"Yuzuru!"
Kushina Uzumaki approached Yuzuru Uchiha's table and called out softly.
Yuzuru glanced at her in mild surprise. "Why are you talking so quietly? Did you leave your vocal cords at home?"
"You left your vocal cords at home!" Kushina huffed, sitting down hard across from him with her arms crossed, glaring out the window.
'This guy has no taste at all! Didn't he notice how much effort I put into dressing up today?'
Puzzled by her attitude, Yuzuru scratched his head and then pushed a small cake toward her.
"I ordered this for you."
Seeing that, a smile tugged at Kushina's lips. "Where's the little spoon?"
Yuzuru looked up, confused. "Kushina, what's gotten into you today? You used to just grab it and bite right in."
"You—!" Kushina's hair bristled as if blown by an invisible wind, her eyes flaring like sparks were about to burst forth.
Finally, she gave up pretending. They were close enough that acting demure was pointless anyway.
"Yuzuru, what did you mean by what you said last night?"
Yuzuru glanced around and replied evenly, "Let's talk at my place. You can check on the vegetables you planted, too."
Kushina's curiosity deepened.
She gulped down the small cake in a few bites and stood up. "Then let's go!"
Watching her fiery energy, Yuzuru sighed and picked up a napkin to wipe the crumbs from the corner of her mouth.
Kushina's face instantly turned bright red.
"Yuzuru, us being like this... isn't, isn't that a bit much?"
"What's wrong?"
"N-nothing. It's getting late, let's hurry up and go."
———
They arrived together at the Uchiha compound and stepped into Yuzuru's room.
Watching him quietly set up a barrier, Kushina frowned. "What's with all this mystery, Yuzuru? What are you trying to say?"
Yuzuru didn't answer right away. He kept his focus until the barrier was complete, then sat down across from her.
Even if Hiruzen Sarutobi and Shimura Danzo couldn't yet reach directly into Uchiha affairs, caution never hurt.
"Kushina, about your kidnapping last night—what do you think really happened?"
Kushina thought for a moment before replying, "Those Cloud ninja said my chakra was special, valuable to their village. That's why they kidnapped me."
Yuzuru shook his head.
Kushina blinked. "What's wrong?"
His expression hardened. "Kushina, I'll share my analysis with you. But be prepared—it won't be easy to hear."
Seeing how serious he was, Kushina grew tense.
Yuzuru was a Squad Leader in the Police Force, skilled at dissecting intelligence.
Had he discovered something?
She straightened in her seat. "Go ahead, Yuzuru."
Yuzuru spoke directly. "I suspect your kidnapping last night wasn't the work of the Cloud alone—it's tied to Konoha's upper ranks."
Even though she'd braced herself, Kushina still froze, her mouth open in shock.
"Yuzuru, I don't understand. What do you mean?"
She was the future Nine-Tails jinchūriki. The village leaders should have been doing everything to protect her. How could they possibly let the Cloud abduct her?
"Kushina, think about it. You're always under constant Anbu surveillance and protection, twenty-four hours a day, right?"
Kushina nodded. "Yes."
"Then why, after you were taken for so long, did the Anbu not react at all?"
Kushina faltered.
She had never thought about that.
"Maybe the Cloud ninja struck while the Anbu were switching shifts—"
But before she could finish, she realized how absurd that sounded.
Even if it happened during a shift change, the incoming Anbu would have noticed she was missing and immediately alerted the Hokage.
Those Cloud ninja hadn't moved particularly fast—there was no way they could've gotten far without being discovered.
"Yuzuru, maybe the Anbu on duty were killed by those three Cloud ninja?"
Yuzuru shook his head. "You saw their skills yourself—they weren't that strong. Even if the Anbu weren't their equals, do you really think none of them had time to send a distress signal?"
"Even if, for argument's sake, all three were elite jōnin who took the Anbu out instantly—could they really have kidnapped Konoha's future jinchūriki and vanished without anyone noticing? No Anbu, no jōnin, no one from the Barrier Corps detected a thing?"
Kushina fell silent again.
She had never questioned it before, but now that Yuzuru laid it out, the situation seemed wrong on every level.
Konoha was the strongest village in the shinobi world—elite in every field: ninja strength, barrier detection, intelligence systems.
To abduct a heavily protected future jinchūriki right from within Konoha's walls without a sound? Unthinkable.
And sending three elite jōnin into the heart of Konoha, risking their lives for a kidnapping with such low odds of success—the cost and risk didn't match the supposed reward.
Still… wasn't there at least a small chance?
Maybe the Cloud really were that reckless.
Maybe those ninja were experts in stealth and escape.
Maybe they possessed some secret jutsu that let them bypass Konoha's barriers undetected.
Yes… maybe it was too soon to draw conclusions. She needed more proof.
Desperate to deny the implications, Kushina searched her heart for excuses.
After a long pause, her voice came out hoarse. "Yuzuru, keep going."
He nodded. "Those Cloud ninja didn't split up to confuse any pursuers. They didn't even try to erase their trail. And they traveled on foot, dragging you along instead of fleeing quickly. Everything points to one thing—they had no intention of hiding."
"Unless they were complete rookies. But if they were rookies, they couldn't have possibly kidnapped you from Konoha so quietly."
Kushina's face paled.
Yuzuru continued relentlessly. "And think about it from the Cloud's perspective. Sending three jōnin means they took this mission seriously. So why was there no extraction team waiting after the job was done? Even the Cloud wouldn't throw away three elite lives like that."
"I've gone over it again and again. There's only one explanation that makes sense—"
"The so-called Cloud kidnapping was a performance—staged by Konoha's own upper ranks."
Kushina bit her lip, struggling to hold herself together. "If that's true… what was their goal?"
"Kushina, do you remember?"
"That night, Minato also showed up."
Instead of answering directly, Yuzuru asked, "I can't figure out—how did Minato know you'd been kidnapped?"
"I only found out because I was on night patrol and happened to witness it. Why was Minato out in the middle of the night, wandering around the village?"
Kushina hesitated. "Minato said Lord Third sent him to deliver a letter to me…"
As soon as she said it, confusion flooded her heart.
That letter—she'd written it days ago. Why had the Third Hokage chosen that very night, of all times, to send a reply? And why wasn't it delivered by Anbu, but by her close friend Minato Namikaze?
She hadn't thought much of it before. But after Yuzuru's reasoning, a cold unease crept into her chest.
'Could all this really be coincidence?'
After giving her a moment to process, Yuzuru spoke firmly. "Believe it or not, I'm certain of my conclusion."
"Kushina—they're toying with your life."
T/n:
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