Chapter 46

"Uchiha Yan, you gave up this opportunity yourself. Since you didn't know how to cherish it, don't blame me for acting fast."

At the same time, in the Hokage Office.

Through the crystal ball, Hiruzen Sarutobi used the Telescope Technique to watch Minato's every move and every change in expression.

Seeing that Minato was completely following the path he had laid out, the old man could not help but smile slightly, feeling rather pleased with himself. "Every step has gone exactly as I expected."

"Minato, I've placed the opportunity right before you. Whether you can seize it depends on your own ability."

Those red hairs that had fallen to the ground had not, of course, been pulled out by Kushina herself.

The Third Hokage had secretly collected them long ago. He had prepared for this plan well in advance.

The one scattering the hair had not been Kushina either, but one of the Third Hokage's Shadow Clones.

To put it plainly, the old man had not given up. He still wanted to bring Minato and Kushina together.

He believed that as long as he tied Kushina down with Minato, she would develop a sense of belonging toward Konoha.

Uchiha Yan was indeed outstanding, but there were too many uncertainties surrounding the boy. The Third Hokage had no confidence that he could control him for now.

Minato Namikaze, however, was different. He was a fine young talent raised on the Will of Fire from childhood.

He was one of Hiruzen's most devoted admirers.

"However..."

The Third Hokage shifted the direction of the Telescope Technique and looked toward another location.

In the image, several Hidden Cloud ninja had taken Kushina hostage and already fled beyond Konoha's barrier, racing into the distance.

"Danzo, so you're behind this again?"

"This time, you've gone too far."

"It seems I've been far too lenient with you."

That was right. The Third Hokage knew perfectly well that the Hidden Cloud ninja had only managed to breach Konoha's barrier unnoticed and successfully abduct someone from the village because Danzo had helped them in secret.

Otherwise, those Hidden Cloud ninja would never have succeeded with their own abilities.

If the Third Hokage had not wanted to use this opportunity to arrange something himself, he would have stopped them long ago.

"So then, who is your target this time? Kushina, the Nine-Tails jinchuriki? Or... Uchiha Yan?"

At that moment, the image in the crystal ball happened to shift to Uchiha Yan, who was rushing out through the gap in the barrier at astonishing speed.

The Third Hokage immediately understood. "It seems Uchiha Yan is your true target?"

"No."

Then he shook his head, narrowing his eyes to slits. "You probably want both Kushina and Uchiha Yan, don't you?"

"As if I'd let you have it that easy. Heh heh."

Feeling that it was not safe enough, the Third Hokage immediately decided to personally take action.

He brought two teams of elite Anbu and hurried out of the Hokage Building in pursuit.

In the forest northwest of Konoha, four Hidden Cloud jonin were racing through the trees with Kushina in tow.

The leader looked anxious as he lowered his voice and shouted, "Move! Before Konoha's people react, we need to get farther away, meet up with Sarudo's team, and then rush out of the Land of Fire in one go."

"If Konoha realizes something has happened, we won't be able to escape."

From the moment he captured her, he had known perfectly well that this little girl from the Uzumaki Clan was truly the Nine-Tails jinchuriki.

This was far more serious than capturing a spare vessel.

He even felt that Konoha might already have their eyes on them, and pursuers could appear behind them at any moment.

"Captain, why do I keep feeling that this went far too smoothly? We just happened to run into a gap in Konoha's barrier. Isn't that too much of a coincidence?" one Hidden Cloud jonin muttered uneasily.

Another replied, "Wasn't it intelligence provided by an undercover agent?"

"An undercover agent? You really believe that? How could the weakness of an entire village's barrier be so easy to figure out?"

"True."

There was no arguing with that.

"Stop wasting time and pick up the pace! We'll meet Sarudo's group in another six kilometers. Focus!" the leader roared as he carried Kushina and leaped between branches, moving as fast as if he were flying.

Conspiracy or not, once they had the target and got her away, none of it would matter.

Kushina had actually awakened long ago.

Or rather, she had never truly passed out in the first place.

