A Show of Force

"Is everything taken care of?"

Hozuki Shingetsu wiped the blood from his kunai with Hyuga Muneto's clothes, then turned to ask Yukinagi and Karatachi Yagura.

"Piece of cake! Without their combined formation, Ino-Shika-Cho were no match for us," Karatachi Yagura replied.

If each member of Ino-Shika-Cho had a combat strength of one, then together they could reach ten. The three clans complemented one another's strengths and covered one another's weaknesses, making them a troublesome combination on the battlefield.

But on their own, they were nothing special.

So even though the Yamanaka Clan and Akimichi Clan ninja were Jonin, the two of them had taken them down with ease.

"Two minutes have passed. Let's go welcome the Uzumaki Clan head."

Hozuki Shingetsu estimated the time and led the way out. Karatachi Yagura and Yukinagi followed close behind, leaving only the blazing fire behind them, along with Nara Shikacho and Hyuga Muneto, whose eyes stared lifelessly into the flames.

--

When Uzumaki Takumi arrived with a group of powerful Uzumaki ninja, he saw a crowd of Uzumaki ninja at a loss in front of the mist covering Konoha's embassy district.

"Clan head, there's something strange about this mist. It seems to be a large-scale genjutsu. Everything we see after entering it is an illusion, and many of us can't find the Konoha envoys at all," one of the Uzumaki guards reported with a troubled expression.

"This is... Mirage."

Uzumaki Takumi, who had been of the same era as Hozuki Gengetsu, recognized the technique. The moment he saw it, a sense of foreboding settled over him.

With this technique combined with the Hozuki Clan's Hydrification Technique and Ice Release, how could those few Konoha ninja possibly defend themselves?

Still, he held on to a faint hope. Just as Uzumaki Takumi was about to force his way in, the mist before him suddenly parted. Hozuki Shingetsu and the other two emerged amid its fading remnants.

"Clan head, could it be that, like me, you couldn't sleep and came out to enjoy the beautiful moonlit night?"

Hozuki Shingetsu looked at Uzumaki Takumi and asked with a beaming smile.

Yukinagi and Karatachi Yagura glanced up at the moon hidden behind the clouds, then looked back at the embassy engulfed in flames. They nodded in silence.

"Good. Very good!"

Looking at the burning embassy behind him, Uzumaki Takumi knew it was already too late. If the Konoha envoys were still alive, they would have come out on their own. The fact that they hadn't meant they were all dead. Why else would they be inside? Warming themselves by the fire?

His face turning ashen, he immediately ordered the surrounding Uzumaki to seize Hozuki Shingetsu and the other two.

Hozuki Shingetsu simply smiled and offered no resistance. He knew that if Uzumaki Takumi hadn't killed them on the spot, then he was hesitating. And if he was hesitating, there was still room for Hozuki Shingetsu to make his move...

--

After his brief outburst of anger, Uzumaki Takumi had thought through the situation. With Konoha's aid now out of reach, the Uzumaki Clan had only one way to protect itself from being wiped out: join Kirigakure.

But if they simply slunk over and joined, wouldn't that make them look incompetent? Especially after Hozuki Shingetsu had boldly killed the Konoha envoys. If word got out, outsiders would think the Uzumaki Clan had submitted to brute force.

So even if they were going to join Kirigakure, how they joined and what stance they took still mattered.

Uzumaki Takumi carefully considered the clan's predicament. Then he suddenly remembered something and signaled to an Uzumaki ninja beside him.

"Go pick a few children and send them to Konoha."

Though he had decided to join Kirigakure, things had come to this. Even if only to hedge against risk, they couldn't put all their eggs in one basket.

With the Senju remnants looking after them, the Uzumaki Bloodline could at least survive in Konoha.

Several children's faces flashed through Uzumaki Takumi's mind. They were all renowned prodigies of the Uzumaki Clan, and Kushina Uzumaki was among them.

Just as he was thinking of sending Kushina Uzumaki to Konoha, news that Hozuki Shingetsu had given her something resurfaced in his mind.

"Send Michiko and Yamakai instead."

After a moment's hesitation, Uzumaki Takumi finally made up his mind.

--

After Hozuki Shingetsu and the other two were captured, the Uzumaki Clan didn't lock them in a dungeon. They used Sealing Jutsu to seal the three of them off from molding Chakra, then confined them separately.

They were held in ordinary houses, and aside from being unable to leave and unable to use Chakra, their living conditions were no different from before.

This only further confirmed Hozuki Shingetsu's suspicions, so he waited quietly. The Land of Whirlpools was facing an urgent battle at the front, and the Uzumaki Clan was the one with the most to lose.

Sure enough, barely a day later, Hozuki Shingetsu was taken away. Along the way, he ran into Yukinagi and Karatachi Yagura, and the three were escorted to Tenshukaku.

But the main doors were locked. Hozuki Shingetsu looked at the ninja leading them, who pointed to a dog door, clearly expecting the three of them to enter through it.

"Only honored guests can use the front entrance. You'll have to go in over there."

Yukinagi and Karatachi Yagura were furious. Wasn't this going too far?

"But we entered through the front entrance last time!"

