Rescuing Kushina

"Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu."

Yueshu spat a fireball from his mouth, sending it hurtling toward Minato Namikaze.

"Wind Style: Great Breakthrough."

Minato Namikaze was not to be outdone; he quickly formed the hand seals and exhaled a powerful gust of wind from his mouth.

The wind and the fireball collided, but neither gained the upper hand, ultimately canceling each other out.

With a shift of his feet, Yueshu drew the short blade from behind his waist and charged straight at Minato Namikaze.

Minato Namikaze reacted quickly, immediately gripping his kunai to defend.

However, Yueshu's swordsmanship was exquisite; he broke through Minato Namikaze's defense in a single stroke, his blade stopping just centimeters from Minato Namikaze's face.

In this sparring match, Minato Namikaze was defeated.

"I won again."

"I'll definitely win next time!"

Yueshu smiled, looking at the Fourth's slightly frustrated expression.

Even the most famous genius in this ninja world could make such a face. To see Minato Namikaze, hailed as the purest genius, being suppressed by him—Yueshu couldn't help but feel a rush of satisfaction.

The two sides reached out to perform the Seal of Reconciliation, bringing today's training to an end.

This time, because Minato Namikaze had business to attend to, he didn't walk home with Kushina and Yueshu, leaving only the two of them to stroll through the streets of Konoha.

"Come to think of it, I still don't know what your dream is, Yueshu. You're so strong—do you want to be Hokage too?"

As they walked, Kushina suddenly asked.

It was dusk, and the blue sky had turned crimson, with fire-like clouds drifting lazily by.

"Me?"

Yueshu was stunned; he hadn't expected anyone to suddenly ask him such a question.

"Yeah, Hokage?"

Yueshu looked at Kushina's slightly rounded face and smiled.

"I have no intention of competing with you for the Hokage seat, so don't worry."

"Even if you tried, I wouldn't lose to you!"

Kushina puffed out her cheeks, making her round face look even rounder.

Yueshu glanced at Kushina, then looked toward the Hokage Rock, where the three faces stood out brilliantly—the three Hokage in Konoha's history.

"Hokage, huh? It's certainly impressive—powerful, responsible, almost like a hero."

"Exactly!"

"But..."

"I'm not the kind of person who wants to be a hero."

Yueshu looked at Kushina.

"As for my dream, I suppose it would just be to open a small shop and live a quiet life. Isn't that wonderful?"

Kushina looked at Yueshu, her small face drooping, looking somewhat unhappy.

"I'm heading back now."

Kushina's voice drifted over. Yueshu watched as her red hair swept past his eyes, leaving him with nothing but her retreating figure.

Kushina didn't pay him any mind and simply ran off.

Yueshu sighed. He understood why; she was just a child, and it was normal to feel emotional when the person she held in the highest regard wasn't valued by others.

Under the circumstances, chasing after her would be troublesome. It would be better to let things cool down and reconcile when they went to school tomorrow.

Thinking this, Yueshu headed toward his own home.

"What do you mean you don't want to be a hero!"

"Idiot, idiot!"

Kushina jogged along, thinking of Yueshu's face, her small mouth constantly calling him an idiot.

Everyone wants to be understood. As the first person to approach and help her after she arrived in Konoha, Yueshu held a significant place in Kushina's heart, much like a very dear friend. But now, her best friend hadn't understood her and had even expressed the opposite of her own aspirations, which left Kushina feeling a sudden sense of disconnect.

A strange tension between friends had suddenly emerged, and Kushina, who had always been on her own, didn't know how to handle it.

"Idiot!"

Perhaps tired from running, Kushina slowed to a walk.

Step by step, her red-haired figure slowly reached her front door in the twilight.

"Hmph, the Hokage is the strongest and most amazing person in the village, you idiot Yueshu."

As if venting, Kushina shouted at the front door.

"Not necessarily."

A mature male voice sounded from nearby, and Kushina immediately tensed up.

"At least the strongest people in the village didn't notice us."

The moment those words fell, Kushina only saw a few black shadows streak past before a wave of helplessness flooded her mind, and her vision slowly faded to black.

"Good, the target is secured. Let's retreat immediately before Konoha reacts."

As night fell, several black shadows emerged. They shed their disguises and donned the headbands representing the Cloud Village.

Their purpose in Konoha was simple: they were looking for a suitable jinchuriki vessel, and Kushina was their ideal candidate.

[Mission Triggered: Rescue Kushina Uzumaki, who has been abducted by the Cloud Village. Mission Completion Reward: One lucky draw.]

Yueshu had not been home for long and was just thinking about cooking when an electronic voice rang out.

Without hesitation, he stood up and bolted out the door.

Why now of all times? Things have been so peaceful lately that I completely forgot about this!

