"Grandma Mito? It's you!" When Uzumaki Kuming recognized the person before him, his taut nerves finally relaxed. The person who had slipped past his Mind's Eye and quietly approached him was none other than Uzumaki Mito.
"Grandma Mito, what's going on?" A puzzled expression crossed Uzumaki Kuming's face, but there wasn't a hint of worry left in it.
"Oh? Did you figure something out?" Uzumaki Mito didn't answer Jiuming directly. She could read something in the boy's expression. This young child seemed to have realized something. His sister had been kidnapped, yet there wasn't a trace of worry left on his face.
"I wasn't entirely sure before, but seeing you here has convinced me."
"Whoever it was that broke into the compound and kidnapped Kushina couldn't have done it on personal strength alone."
"This was deliberate, wasn't it? You intentionally let them kidnap Big Sister Kushina!"
A faint smile appeared on Uzumaki Kuming's face as he continued:
"Only someone among the village's higher-ups could have set up a scenario like this. Was it Lord Hokage's doing?"
"The enemy must be a shinobi from the village, right? Was this all deliberately arranged?"
Watching the confident Uzumaki Kuming lay out his theory, Mito smiled fondly. But after listening for a little while, she wore a mischievous expression. She bent down slightly, placed a hand on Jiuming's head, and said:
"You got part of it right, but most of it was wrong~"
"It's true that I let the enemy slip into my compound so easily. But aside from that, you got everything else wrong. They're real enemies, not actors hired by the village~"
A smile spread across Uzumaki Mito's face. Seeing the boy's expression shift, she went on:
"You didn't think your half-baked concealment technique could fool a Kumogakure Jonin, did you? If I hadn't been covering for you, you'd have been spotted long ago."
"Your Mind's Eye is certainly stealthy, but it can't stop you from being detected. With a range of only about fifty meters, you'd have been discovered by the enemy's sensory abilities if I hadn't been there."
"The intruders really are Kumogakure Jonin. Their stated purpose for coming to Konoha is to discuss peace and an alliance, but their real mission is to kidnap Kushina. As for why, I can't tell you."
"Although Kumogakure kept their plans hidden, our spies learned about their mission long ago. This is just a play staged to help them carry it out."
"But I'm the director of this play~"
"As for why I put on this little show, it's to give us a reasonable excuse to go to war. The conflict between Konoha and Kumogakure has long been irreconcilable. I want to eliminate this threat while I'm still alive."
"The moment they take Kushina out of the village, I'll deal with them. Then we'll have our excuse to start a war~"
After finishing, Uzumaki Mito patted Uzumaki Kuming on the head and formed the sign for a Concealed Shadow Clone. Her real self then led Jiuming toward home.
"Everything was under my control. What did surprise me was that you managed to detect the Kumogakure shinobi's intrusion—and even catch up to him."
"For a four-year-old, you've already done far too much to astonish people."
"That's enough detective work for now. Come home with me."
Listening to Uzumaki Mito, Uzumaki Kuming froze. Her explanation was nothing like what he'd imagined. He had thought the kidnapping was orchestrated by the Third Hokage, who planned to have the young Minato Namikaze stage a spectacular heroic rescue and make the outsider Kushina fall helplessly for Minato's good looks.
But he'd never expected Uzumaki Mito to be behind the incident—and for the purpose to be starting a war with Kumogakure. The plan was simply too outrageous. Uzumaki Kuming had never imagined that Konoha would be the one actively seeking war with Kumogakure.
"Boy, are you scared? Do you think your grandmother is a war criminal?"
"Actually, Kumogakure brought this on themselves. If they hadn't been up to no good, I wouldn't have had an opening."
"And the war is meant to eliminate a threat. If we don't take care of it once and for all while I'm still alive, the village's casualties could spiral out of control if war breaks out after I'm gone."
Uzumaki Mito thought her plan had frightened the child, so she quickly explained. She gently stroked Jiuming's hair, comforting him with the hand she'd had resting on his head.
"Once a war starts, how could anyone possibly control it? There are so many people among Konoha's higher-ups, and they all have their own agendas. And that's not even counting the people from other villages. In the end, war is just a way to eliminate rivals. Grandma Mito, you're being a little naive."
Although Uzumaki Mito had lived through several wars since the Warring States Period, her understanding of war was still too shallow. She didn't understand its true nature. She naively believed that war could be controlled, but Uzumaki Kuming, shaped by a thousand years of history in the twenty-first century, knew that once war began, no one could control its course.
If Jiuming told Mito that this war might cost her grandson his life, would she still feel no regret?
But he kept those thoughts to himself and said nothing to Mito. After all, he was only a four-year-old child. Even if he said something, nothing would change.
"Grandma, let's follow them and take a look. I'm worried something might happen to Big Sister." Jiuming no longer felt calm now that he knew Mito's purpose and that their enemies were really Kumogakure shinobi. He had crossed into this world himself—who knew whether something might happen to Kushina?
"Hm? All right. You probably wouldn't be able to sleep if I left you behind, so I'll take you with me." Uzumaki Mito glanced at Jiuming, then put an arm around his waist and raced toward the village gates.
"Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!"
The four-person Kumogakure team had only just passed through Konoha's barrier and left the village. They hadn't gone far when several kunai shot out of the forest.
"Scatter!" At a sharp command, the men surrounding Kushina swiftly moved from where they'd been standing.
Kushina Uzumaki had already woken up. When she saw the team come under attack, excitement replaced the dejection on her face.
"Who's there?" The man leading the Kumogakure team pulled out a kunai and gripped it, standing with his back to Kushina as he warily watched the woods from which the kunai had come. The other three spread out around Kushina, forming a ring and cautiously scanning their surroundings.
Beneath the moonlight, a boy stepped out of the forest's shadows. He held a kunai in his hand, and his golden hair gleamed in the moonlight.
"Minato? Why are you here?"
"Run! You're no match for them!"
Kushina had been delighted when reinforcements arrived, but the moment she saw who it was, delight turned to shock, then fear. She cried out anxiously to Minato Namikaze.
"What's this? It's just a kid. Hey, little squirt! You should be asleep at this hour. Your daddy's gonna spank you!"
"Hahahaha!"
The Kumogakure team, who'd been tense just moments before, burst into mocking laughter when they saw who had arrived. They'd thought Konoha had discovered them and sent pursuers after them. But it was only a child, barely ten years old. To them, a kid like that was a sitting duck.
The four Kumogakure shinobi grinned viciously as they walked toward Minato, cracking their knuckles.
"Kid, let us show you how cruel the shinobi world can be!"
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