Small Town :
Unknown Inn :
Hattori did not respond immediately.
His mind moved faster than his expression ever would.
A quiet extraction from Kusagakure was feasible. A hospital meant weakened security, predictable patrols, medical-nin bound by protocol rather than combat readiness. An Uzumaki—valuable, resilient, dangerous in the wrong hands.
If the hostage were rescued…
Naruto would gain something he had never possessed.
Family.
A blood tie. A living connection.
Gratitude would follow—raw, unguarded, absolute. Naruto was like that. Honest to a fault. And gratitude from someone like him wasn't just emotional currency; it was loyalty, influence, leverage.
But that same bond carried consequences.
Allowing the hostage to meet Naruto would anchor him. Give him roots. Make him harder to move, harder to isolate, harder to control. Attachments created strength—but they also created vulnerabilities.
Enemies would notice.
The village would notice.
The Hokage would notice.
And once Naruto had something to lose, every decision around him would grow heavier.
( Hiruzen isolated Naruto except for himself ...but if there is another Uzumaki , a blood kin , then.....)
Hattori thought a lot of things at once
The core of Hiruzen's influence over Naruto was exclusivity or better term Isolation . Because Hiruzen was the only "kind" authority figure Naruto knew early on, Naruto developed a desperate loyalty to him and the office of Hokage.
Naruto grew up believing he was a "monster" because no one told him otherwise. A relative would have provided the history of the Uzumaki Clan, giving Naruto a sense of pride , connection instead of shame of a monster.
Naruto's dream to become Hokage was born from a need for acknowledgment. If he had unconditional love at home, his drive might have shifted from "making the village look at me" to "protecting my family".
( If Naruto had someone to go home to , then the occasional pat on the head from the Hokage wouldn't carry the same weight ....the position of Hiruzen in Naruto's heart will waver and may even fall ....hehehehe )
Hiruzen would have to choose between letting the relative raise Naruto and risking the loss of the "Ultimate Weapon" or separating them .
( either case , I will benefit ...either as a saviour of Naruto's last bloodkin or a Guradian who didn't allow Hiruzen to seperate them )
Hattori weighed it all in silence—rescue routes, political fallout, emotional cost, long-term gain.
The dim light of the tavern flickered, casting long, dancing shadows against the walls as Hattori leaned forward, his gaze piercing.
"How did you find out?" Hattori asked, his voice a low rasp. "Is the information reliable?"
Tsunade didn't look up immediately. She swirled the remaining sake in her cup, the ceramic clicking against the table.
"I rescued an Uzumaki on my way here," she said flatly. "That is where I got the information."
Hattori's posture stiffened. The name Uzumaki was not a common one anymore; it was a ghost of a bygone era and now a live one so close
"I want to meet this Uzumaki," Hattori demanded.
"Then you need to hold your tongue," Tsunade countered, her eyes flashing with a warning.
"Haa?" Hattori grunted, confused by her sudden sharp tone.
"The Uzumaki is just a child—hardly twelve years old. A girl,"
Tsunade explained, her voice softening with a trace of lingering anger.
"I rescued her last night from a Kusagakure squad. Two Jonin and six Chunin. They had taken her out of their village for a high-risk mission."
Hattori was flabbergasted. "What was a child doing with a combat squad like that?"
"The same thing they did to her mother," Tsunade said, her grip tightening until the ceramic cup threatened to shatter.
"The Uzumaki healing bite. The girl was treated as a resource—nothing more than a living bloodbank to be used during the mission and discarded in emergencies."
The air in the room seemed to turn cold. Hattori's knuckles turned white as he clenched his fists, a sharp, controlled breath escaping his teeth.
"Kusa uses both mother and daughter as village assets,"
Tsunade continued, her voice laced with bitterness. "If I ask Konoha for official help, the Village and the Council... they may view them the same way. Especially Danzo... That's why I want to rescue the mother as family, not as a mission."
"Don't worry about the village," Hattori growled, his eyes dark with resolve. "I will lead the extraction myself. I will bring them back. But first... I still want to see the girl."
A flicker of warmth touched Hattori's heart at the thought of a girl nearly the same age as Naruto—a blood relative for the boy who had no one.
( Even The God is helping me .....a kin of the same age as Him )
He suppressed the emotion quickly, keeping his face a mask of stone. Tsunade gulped down her sake, nodded, and stood up. She led him out of the tavern and into the quiet hallways of the inn.
