The Spoiled Young Lady

In the reception room, everyone's eyes were fixed on Setsuna's bald head.

Setsuna's head gleamed white in the sunlight, like a freshly peeled egg perched above the collar of his Miko Robe.

In a flash, Setsuna whipped up his sleeve to cover his head.

Setsuna immediately thought of a way to respond. Since everyone had seen his bald head, why not turn the mistake to his advantage? After all, no one in the shinobi world knew he was bald yet.

"Brother!"

A shrill, delicate cry exploded from beneath his sleeve.

"Throw these two rude brutes out!"

Setsuna's voice rang high and clear, carrying the imperiousness peculiar to a spoiled noble young lady.

His sleeve covered his face completely, hiding his expression from everyone else.

Only Gengetsu, from his particular angle, could see the murderous intent flash through those sanpaku eyes.

Hearing that richly emotional cry of "Brother," Gengetsu's mind briefly froze, but he quickly grasped Setsuna's intentions.

Setsuna's bald head had been exposed-in theory, the worst possible turn of events.

Yet instead of hastily trying to cover it up, he had switched personas in an instant.

Gengetsu quickly constructed Setsuna's current persona in his mind:

The young lady of the Hagoromo Clan had shaved his head because of an illness and always worn a wig to conceal it. Now someone from another clan had torn off his wig in public. What a terrible humiliation.

This concealed his identity while also giving the Hagoromo Clan the moral high ground.

Gengetsu snapped his head around to face Sarutobi Sasuke, anger surging across his face.

"Lord Sasuke, please forgive my younger sister's outburst. But... could you return the wig? He shaved his head because of an illness and has always been very sensitive about it."

Before Sarutobi Sasuke could move, Hiruzen Sarutobi completely panicked.

After all, his summoned beast had done something so outrageously rude to their young lady. He immediately dropped to his knees and bowed in apology, his movements so exaggerated that he might have been paying his respects to the Daimyo.

"S-sorry! I'm terribly sorry!"

He straightened up and turned toward the White Ape, who was still screeching away, a fine sheen of anxious sweat forming on his forehead.

"Get over here!"

Meanwhile, the White Ape was pulling the wig onto his own snowy head. He bared his teeth at Hiruzen, made faces at Gengetsu, and even leaped onto a ceiling beam to strike coquettish poses.

"Stop running!" Standing beneath the beam, Hiruzen craned his neck, his face flushed scarlet. "This isn't a game-get back here right now!"

The White Ape sat on the beam, took off the wig, and hugged it to his chest. Tilting his head, he watched his young master scramble around while his long tail swayed leisurely over the edge.

In the center of the reception room, Setsuna still had his sleeve over his head.

His shoulders shook, making the white fabric tremble slightly. He gave a flawless performance of a noble young lady desperately trying to endure a public humiliation.

Only Setsuna himself knew that, despite burying his head in his sleeve and making his shoulders hitch, he simply could not squeeze out any tears.

Fortunately, his sleeve also concealed his murderously glaring eyes.

To Hiruzen Sarutobi, however, the scene meant something entirely different.

That girl in a white top and red hakama covered his bald head with his sleeve, his shoulders trembling, yet he did not make a single sob.

Only moments ago, he had been waving his fan so proudly. Now he could only retreat behind his sleeve and hide himself away.

Although Miss Hagoromo had questioned her father repeatedly and spoken with defiant arrogance, she was still a sheltered Princess.

It was understandable that he had never heard of Sarutobi Sasuke's renowned name.

Besides, their own summoned beast had ripped off his wig, publicly exposing the appearance a girl least wanted anyone to see.

For any well-bred young lady, this would have been a tremendous insult.

Hiruzen's face crumpled with guilt, and he involuntarily took a step forward.

"Miss Hagoromo, I'll get it back right-"

He reached out to grab the White Ape.

But the little monkey jumped onto the window frame, the wig sliding around on his head, its black hair clawed into a tangled bird's nest.

Just then, Sarutobi Sasuke moved. In the blink of an eye, he had seized the White Ape precisely by the scruff of his neck.

"This ill-mannered beast has frightened you, Princess."

