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Chapter 50
Just minutes earlier, in the Hokage Tower—
The top Konoha leaders who had just finished negotiations with the Hidden Cloud delegation were now all gathered in the Hokage's office.
Originally, last night they had summoned the jonin to discuss strategy for attacking the Land of Rain.
But halfway through the meeting, the Cloud envoy arrived in Konoha seeking to establish diplomatic relations between the two villages.
So the higher-ups decided to adjourn the jonin meeting and instead began discussing the benefits and terms of an alliance.
"Sarutobi, don't you think there's something suspicious about Cloud suddenly coming to Konoha to form an alliance?"
At that moment, Danzo, seated in his chair, suddenly furrowed his brows and questioned Hiruzen Sarutobi, who sat in the Hokage's position.
In his view, the Land of Earth was already at war with the Land of Wind, and the Land of Rain was preparing to declare war on Fire, Earth, and Wind.
The Land of Lightning should have had no reason to get involved—they could simply sit back and watch. Yet here they were, suddenly seeking to establish relations with the Land of Fire.
This made the ever-cautious Danzo sense something was deeply wrong.
"What could be suspicious about it? Isn't it good for two countries to establish relations now?"
"This way, when we attack the Land of Rain, we won't have to worry about getting stabbed in the back."
Before Hiruzen could respond, Koharu Utatane jumped in, speaking in a tone that suggested Danzo was overthinking things.
In his opinion, Danzo was just being alarmist—always looking for problems, always trying to make himself seem important.
Koharu, a senior advisor to the Hokage, had long found this attention-seeking behavior irritating.
"But their attitude during the negotiations was far too casual. No sense of decorum at all. Their subordinates kept coming in with messages."
"And most importantly—after a full day of discussion we couldn't reach an agreement, yet they suddenly signed the alliance treaty the moment one of their subordinates delivered a message, then left in a hurry."
"I suspect they were deliberately stalling for time to achieve some hidden objective."
Recalling the sneaky behavior of the Cloud delegation during today's talks, Danzo felt increasingly uneasy.
"Couldn't it be that you're just overthinking it? Maybe they really had an urgent matter and had to leave quickly?"
This time, Koharu seemed especially intent on opposing Danzo, rejecting every single one of his speculations.
"You…" Danzo stared coldly at Koharu, a sharp glint flashing in his eyes.
In that moment, murderous intent rose in his heart—he was already considering how to eliminate this man.
"Enough. Both of you, calm down."
Hiruzen Sarutobi, watching his two old friends at each other's throats, finally couldn't stand it anymore and spoke up:
"I also think something's off. I'll send people to monitor the movements of those Cloud ninja inside Konoha and see if they do anything strange."
"Hmph. I'll let you off this time."
Danzo gave a cold snort and sat back down, lowering his head in thought.
"Tch."
Koharu sneered, full of disdain. Since the Hokage had spoken, he didn't continue arguing. He sat to the side, closed his eyes, and pretended to rest.
"Come in. Send several ANBU jonin to keep watch on the Cloud ninja who just left."
Seeing the two finally quiet down, Hiruzen took a puff from his pipe and gave the order to the corner of the room.
"Yes, sir!"
Several ANBU figures appeared inside the office, knelt on one knee in unison, then swiftly departed.
After the ANBU left, the remaining top leaders didn't leave either. They waited quietly for news about the Cloud ninja.
Not long after, an ANBU returned.
"Report to Lord Hokage: After leaving the Hokage Tower, the Cloud delegation hurriedly departed in the direction of the Land of Lightning."
"Heh, looks like Lord Danzo has nothing to say now. I told you—they just had urgent business and left quickly. How could there be some conspiracy?"
With a mocking tone, Koharu looked at Danzo with a smug grin.
What conspiracy? You're just trying to make yourself look important. Now watch me tear down your little act.
"Hmph!"
Danzo gave another cold snort but said nothing. His face, however, had become extremely dark.
At that moment, another ANBU appeared in the office.
"Report to Lord Hokage: Villagers witnessed several tall, masked ninja kidnapping a red-haired child and fleeing toward the village outskirts."
"What?!" Hiruzen shot to his feet, face full of shock.
"An Uzumaki was kidnapped?"
"Tall figures? The only tall ninja who came to Konoha recently are from the Land of Lightning. That means Cloud ninja kidnapped the Uzumaki."
Danzo and the others also showed surprised expressions as they pieced it together.
"I told you the Cloud ninja were suspicious. They used the alliance talks as a distraction to stall us while secretly sending people to kidnap the Uzumaki."
"Heh heh… Cloud's plan was quite clever."
In an instant, Danzo had analyzed the entire scheme. A cold smile spread across his face.
"I wonder, Senior Advisor Koharu—could you be a spy sent by Cloud? Is your only purpose to disrupt and confuse Konoha's leadership?"
With obvious delight, Danzo finally seized the chance for revenge.
He directly pinned the label of "spy" on Koharu.
Let's see you try to argue with me again after this.
In an instant, everyone in the office turned suspicious eyes toward Koharu.
"Y-You… You're slandering me! How could I possibly be a spy?!"
Koharu pointed at Danzo, now completely unable to explain himself.
He felt deeply wronged. He had only wanted to knock Danzo down a peg and stop him from acting so superior. Now he'd been turned against.
Today truly was his unlucky day.
"Enough! Everyone, quiet!"
Without mood to deal with their quarrel, Hiruzen immediately issued urgent orders.
"Send out every available jonin! Search the entire village—don't let a single Cloud ninja slip through!"
"At the same time, ANBU—pursue the kidnappers at full speed! Bring the Uzumaki child back safely!"
In moments, Konoha's ninja forces mobilized, launching a massive emergency search operation.
…
Meanwhile—
Minato had gone out to buy ingredients for dinner and was walking alone toward the market.
"Hey, did you hear? A red-haired little girl got kidnapped today. They even blew a hole in the wall over there. She's already been taken outside the village."
"It just happened. They say ninja from another village kidnapped her to use as a hostage. If negotiations with Konoha fail, she'll be killed."
"Really? That cruel?"
"Sigh… I heard the little girl was really nice and kind of shy. Everyone thought she'd grow up peacefully, but who knew she'd get kidnapped."
"Looks like she doesn't have long to live."
A group of middle-aged women in their forties and fifties had just finished shopping and were chatting outside the store.
They had unintentionally recounted the incident that had just taken place.
"Kidnapped? Red-haired girl? Shy?"
Minato happened to hear every word clearly.
The description matched perfectly.
"Was that Rina? Did something happen to Rina?!"
Dropping the grocery bag in his hand, Minato sprinted in the direction the women had pointed—toward the village outskirts.
"I hope she's okay… I'm coming right now!"
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