They arrived at the largest suite. Tsunade knocked twice, a soft, rhythmic signal, before pushing the door open.
Inside, the air smelled of medicinal herbs and iron. Shizune was sitting by the bedside, her hand gently caressing the forehead of a small figure.
Hattori stepped into the room and froze.
The girl on the bed was small, far too small for twelve. She wore a loose yukata, but it did little to hide the horror beneath. Bandages crisscrossed her face, leaving only a small portion of her features visible.
From the neck down, she was wrapped so tightly in white linen she looked like a macabre mummy. Only her fingers were exposed, and even they were covered in plasters, twisted at angles that suggested they had been broken and poorly reset.
The swelling on her face and the visible bruising on her skin screamed of an agony that required no words to explain.
The spark of happiness Hattori had felt moments ago vanished, replaced by a hollow, sickening void. He stared at the half-dead child, his mind blanking out.
Images of the past flooded back. He remembered Uzumaki Mito, the wife of the First Hokage, and the grace and care she had shown the Senju clan over the years. He remembered his old friends from the Land of Whirlpools, kin to the Senju by blood and ancient oath.
They had been brothers-in-arms until Uzugakure was destroyed before the Second Great War.
Hattori had been swept away by the tides of the Second and Third Wars, and then the tragedy of the Kyuubi's night. There had never been enough time—never enough information—to find the survivors who had been hunted like animals by villages large and small.
Hattori looked back at the girl
( Despite being treated by Tsunade herself, she is still in this condition ? )
Hattori had assumed that because she was a "resource," she would at least be physically maintained. After all, who beats their own life-saving equipment? But looking at her broken form, he realized the depths of Kusa's depravity.
They hadn't just used her; they had hated her for the very gift they stole from her.
( She was supposed to be a "lifeline," a resource kept alive at all costs. Who brutalizes their own lifesaving asset? )
Hattori's rage reached a boiling peak, but oddly, his heart grew deathly calm—the calm of a predator before the kill. He spoke in a whisper so soft it barely carried across the room.
"My squad needs rest. We will talk in the morning."
He took one last look at the sleeping child, exhaled a long, heavy breath, and stepped out into the hall.
Tsunade watched Hattori go, recognizing the look in his eyes. Despite his reputation as a cold-blooded commander, her Uncle Hattori still carried the same warm heart despite all these years .
Once outside, Hattori didn't say a word. He gave a single, sharp hand signal to his waiting men.
The squad moved with mechanical precision. They divided instantly. One half formed a tight perimeter around Tsunade's room, disappearing into the rafters and shadows. The other half moved to secure the inn's exterior, while the remaining few took a rotating watch to recover their strength.
Hattori beckoned his three senior Jonin into a private room. The mission had changed. It was no longer a search for a Sannin—
They had a mobilization to plan.
And a rescue to execute.
==========================================
Private Room :
The three Jonin followed Hattori into the small, dimly lit room adjacent to the stairs. They were seasoned veterans, men who had served under Hattori's command through the bloodiest years of the Second and Third Great Ninja War.
They noticed the change in him immediately—the rigid set of his shoulders and the deadly, focused stillness in his eyes.
Hattori sat on the floor, the low table between them feeling like a war-room map. He didn't waste time with pleasantries.
"Change of plans," Hattori began, his voice like grinding stones. "The primary mission was the retrieval of Lady Tsunade. That mission is technically complete; she is found. However, a secondary objective of the highest priority has just surfaced."
The oldest of the Jonin, a man named Genji with a scarred chin, narrowed his eyes. "Does this have to do with the child in the other room, Commander? We saw the perimeter you set."
"It does," Hattori replied. "She is an Uzumaki. A direct blood relative of the First Hokage's wife and a kinsman to the Senju. She was being held and tortured by Kusagakure as a mobile medical 'tool.' Her mother is still in their hands."
A ripple of silent fury passed through the three men. In the leaf, the bond between the Senju and Uzumaki was legendary, even if it had faded into history for the younger generation. For these veterans, it was a matter of honor.
"Kusa is a 'friendly' village on paper," another Jonin whispered. "If we move against them officially, the Hokage will have to answer to the Land of Fire's Daimyo. Not to mention the Council."
"That is why this is not an official Konoha mission,"
Hattori said, leaning forward into the candlelight.
"As of this moment, you are not acting as Shinobi of the Hidden Leaf. You are acting as retainers of the Senju Clan. If this goes south, the village will disavow us. We are going into Kusa to extract the mother. We will use maximum prejudice."
