"What?"
The leader of the Cloud ninjas had razor-sharp reflexes. Despite being startled by the hands bursting from the ground, he twisted his body mid-air and slammed his sword down.
But the blade only hit dirt. The hands had already vanished.
Looking around, only his dead comrade and his injured teammate remained. Kushina and Minato were gone.
Knowing the situation had turned sour, he didn't hesitate. He abandoned the corpse, grabbed his one-handed teammate, and prepared to retreat.
As he turned, he saw a figure moving in the forest. An ANBU agent walked out slowly, dressed exactly like the "Captain" from before.
The ANBU recognized them as members of the Cloud delegation. Seeing their sorry state, he stepped forward to ask what happened.
Before he could speak, the Cloud leader's eyes went bloodshot. Roaring with rage, he charged at the ANBU with his sword raised:
"You've gone too far! Do you think I'll fall for the same trick twice?!"
---
"Night-nii. When did you use the Shadow Clone Jutsu?"
After successfully rescuing Kushina, Minato couldn't hold back his curiosity and asked Night, who seemed a bit distracted.
From tracking them in the village to fighting the Cloud ninjas, Minato had only seen Night use the Transformation Jutsu to pose as the ANBU Captain. He hadn't noticed any Shadow Clone hand signs.
"Do you think a master's hand speed is something you can spot?" Night answered vaguely, then quickly changed the subject.
"You were really decisive back there. You're going to be an amazing ninja in the future. When you become Hokage, remember to take care of your big bro."
Minato scratched his head and smiled shyly.
"But remember one thing," Night added, his tone suddenly serious. "In the future, try not to fight Cloud ninjas at night."
"Why?"
"Because we have a natural disadvantage fighting them in the dark. You can't see them."
"???"
Minato was stunned by the cryptic (and slightly racist) comment. Before he could think too much about it, the topic had successfully been shifted.
Night sighed in relief. If Minato dug too deep, his whole plan might be exposed.
When did I use the Shadow Clone?
From the moment "Night" met Minato outside Kushina's house, that was already a clone. The real body had been sprinting all the way from the ROOT base and only arrived at the very end, emerging from the ground to grab the Cloud ninja's ankles.
Night could have bypassed the ANBU guard in other ways, but he punched him out because he was terrified of missing the timing.
If his clone had popped halfway there, it would have been a disaster. Luckily, everything went according to plan.
Watching Minato comfort the shaken Kushina, Night felt like he was taking critical damage as a third wheel.
Even though he wanted to set them up—because who knew how the timeline would change if he didn't?—he still felt the sting.
Ideally, Night wanted to lay low until the main plot started. That was when his foreknowledge would be most powerful. For now, he had to scheme and prepare.
"Ahem... I don't want to interrupt, but I'm still here, you know..."
Seeing the pink bubbles practically floating around them, Night awkwardly broke the mood. Kushina seemed to just realize he was there, and her face turned bright red.
Minato, on the other hand, maintained his sunny, oblivious "good boy" persona. Night started to wonder if what he lacked was that "natural rizz" oblivious protagonist energy.
I'm a blonde too. I'm just as handsome as Minato. Why didn't I trigger any romance flags in the Academy?
But feeling the scrolls in his vest, Night's mood soared. He couldn't stop smiling.
The three of them walked back to the village under the moonlight, in no rush at all.
---
Konoha. The Hokage's Office.
"Still nothing?"
Hiruzen Sarutobi's angry voice echoed in the office. If he didn't need to command from the center, he would have joined the search himself.
The atmosphere was heavy. Advisors Koharu Utatane and Homura Mitokado were both present.
"Hiruzen, we're short on manpower. We've sent everyone we can spare," Koharu argued. She felt Hiruzen was overreacting, but she knew the village needed to show a strong stance.
"This is Konoha! The strongest village, built by Hashirama and my teacher Tobirama!"
SLAM!
Hiruzen slammed his hand on the desk, his aura flaring.
"Now you tell me someone assassinated their descendant inside the village? How can I face my teacher? How can I face the First Hokage?!"
Homura remained silent. He knew arguing was useless until they had results from the search.
Suddenly, a message arrived from the ANBU. Hiruzen read it, froze, and then his face turned livid with rage.
"Is the Cloud Village trying to provoke me too?!"
He handed the report to the advisors. Koharu and Homura looked at each other in shock.
The Cloud had taken advantage of the chaos to kidnap an Uzumaki girl. But they were intercepted by a Genin and an Academy student, suffering casualties in the process.
Now, the Cloud delegation was protesting against the ANBU for "police brutality."
Normally, Konoha might have handled this diplomatically—"raise the issue high, put it down gently." But right now, no one had the patience.
"Kick them all back to the Land of Lightning! Those bastards are lawless!"
"Hiruzen, is that wise? We just signed the treaty..." Homura cautioned.
"Then send a squad to 'escort' them back!" Hiruzen emphasized the word escort heavily.
"By daybreak, I don't want to see a single Cloud ninja in Konoha!"
Seeing Hiruzen's attitude, the advisors didn't argue. Even they felt the Cloud's actions were disgusting.
"What about the Namikaze boy? He knocked out an ANBU and killed members of the Cloud delegation. How should we handle him?"
Hiruzen took a deep puff from his pipe and thought for a moment.
"Kushina is a Konoha ninja now. And with the news of the Land of Whirlpools' destruction, Lady Mito's health... she won't last much longer. We need to reward them. We need Kushina to truly accept Konoha so she becomes a willing vessel for the Nine-Tails."
The advisors agreed. Anything involving the Jinchuriki had to be handled carefully.
If they punished the rescuers over a technicality, they risked alienating the next Jinchuriki, which would be a disaster.
Little did they know, the "hero" they were planning to reward—Night Namikaze—was the exact same person who caused the "Kaguya assassin" chaos that had the whole village in an uproar.
It was all his setup.
And right now, that "hero" was strolling back to the village, teasing the young couple and mentally replaying his grand performance to check for any plot holes.