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Finally, seeing the young Cloud ninja was about to cry from sheer frustration, the Hyuga took pity on him.
He told the kid exactly what he wanted to hear.
The young Cloud ninja clutched the intelligence he'd "painstakingly" extracted and hurried back to his team's safe house.
"Snore…"
"Zzz…"
A chorus of snores greeted him, rising and falling in the dim room.
The young ninja's fragile heart shattered right there on the spot.
"You just told him?" the Uchiha guard downstairs asked his Hyuga partner.
Hyuga Unkan shrugged, a smirk playing on his lips. "With their level of intelligence, what kind of storm do you think they can possibly stir up?"
The Uchiha guard remembered how the young Cloud ninja had been led around by the nose, and a grin tugged at his own mouth. "Fair point."
The next day.
Sunlight hit Alubi's face. He groaned, rubbing his eyes. His whole body felt numb.
He looked down. His legs were twisted in a completely unnatural position.
"Dammit! Which bastard slept on my legs?" He kicked at the Cloud ninja sleeping like a log beside him.
"Who the hell kicked me?!" a voice roared.
The ninja who had been happily using Alubi's thigh as a pillow shot up. One hand flew into the air, a delicate little finger elegantly extended as he pointed an accusing… well, finger. "You dare?!"
Alubi stared at his "brother." He chose silence.
The now fully-awake Cloud ninja blinked, the fiery rage in his eyes fizzling into awkward panic. Slowly, the elegant pinky curled back in. He clenched his hand into a fist. "I mean… who the hell kicked me?!"
Alubi rubbed his face. His feelings were… complicated.
His brother of many years… was apparently a sister. He was having a hard time processing this.
"Commander Alubi! I got the intel!" The young ninja was awake now too, his voice instantly drawing the attention of every bleary-eyed Cloud ninja in the room.
Alubi shoved his personal crisis aside. He grabbed the kid's collar. "Spit it out!"
"The Hyuga… some of them have a cursed seal on their eyes. Can't be taken. But two of them definitely don't have it! And they'd be easy targets!"
Alubi's breathing hitched. "Which two?"
"One is the Hyuga clan head's daughter, Hyuga Hinata. The other is the son of the branch family head, the Hokage's own student—Hyuga Neji."
"Both kids." Alubi's eyes gleamed. "Kids are good. Easy targets."
"Commander… there's more." The young ninja swallowed, excitement barely contained. "The Nine-Tails Jinchūriki… is also a child."
Alubi's fists clenched. Sweat beaded on his forehead.
"The Nine-Tails Jinchūriki…" He hesitated. That was different. A whole other level of risk.
But… if they captured the Nine-Tails Jinchūriki… their bargaining power would be absolute. The mighty Hokage himself would be at their mercy.
His eyes hardened. "We go for it."
He gathered the Cloud ninja and began to lay out the plan.
Meanwhile, in the Hokage's office.
"Hokage-sama, the Cloud delegation is being… remarkably well-behaved," reported Yako, captain of the Security Detail.
Her team's job was protection. And very obvious surveillance.
"The Raikage and the Eight-Tails Jinchūriki are at the bathhouse. The Two-Tails Jinchūriki, Yugito, is at a tavern. The rest are all in their lodgings."
From her observation, the Raikage, Killer Bee, and Yugito acted like tourists. Zero vigilance. Wandering everywhere. Touching every "interesting" thing they saw.
The Raikage, with his monstrous strength, had already crushed a dozen shopkeepers' wares. He was becoming something of a public nuisance.
"…" Tsukimi Heshu could only sigh at people who seemed to have no sense of subtlety. "Compensate the civilians for all damages."
Yako smiled sweetly. "Already done, Hokage-sama! Though when they heard it was your money, they refused to take it!"
"Did they accept in the end?"
"Of course! I told them it was my money. They took it right away." Yako nodded firmly. "I would never fail in my duty to you, Hokage-sama. They had to accept."
"…" Tsukimi's eye twitched.
Should he thank her?
What an… accommodating subordinate.
Night fell again. A long, cold winter night.
The moon slid behind thick clouds.
Shadows moved in the silent streets.
"You two, get the Hyuga girl, Hinata."
"You two, the boy, Neji."
"You—" Alubi pointed at his comrade. "You're with me. We take the Nine-Tails."
The shadows split, moving in different directions.
Alubi and his partner leaped across rooftops, swift and silent. They stopped in the deep shadow of a small, two-story house.