"That was last time. You were guests of Uzushio Village then. But now..."

The guard looked at Hozuki Shingetsu and the other two, then shook his head and said nothing more.

Hozuki Shingetsu merely smiled. "People enter through doors, and dogs crawl through dog doors. If this dog door is an entrance, then I wonder whether the master of Tenshukaku is a person or a dog. If it's a dog, then going in this way might be fitting."

The guard was at a loss for words.

"He certainly has a sharp tongue. No wonder he's thrown the Shinobi World into such chaos," one of the Whirlpool Elders remarked. Uzumaki Takumi and the other Uzumaki elders were watching from Tenshukaku.

Uzumaki Takumi nodded without comment and signaled for his subordinates to open the doors and let them in.

The guard, who had been sweating and unsure what to do, was instantly relieved. He hurriedly opened the doors and let the three inside. They stepped into the first floor of Tenshukaku.

This time, Tenshukaku's first floor was unlike before. Rows of Uzumaki lined both sides, packed tightly together. Their faces were full of killing intent, and they all wore armor, which was still spattered with blood. They had clearly just come back from the battlefield.

"The front line has fallen!"

Hozuki Shingetsu understood the moment he saw them. The Uzumaki Clan wouldn't have recalled these elite fighters just to show him up. The clan had reached a true fight for survival and was about to lay its cards on the table with him. That was why they had acted this way—to intimidate him.

But the more desperate the situation, the more Hozuki Shingetsu knew he couldn't back down. At a time like this, what mattered was confidence and presence.

So he immediately held his head high, put his hands behind his back, and strolled through the gap between the rows with a smile.

"Ha!"

When he reached the halfway point, the Uzumaki ninja on both sides shouted in unison, drew their standard-issue ninja blades, and pointed them at Hozuki Shingetsu and his companions.

Yukinagi and Karatachi Yagura were horrified, thinking the Uzumaki Clan meant to kill them. They tried to fight back, only to remember that the Uzumaki had sealed them with Sealing Jutsu, leaving them unable to mold Chakra. As they were overcome with worry, they saw that Hozuki Shingetsu's expression hadn't changed. He wasn't fazed by the display and continued walking leisurely.

Watching from the top of Tenshukaku, the Whirlpool Elder couldn't help but sigh. "He certainly has some spirit."

Uzumaki Takumi's face darkened. Of course he had spirit. Would he have dared to attack the Konoha envoys last night otherwise?

But it would have been beneath him to belittle Hozuki Shingetsu now, so he could only snort and say, "Let's see how he does next."

Under the gaze of countless Uzumaki ninja, the three made it safely across the first floor and climbed the stairs to the second.

There weren't nearly as many Uzumaki on the second floor. The only thing there was a huge cauldron, glowing red from the flames beneath it. Boiling water churned inside, sending up waves of steam.

An Uzumaki dressed like a butcher was sharpening a knife. From time to time, he looked over Hozuki Shingetsu's body, chuckling as if deciding where to cut.

"Go up those stairs to the third floor. The clan head is waiting for you... Heh heh heh, though we might be seeing each other again soon." The Uzumaki spoke in a hoarse voice, then went back to sharpening his knife.

At the sight of this, Yukinagi and Karatachi Yagura tensed up instinctively. It was hard not to think of being boiled alive in a cauldron.

As ninja, they had long been prepared to die in battle. And after killing the Konoha envoys with Hozuki Shingetsu, they had considered the possibility that the Uzumaki Clan might go mad and kill them. But being prepared was one thing; how they died was another. Being killed by a single kunai thrust was nothing like being boiled alive.

As the two trembled with fear, Hozuki Shingetsu didn't go around the cauldron to reach the third-floor stairs. Instead, he walked straight up to it and leaned over to look inside, tutting as if dissatisfied.

"This water's no good! Remember to add some chili peppers. I like my food spicy." Hozuki Shingetsu pulled out a handful of chili peppers and handed them to the butcher. "Oh, and remember to marinate the meat before you put it in the pot! Use cooking wine, scallions, ginger, and garlic to get rid of the smell. And make sure you prepare some sesame sauce and chive-flower sauce for dipping. Thanks!"

Without waiting for the stunned butcher to respond, Hozuki Shingetsu took Yukinagi and Karatachi Yagura, who were just as dumbfounded, by the hand and led them up the stairs.

He hadn't expected that the chili peppers he'd hidden away in case he couldn't cry would come in handy like this.

Hozuki Shingetsu thought it was all rather amusing. He'd originally planned to use the chili peppers to win the Uzumaki Clan over. When Uzumaki Takumi decided to lead the clan into Kirigakure, he'd rub some chili on his eyes, act overcome with emotion, eyes red and tears streaming down his face, then clasp Uzumaki Takumi's hand and say with heartfelt sincerity, "With the Uzumaki Clan, I am like a fish in water!"

Wouldn't that make both sides look good?

The butcher looked at the chili peppers in his hand, then at the knife he was holding, and fell into a deep state of self-doubt.

No, seriously—who carries chili peppers around with them when they go out?

Upstairs, the many Uzumaki elders who had noticed the scene fell silent once again.