So someone really did come after me. No wonder Xuan kept warning me to be careful. He probably knows something.

Fine. I'll use this chance to deal with these blind fools and send whoever's behind them a warning—I, Kushina Uzumaki, am not someone to be messed with. Hmph!

As she thought that, she could not help muttering inwardly again, Xuan should have noticed that my location is wrong by now, right? Then... will he come save me?

That was right.

From beginning to end, Kushina had deliberately let herself be captured.

Otherwise, with her current level—the Spirit Refining Method, basic body-tempering techniques, Kagura's Mind's Eye—which of them had she not mastered completely? She could dominate even among elite jonin. How could she have been silently taken away so easily?

Besides, she and the Nine-Tails had long reached an agreement. She could borrow the Nine-Tails' chakra to unleash even greater power.

Even if she had truly been ambushed and knocked unconscious, the Nine-Tails within her was not just there for decoration.

It could take over her body and start fighting at any time.

This was a rule Kushina, Uchiha Yan, and the Nine-Tails had agreed upon long ago.

Deep within the northwestern forest, a figure suddenly appeared.

Uchiha Yan's Shadow Clone landed on a thick tree trunk. Without even catching his breath, he immediately closed his eyes.

Kagura's Mind's Eye.

His sensory ability spread like ripples across water, locking onto every trace of chakra fluctuation within a radius of more than ten kilometers. He had deliberately restricted the range of his detection; otherwise, he could have scanned even farther.

"Found them."

He opened his eyes, his gaze fixed straight to the north.

The Perfect Substitution Technique activated. His body vanished from where he stood, and when he appeared again, he was already beyond the limit of visual range. After several consecutive teleports, he landed firmly on a horizontal branch. His Sharingan slowly spun as he looked down at the Hidden Cloud squad concealed below.

The corner of his mouth curled upward, his voice light. "Oh, so this is where you're hiding."

Before his words had even faded, spiritual power and chakra surged at the same time.

Spiritual Genjutsu: Madder World.

Hearing the voice, Sarudo's squad below instinctively looked up.

They met those golden-red, three-tomoe Sharingan eyes.

Sarudo's expression changed drastically. "Something's wrong!"

"Attack!"

With a furious shout, three jonin and four elite chunin sprang into action together, unleashing all manner of ninjutsu at Uchiha Yan's Shadow Clone.

Lightning Release: Lightning Ball.

Lightning Release: False Darkness.

Lightning exploded everywhere.

But screams rang out first.

Sarudo's pupils contracted sharply. Those screams were far too familiar—they were Saha and the others!

"Pfft!"

A chill pierced his chest.

He looked down. A somewhat youthful hand had pierced through his chest from behind, wrapped in incomparably sharp wind-nature chakra.

A faint voice came from behind him. "Wind Release: Wind Demon Blade."

Sarudo's life force flowed away like sand slipping through his fingers.

He finally saw the scene around him clearly.

The four elite chunin had already fallen beneath the blades of their own comrades. The other two jonin lay heavily wounded on the ground, the pool of blood beneath them spreading wider and wider.

And Uchiha Yan's Shadow Clone stood behind him, withdrawing that blood-soaked hand.

At the same time, within Konoha.

The Eight Trigrams Seal on Kushina's stomach suddenly flashed, and its trigger condition activated.

The Nine-Tails inside her noticed what she was doing and rolled its eyes.

"Boring."

The chubby fox rolled over on the spot, changed positions, and continued drinking cola and eating potato chips, not forgetting to turn a page in its manga with one claw.

It lived more leisurely than anyone.

"This is genjutsu? You've got to be kidding. How can genjutsu of this level possibly exist? Who are you?"

He struggled to turn his head and looked behind him. What entered his sight was a youthful face—Uchiha Yan's face.

Sarudo froze, his face filled with unwillingness. "I never expected to fall into the hands of a little brat from the Uchiha Clan in the end... I was careless."

With that regret, his consciousness sank completely into darkness.

"Captain Sarudo!"

"**!"