"This is it. The Jinchūriki's location."
His partner nodded, voice low. "Be careful."
"Always."
According to the young ninja's intel, the Hokage was off for a "private rendezvous" tonight. The house held only a civilian babysitter and the child Jinchūriki.
For two Cloud Jonin, it was nothing.
They materialized in the living room. A flicker of shadow. Not a sound.
In the adjacent room, baby Naruto slept soundly in his crib.
Within the seal, a massive, slitted eye opened halfway.
"…?" Kurama sensed the intruders.
"Hmph. Looks like the brat's in for it," the fox mused, a flicker of interest in his gaze. This might be entertaining.
Alubi pushed the bedroom door open. His palms were slick with sweat. The child lay right there.
"This… is too easy." He reached for the sleeping infant.
"It is rather easy, isn't it?" a calm, feminine voice agreed.
Alubi froze.
That wasn't his partner's voice.
He looked up. His pupils dilated.
On the other side of the crib, his partner hung limp in the grip of a woman. The woman's hand was clamped around his throat.
"RUN!" The man gargled the word, face contorted.
Crunch.
Hanzo dropped the lifeless body like garbage. Her expression was flat, her eyes fixed on Alubi.
"Impossible…" Alubi trembled. His partner was a Jonin. How…?
Hanzo didn't care for village politics. But cross a line in her territory, and you paid. She'd cared for this child for nearly two years. Targeting him was a death sentence.
"Don't come closer!" Alubi's hand shot out, aiming for the baby's fragile neck.
He never made it.
A hand closed around his throat. He was lifted off his feet, choking.
"How… so… fast…" The thought died with him. Darkness took over.
Another limp body hit the floor.
Hanzo gently picked up the stirring baby, rocking him. Naruto's fussing subsided. He drifted back into a deep sleep.
Inside the seal, Kurama was utterly silent.
…Wasn't she just a normal babysitter?
Why was she so strong?
Another day, another shattered worldview for the Nine-Tails.
Elsewhere, on his alleged "rendezvous," Tsukimi Heshu raised an eyebrow at the two Cloud ninja in front of him.
"Out for a midnight stroll, gentlemen?"
He sat comfortably in a chair. In his lap, bundled up and wide-eyed, was one of their targets—Hyuga Neji.
Hyuga Miyu, who had been about to make snacks for Neji and the Hokage, stood frozen in the kitchen doorway. "What's… going on?" She blinked. Her husband hadn't mentioned guests.
The two Cloud ninja exchanged a look. Their target was guarded. But the woman… she was Hyuga too. Maybe not a perfect specimen, but a hostage would do.
They moved as one, bodies blurring as they charged Miyu.
"Mom!" Neji cried out, his chubby little hand reaching.
"Domain Expansion." Tsukimi's voice was calm. "Infinite Void."
Darkness bloomed.
The two ninja crashed to their knees. Their eyes glazed over. Cold sweat drenched their clothes. Every muscle, every thought, was paralyzed. They couldn't even bite down on the poison capsules in their teeth.
The Domain ensured they couldn't choose death.
"Teacher! Awesome!" Neji's eyes shone. He gave a wobbly thumbs-up with his tiny hand.
"…" Tsukimi wasn't sure if this was Neji's natural personality or if someone had been a bad influence. The kid was nothing like the cool, aloof prodigy he might have been. More like a tiny social butterfly.
Not far away, in separate courtyards, Hiashi and Hizashi each efficiently dislocated a Cloud ninja's jaw, shattered their molars, and bound them up. No suicide possible.
Tsukimi hadn't been worried about Naruto for a second.
Hanzo was no pushover. He might show restraint. Hanzo? She'd go for the kill. Push her far enough, and she'd probably try to assassinate the Raikage himself.
"Hokage-sama." Hiashi and Hizashi appeared, dragging their bloody-mouthed captives.
Seeing the state of the prisoners, Tsukimi immediately covered Neji's eyes. He shot the two Hyuga men a disapproving look.
Really? In front of the child? Neji was too young for this kind of gore. A bad influence.
"Neji, my little man, go play with Mommy. Teacher has some boring adult things to handle." He kept Neji's eyes covered until the boy was safely in Miyu's arms.
Miyu carried him off to the inner room. "Come on, Neji, time for beddie-bye!"
Neji, who had been trying to peek, pouted. He didn't want beddie-bye! He wanted to fight bad guys too! Dad and Teacher had been way too gentle!
