Only after the barrier was in place did he sit down across from Uzumaki Kushina.
In this period, Sarutobi Hiruzen and Shimura Danzo couldn't yet push their hands into the Uchiha clan, but it was better to be cautious.
"Kushina. About what happened last night—your kidnapping. What do you think?"
Hearing Yuzuru's question, Kushina thought for a moment, then said, "I heard those three Kumogakure ninja say my Chakra is special and valuable to their village. That's why they came to kidnap me."
No sooner had she finished than she saw Yuzuru shake his head. She couldn't help asking, "Yuzuru, what's wrong?"
Yuzuru's expression turned grave. He stared at her and said in a low voice, "Kushina, I'm going to tell you my analysis. You need to prepare yourself."
Seeing how serious he was, Kushina's nerves tightened, too.
Yuzuru was a squad leader in the Military Police Force, exceptionally skilled at analyzing all kinds of intelligence.
Had he discovered something?
With that thought, Kushina straightened in her seat and nodded. "Yuzuru. Say it."
Yuzuru stopped holding back and went straight to the point. "I suspect your kidnapping last night has a lot to do with the Konoha higher-ups."
Even though she'd braced herself, Kushina still gaped in shock when she heard it.
"Yuzuru, I don't understand. What are you saying?"
She was the future Nine-Tails Jinchuriki. The Konoha higher-ups should have been protecting her—how could they possibly let Kumogakure take her?
"Kushina, think about it. Normally, isn't there an ANBU squad watching and protecting you 24/7?"
"Then last night, when you were taken for so long, why did the ANBU do nothing?"
Kushina went still.
She really hadn't thought about it that way.
"Maybe the Kumogakure ninja caught the ANBU during a shift change..."
Before she could finish, she realized how wrong it sounded.
Even if the Kumogakure ninja took her during a shift change, once the next ANBU arrived and found her missing, they'd report it to the Hokage immediately.
The three Kumogakure ninja hadn't been moving that fast. By any reasonable measure, there was no way they could have kept her gone for so long without anyone noticing.
"Yuzuru... did the ANBU on rotation get killed by those three Kumogakure ninja?"
"Even if—let's say—those three were all Jonin, and they killed your ANBU guards cleanly, do you really think that means they could snatch the future Jinchuriki out of Konoha without a sound?"
"With all of Konoha's ANBU, Jonin, and the Barrier Team, not a single person noticed anything?"
Kushina fell silent again.
She'd never looked at it from these angles, so none of it had felt strange.
Now, with Yuzuru laying it out, she finally sensed how abnormal the whole thing was.
Konoha Village was acknowledged across the shinobi world as the strongest shinobi village.
Whether it was ninja strength or barrier sensing, Konoha stood at the very top.
To spirit away a highly valued future Jinchuriki from Konoha without anyone noticing... the difficulty was almost unimaginable.
And Jonin were scarce in any village. To risk losing three top-tier combatants just to kidnap her inside Konoha Village...
The risk and reward simply didn't add up.
But even if the odds were small, it could still happen, couldn't it?
Maybe those Kumogakure bastards really were that crazy.
Maybe those three Kumogakure ninja were experts in ambush and escape.
Maybe they had a secret art that let them slip through the barrier undetected.
Yes—drawing conclusions now was too early. They needed more evidence.
Unable to accept reality, Kushina kept making excuses in her mind.
After a long while, she finally spoke, her voice rougher than before. "Yuzuru. Keep going."
Yuzuru nodded and continued. "After they kidnapped you, those Kumogakure ninja didn't split up to confuse pursuers. They didn't even check their route carefully to erase tracks. And after that, they chose to travel on foot—with you."
"Everything about it says they weren't trying to hide their trail at all."
"Unless they were amateurs. But if they were amateurs, they couldn't have taken you out of Konoha without anyone noticing in the first place."
Kushina's face had gone pale, but Yuzuru didn't stop. He pressed on with the analysis. "And there's something else..."
"From Kumogakure's perspective, if they sent three Jonin to kidnap you, that means they took it seriously. So why was there no one to meet them once they'd succeeded?"
"Even if they were brainless, they wouldn't gamble with three Jonin's lives like that."
"I've turned it over and over. If you want a reasonable explanation for everything, there's only one possibility—"
"This so-called Kumogakure kidnapping was a play staged by the Konoha higher-ups."
Kushina bit her lip, forcing her emotions under control. "If you're right... then what was their goal?"
"Kushina. Do you remember?"
"That night, Minato came, too."
Instead of answering directly, Yuzuru asked, "What I can't figure out is this—how did Minato realize you'd been kidnapped?"
"I only happened to discover the Kumogakure ninja taking you because I was on night duty. So why was Minato not asleep in the middle of the night, running around the village?"
Kushina's thoughts tangled even more.
She'd written her letter days ago, but the Third Hokage chose the very night she was kidnapped to reply. And the messenger wasn't ANBU—it was Namikaze Minato, one of the few friends she had.
Before, she hadn't felt much about it.
But after hearing Yuzuru's analysis, she was scared.
