Fire Country, Konoha.
At the village entrance.
Izumo Kamizuki spotted Kurotsuchi, striding toward them on her long legs, from a distance.
He hurriedly nudged Kotetsu Hagane, who was sleeping beside him. "Hey, wake up, wake up! Someone's coming!"
"Who?! Who's here?! Lady Tsunade or Lord Kanami?!"
Kotetsu Hagane instantly woke up and stood ramrod straight.
"Neither. It's the Earth Shadow."
"What? The Earth Shadow?"
Kotetsu Hagane looked at the woman walking toward him in utter confusion.
That reddish-brown outfit, the high side slits, those two long, shapely, pale legs—who else could it be but Kurotsuchi, the Fourth Earth Shadow?
Kurotsuchi acted as though she had not seen the two of them and headed straight into Konoha Shinobi Village.
Kotetsu Hagane's brows immediately furrowed. He had let her force her way through last time—there was no way he would let her do it again.
He stretched out an arm to block Kurotsuchi. "My apologies, Lady Fourth Earth Shadow, but even you must register here before entering."
"You know who I am, so what's the point of registering? Just write that Lady Kurotsuchi was here."
Kurotsuchi folded her arms and spoke coldly.
"That won't do. You have to sign it yourself, or we'll be breaking the rules. That's called forging a signature!"
Kotetsu Hagane clearly still held a grudge over last time.
Kurotsuchi saw right through him and curled her lips into a smile. "Then just forge it. Trying to make things difficult for me? Are you, a mere gate guard, saying you represent the Hokage's wishes?"
At those words, Kotetsu Hagane froze.
He had not expected Kurotsuchi to use words this time instead of simply barging through.
That kind of rhetoric really was difficult to deal with.
She had stumped him in an instant.
Just as he did not know how