"Hokage-sama, what are your orders?" Hiashi asked.
Tsukimi smiled. "Let's let the Raikage get a good night's sleep, shall we?"
His gaze fell on the four trussed-up Cloud ninja.
"Tie them up. Hang them from the telephone poles on the main street in front of the Hokage Building."
Cloud ninja were famously tough. One night hanging wouldn't kill them.
"…"
"…"
Hizashi and Hiashi exchanged a look. A chill ran up their spines.
As expected of the Hokage.
Tsukimi vanished, reappearing in his own living room.
As expected, two bodies lay on the floor.
In the bedroom, Hanzo and Naruto were fast asleep.
"…" Classic Hanzo.
Even bound by his Kotodama Jutsu, her inherent lethality and pride remained untouchable. A direct challenge meant a direct response.
He examined the bodies. One hit each. Throats crushed. They hadn't even had time to react.
Looks like he'd found Naruto one hell of a bodyguard.
With a wave of his hand, the bodies disappeared.
It was a restless night.
On the main street before the Hokage Building, six figures hung neatly from telephone poles. In the pre-dawn gloom, it was hard to tell if they were alive or dead.
Masked ANBU stood guard below, their presence turning the famous "Hokage" plaque above into a symbol of cold, unforgiving authority.
A crowd gathered, drawn by the spectacle.
"What happened?"
"Are those… Cloud ninja?"
"What's going on?"
"No idea!"
"This is scary…"
"Something big must have gone down last night!"
The murmurs grew. The ANBU didn't react. Statues in masks.
"BAKA YARŌ!"
A roar split the air. The crowd scrambled back.
There, in the clearing, the Fourth Raikage stood, hair practically standing on end, eyes burning with fury.
"What is the meaning of this?!" he bellowed. "Tsukimi Heshu! Get out here and face me!"
Lightning crackled around him. The cobblestones beneath his feet cracked under the pressure.
"Ah!" Several civilians cried out in alarm.
In an instant, a dozen ANBU dropped from the rooftops, forming a wall between the Raikage and the people.
The crowd relaxed, the mood shifting instantly from fear to righteous indignation.
"Look at his attitude!"
"Typical!"
"Big brute!"
"Doesn't even know what happened and he's scaring people!"
The complaints grew louder.
"…" Yugito, standing to the side, blinked. He didn't actually attack anyone just now…
"Hmph! The Hokage-sama always has his reasons!"
"That's right! Hokage-sama isn't unreasonable!"
"These scum must have done something horrible!"
"Obviously! Hokage-sama is a model for the whole shinobi world!"
"Even the Tsuchikage admires him!"
The Raikage's temple throbbed. His chest heaved.
"TSU—KIMI—HE—"
"No need to shout, Raikage. I'm right here."
Tsukimi Heshu appeared in the center of the street, calm and composed.
"Tsukimi," the Raikage snarled, jabbing a finger at the hanging figures. "You'd better have one hell of an explanation!"
"An explanation?" Tsukimi's expression turned cold. "I haven't even demanded an explanation from you yet, Raikage. How bold of you to play the accuser first."
"What are you talking about?" The Raikage was genuinely confused. He looked at Killer Bee, who shrugged, equally lost.
"Raikage," Tsukimi's voice rang out, clear and carrying. "I believed peace was the shared desire of our world. I never imagined Cloud would be the first to seek war."
The crowd gasped.
"What? Cloud wants war?"
"Those damn Cloud bastards! I knew they were up to no good!"
"No wonder the Raikage kept breaking my toys!"
In this era, peace was the prevailing wind. Any village seen as trying to reverse that tide would face scorn, condemnation—a blow to its reputation and its mission intake.
"Tsukimi Heshu! Don't you dare slander us!" The Raikage was livid. "I came to Konoha in good faith! Is this your answer?!"
Tsukimi also looked up at the telephone poles. He raised his voice, addressing the crowd as much as the Raikage.
"You want to know why? Then listen closely, Raikage. Listen well."
"Last night, your shinobi split into three teams."
"One team attempted to kidnap the daughter of the Hyuga Main Family head—Hyuga Hinata."
"Another targeted the son of the Hyuga Branch Family head, my own student—Hyuga Neji."
"And the final team…" Tsukimi's gaze turned icy. "Breached my personal residence. Their target? The Nine-Tails Jinchūriki."
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