Chapter 30: The Bait and the Trap
The days that followed were peaceful. The Uchiha clan made no overt moves against them. Shinra and Mikoto settled into a comfortable routine, living together, eating their meals together, and walking to the academy side-by-side. Their relationship deepened, and Mikoto, who had once been so easily flustered by Shinra, grew more comfortable and confident in his presence.
Half a year passed in this quiet rhythm. During that time, aside from school, their main excitement came from Tsunade, who would occasionally drag them to the casino to bet with her whenever she was back in the village from a mission.
The most significant change, however, was in Shinra's power. The vast, unrefined ocean of chakra within him had been meticulously compressed, its purity and density now solidly at the level of a Jonin. A five-and-a-half-year-old Jonin. The very notion would be enough to shock the entire shinobi world. It was an unprecedented feat, one that was unlikely to ever be repeated.
After finishing a hearty breakfast, Shinra turned to Mikoto. "It's a holiday today. How about we go out for a picnic? Some barbecue in the fresh air?"
"Okay," Mikoto agreed with a soft smile. She rarely refused his suggestions.
"Should we invite any of the others?" she asked.
"No," Shinra shook his head, his gaze drifting to the window. A flicker of cold light passed through his starry-blue eyes, there and gone in an instant. "Just the two of us."
Just the two of us? A picnic alone with Shinra? So... intimate! Mikoto's face flushed with a mixture of excitement and shyness, and she hurried off to pack the food, her mind racing with private thoughts that Shinra remained blissfully unaware of.
His purpose for this outing was not romance. It was to deal with the persistent presence he had sensed watching them for the past week—a presence radiating such intense malice it was like a physical chill. Shinra had been on high alert from the moment he first felt it.
The culprit wasn't hard to deduce. The only people he had seriously offended were the Uchiha. Even a schemer like Danzo had no reason to target a seemingly unremarkable Hyuga child. Over the last six months, aside from the single, shocking incident with Uchiha Fugaku, Shinra had been deliberately low-key, only ever displaying strength comparable to a Genin. Even Sarutobi Hiruzen, who had initially taken note of him, had eventually lost interest, attributing Fugaku's defeat to simple carelessness. If the Hokage wasn't watching, Danzo certainly wasn't.
It had to be the Uchiha.
A cold, ruthless killing intent solidified in Shinra's heart. Whoever this was, they had to be eliminated. He wasn't afraid for himself, but Mikoto was vulnerable. Despite her good talent, she was still just a young, inexperienced girl. For her safety alone, this threat needed to be erased.
His initial plan had been to lure the watcher away by himself and deal with them in seclusion. But the risk of leaving Mikoto alone, even within the Hyuga compound, was too great. While she hadn't been openly rejected by the Hyuga, she was far from welcomed. As a former Uchiha, she was viewed with inherent suspicion and coldness in a clan that had been rivals with the Uchiha for generations. If an attack came while he was gone, she would be defenseless.
He had considered moving them out of the compound entirely, but Mikoto had been the one to persued him, perhaps out of a desire not to cause more trouble.
"I'm ready, Shinra! Let's go!" Mikoto chirped, having sealed all the picnic supplies into a storage scroll.
"Huh? Oh, right." He snapped out of his thoughts.
"Shinra, you've seemed preoccupied these last few days," Mikoto noted, a small frown of concern on her face.
"It's nothing," he reassured her with a practiced smile, taking her hand. "Let's go."
Mikoto, ever gentle and understanding, didn't press him. If he didn't want to talk about it, she wouldn't pry.
As soon as they stepped beyond the Hyuga clan's gates, the hidden observer's focus sharpened.
Finally, Uchiha Kagami thought, his mood lifting from the week-long frustration of his stakeout. He had been waiting for an opportunity, but the two children had never left the safety of the Hyuga compound, where he dared not make a move. The routes to and from the academy were also too public; an attack there would instantly alert the Anbu. But now, his prey was moving into the open.
He trailed them silently, his elite Jonin skills making him a ghost in the shadows. When he saw Shinra and Mikoto heading toward the outskirts of Konoha's training forests, a surge of excitement went through him. Are they delivering themselves to me?
They stopped at the forest's edge, a cool, shaded area away from the village's main paths.
"Shinra, why here?" Mikoto asked, a hint of nervousness in her voice. "It's nice, but Sensei said these woods can be dangerous. There are large beasts, even ninja animals."
"If we didn't come here, how would our little 'predator' ever take the bait?" Shinra replied with a cryptic smile.
"What? Did he find me? Impossible," Kagami thought, his confidence unwavering. "My concealment is flawless, on the level of a quasi-Kage. There's no way a mere academy student could detect me."
A cold smirk touched Shinra's lips. The Uchiha's hiding technique was indeed masterful. But it was useless against the 360-degree, blind-spot-free vision of the Tenseigan, combined with the area-sensing capability of his Observation Haki. To Shinra, the proud Uchiha Jonin was as conspicuous as a beacon in the night.
"Shinra, what are you—" Mikoto began, confused.
Before she could finish, Shinra thrust his palm toward the dense foliage where Kagami was hidden.
"Universal Pull!" he commanded. "Get out here!"
The immense pupil power of the Tenseigan surged. A wave of overwhelming gravitational force erupted from his palm, causing the surrounding trees to shudder. The force bypassed the vegetation entirely, homing in directly on Uchiha Kagami.
Kagami felt an invisible, irresistible hand seize his body, yanking him violently from his cover and hurling him through the air toward Shinra.
Panic flared in his chest for a single, unprofessional moment. But he was an elite Jonin, a veteran tempered in blood and fire. Reacting on pure instinct, he flared his chakra, forcefully stabilizing himself. His Three Tomoe Sharingan spun to life, analyzing the situation in an instant. Instead of fighting the pull, he drew a kunai, used the momentum to adjust his trajectory, and became a deadly projectile, the blade aimed straight for Shinra's heart.