You are the most beautiful girl from the Land of Whirlpools I have ever seen, this is a gift I leave for you

"Hozuki Shingetsu, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Kirigakure—no sooner had he taken office than he threw the shinobi world into chaos. Truly, his reputation precedes him." Uzumaki Takumi sat down slowly, his gaze fixed on Aburame Tatsuma's corpse, his expression unreadable.

"Clan leader, are we really just letting him walk away? Do they actually think we're afraid of Kirigakure?" an Uzumaki elder said indignantly to Uzumaki Takumi.

"Walk away?" Takumi shot the elder a sidelong glance, his tone flat. "Then go ahead and kill him yourself."

"Well..." The elder's words caught in his throat. He'd only been playing along with the mood—why wasn't Takumi following the script?

Takumi sighed inwardly. This was the tragedy of a small, weak nation. If this were Konoha, Hozuki Shingetsu would never make it out of the Hokage's office alive. Forget the old rule about not killing envoys between warring states—that was Konoha's confidence.

"The one who tied the knot must untie it. Since Konoha started this mess, let Konoha clean it up. Why should we meddle?"

Takumi turned to the elder who had spoken and ordered him to contact Konoha.

"Warn Konoha: if they stretch their hands this far again, I'll chop them all off," Takumi said coolly. "Then tell them to send some strong fighters this time—someone like Hatake Sakumo or one of Hiruzen's three disciples. Once those Kirigakure people leave Uzushio's territory, kill them immediately."

"Killing someone right in front of me—do they really think I have no temper?" Takumi glanced at Aburame Tatsuma's now-still body and snorted coldly.

For the sake of the bigger picture, he couldn't kill Hozuki Shingetsu inside Uzushio. But once they were outside Uzushio's borders, if a Kirigakure man died, how could they pin it on the Uzumaki Clan?

If Kirigakure insisted on using that as an excuse to demand an explanation, the Uzumaki were the weaker party compared to Kirigakure. But if Kirigakure dared to open their mouths, the Uzumaki would knock their teeth out!

Did they really think the Uzumaki Clan—the only clan in the shinobi world to stand as a nation since the Warring States period—had no backbone?

As for the deal on the tailed beast jinchuriki sealing technique?

No one present was foolish enough to bring that up.

If they were already planning to kill, how could the deal go through?

Clearly, they had only been placating Hozuki Shingetsu and his group. Once Konoha's people arrived, they'd be shown the door immediately.

--

"I have to admit, when it comes to trade and commerce, Uzushio is far ahead of Kirigakure now." Karatachi Yagura observed the flow of people on the road and came to a conclusion that left him bitter.

As an island nation, the Land of Water had built its wealth on trade. Scenes like this—crowds bustling like a river—had once been utterly normal in Kirigakure. But ever since the Land of Water's Daimyo and the Third Mizukage successively issued orders to close the country off from the world, such sights had vanished from the village.

The thought that many of these people might have once come to Kirigakure to trade only made Yagura's murderous intent toward Ren burn even hotter.

"Stop hitting me! Stop!"

Just then, the commotion of a group of children fighting by the roadside caught the attention of Hozuki Shingetsu and his party.

The one shouting was a boy pinned to the ground, taking a beating. Surprisingly, the one hitting him was a girl who looked about his age.

From their bright red hair, it was clear both were pure-blooded Uzumaki. Judging by their ages, they were likely students at Uzushio's ninja academy.

Ever since Senju Tobirama established the ninja academy system, it had spread quickly to other villages. As Konoha's ally, Uzushio naturally followed suit. The only difference was that all the students at Uzushio's academy were Uzumaki clan members.

"Didn't you say women are naturally weaker than men?" the girl said, straddling the boy and punching him in the face. With each movement, her red ponytail bounced. "So tell me now—who's the boss of the school?"

"You are! You are! You're the boss!"

The boy, unable to endure such brutal treatment any longer, quickly surrendered.

Satisfied with the answer, the girl stood up and looked down at the boy sprawled on the ground with disdain.

"You talk so big—I thought you'd actually be tough. Is that all you've got? Remember what you said—keep your mouth shut at school, got it?"

"Wow, Kushina, that was so cool!" A group of girls who had been watching rushed over, surrounding her like a hero and showering her with praise.

"What's wrong, Shingetsu?"

The group had been about to leave, having dismissed the children's fight as nothing special, but they noticed Hozuki Shingetsu standing still, staring thoughtfully in that direction as if he had spotted something.

"Hey, you kids—why aren't you home from school yet? What are you doing here?"

Kids fighting was a common occurrence, but perhaps feeling embarrassed that outsiders had witnessed such an unsightly scene in the village, the guide Uzumaki Shoshi hurried over to help the boy up, hoping to salvage some face and avoid "alarming friendly nations."

"Uzumaki Kushina, you again? Why are you always fighting outside school?" From Shoshi's tone, it was clear the girl was a well-known troublemaker.

But judging by the way Uzumaki Kushina lifted her chin, she clearly didn't agree with Shoshi's assessment.

"It's not Kushina's fault—he started it." The group of girls chattered and explained what had happened. In short, the boy had been running his mouth at school, saying girls shouldn't be in the ninja academy or become ninjas, that women were naturally weaker than men, and so on.

Kushina had overheard and cornered him for a beating.

"Alright, alright—apologize to him and go home!" Shoshi clearly didn't care about the details. He only cared about saving face in front of outsiders and wanted to quickly patch things up by showing off Uzushio's brotherly harmony.

"Why should I? I don't think I did anything wrong!" Kushina stuck out her chin, refusing to back down.

"I agree—this young lady did nothing wrong." A gentle voice spoke up. Kushina looked up to see a white-haired boy watching her from not far away.

Hozuki Shingetsu cut off Shoshi's words, walked over, and bent down to look at Kushina.

He leaned in, whispered a few words in her ear, left a kunai in her hand without lingering, and then led his group away.

Kushina stood frozen in place, her face bright red.

"Shingetsu, what did you say to her?" Yukinagi asked curiously.

"Nothing—just a few words that came to mind," Shingetsu said with a faint smile. Under the group's puzzled gazes, he repeated what he had said.

"You're the most beautiful girl I've ever seen in the Land of Whirlpools."

"Your eyes are like the stars in my homeland."

"Can I know your name?"

"This is a gift I'm leaving for you."