Uzumaki Mito carried herself like a princess who actually lived up to the title. Even the seasoned Uzumaki shinobi around her straightened their backs when she walked by. Raizen watched them from the corner of his eye, mind already chewing through possibilities the way a bored gamer chews through side quests.
Sure, the Uzumaki clan had agreed to share sealing techniques with the Konoha Alliance. But everyone knew what that really meant. The basics. The safe stuff. The kind of entry-level fuinjutsu you could give to toddlers without risking a dimensional rupture. The real Uzumaki secrets? Those weren't leaving their homeland. Not in this timeline, not ever.
Unless, maybe, the princess herself could be leveraged.
Mito was young, but Raizen doubted a girl raised in a clan famous for its sealing arts would be weaker than the handpicked shinobi standing guard around her. If the Uzumaki refused to hand over their stronger techniques… well, they couldn't exactly stop their own princess from teaching what she knew. A princess is still a political asset, after all.
So bringing Uzumaki Mito to the Konoha Alliance wasn't just harmless. It was smart.
Raizen didn't bother hiding his decision. "Since Mito has already come this far, we're not sending her back alone. Too many things can go wrong on the road. She'll return with me to the Alliance under proper escort. Once we meet your clan leader, we'll discuss what happens next."
Mito nodded eagerly, a little too relieved. The Uzumaki shinobi hesitated… then wilted under her sharp, princess-grade glare. They agreed.
The convoy set off.
Mito had barely taken two steps outside her homeland in her entire life, and she acted like a kid sneaking out of class for the first time. "The outside world is amazing! So much space… it feels better than Uzuchō Village!"
Her excitement spilled everywhere. Raizen exhaled through his nose. "You're the only one who thinks that."
"What? How am I wrong?" She puffed her cheeks like a cat who just got scolded. "Nobody is telling me what to do out here. It's freedom. Back home, the elders watch everything like hawks!"
"At least your village has walls," Raizen muttered. "Outside them is nothing but mud, steel, and corpses. Walk one step out of your homeland, and you're already gambling your life."
The irritation scratched at his nerves. Mito's innocence wasn't charming. Not to someone who had lived and died in a modern world, then woken up here where childhood often ended at birth.
"How can it be that bad?" she insisted.
He stopped responding. Explaining cruelty to someone who hasn't seen it is like explaining fire to a fish. The ANBU and Uzumaki escorts clearly understood though. Their faces stayed still, unreadable, as if Raizen's bleak view was just another accepted truth of the Warring States.
Mito noticed. Her cheer faded, replaced by a creeping doubt she'd never felt before. A girl raised behind safe, red-bricked walls suddenly realizing the world didn't match her picture book.
The group continued. After crossing the Fire Country border, the lake where the Three Tails hid finally came into view. Raizen's steps slowed.
"I need to know," he said, glancing at the Uzumaki shinobi, "can you use sealing jutsu that works on… monsters?"
"Monsters?" They blinked, confused.
"Tailed beasts," he clarified bluntly.
Their reaction was immediate. "A tailed beast?!" Several almost tripped over themselves. Tailed beasts were walking calamities. In an age where sealing artistry wasn't fully developed, hardly anyone dared provoke one.
One shinobi stammered, "We… we have sealing techniques, but the chakra cost is enormous. None of us could seal a resisting tailed beast."
"What if it doesn't resist?" Raizen asked.
That shut them up.
"If it… doesn't fight back," the lead Uzumaki admitted, "then yes. Our level should be enough."
"Good. In that case, wait here a moment."
The Uzumaki stared at him, baffled and terrified. "W-wait? What do you—does Amamiya Raizen intend to seal the tailed beast himself?!"
Raizen didn't answer. He was already gone, slipping through the trees toward the lake.
Team Three and Team Four straightened when he arrived. "Has anything happened?" he asked.
"Patriarch," an ANBU reported, "Three Tails has stayed submerged. Several nearby clans detected the disturbance and tried approaching, but we turned them back. No further complications."
"Good." Raizen stepped toward the lake, the surface reflecting a sky that didn't promise safety. "Then we start. The Three Tails capture mission begins now."