"Maximum prejudice?" Genji asked, a grim smile touching his lips. "Against a whole village?"
"Kusa is a village of scavengers," Hattori spat.
"They survived by hiding in the tall grass and picking the bones of the Great Nations. They have forgotten what happens when they bite a predator. We will enter, we will take the woman, and we will erase any squad that stands in our way. No witnesses, no trail, no mercy."
Hattori looked each of them in the eye.
"I am asking you to risk your headbands for a girl who is a stranger to you. But she is the blood of our founders. If we allow this to continue, we are not Shinobi—we are cowards. Are there any objections?"
The three Jonin straightened their backs, their fists hitting their chests in a silent salute. "The Senju's will is our own, Commander."
"Good," Hattori stood up. "Genji, you're on intelligence. I want the layout of Kusa's hospital and their primary holding cells by dawn. Use the crows. The rest of you, sharpen your blades. We're going to show the Grass why the whirlpool was once feared."
Hattori stood alone in the flickering candlelight, the silence of the room amplifying the weight of his thoughts.
He stared out into the darkness, but his mind was miles away, fixed on the image of a lonely boy sitting on a wooden swing, ignored by a village that should have been his cradle.
( I want to support Kushina's boy without all these schemes )
Hattori thought bitterly, his jaw tightening. ( But Hiruzen has played his hand too well. He has turned himself into the boy's only light. He's made Naruto a die-loyalist over the years.)
It was a dangerous reality. In the world of shinobi, loyalty was more potent than any jutsu. Hattori knew the risks of his own position.
(Even if I invest everything—my status, my wealth, my life—the brainwashed kid might still swing his blade at me on his 'Grandpa Hokage's' orders. )
Hattori remembered the Uchiha clan at this time
(...just like Itachi and Uchiha ....Only by occupying the same space in Naruto's heart as that 'Grandpa' ...can I truly rest at ease and support Naruto fully )
Hattori leaned his forehead against the cool glass of the window, a dark, cynical chuckle vibrating in his chest. His mind shifted momentarily to the other great tragedy of Konoha—the Uchiha. The Stupidity of a Loyalty .
(Only Uchihas are stupid...)
Hattori thought, his eyes narrowing as he watched the rain wash over the shingles of the roof. (No... only Itachi is the one.)
To Hattori, a man who viewed the world through the lens of clan preservation and long-term strategy, Itachi Uchiha's "sacrifice" was the height of folly.
Itachi had chosen the village over his own blood, slaughtering his kin to preserve a peace that was already rotting from the inside.
Itachi had let himself be manipulated by Hiruzen's soft words and Danzo's cold threats, ultimately leaving his younger brother alone in a world that would only ever see him as a ghost of a traitor.
(He destroyed his foundation to save a crumbling house,)
Hattori mused.
( He let the village elders dictate the value of his family's lives. I won't make that mistake with the Uzumaki. I won't play the martyr for a Village system that treats children like weapons and survivors like resources.)
Unlike Itachi, who had isolated himself in the shadows of infamy, Hattori was building a fortress. He wasn't going to kill for the Hokage's peace .
His resolve was no longer just about politics or loyalty; it was about the survival of the very blood that had founded the Leaf.
Hattori thought silently.
(I need to build a future where the remaining Senju and Uzumaki are no longer the village's obedient tools—and certainly not something like Orochimaru's experiments conducted behind the 'Village's' back.)
The thought of his former comrade, Orochimaru, sent a surge of cold revulsion through Hattori.
He knew all too well how many Senju distant-kin had "disappeared" during the wars, and how the village elders had conveniently looked the other way while the Sannin chased their dreams .
Hiruzen's weakness was his sentimentality; he had let a monster roam the halls of Konoha because he couldn't bear to strike down a student.
Hattori would not be so soft. To him, the Uzumaki mother and daughter weren't just survivors; they were the last pieces of a legacy that he would protect .
Hattori's gaze drifted back toward the room where Karin lay. The importance of the Uzumakis had shifted from a matter of clan honor to a strategic necessity for Naruto's future.
(The girl is secure. And once I rescue her mother, the leverage will be absolute.)
It didn't matter to Hattori that Tsunade was the one who had physically pulled Karin from the grass; what mattered was the girl's existence.
She was the only one who could break Hiruzen's monopoly on Naruto's soul. A blood-kin connection was something no Hokage, no matter how kind the mask, could manufacture or replace.
