"Lord Haseo, this is the place."
Minato Namikaze pointed toward the hidden Underground Passage entrance.
Truly, he deserved to be named The Fourth Hokage. Right now, he fully played his role as a guide.
Haseo nodded. Including himself, there were a total of seven Kagenami ninjas involved in this mission. Regardless of what situation they might encounter next, for an operation within Konoha itself, this number was more than sufficient.
"Alright then, let's begin the operation."
"Lord Haseo, I've already scouted the area below. I could continue——"
"No need. Return to Kagenami now. I have an important task for you... Do you know what Kushina is doing right now?"
"...Yes," Minato suddenly had a bad feeling. "Receiving punishment. Under house arrest."
"Good. Then you can also find someone to lock yourself up... Fortunately, you can choose where to be confined."
At this moment, Haseo showed exactly what it meant to be a rotten adult—no drama, no hesitation. Discard you the moment you're useless.
Minato acted on his own too, though he wasn't part of the Kagenami system. However, a mistake was still a mistake, so he needed to accept punishment... Naturally, Haseo wouldn't put him together with Kushina. Otherwise, that wouldn't be punishment but rather a reward.
"Lord Ha—" Minato wanted to defend himself, believing he could still prove useful.
However, Haseo didn't waste another word. He simply pointed directly in the direction of Kagenami, making his meaning crystal clear:
Scram, brat. Right now.
Sannai gave Minato a glance before entering the passage first... Did he really think these Uzumaki shinobi were just along for the ride? This was no job for a kid like you.
Go home and train for another ten years before coming back.
Minato's enthusiastic heart shattered immediately as he left filled with grievance. What could he say now... It seemed like even the sky was crying. I wish she got locked up right next door—I'd totally sneak over.
...
One after another, the ninjas filed into the passage, with Lord Haseo bringing up the rear.
Just that gap of about twenty seconds made all the difference. After Haseo entered, Sannai nodded toward him and began leading the group forward in one direction... This so-called labyrinthine network of tunnels was obviously nothing to her.
Her perception was an extension of her enhanced five senses. She didn't care about routes or pathways; as long as the target was identified, she always easily found the correct way—Sannai only needed to track chakra reactions within the underground tunnels.
Within just a few steps, the group reached the barrier discovered earlier by Minato. Immediately afterward, Shikou stepped forward. After briefly examining the barrier, she formed seals. The barrier shimmered before them, forming into an oval-shaped opening about a meter high. One by one, the group passed through. Then Shikou performed the hand seal again, sealing it shut.
They passed through the barrier without triggering any reaction from it.
The underground space clearly disrupted one's sense of direction. As Sannai led the group along winding paths, the only thing Haseo could be certain of was that they were going deeper.
After breaking through several layers of barriers and diving nearly eighty meters underground, the squad finally began moving horizontally. Soon, a sealed door appeared before them.
Sannai signaled with her hand. According to her perception, there were six people behind this door.
Lord Haseo gave a slight nod, then waved for Ka-jin to come forward.
Ka-jin knew immediately what Lord Haseo wanted him to do. He took out a scroll and started forming hand seals. Once the preparations were complete, he signaled back that he was ready.
Then, with an almost imperceptible sound, Lord Haseo forced the door open. Without hesitation, Ka-jin rushed inside.
No sounds of battle followed. The underground chamber was silent—no faint rustle, not even insect noise.
"Lord Haseo, it's done."
Hardly any time had passed at all. As soon as Ka-jin stepped in, his voice followed.
Thus, Lord Haseo led the remaining ninjas into the space.
It was a rectangular chamber about thirty to forty meters wide, standing seven or eight meters high. Inside were various instruments—some large, some small—all strange in shape.
Six shinobi in white robes had already been bound by Ka-jin's Binding Curse Technique—they couldn't even move their eyelids.
Lord Haseo swept his gaze around the room, eventually focusing on a tall cylindrical water tank... it reminded him of the glassware he once used for cultivating Samehada, filled with transparent liquid.
But this time, instead of fish, it held a human being.
Haseo stepped closer. He found that her face was attached to some kind of breathing apparatus, her skin pale to the point of near transparency, yet her body appeared perfectly healthy.
And her most striking feature—her hair—wasn't the deep crimson of the Uzumaki clan. It was nearly pure white, with just a hint of pink at the tips, fading toward the roots.
