Something was wrong.
Uchiha Gen stopped in the middle of the street, the hairs on the back of his neck rising one by one. When he had come this way earlier, the road near the Senju residence had been quiet and nearly deserted. Now the opposite was true. The closer he got, the more people there were, yet the noise had a strange, brittle quality to it, as if the crowd had been drawn there by something they did not understand.
What could have attracted so many people to this area at this hour?
He did not hesitate any longer. The card of Sakura Haruno, Ninja Academy edition, vanished from his active slot. In its place, young Uchiha Madara took the field.
Crimson bled into his eyes. A single tomoe spun into existence around each pupil, and at the same moment Gen released his sensory ninjutsu. Sharingan vision and chakra perception overlapped in his mind, turning the whole neighborhood into a web of details—footsteps, traces of movement, disturbed chakra signatures, faint signs of panic, fresh scuffs at the edge of walls and alleyways.
A heartbeat later, he spun on his heel and sprinted straight back toward the Senju estate.
***
At almost the same time, Kushina Uzumaki was returning by another route.
She had only just stepped into the shadow of the outer lane when several masked figures in black dropped down in front of her. The girl froze. Her wide violet-blue eyes filled with naked alarm as she looked from one masked man to the next, unable to understand what she was seeing.
"This is the Senju residence... how could anyone sneak in here?"
Where were Tsunade and Lady Mito? What about the ANBU who guarded this place day and night? Why was no one here?
"Seize her and withdraw immediately," said the tall man at the front, his voice low and heavy.
Kushina had not yet graduated from the academy. She was not even a genin. Against a squad like this, she had no room to resist. Within moments she was subdued and lifted off the ground, her mouth covered and her limbs pinned.
***
Two minutes later, Gen vaulted over the weathered stone wall of the Senju compound and landed soundlessly inside.
A single lock of vivid red hair lay on the ground.
"Damn. Still a step too late."
His eyes sharpened. With the Sharingan active, every clue inside the courtyard stood out in cruel clarity. Fresh drag marks. A hurried change of footing. The attackers had moved fast, too fast to clean the scene properly. Either they had not noticed the hints Kushina had left behind, or they had noticed them and chosen speed over caution.
Following the trail, Gen cut through the courtyard and into the alley beyond. As he ran, his hands flashed through seals.
A male ninja crow with glossy black feathers burst from a puff of smoke and flew alongside him.
"Go to the Grand Elder and to Orochimaru-sensei," Gen ordered without slowing. "Tell them the Hidden Cloud is secretly abducting people from the village. Request immediate support."
The crow let out a sharp cry, beat its wings once, and soared into the evening sky.
Gen lowered his body and accelerated again, chakra gathering beneath his feet as he vanished into the road ahead.
***
Elsewhere, a blond boy on his way home noticed several strands of bright red hair lying in the street.
Namikaze Minato's eyes narrowed. He looked from the hair to the distant figure racing ahead—a figure only slightly taller than himself, moving with relentless urgency.
"That's Uchiha Gen-senpai... and that hair... in the whole village, only Kushina has hair like that."
Worry flashed across his face, then hardened into resolve. He immediately launched after Gen.
Gen noticed him almost at once.
As expected of the future Yellow Flash, he thought. Even now, his speed could barely keep up. Even if Minato never learned Flying Thunder God, his natural movement alone would still rank among the best in the world.
Two blurred shadows tore across the road, through the darkening woods, and past the outer edges of Konoha. The Hidden Cloud squad was moving quickly too—disciplined, urgent, efficient. Despite chasing without pause, neither Gen nor Minato managed to overtake them at once.
Night descended little by little. A new moon climbed above the mountain ridge, spilling pale light over the trees.
Then Gen suddenly halted and flashed a string of silent tactical hand signs back at Minato.
Stop.
Infiltrate.
Stay on me.
I'll move left. You circle right.
I'll feint the attack. You rescue Kushina.
Minato, hidden in the undergrowth behind him, gave a tiny nod and slipped into the bushes without a sound.
***
Ahead, three Hidden Cloud shinobi had paused to rest.
"We're already outside Konoha's range. For now, we can relax a little," one of them said.
"Don't relax too much."
"What's there to worry about? We've made it this far. Once we keep moving tonight and reach the border tomorrow, the rendezvous team from the village will take over. We'll return with a great achievement. Who knows what reward we'll get?"
"Hah. Those Konoha higher-ups are idiots. The plan actually worked. We got an Uzumaki woman out cleanly. Once the reward comes through, I'll be approved for stronger ninjutsu training. Becoming a jonin won't be far off."
The three men spoke in low, excited voices. Even so, they were not completely careless. Their eyes still swept the forest from time to time, and the leader never once let his guard fully drop.
"Enough resting. Move," the large man at the front said, rising to his feet with Kushina still slung against one arm.
The peace delegation in Konoha had been a decoy from the very beginning.
The strongest and most important members of the Hidden Cloud group had stayed behind in the village and used the so-called information about the Six Paths treasures and the corpse of the Second Hokage to lure away key Konoha figures like Mito Uzumaki and Tsunade. Because of that, the squad actually carrying out the abduction was not the most elite of the delegation.
That was the only reason Gen had decided to act.
If they had been the true core of the Hidden Cloud mission, charging in now would have been suicide. But this group? Dangerous, yes. Untouchable, no.
***
A blur crossed the darkness.
Then another.
The rear two Hidden Cloud shinobi stiffened—and dropped before they could even cry out properly.
"Who's there?!" the leader roared, instantly springing into the top of a nearby tree with Kushina still under his arm.
What answered him was a sword flashing through the moonlight and a pair of scarlet eyes.
Sharingan!
The Cloud shinobi's pupils shrank. He instinctively drew his blade and blocked, all while forcibly avoiding Gen's direct gaze. The fame of the Sharingan had echoed through the ninja world for a thousand years. Anyone with battlefield sense knew the first rule when fighting an awakened Uchiha—never meet their eyes if you could help it.
In truth, he was being more cautious than necessary. Gen's current one-tomoe Sharingan did not grant overwhelming genjutsu prowess, and his genjutsu itself was not yet especially strong. To avoid tipping his hand, he had not planned on using it here in the first place.
Steel crashed against steel, and sparks sprayed into the dark.
The force of the collision numbed the Cloud ninja's wrist. At the same instant, Kushina felt her weight disappear from his grasp.
"We came to save you, Kushina," Minato said softly.
She turned, dazed, and found herself cradled in the arms of a blond boy with wind-bright hair and an almost absurdly calm smile. Under the moonlight, he looked as though he had stepped straight out of a dream.
Not far away, Gen pressed the attack without a word.
Sword in hand, he drove the Cloud shinobi deeper into the forest, their figures weaving between the trees in a blur. Blades rang again and again, each clash sharp enough to cut through the night. He needed to hold the enemy here, keep his attention fixed, give Minato the opening to withdraw with Kushina before the fight changed.
The moon hung cold over the treetops. The rescue had begun—but the real battle was only starting.