Chapter 209: Run, Kushina, Run
"Are you from the Uzumaki clan?" they both asked at the same time.
It was the red hair. It was too conspicuous.
The newcomer was a sturdy young man with a huge pair of sunglasses. His face was still childish, but he was already almost as tall as her, and much stronger.
He was surprised for a moment, then he saw her eyes. "No," he said, "your eyes... they're the legendary Uchiha Sharingan. Amazing. It's the first time I've seen them in person."
"I don't sense any malice from this boy," the Nine-Tails said in her mind. To be precise, it hadn't even sensed his approach. But it was confident in its ability to sense malice, so it didn't think too much of it. It just assumed it hadn't been paying attention.
Kushina, seeing that he was of the same clan, relaxed a little. An instinctive feeling of kinship rose within her. "And you?" she asked eagerly. "Is your surname Uzumaki?"
"I am not," he said. "But my mother is. My name is Nagato. Are your parents from the Uchiha and Uzumaki clans?"
Her eyes darkened. "No," she said. "These eyes... are not mine. They were transplanted into me."
"Transplanted," he murmured to himself. He then looked at her strange attire. A white, hospital-gown-like outfit, with thick iron chains on her limbs. She looked like she had just escaped from somewhere.
"Are you," he said, choosing his words carefully, "an escaped convict?"
"I am a Jinchuriki," she said, sitting up straight. "A tailed beast is sealed inside me. I was captured and experimented on. I have just escaped."
"Whoa, whoa," he said, pushing up his sunglasses. "I was just asking. Aren't you being a little too honest?"
"I just feel," she said, taken aback for a moment, "that there is no need to deceive a fellow clansman."
"Though I haven't met many of our kind," he said, looking at the girl who was older but seemed much more naive than him, "it's not a good thing to trust your own kind too much. You're older than me... you don't have much... social experience, do you?"
"Social... experience?" she asked, confused.
"Oh, right. That's a word from my teacher's maxims. Just think of it as experience in the ninja world."
"I don't have any," she said, shaking her head honestly.
"In terms of survival in the ninja world," he said, pointing to his own bulging biceps, "I have a lot of experience. As a fellow clansman whom you trust so much, I'll give you two pieces of advice."
She quickly nodded. She was completely lost.
"First, no matter who's chasing you, that outfit is too conspicuous. You have to change it as soon as possible. I have a spare set, but it's for a man. If you don't mind, you can have it. Second, those eyes are also very conspicuous. I have a spare pair of sunglasses. You can borrow them."
Looking at the boy who was younger but seemed so much more experienced than her, she felt a sense of disorientation. It was as if she were the little girl, and he were the experienced teacher.
"Why... why are you helping me?" she asked.
"I haven't met many of our kind," he said, rubbing his nose. "And to meet one who trusts me so much... of course I want to help. My teacher also taught me to be helpful. And..."
He took off his sunglasses, revealing a pair of strange, purple, concentric-circle eyes. "My eyes have also been having some problems lately," he said. "So when the time is right, I'd like you to tell me in detail about your eye transplant."
Just then, the Nine-Tails' voice roared in her mind.
"RUN! KUSHINA! RUN!"
Dana had finished his work and had gone to the Special Strategy Division to give them the order to keep an eye out for the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki.
Since there had been no rampage, it meant that she had either been recaptured by Konoha or had shaken off their pursuers.
A rogue ninja would inevitably cover their tracks, and might even completely disappear, to live a normal life in some remote place. It would not be easy to find her. But he still pointed to a few places. One was the ruins of the Land of Whirlpools, one of the most likely places she would go. The other was the Land of Iron. It was a place where ninja had less influence, and it would be more difficult for a great village to operate there.
Except for the Cloud.
So she might also choose to use the complex environment of the Land of Iron to hide.
He thought for a moment, then sent for Kayo.
She was a little stiff, to be seeing him as a subordinate in the Raikage's tower. "Onii-chan Dana," she said, "what can I do for you?"
"The shop," he said with a smile, trying to put her at ease. "Is it settled? A partnership with Konan's family?"
"It's basically confirmed," she said. "My mom will also be involved. We're going to try and make it a famous restaurant in the Cloud."
Though her family's shop was not large, the location was one he had carefully chosen. It was a prime spot. To open a restaurant there, as long as the food wasn't terrible, they were sure to make money. Her mother was a good cook, and Konan's mother was a head chef. It had a good prospect. It would help the Uzumaki family pay off their loan, and it would give Konan's mother her first pot of gold.
"Good," he said with a nod. "By the way, Kayo, if the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki were to appear in your sensory range again, would you be able to recognize her?"
Her Kagura Mind's Eye had grown stronger. The village had tested it. Her current range was thirty kilometers, and she could recognize and mark familiar people. It was worthy of its reputation as the strongest sensory jutsu in the ninja world.
"The Nine-Tails Jinchuriki?" she said, taken aback. "You mean Kushina? I can. Has something happened to her?"
He tapped his fingers on the desk, as if thinking. "What I'm about to say is confidential," he said after a moment. "Pay attention to secrecy."
"Yes, sir!" she said, standing up straight.
"We have received intelligence that the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki of Konoha has defected. But her whereabouts are unknown. The village will be giving you a mission to find her. Prepare yourself. You will be leaving soon. Hmm... I will have Hiroto go with you. We don't have many clues, so you two will have to find your own."
She nodded solemnly.
"Be careful," he said, looking at her. "In a critical moment, your own safety is the top priority."
She blushed and nodded again, but in her heart, a celebration had begun.
Onii-chan Dana is worried about me! What should we name our children?
He didn't know that the little drama in her head had already fast-forwarded to a part he had never imagined. He just gave her a few more serious instructions.
After she had left, he also used his Communication Snail to give some instructions to a certain "Crimson Fortress" who was currently catching a cat. He was worried that she would be too emotional, that she would put herself in danger for the sake of her fellow clansman. He was confident that the more level-headed Hiroto would be able to handle the situation.
If they lost this Jinchuriki, there would be another. To be blunt, Kushina's life was not as important to him as Kayo's.
And the same was true for the Hidden Cloud.