"Looking for me? What do you need me for?"
Shinju asked curiously.
He didn't really know this Two-Tails jinchūriki from Kumogakure very well. They'd only met a few times at best.
Yugito's face, already slightly flushed, turned bright red.
That kind of thing… how was she supposed to just say it out loud...
After fidgeting for a long while, she finally squeezed out a shy,
"You… you guess… (´つヮ⊂︎)"
Shinju was speechless. "You guess if I'll guess. ┐(´-｀)┌"
Yugito's breath hitched. (°ー°〃)
Idiot!!
You clueless idiot!!
While the two were talking, the Raikage had already finished beating up Killer B.
At this moment, the hot-tempered Kage turned and looked at Yugito, his pupils trembling violently. (´°Δ°`)
This… this was Yugito?!
Why did she look so different from usual?!
Killer B leaned over and whispered, "Heh heh, you've never seen her like this before, right? We usually call this… a maiden in love… վ--0027ᴗ--0027 ի"
The Raikage curled his lip and tried to sound casual. "Tch, as if I care! I've seen it all! →_→"
Seeing the awkward silence between Yugito and Shinju, the Raikage wasn't sure whether to feel relieved or frustrated.
Relieved—because there was no risk of losing a jinchūriki to Konoha's rising star.
Frustrated—because his village's Two-Tails jinchūriki was practically throwing herself at Shinju, and that guy didn't even notice! (′д｀σ)σ
Immediately, the Raikage turned to Shinju and said, "Alright, let's head back."
Shinju nodded and reached out, grabbing the Raikage's sleeve.
Yugito's expression changed to one of panic. It had been months since Shinju's last visit to Kumogakure, and now that he was leaving again, who knew when they'd meet next. ~＞_＜~
Taking a deep breath, Yugito clenched her fists, closed her eyes, and shouted,
"Shinju! I think you're great—I can wait for you for two years!"
However…
Silence.
No one replied.
After a long moment, the sound of Killer B's clicking tongue echoed through the Raikage's office.
"Tsk tsk tsk~~~ (◔◡◔)"
"Our Two-Tails jinchūriki sure is bold, huh?"
"Too bad the genius from Konoha didn't even respond. He didn't look at you, didn't say a word, even after hearing your confession. (o´Д`o)ノ"
Yugito: T^T
She'd expected this outcome, but it still hurt more than she wanted to admit...
"I'm going back for seclusion! Don't bother me unless it's important! (｡•́︿•̀｡)" Yugito said, pouting as she stormed out the door.
Seeing this, Killer B and the other Kumogakure higher-ups exchanged glances. Someone tried to advise her kindly,
"Maybe you shouldn't go back right now. The Akatsuki have been acting up lately—they might come after you again…"
No reply.
Killer B shrugged. "She's probably just heartbroken. We'll send someone to keep an eye on her later."
The Elder nodded, then turned to Killer B. "By the way, you brat—cutting off someone's love life like that, huh?￣へ￣"
"Shinju clearly didn't even hear what Yugito said, and you went and twisted the story!"
Killer B raised his hands helplessly.
"Better a short pain than a long one, right?"
"Besides, that guy Shinju clearly isn't interested in Yugito. ㄟ(▔,▔)ㄏ"
...
Outside the Five Kage Summit in the Land of Iron.
Shinju teleported himself and the Raikage next to Naruto using Flying Thunder God.
After landing, he looked at the Raikage, puzzled.
"Did Yugito say something right before we left? (￢‸￢)?"
The Raikage shook his head. "How would I know?"
Actually, he had a pretty good guess what she'd said—but this wasn't the right time to bring it up.
Besides, he figured that even if Shinju had heard Yugito's words, he wouldn't have accepted her feelings anyway.
Sigh… I'll have to talk to her when we get back, the Raikage thought.
After that, Shinju and the Kumogakure group went their separate ways and returned to their lodgings.
Since the Land of Iron hadn't expected Shinju's sudden arrival, there wasn't a room arranged for him. He ended up sharing one with Naruto...
Inside the room, Naruto lay sprawled on the bed, asking about what Shinju had said earlier.
"So Sasuke's really gone?"
Shinju nodded. "Yeah. I searched the entire Land of Lightning and found nothing."
As he spoke, the image of that Akatsuki member with the single mask-covered eye flashed through his mind.
Where could that guy have hidden Sasuke…
...
Somewhere in an unknown space.
A severely wounded Sasuke slowly regained consciousness.
Although he'd already transplanted Itachi's Sharingan, the intense battle with the masked man had strained his eyes to the limit—his head still throbbed painfully!
Karin sighed and reluctantly extended her hand.
"Go on, bite me. It'll help you heal faster."
But Sasuke, stubborn as ever, shook his head.
"No need."
He forced himself upright, scanning the pitch-black surroundings.
"Where is this place?"
Suigetsu and Jūgo exchanged glances.
"No idea," Suigetsu said.
He went on, "While you were unconscious, we looked around. This place is like a maze—just endless darkness and silence everywhere."
Sasuke nodded slightly, piecing together the memories of the battle.
They had fought the masked man with everything they had, but his jutsu had been bizarre—every attack simply passed through him, completely ineffective.
In the end, it seemed that he'd activated a Sharingan technique and sucked them into this strange space...
"Could this be a space created by his eye technique?" Sasuke muttered uncertainly.
"A space created by a dōjutsu? Are all you Uchiha's eyes that powerful?" Suigetsu asked in awe.
Then he remembered that colossal 200-meter-tall warrior Shinju had summoned.
"Actually… yeah, I guess they really are! (꒪⌓꒪)"
Karin asked, "If this is a Sharingan space, do you have any way to break out?"
Sasuke shook his head. "The Uchiha clan's eyes hold too many secrets. Even I don't know them all."
"By the way—any of you know what happened to the Eight-Tails?"
Everyone shook their heads. Suigetsu answered,
"Don't worry about that octopus. It's smart as hell—sprayed some ink and ran off… (ー_ー)!!"
Sasuke nodded. "I hope he's fine. Protecting that jinchūriki was something Shinju asked me to do."
Suigetsu sighed. "Seriously? Even now you're still thinking about him? →_→"
"Maybe focus on how we get out of here first! There's no food or water. Even for shinobi, we'd starve in a couple of months. ㅍ_ㅍ"
Just as Suigetsu finished speaking, the masked man's body appeared in the space.
"Eh…"
Sasuke opened his mouth to speak, but before he could say anything, the masked man vanished again!
Where he'd been standing, several basic supplies—food and water—were left on the ground.
Sasuke frowned deeply. "He doesn't want us to die. Looks like he plans to use us for something."
He could accept death—but not being used for something that would harm his friends.
With that thought, Sasuke immediately began planning how to escape...
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Pls Drop some Power Stones
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