"Come take a look, Torifu. Do you think this one will do?"
Mamiko had specially picked out a hen she'd raised for several years. It had hatched several batches of chicks and was very experienced at sitting on eggs.
Torifu wasn't picky. He didn't know much about this sort of thing anyway; all that mattered was that the hen could hatch eggs.
Carrying the hen, he thanked Mamiko and headed home.
When he reached the clan compound, Torifu found an empty room, spread some straw on the floor, and set the Crane egg on it.
Then he tossed the hen inside too.
The old hen seemed a little unsettled in its new surroundings and clucked incessantly around the room.
Torifu decided to leave it be and turned to go.
The Crane egg's shell was incredibly hard. It wouldn't even break if it fell off a table, so he didn't need to worry about the hen pecking it open and eating it.
After all that, the lunch Torifu had bought on the way had gone cold. He couldn't be bothered to go out and buy another, so he had to make do with it.
A week later, it was time to set out on the mission.
Before leaving, Torifu checked on the Crane egg, but it was still unchanged from a week ago.
Perhaps there would be a pleasant surprise waiting for him when he returned from this mission.
Torifu arrived at the Hokage Office just as Hiruzen Sarutobi and the others were coming out.
Hiruzen was still complaining about something to the middle-aged ninja beside him.
Torifu guessed this was Sasuke Sarutobi, the current head of the Sarutobi Clan and an exceptionally powerful ninja.
The Sarutobi Clan had sent a large number of ninja on this Tailed Beast capture mission