"Lord Haseo, we haven't found anything here resembling research logs or documents."
One of the Uzumaki ninja finished his check and reported.
Perhaps those items had already been destroyed. Or maybe this place had only recently become the new location, and the materials hadn't arrived yet.
"Confirm her identity."
Lord Haseo didn't dwell on the issue, instead issuing this command.
Two Uzumaki ninjas stepped forward. They carefully opened the tank and gently lifted the submerged woman out.
After removing all equipment from her body, everyone discovered she could breathe independently—this was good news.
"Her breath and pulse are stable. No visible external injuries. Her physical condition is actually quite healthy."
"But mentally, something's clearly wrong. She appears to have fallen into a deep coma."
[Better not try waking her up suddenly.]
"The age doesn't quite match. Her physical development is at least three to five years ahead of the missing child. Maybe certain drugs were used, very brutally accelerating her growth... and severely draining her life force."
After briefly checking the girl's condition, all he could confirm was that she was still breathing—not dead, but barely alive.
Uzumaki Shikou draped an outer garment over her body. Then Lord Haseo stepped forward. He took out a photograph and, under the dim light, compared it slightly with the face of this unconscious child.
"It's her."
Haseo flipped the photo over. On its yellowed surface, written in the lower-right corner, was her name...
"Yayoi."
He carefully put the photo away and reattached the cleaned pendant around her neck. Having confirmed her identity, he simply returned the item to its rightful owner.
Finding her had been somewhat easy—unexpectedly easy, in fact—which didn't make sense at all.
Fortunately, Haseo still had six living captives.
"Let's take these people along too. Whatever happened will be clarified soon enough," Haseo said.
Yet this order faced opposition.
It came from Uzumaki Shikou—and it was firm resistance.
"No, Lord Haseo. We must eliminate them here… right here on the spot."
Haseo hesitated for a moment before falling into slight silence. He understood what Shikou meant. "That won't be necessary. Leave it to me; I can handle it perfectly well for you…"
At that moment, however, Shikou's attitude remained unyielding. For the first time, she completely ignored his words, even stepping past him to issue direct orders to the other Uzumaki shinobi:
"Eliminate them."
The six individuals, entirely bound by the Binding Curse Technique, had no chance to react. Once Shikou issued the command, the remaining Uzumaki ninja didn't hesitate—they executed them immediately.
Shinobi usually have ways of making the dead speak—but the problem was how brutal the Uzumaki had been in their killing, rendering the corpses completely useless.
A metallic stench of blood flooded the underground space in seconds.
Haseo silently sighed inwardly…
The Uzumaki clan chose quiet endurance.
"Lord Haseo, continuing this investigation further will yield nothing. We don't want to cause you any unnecessary trouble."
Shikou softly explained, showing hesitation again—still slightly fearful of angering Haseo.
Under such circumstances, the Uzumaki acting on their own wasn't a betrayal toward Haseo. Killing wasn't done out of hatred either. In fact, Shikou remained extremely calm, perhaps even calmer than Haseo himself.
Indeed, the Uzumaki didn't want to bring Haseo any trouble because this matter might provoke significant consequences.
Killing means closing mouths. But what good would that do for the Uzumaki?
Only benefits for Konoha itself.
Considering the Uzumaki disappearances—a mystery that had gone on for years—the Uzumaki clan decided quietly to endure it all. In the end, they had already found the person.
Mito Uzumaki was gone from Konoha—for good.
What was Haseo even supposed to say at a time like this?
He silently walked over to a corpse and picked up the Konoha Forehead Protector that had been left on the ground.
So, what's the point of wearing this thing?
Haseo gently clenched his palm, instantly crushing the smooth metal plate into a twisted ball of scrap iron.
The crunching sound of the twisted Forehead Protector rang harshly through the eerily silent space.
"Take this child and evacuate first. Since we've made this decision, we must find a way to save her, restore her consciousness, and bring her vitality back..."
Some were already gone, and others couldn't afford to die — at the very least, the innocent deserved a chance to live.
Haseo sniffed slightly. Dozens of meters underground, the tight space felt oppressively heavy and stifling.
It reeked of death.
PS: In my outline, Yayoi was meant to be a major character, but somehow she ended up with barely any screen time. So what even is an outline, really?
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