The grand Joint Chunin Exams had come to an end, but the afterglow of the showdown between Konoha's Golden Sun, Namikaze Minato, and Konoha Red Peak, Uzumaki Qi Luna, still lingered. Most of Konoha's villagers remained immersed in the appearance of glory and peace.
Beneath that surface, however, undercurrents had long been churning.
Perhaps Qi Luna's performance had been too powerful, leaving them with no confidence that they could kidnap her without anyone noticing. So Kumogakure, which had long coveted the Uzumaki Clan's enormous chakra reserves and Sealing Jutsu, fixed its greedy gaze on the Bloody Red Habanero, Uzumaki Kushina!
Taking advantage of the night and the relaxed atmosphere of the festivities, a special ops squad made up of Special Jōnin and elite Chunin slipped into the Senju Clan Compound in the heart of Konoha like shadows. Their target was clear: kidnap Uzumaki Kushina, one of the few remaining members of the Uzumaki Clan!
Apart from their lack of understanding of the Senju Clan Compound, Kumogakure's plan was meticulous:
Use a special Barrier Ninjutsu to block sensory detection, then subdue the target before she could react!
But much like their "meticulous" plan, they had chosen to sneak into the Senju Clan Compound, where the Nine-Tails Jinchūriki, Uzumaki Mito, was stationed, and kidnap someone? They even thought they could use Barrier Ninjutsu to block the Mind's Eye of the Kagura and the Nine-Tails' ability to sense good and evil!
If Qi Luna had known about this, all she could have said was: You don't die if you don't go looking for it...
By the time they entered the Senju Clan Compound, at least three people had already detected them!
First:
The current Nine-Tails Jinchūriki, Uzumaki Mito, who sensed someone entering her range with malicious intent!
Second:
Nagato, who, with Mito and Qi Luna's help and guidance over this period, could now just barely use some of the Rinnegan's abilities!
And last:
Qi Luna, who kept using the Mind's Eye of the Kagura to survey the Senju Clan Compound, just in case Old Man Madara tried to steal back the Rinnegan!
But after the three of them spotted the intruders, they didn't act right away. Mito and Qi Luna instead informed a servant and had him report the matter to Sarutobi Hiruzen first.
What happened next was almost exactly the same as in the original story.
After the Chunin Exams ended, Kushina had let her guard down, feeling completely at ease. Just like that, she was ambushed and kidnapped by several Kumogakure ninja, all Chunin or higher!
After succeeding, the Kumogakure shinobi quickly left Konoha's buildings and headed straight into the forest behind the village. They also split off two Special Jōnin to hold back any Konoha pursuers who might follow.
With her chakra sealed and an elite Chunin and a Special Jōnin watching her as she was led along, Kushina had no choice but to use her red hair to leave marks that could be followed.
The result was little different from the original story. The two Kumogakure Special Jōnin held Jiraiya up for a moment, but Minato immediately got past them and followed the trail of Kushina's red hair to find her.
The only real difference from the original story was that Minato killed this time. The Kumogakure Special Jōnin and Chunin all died at his hands!
Namikaze Minato had achieved the feat of wooing a girl under the moonlight!
The rescue mission caused little commotion. The battle lasted less than two minutes before it quickly died down. The Kumogakure elite squad was like dust sinking into the deep sea; it hadn't even stirred a ripple...
When the imposing figure of Third Hokage Hiruzen Sarutobi appeared at the entrance to the forest behind the village, the Konoha Anbu stood ready behind him, along with envoys from other ninja villages who had hurried over after hearing the news.
Everyone looked at the two Kumogakure Special Jōnin, held firmly by Jiraiya and Qi Luna and looking utterly miserable. They also saw Uzumaki Kushina in Namikaze Minato's arms, still shaken and seething with anger. Cold fury rose with the smoke from Sarutobi Hiruzen's pipe.
"It seems... Kumogakure doesn't understand the value of peace! Nor does it have any real intention of ending the war!"
"Hahaha... You've certainly put on quite a show for us, Representative Dodai!"
The Iwagakure envoy's face was full of schadenfreude. One could imagine how much Kumogakure would have to pay in the negotiations ahead—or how it would face Konoha's furious retribution in the days to come!
Kidnapping a promising young talent from Konoha in front of envoys from the great nations' ninja villages wasn't just a matter of disrespect. It was an attack on the very foundation of a village's future!
If Kumogakure could act this way and still pay no price, then what had happened before would happen again, and what had been done would be done again. It would never end unless the village was destroyed; there would be no peace otherwise!
"As expected of people from that bandit village. This is pure brigandry!"
The Sunagakure envoy was equally contemptuous of such conduct. Their village might be weak and poor, but even they had limits. Even they found Kumogakure's actions despicable!
After all, Kumogakure had targeted Konoha this time. What about next time? Could it be them? They still remembered how, during the attack on Uzushio Village, Sunagakure had been made the scapegoat. They had lost their own Second Kazekage, Shamon, and the first puppeteer, Monzaemon, yet gained little from it. Most of the spoils had gone to Konoha, while Iwagakure, Kirigakure, and Kumogakure had taken the most of what remained—and already had relatively stable Jinchūriki!
Even worse, with Sunagakure having lost two major fighters, its defenses were weak. During that period, several talented children had gone missing, including one who had awakened the Magnet Release kekkei genkai. Not long ago, a Magnet Release expert had appeared in Kumogakure, and his age roughly matched that of the missing child. The implications were chilling...
Faced with Sarutobi Hiruzen's fury and the scornful remarks from Iwagakure and Sunagakure, Dodai glanced at the two dead Kumogakure shinobi, then at the two captives. He opened his mouth, but in the end couldn't say anything. He could only remain silent.
In his heart, though, he had already cursed those four Kumogakure shinobi countless times! He wasn't angry that they had failed, nor did he think they shouldn't have done it. He resented them for not discussing it with him beforehand. They could at least have given him a heads-up so he'd been prepared!
Was it because he himself had once been taken from Iwagakure by Kumogakure that they didn't trust him with something like this?!
Dodai was furious, but there was nothing he could do. The facts and evidence were right in front of everyone; there was no room for denial. The only thing he could do now was make some concessions at tomorrow's meeting to discuss the terms of the armistice and see if he could save the two men's lives...
"Lord Hokage, this was entirely their own doing. It wasn't the intention of Kumogakure or Lord Raikage. Still, I hope you'll be magnanimous and give us a chance. We're willing to pay a suitable price in exchange for sparing their lives!"
What good would getting angry do? He still had to try to save them. Whether he could pull it off was another matter.
Under immense pressure, Dodai steeled himself and pleaded for leniency.
"Have the people of Kumogakure trained their Lightning Release on their faces? How else could they be so thick-skinned?"
"Maybe they only trained their bodies. That would explain why they're so shameless~"
Iwagakure and Sunagakure kept piling on, their words dripping with sarcasm...
"Hmph! Lock them up in the Konoha Military Police Force's jail first. As for whether they live or die... we'll see after tomorrow's armistice negotiations!"
Sarutobi Hiruzen didn't give Iwagakure and Sunagakure any more chance to kick Kumogakure while it was down, nor did he care that they were trying to drive a wedge between Konoha and Kumogakure. In his eyes, they were all enemies!
The only difference was who he would settle accounts with first, who would come later, and how far the reckoning would go!
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