Sarutobi Sasuke's voice was steady and sincere. He took the wig from the White Ape, patted off the dust, and drew an oil-paper packet from inside his clothes.

Hiruzen Sarutobi's eyes widened.

He recognized that packet. It was the gift his father had brought back from Yunquan City for his mother-two Cherry Blossom Herb Rice Cakes.

The Cherry Blossom Herb Rice Cakes there were painstakingly made. Tender cherry leaves gathered in early spring had to be ground into powder, wrapped around a honey-preserved adzuki bean filling, then pressed into pink cakes. Each one cost as much as three days' mission pay for a Chunin.

They were his mother's favorite.

Now his father had taken them out and was offering them with both hands to Miss Hagoromo, who was still covering his head and "crying."

"These are Cherry Blossom Herb Rice Cakes from Yunquan City. A small gift, hardly worthy of you. The Sarutobi Clan has failed in its manners today. Please accept these as a token of our apology, Princess."

Setsuna lowered his eyelids and looked out from beneath his sleeve at the oil-paper packet being offered.

He calculated that making any more trouble would do him no good.

Sarutobi Sasuke was a professional information broker. His eyes looked gentle and smiling, but in truth, they were quietly gathering information every second.

Given this old fox's professional habits, Setsuna had probably already become a subject of observation. The longer he stayed, the more flaws he would reveal.

Better to throw a young lady's tantrum now and seize the chance to leave.

Imitating a choked sob, he forced an angry, tearful cry out of his throat. "Who wants your stupid gift!"

He snatched the wig, now a tangled bird's nest, from Sarutobi Sasuke's hand, turned, and left.

His footsteps were quick and heavy, each one stamping out the anger expected of a spoiled noble young lady.

Gengetsu stared at the furious figure disappearing through the doorway and froze for a moment.

He turned back to Sarutobi Sasuke and forced a wry smile. "My younger sister has been spoiled since childhood. I'm sorry you had to witness that, Lord Sasuke."

Sarutobi Sasuke's gaze lingered on the doorway for a moment before he looked away and said gently, "It is quite all right. The fault was ours."

He turned to Hiruzen Sarutobi, handed the rice cakes to his son, and instructed him, "Dismiss your summon..."

"But Enma..." Hiruzen Sarutobi still wanted to plead his summoned beast's case.

Sarutobi Sasuke ignored his protest and continued, "Then go apologize to Miss Hagoromo."

Hiruzen could only accept the rice cakes and nod obediently, looking somewhat aggrieved.

Setsuna had barely left the meeting room when he heard footsteps behind him.

Hiruzen Sarutobi had chased after him.

Setsuna dared not let his guard down and kept his face hidden behind his sleeve.

After all, he knew that the Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi-the man players jokingly called the "serial peeper" in the original-possessed a practically broken ninjutsu: the Telescope Technique.

With a sample of someone's chakra, he could monitor them remotely through a crystal ball within a certain range.

Since no other Hokage had used such a convenient ninjutsu, it was probably a secret technique of the Sarutobi Clan.

If that deduction was correct, then Sarutobi Sasuke, that old fox of an information broker, must know the technique too.

Setsuna's gaze swept over the disheveled wig clenched in his hand.

Who could guarantee that Sarutobi Sasuke had not infused his own chakra into this wig to keep watch over him remotely?

If the wig really carried a chakra mark, Sarutobi Sasuke would effectively have Setsuna's tracker in the palm of his hand.

Setsuna gritted his teeth and tightened his grip on the wig, which might have someone else's chakra clinging to it. He regretted coming up with the idea of dressing as a woman.

What a pain.

Still... perhaps this could be an opportunity for me.

Setsuna slowed his steps slightly.

Hiruzen Sarutobi was only six years old now.

He was not yet the future Professor of Ninjutsu who never let anything slip, only a clumsy little brat.

On the one hand, Setsuna could keep coaxing information out of the still-immature Hiruzen Sarutobi. On the other, he might be able to mislead Sarutobi Sasuke through his words and behavior.

At that thought, he stopped and snapped, all bluster with little confidence underneath:

"Why are you following me? You humiliated me in front of everyone! Do you think I'll forgive you?"