Midday at the Crane Moon Tavern.
With business slow, Shokyo sat slumped behind the counter, listlessly flipping through the ledger in front of her.
Where has he gone these last few days? Why hasn't he come to see me?
The memory of his increasingly urgent movements from that night suddenly flashed in her mind, and her cheeks grew hot. She had witnessed his growth firsthand, both his strength as a shinobi, and his… masculine power.
Maybe he's taken on some mission. Maybe he's left the village for a while…
Just then, two merchants stepped into the tavern.
"Boss lady, bring us a bottle of sake."
The voice made Shokyo's heart seize.
That voice…
She lifted her eyes slowly, and froze.
It was a girl. Younger than her.
…My little sister?
For a moment, shock flashed across her gaze.
Shokyo served as a spy for the Hidden Stone Village, while her more talented younger sister, Meiyi, had become a shinobi directly in the village. All the payments and rewards the Hidden Stone Village ever gave for Shokyo's work were delivered straight into Meiyi's hands.
Why is she here?
Could it be… she's my contact? The one sent to receive me in Konoha?
Her chest tightened. But why? Haven't I already done enough for the village?
She had just obtained a piece of critical intelligence, Uzumaki Mito's funeral would take place in five days.
Back when the First Hokage, Senju Hashirama, was alive, there had been no need to hide the identity of the Nine-Tails' jinchūriki. With Hashirama's overwhelming might, the Nine-Tails was a trivial matter, not some secret that needed guarding.
Thus, Uzumaki Mito's role as the Nine-Tails' host had been an open secret.
Shokyo knew the village would prize such intelligence, but she hadn't expected them to send her own sister, Meiyi, as the one to confirm it.
Her appearance meant one thing: this was Shokyo's final mission.
It was the ultimate choice for a spy.
Either she succeeded in securing the intelligence and was recalled home, rewarded with the life of a true shinobi in the sun. Or she failed, and died. Taking with her everything she cherished.
Meiyi had disguised herself as a traveling merchant on a commission in Konoha, but such a cover could be easily pierced.
"Coming right up! We have mid-grade, high-grade, and premium sake. Which would you like to try?"
"Premium, of course! Let's taste the best sake this big village has to offer!"
The passphrase matched.
Shokyo's last flicker of hope went out. This was no coincidence. Meiyi had been sent deliberately.
She selected a bottle and placed it before her sister.
Meiyi's hands trembled faintly as she accepted it, three years had passed since she'd last seen her elder sister. Her heart longed to embrace her, to weep together. But they could only act like strangers.
She lifted the cup, inspecting it carefully until her eyes fell on a subtle mark.
That mark meant everything. In two days, this very bottle would reappear in a nearby trash bin, this time with Shokyo's final confirmed report hidden inside.
Iwagakure needed the truth about Uzumaki Mito.
Later, in the tavern's back room, Shokyo gathered up all her savings. She would need every resource for these next two days.
As she packed, her eyes caught on a razor.
His razor.
Her lips twisted. Did he find some other little fox?
Half the funds for this final mission had come from him. Every time he visited, he ordered the most expensive cuts of beef, and the purest sake.
If I were really a villager of Konoha… maybe I would've tried to be with him.
Yet, she knew even the name he had given her, Miqu, was a lie. A name stolen from the ingredients list of a sake bottle. Too careless, too mocking.
Still, he was steady in temperament, and that was a rare gift for a shinobi. Too many ninja were fractured inside, scarred by missions, by doubt, by killing too many, or the wrong person, or being tortured, or distrusted by their own. Some seemed normal, until they suddenly snapped, smashing tables, raging at shadows.
When that happened, only the Uchiha Police were close enough to subdue them.
Shokyo pushed those thoughts aside. She went to Konoha's largest sake distributor.
"Boss, business at my tavern has been down. I plan a promotion starting tomorrow. How many crates of premium sake do you still have?"
The shopkeeper raised a brow. "How much can one little tavern move?"
"At least twenty crates a day. For five days straight."
As she chatted, she gave a subtle hand signal to a salesman nearby.
The man understood, quickly approaching the boss under the pretext of an important customer and leading him away.
"Wait here in the office, I'll be right back," the shopkeeper said to Shokyo.
That salesman was one of her planted informants, until now, he'd had little use. But finally, today, his role mattered.
Inside the office, Shokyo shut the door and slipped out a hidden key, one she had copied long ago.
Carefully, she unlocked the safe and opened the ledger.
The Senju clan… has stopped their orders?
Her eyes raced across the pages. Just yesterday, the Senju had ceased buying sake altogether.
Then she flipped further, and her pulse quickened.
The Uchiha clan… has increased their orders?!
The Senju and Uchiha had always been bitter rivals. With Uchiha Kagami dead, the bridge of communication between them had collapsed.
If the Senju had halted their purchases, it could only mean they were preparing for mourning, for tragedy.
If the Uchiha had ordered more, it meant they anticipated celebration, opportunity.
Taken together, it confirmed the intelligence: something dire was about to happen to the Senju.
And what else could it be, except the death of Uzumaki Mito?
Leaving the store, Shokyo hurried to her next target, searching for more evidence.
All across Konoha, Iwagakure spies moved in shadows, gathering fragments, weaving a picture.
Meanwhile, at the border of the Land of Grass, a middle-aged man floated calmly in the sky.
The Third Tsuchikage, Ōnoki, gazed toward the distant Konoha. Behind him stretched five full divisions of Hidden Stone shinobi.
By his side stood Han, the Jinchūriki of the Five-Tails, steam rising faintly from his armored form.
"Tsuchikage-sama, the forces are assembled," Han reported. His sharp gaze flicked to Ōnoki, the fluctuations in his floating posture betrayed unease.
The plan was simple, yet perilous: strike Konoha at its weakest moment, during the Nine-Tails' transition of hosts. With Uzumaki Mito dead, their defenses would falter.
It was a gamble. If it succeeded, the gain would be immeasurable. If it failed, three hundred elite Hidden Stone shinobi would perish.
Ōnoki's voice was steady.
"In times like these, we must not be rash. We are like the great stone of the mountains. Either we do not move at all… or we descend like a landslide, crushing everything below. Once the spies confirm it beyond doubt, we march. A thousand km, straight into Konoha."
This was the greatest chance Iwagakure would ever have.
The Nine-Tails was a creature of rage, a mass of hate sealed for decades. Surely it despised Mito and Konoha both. With its power unleashed, Konoha would bleed.
Back in a quiet alley of Konoha, Meiyi retrieved a sake bottle from a trash bin.
Her eyes found the carved markings, an encoded signal from her sister.
The intelligence is true.
Her mission complete, Meiyi prepared to leave Konoha, her cover as a merchant intact.
She cast one last, lingering glance toward the Crane Moon Tavern.
At last, sister… you can return home. We won't have to be apart anymore.
And on the border of the Grasslands, Ōnoki raised a hand high.
With his personal command, Hidden Stone Village army would march, to strike at Konoha's very heart.