Could there really be that many coincidences in this world?
After giving Kushina time to think, Yuzuru said heavily, "Believe it or not, I have absolute confidence in my guess."
"Kushina, they're playing with your life."
"Playing with..."
"My life?"
At Yuzuru's final conclusion, Kushina went blank, frozen in place as if her soul had slipped away.
Something in her mind felt like it was starting to make sense—yet it was also a muddled mess.
Seeing her like that, Yuzuru got up and brewed a cup of tea with hot water.
Only when the steam no longer rose thickly from the cup did Kushina look at him with hollow eyes.
"Yuzuru, what you said..."
"What does it mean?"
Kushina looked so pitiful that a flicker of reluctance rose in Yuzuru's chest.
For a girl who had always aimed for "becoming Hokage and earning everyone's recognition," the cruelty of the truth was beyond imagination.
But Yuzuru wouldn't soften at a time like this.
After a brief pause, he continued. "The Third Hokage's favorite word is 'bonds.'"
"Human feelings are complicated. People care deeply about those close to them."
"Parents will sacrifice themselves for their children. Lovers will give their lives for the one they love. Teammates will take a blade for a true friend..."
"You said that not long ago you wrote to the Third Hokage and hinted you didn't want to become a Jinchuriki, right?"
"I think that's why Sarutobi Hiruzen planned this kidnapping."
As Kushina's eyes grew steadily dimmer, Yuzuru delivered his final conclusion.
"Whether it was the Third Hokage showing you concern, or arranging for Minato to 'save' you—he did it all for one reason. He wanted you, the future Nine-Tails Jinchuriki, to stay in Konoha willingly and make the so-called sacrifice for the village."
Like the last straw crushing a camel's back, Kushina shut her eyes in despair.
Was it possible...
That the life she'd believed in was nothing but a lie painstakingly built by others?
"Why..."
"Even though I already planned to accept the village's arrangement and become the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki... why did the Third Hokage still do this?"
Yuzuru sighed. "Kushina, if the Third Hokage hadn't been so impatient, and you'd gone to him with your thoughts first... we probably would never have known what kind of person he really was."
"Have some water."
Kushina took the tea and drank a few small sips, then asked uneasily, "Yuzuru... if this was arranged by the Third Hokage, and you ruined his plan..."
"I'm sorry. I dragged you into this."
Seeing her worry, Yuzuru shook his head. "Don't say that. Even if I had to choose again, I still wouldn't stand by and do nothing."
"Besides... Sarutobi Hiruzen and the others have always been hostile toward Uchiha clan shinobi. Even without this, my image in their eyes wouldn't improve."
"Hostile?"
Kushina looked at him, startled. "Yuzuru, didn't the Uchiha clan help found the village? Aren't you a respected elite shinobi clan?"
"How could the Third Hokage and the others be hostile toward you?"
"You're too naive, Kushina."
Yuzuru gave a soft snort. "Konoha's darkness is far beyond what you imagine."
"Watch. If nothing unexpected happens, Sarutobi Hiruzen will move soon."
Looking at the confident Yuzuru, Kushina couldn't help murmuring, "Yuzuru... you've changed so much."
"If it weren't for you, I might've been kept in the dark for my whole life."
With memories of a previous life, he understood most of what had happened in the shinobi world like the events of a story already read.
No matter how inscrutable the schemes had seemed at the time, from a god's-eye view they were easy to see through.
As if stirred by Yuzuru, a faint smile appeared on Kushina's face.
After the Kumogakure kidnapping, she'd completely lost trust in Sarutobi Hiruzen. The sense of belonging she'd only just built in Konoha had evaporated.
But even knowing the truth, she still had no way to resist.
How was she supposed to face the life ahead?
"Kushina. If one day I have to take you away from Konoha... would you come with me?"
Meeting Yuzuru's earnest gaze, Kushina felt her heart skittering wildly, heat spreading from her neck to the tips of her ears.
That had to be a confession, right?
When had this guy started caring about me...?
"Kushina?"
Hearing Yuzuru's voice, Kushina snapped back to herself. She lowered her head and said in a small voice, "Yuzuru, I-I'd come with you, of course. But what about Mikoto?"
"Mikoto?"
Yuzuru scratched his head, puzzled. "We take her with us, obviously."
"What?!"
Kushina stared at Yuzuru's utterly innocent face, then shot to her feet in shock.
"Yuzuru, y-you... you jerk!"
With that, Kushina bolted out of the room.
Yuzuru was left utterly confused.
No—seriously. They were talking about something important. How did he suddenly become a jerk?
"Yuzuru!"
Not long after Kushina left, Uchiha Fugaku's voice came from outside the door.
Yuzuru got up and opened it. Seeing Fugaku's dark expression, he asked, "What's wrong?"
"Yuzuru. Just like you predicted, the Third Hokage rejected our request."
Earlier, Sarutobi Hiruzen had refused their proposal to bring shinobi from other shinobi clans—or civilian shinobi—into the Military Police Force. He also made it clear that outside of wartime, the Uchiha clan only needed to handle security within the village.