Kidnapping

"Bastard! Abusing your power like a dog of a bureaucrat! Damn it!!"

At the Rain-Fire Border.

A Konoha ninja squad was escorting supplies for the battlefield, the young girl cursing as she kicked at the weeds by the roadside.

Bang!

She hadn't noticed the rock hidden in the weeds, and her toe made firm, intimate contact with the stone.

Although she kicked the rock away, her toe, unprotected by Chakra, turned red, and the dull throb of pain only made her angrier.

"Damn Uchiha!!"

"Mikoto... aren't you just cursing yourself with that?"

The young female ninja beside her said, "The teacher said this wasn't Lord Kaminazuki's request. Besides, transporting supplies is a very important mission, too."

"He's the same age as us, calling him 'Lord' is just too weird!"

"Hehe, maybe in a while, we'll be calling you Lady Mikoto."

The girl draped an arm over her shoulder and laughed, "You're a genius who awakened the Three Tomoe Sharingan!"

"Haven't you heard it said often? Even a Jonin wouldn't dare go one-on-one with a Three Tomoe Uchiha!"

Mikoto's cheeks flushed slightly as she shook her head, "That's too much of an exaggeration... I don't even know how that happened at the time..."

Back then, after her emotions surged and she unlocked the Three Tomoe, Mikoto had fainted from the strain—a sign that her body couldn't yet handle the Pupil Power.

If there hadn't been so many witnesses, even she wouldn't have known she had awakened the Three Tomoe.

As she spoke, the girl looked at Mikoto's reddened toe peeking out from her ninja sandal: "Come to think of it, you and Lord Kaminazuki are twins, don't you have that terrifying physical constitution of his?"

Mikoto shook her head, "No..."

"Actually... when we were little, some people in the clan would say that I stole his talent for learning ninjutsu, especially now..."

"They think that if my brother could use ninjutsu normally, he might have become a legendary powerhouse, and that I'm the one holding him back."

"I really want to prove... that I'm not his burden!"

"Mm! I believe you, Mikoto, you'll definitely become a ninja even more amazing than Lord Kaminazuki!" the girl comforted her with a smile.

"Thank you, Ayaka!"

"Forget about surpassing him. Let's face reality; that guy Kaminazuki isn't even on the same level as us."

The young male ninja walking in front snorted, his eyes filled with resentment: "Becoming a ninja and encountering other powerhouses only makes it clearer what level that guy has reached."

"He's a big shot who stands shoulder-to-shoulder with Lord White Fang and is famous throughout the ninja world. We're just cannon fodder hauling supplies."

"Heh... you're different, Mikoto. With his protection, you'll surely become a high-ranking official in the village sooner or later."

Ayaka stomped her foot in dissatisfaction: "Saying things like that is so demoralizing! Yoshino, have some confidence in yourself! As long as we work hard, we can definitely do it!"

Yoshino chewed on a blade of grass and curled his lip, "If hard work were useful, there wouldn't be such a thing as a genius."

As they walked, Mikoto suddenly felt the atmosphere shift and moved to the front of the squad.

"What's wrong?"

Yoshino's expression tightened, and Ayaka moved closer from behind, the three of them forming a small defensive formation.

The Sharingan manifested; Mikoto still couldn't handle the Pupil Power of the Three Tomoe well, and her head throbbed with sharp pain.

"It's too quiet. Something's not right, I'll take a—"

Swish!!

The voice cut off. Mikoto turned back in disbelief, only to see Ayaka holding a kunai, one end plunged into her own abdomen.

A companion who had been with her day and night for over half a year, someone who cared for her so deeply, was actually attacking her!

Ayaka's hand trembled, and tears couldn't help but fall: "I'm sorry... I'm sorry, Mikoto..."

"For the sake of—"

Slash!!

Mikoto turned, her short blade slicing through a throat, blood spraying out.

I don't want to hear your excuses.

The still-weeping girl's eyes lost their focus, and her corpse fell backward.

Mikoto didn't look at her again, her scarlet eyes turning toward Yoshino.

Yoshino took two steps back voluntarily: "It wasn't me, if you're worried..."

"Get down!"

Mikoto lunged forward, one hand pressing onto Yoshino's shoulder as her short blade slashed toward the ninja behind him.

Thud—

Yoshino turned his head, looking at the dead ninja with lingering fear.

"The style of the forehead protector... why would Kumogakure be here! Has the Land of Lightning joined the war too!!"

Mikoto pulled out the kunai; the wound was not deep, but the numbing sensation spreading from it... it was poisoned!

Figures emerged from the dense forest one by one, forming a circle of encirclement.

"Joining the war is a stretch; this is merely revenge."

A tall Kumogakure ninja stepped forward and said in a deep voice: "Uchiha Kamizuki killed my kin, and I want to make him experience the pain of losing his own."

"I originally intended to kill you... what a pity."

"Heh."

Mikoto sneered, her blood-stained hand gripping the hilt of her blade: "Unable to deal with my brother, so you choose to target his sister instead."

"There is no need to use such high-sounding excuses, you spineless cowards."

"If that is how you want to put it, then sure."

The Kumogakure ninja charged, his face twisted in a snarl: "If you want to blame someone, blame yourself for being the weak one!!"

--

--

Konoha.

While the outside world was tearing itself apart, Konoha remained a peaceful scene, like a paradise removed from the chaos.

The Konoha villagers were busy with their daily bullying, and the Bloody Habanero was busy teaching them a lesson as usual.

Kushina tidied her messy hair. The few little bastards today hadn't been much of a challenge; they claimed they would bring their ninja brothers tomorrow, so she hoped that would be more interesting.

However...

She glanced inadvertently at the cherry blossom tree by the street.

Every time she was being bullied, there would always be an annoying blond guy in that spot.

She heard he had graduated early... that was nice.

She wanted to become a ninja quickly and go out to play too, but the Third Hokage wouldn't allow it. Hmph! Stubborn old man!

She would ask sister Tsunade about it when she returned...

Returning to the empty house, Kushina habitually called out that she was home, but no one responded.

Her small face showed a hint of disappointment.

Grandma Mito was gone, sister Tsunade had gone to the battlefield, and even Nawaki, who occasionally came to play with her, was...

It was so lonely.

Suddenly.

Her innate Uzumaki Clan sensory abilities made her detect the sudden presence of strange, cold Chakra in the air.

"Motoha! Gunxi! Is anyone there!"

She called out the names of her guards, but still received no response.

She looked up abruptly, meeting several pairs of cold, sinister eyes.

The men had their faces covered by masks, their bodies mostly hidden in the shadows, and the forehead protectors they wore reflected the faint light of dusk.

That was...

Kushina's pupils constricted sharply as the painful memories from years ago—the village being destroyed and her clansmen being slaughtered—flooded into her mind.

Kumogakure!!

"You—"

Before she could finish, the Kumogakure ninjas swarmed forward. One of them used a Body Flicker technique to appear behind her, pinning her spine down with his knee, and immediately another delivered a precise hand-chop to the back of her neck.

Kushina's hands were tightly bound, just like back then...

She tried to mobilize her Chakra to resist, but having just become the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki, most of her power was being used to stabilize the seal, leaving her unable to draw upon it at all.

Moreover, the Kumogakure attackers were all elite Jonin-level; against her, who didn't even know Ninjutsu, it was a complete crushing victory.

"Target secured!"

Moonlight filtered through the window frame, illuminating the chaos inside the house.