Yueshu gritted his teeth, clenched his fists, and sprinted toward the gates of Konoha with all his might.

On the other side, the sensation of being jostled around caused Kushina to slowly regain consciousness.

The moment she woke, she realized her mouth was gagged, her arms were bound, and she felt completely drained of strength.

Watching the village of Konoha slowly recede into the distance, its lights still glowing, Kushina felt a surge of inexplicable panic as she realized she was being taken away.

After a moment, Kushina gritted her teeth, suppressed her fear, and forced her weak, limp arms to lift.

There wasn't much she could do, but her hair happened to be long enough to reach her arms, so she didn't need to exert much effort to grasp it.

As she focused her intent, chakra slowly welled up, and Kushina cut off strands of her bright red hair, letting them scatter onto the ground.

The ninjas who had abducted her seemed to be in a hurry and paid her no mind, giving her an opportunity.

With tears swirling in her eyes, Kushina pushed down her terror, dropping bits of her hair along the path every few moments.

I am going to be the first female Hokage!

Kushina thought to herself, watching Konoha grow smaller and the light fade into darkness.

For some reason, she found herself thinking of the boy who didn't want to be a hero—the first person to stand up for her and become her friend.

"I'm not the type of person who wants to be a hero."

As Yueshu's words echoed in her ears, the light in Kushina's eyes dimmed significantly.

"What! Kushina has been abducted? How are you people doing your jobs? I only stepped away for a moment, what on earth were you doing?!"

At that very moment, inside the Hokage's office, an elderly Mito Uzumaki looked furious.

"Mobilize everyone immediately! If anything happens to Kushina, I don't care who it is—I will go there myself!"

Mito Uzumaki roared, and the Hokage's office fell into a deathly silence; even the Third Hokage didn't dare utter a word.

Mito Uzumaki was a veteran Nine-Tails jinchuriki who could tap into the beast's power. If she were to take matters into her own hands, the Third Shinobi World War would be ignited instantly. With the Second War having just ended, no one could afford to bear that responsibility.

"Who could it be! To dare do something like this right after the Second War ended!"

Sarutobi Hiruzen was also enraged, but he managed to keep his cool. He immediately dispatched all available ninjas to search for Kushina and ordered the gates of Konoha to be completely sealed.

But alas, it was already too late.

Konoha had vanished from sight, replaced by a dark, gloomy forest. They were nearly out of the Land of Fire, and the light in Kushina's eyes was fading. She had been dropping hair to signal for help the entire way, but it seemed no hero would stand up for her this time.

"We should be safe now that we've made it this far. I thought it would be difficult, but it was simple enough."

The three ninjas from the Cloud Village chuckled among themselves, preparing to cross the border, when a black shadow streaked past them.

"Who's there!"

The Cloud Village ninjas immediately went on high alert, only to see a flash of white and blue light as a figure charged toward them.

"Rasengan!"

As the word left his lips, one of the Cloud ninjas was struck and sent flying.

"Damn it!"

The other two ninjas reacted instantly to counterattack, ignoring Kushina entirely.

Yueshu seized the opportunity, abandoning all defense to rush straight toward Kushina.

A kunai slashed him, and blood splattered, but Yueshu gritted his teeth against the pain, scooped Kushina up into his arms, and fled to the side.

"Bad news, the target has been snatched! After him!"

In a split second, the remaining two Cloud ninjas were in hot pursuit of Yueshu.

Kushina could hear his heavy, ragged breathing. The light in her eyes flickered back to life as she looked up to see his delicate, youthful face covered in sweat, his gaze locked firmly on the path ahead.

"Are you an idiot?"

Yueshu glanced at Kushina, freeing one hand to gently untie the bindings on her mouth and arms.

"You're in quite a state, Red Hot Habanero."

Carrying Kushina in his arms, Yueshu leaped through the forest, step by step.

"Why did you..."

Kushina's voice was faint; her body had yet to recover.

Yueshu flashed a smile as the wind whistled past his ears, two figures constantly gaining on them from behind.

"Why?"

"Because I don't want to lose you."

"Besides, you were hoping for a hero to appear, so I came."

Yueshu's expression turned serious as he finished speaking. The men from Cloud Village were about to catch up, and Yueshu's speed was no match for theirs.

If they were overtaken, Yueshu alone could never be a match for the opposition, especially since he had only managed to snatch Kushina back from them by surprise while already injured.

A head-on confrontation was impossible. No matter what, anyone capable of infiltrating Konoha to capture a jinchuriki had to be at least a top-tier chunin. Yueshu, a mere child, could only muster chunin-level combat power at his peak; victory in a direct fight was out of the question, not to mention that the enemy's experience far surpassed his own.