of sleeping?"

Kushina Uzumaki said, "Minato said the Third Hokage asked him to deliver a letter to me..."

After saying that, Kushina Uzumaki's thoughts became even more chaotic.

She had written her letter several days ago, yet the Third Hokage had chosen the very night she was kidnapped to reply. And the person delivering the letter was not Anbu, but one of her few friends, Minato Namikaze...

Kushina Uzumaki had not felt much before, but after hearing Uchiha Yuzuru's analysis, she became afraid.

Were there really so many coincidences in this world?

After giving Kushina Uzumaki some time to think, Uchiha Yuzuru said in a deep voice, "Whether you believe it or not, I have absolute confidence in my guess."

"Kushina, they're fooling with your life!"