"Lady Shingetsu, please wait!"
Having steeled herself, Chiyo took a deep breath. Under Sandstorm and Ebizo's anxious gazes, she suddenly sprang out of hiding and called loudly to Uchiha Shingetsu as she walked ahead.
The sisters, Miki Uchiha and Inari, assumed defensive stances almost simultaneously, nearly flinging the shuriken in their hands straight at her. Shingetsu calmly turned around to find that the pale-purple-haired Chiyo had traded her sandstorm-proof Land of Wind attire for a dress of the style currently popular in Konoha.
"You're... Chiyo of Sunagakure."
Clothes really did make the person. In her white dress, Chiyo looked as gentle as a drifting cloud. Shingetsu studied her for quite some time before connecting her to the unremarkable Sunagakure kunoichi in black robes she remembered.
"Did you need something from me?"
"Um, well, could you, uh, talk with me for a little while?"
The moment she actually faced Uchiha Shingetsu, Chiyo's mind went completely blank. Every line she had rehearsed a thousand times vanished, and her hands and feet went cold and stiff.
She stared at Shingetsu's impossibly clean face, her mouth opening and closing beyond her control. Only moments later did Chiyo realize what idiotic words she had said, and she nearly died of frustration with herself.
"I see..."
Shingetsu narrowed her eyes like a black cat watching its prey, elegantly and coldly seeking out a weakness and the right moment to strike. Chiyo's nerves were stretched as taut as a fully drawn bowstring, leaving her both anxious and terrified. Only a few seconds passed, yet they seemed to last an eternity.
"Then come inside with us."
Pointing at the Uchiha Clan Compound right before them, Shingetsu extended a matter-of-fact invitation-or rather, gave a direct order. Miki and Inari looked openly disapproving, as though asking how she could invite