Naruto would find a sister, a peer, and a shared history. And Hattori would be the bridge—the teacher for the boy and the savior of the mother for the girl. He would become the foundation of a new family that Hiruzen could not control.
( With me , The girl will be out of Hiruzen's 'WILL OF FIRE' )
Hattori thought again of the girl's bandaged form and the likely state of her mother—a woman used as a literal feast for the dying. He flinched, a rare show of emotion, before forcing his heart back into a cold, rhythmic beat.
(This move can only be used after some time, though,) he sighed, his breath fogging the windowpane.
( like her daughter the mother must be broken too ...and to heal naruto's heart and replace hiruzen ... They will need time.)
Hattori turned away from the window, his decision final. He would play the long game. He would let the girl heal, let the mother recover, and let the resentment toward the village's neglect simmer.
When the time was right, he would bring the Uzumakis home, and Hiruzen Sarutobi would find that the "Will of Fire" was nothing compared to the bond of blood.
If Hiruzen wanted a "loyalist" in Naruto, he would have to fight the pull of blood.
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Unknown Town Near Kusagakure Border :
Small Inn :
Morning :
Hattori once again meets with his men in the room . The Jonins noticed his Sharp and ready aura .They all remember the man who had earned the nickname "The Winter Blade" for a reason.
"Commander," Genji whispered, leaning into the light.
"Kusa is a labyrinth of tall grass and hidden tunnels , their sensory units will pick us up the moment we cross the border. The grass itself acts as a tripwire for their chakra....We should wait for the night"
Hattori's eyes darkened.
"You're right . We move at midnight. But before we strike, We need more than just maps. I also need the girl's account."
Hattori stood and walked back to the medical suite. Tsunade was still there, checking Karin's vitals. The girl had stirred, her consciousness drifting in and out of a feverish haze.
As Hattori entered, her eyes—red and clouded with pain—snapped open. She let out a small, pathetic whimper, her body trembling so violently the bedframe rattled.
"Easy, little one," Tsunade whispered, her medical ninjutsu glowing a soft, soothing green. "This is my uncle. He is here to help."
Karin looked at Hattori. She didn't see a savior at first , she saw a powerful shinobi, and in her experience, power only meant more pain.
Hattori and Tsunade soothes the Traumatic little girl , Hattori speaks softly and cleanly about his decision to rescue the girl's mother .
Finding Hope , Karin eyes change , she takes a breath and considers her words carefully for Her Mother's Rescue Mission .
"The... the hospital," Karin rasped, her voice sounding like glass grinding together. "Don't go to the main gates. They keep the 'resources' in the basement of the north tower... the windowless one."
Hattori knelt by the bed, his presence heavy but not hostile.
"Tell me about the village, child. How do they move? How do they hide?"
"It's not just a village,"
Karin whispered, tears leaking from under her bandages.
"It's a cage. There are others... not just us. Minorities. People from smaller clans that were wiped out. They keep them in the 'Shed.' We are all just... parts. Eyes, blood, skin. The hospital isn't for healing , it's for harvesting."
Her breathing hitched as she remembered the layout.
"The sensors... they use the grass. If you step on the blades, the vibration alerts the central tower. But there is a drainage pipe near the west cliff. The water is foul, so they don't guard it well. My mother... she's in the lowest level. Please... they've been using her more since I've been gone. She won't last long."
Hattori's jaw set so hard it looked like stone. Hattori walked out with his men . and goes inside his room
He turned back to his Jonin, who were standing at the door, having heard every word.
"You heard her," Hattori commanded. "The North Tower. The 'Shed.' We aren't just extracting one woman. If there are other 'resources' being held in that hellhole, we burn the cage and let them run."
"Commander, that will cause a diplomatic nightmare," one Jonin warned.
" But If we only rescue Uzumaki , it will cause suspicions.....and others can be used as a good distraction ....."
Hattori takes a deep breath and finally speaks calmly
"There won't be a nightmare if there's no one left to complain," Hattori countered coldly.
"We move tonight. We take the West drainage route. Genji, prepare the incendiary tags. If Kusa wants to treat human beings like medicine, we'll show them how it feels to be cauterized."
The plan was set. At midnight, the shadows of the inn shifted as five of the Leaf's most elite killers vanished into the treeline. They didn't wear their headbands; they wore the dark, unmarked cloaks of the Senju shadow-guard.