Meanwhile.
Sunagakure, West District.
A certain courtyard sat quietly in the depths of a narrow alley.
Several burly shadows slipped inside like ghosts.
Their movements were so light and efficient they didn't match their size at all.
In the moonlight, you could just make out the standard Iwagakure ANBU combat uniforms.
Their forehead protectors had been deliberately removed, so they wouldn't catch the light and give them away.
The man in front was the biggest of them all, shoulders broad as a wall.
Yet every step he took was silent.
He was the Third Tsuchikage Ōnoki's son, Kitsuchi.
"According to the intel, Kurotsuchi is being held here."
His voice was pressed extremely low, a slight rasp of breath in it, urgency leaking through anyway.
Behind him, several Iwa shinobi spread out and began searching the courtyard.
A moment later…
"Sir. We searched everything. No one's here."
One of the Iwa shinobi returned to report, confusion in his tone.
Kitsuchi's brows tightened.
Bad intel?
He scanned the area, eyes settling on the building that looked completely ordinary.
The courtyard wasn't large. A few rooms, all visible at a glance.
It really didn't look like a place that could hide someone.
But…
He crouched and pressed both hands to the ground.
Earth Style: Mind-Body Sensing.
His chakra rippled outward underground, flowing through the soil, pushing deeper…
There.
Kitsuchi's eyes narrowed.
"She's below."
He straightened, voice firm.
"There's a hidden room."
…
When the door to the hidden room was forced open, the dim candlelight flickered.
Kurotsuchi sat at the edge of a bed, dressed in a kimono that clearly didn't belong to Sunagakure, the style noticeably more mature than anything she'd worn before.
Her hair wasn't the dirty, disheveled mess it had been.
It had been carefully pinned up, exposing her long neck.
At the sound, she snapped her head up.
When she saw the massive figure in the doorway…
Her eyes went wide.
"Dad?"
Her voice was full of disbelief.
Kitsuchi strode into the room and grabbed her shoulders, examining her up and down.
Those stern eyes swept over her face and body, checking every detail.
The kimono.
The pinned-up hair.
And the complicated emotion in her eyes.
Kitsuchi's brow furrowed for a moment.
Then eased.
Alive was what mattered.
He told himself that quietly.
Everything else was secondary.
"I'm here to get you out."
His voice was deep and rumbling, absolute and unquestioning.
"Let's go. Before Sunagakure reacts, we leave immediately."
Kurotsuchi froze.
Leave?
She stood without thinking and took two steps after her father.
Then stopped.
Something tugged at her chest for no reason.
Shouldn't she…
Say something?
The thought had barely formed before she strangled it herself.
Wait, Kurotsuchi, what are you thinking?
That pervert locked you in here.
Every day he…
She clenched her teeth, a flush of shame and anger crawling up her cheeks.
Go.
She had to go.
She shook her head hard, threw those messy thoughts out of her mind, and hurried after her father.
…
The group left the courtyard without a sound.
They slipped through several alleys, scaled the outer wall of Sunagakure, and vanished into the endless night.
Only after they were far outside the village's range did Kurotsuchi finally breathe again.
She looked back.
The village was nothing but a blurred silhouette in the darkness now.
For a second, something unspeakably complicated surged in her chest.
But she quickly forced her gaze away and looked at her father.
"Dad… how did you even find out where they were holding me?"
Kitsuchi didn't answer immediately.
He lifted a hand, signaling the team to stop.
Then he turned and gestured back.
"Come out."
A plainly dressed young man stepped forward from the back of the group.
In the moonlight, his face looked young and ordinary.
The kind of face that would vanish into a crowd of Iwa shinobi without anyone noticing.
A faint smile hung at the corner of his mouth.
His eyes fixed directly on Kurotsuchi.
Then--
"Hi."
He raised a hand in a casual wave, tone light like he was greeting an old friend.
"Surprised? Didn't see that coming, did you?"
Kurotsuchi's pupils shrank hard.
That face. Those eyes. That smile…
She would never forget them as long as she lived.
"You…"
Her voice shot up.
She stumbled back two steps, nearly tripping over her own feet.
"It's you…"
Kitsuchi reacted instantly.
He yanked his daughter behind him.
His massive body planted itself between her and the young man like a shield.
"Who?"
His voice was thick with suspicion and killing intent.
Kurotsuchi's finger trembled as she pointed at that face, her voice floating unsteadily.
"He… he's Teizawa…"
"Sunagakure's Kazekage…"
Kitsuchi's pupils tightened.
What?
He stared at the young man, his mind racing.
The Kazekage of Sunagakure?
Personally delivering intel?
Helping them rescue Kurotsuchi?
What was he after?
Kurotsuchi stood frozen too.
She stared at that familiar face as countless images flashed through her mind…
Those absurd moments in the hidden room.
Those touches that had made her burn.
And that promise: I'll let you leave when the time comes.
He said he'd let me go…
Was this what he meant?
He really… was willing to let her go?
A whirl of emotions flooded her.
Confusion. A strange burst of relief.
And a quiet, wordless…
Disappointment.
"Hmph!"
An Iwa shinobi suddenly barked.
"As Kazekage you dare come alone… looking for death!"
"Yeah! Kill him! Avenge our fallen comrades!"
The other Iwa shinobi echoed, closing in fast and surrounding Teizawa.
Kunai. Tools. Hands flying into seals.
Everything pointed at the young man who remained unbothered.
Kitsuchi didn't move.
He kept staring at Teizawa, eyes sharp as blades.
Teizawa didn't move either.
He simply stood there and let them surround him.
That faint smile never leaving his lips.
"Don't panic."
Kitsuchi spoke, brow furrowing.
"This is just a clone."
A clone?
Kurotsuchi focused her senses.
Sure enough, the "body" looked real.
But there was no true living, fleshy presence.
Only a faint chakra fluctuation.
"…Not bad. Ōnoki's blood."
Teizawa's clone smiled, a hint of approval in his voice.
"To spot my sand clone."
Kitsuchi's face stayed grim, but his brow twitched.
"Ōnoki's blood?"
The way he said that…
Sounded irritating as hell.
Behind her father, Kurotsuchi watched the smiling man with a complicated expression.
Wariness. Confusion.
And something she couldn't name.
Kitsuchi drew in a slow breath and asked in a low voice.
"As Kazekage, you helped Kurotsuchi in secret."
"You provided intel so we could extract her."
"What's your objective?"
He paused, eyes even colder.
"And now you followed us with a clone. Why?"
Teizawa's clone looked at him, then at Kurotsuchi hiding behind her father.
His gaze paused for an instant on her…
More precisely, on her lower abdomen.
Then he smiled.
That smile held something Kurotsuchi couldn't read.
"As for my objective…"
He dragged the words out.
"Why would I tell you?"
Kitsuchi's brow tightened even more.
Teizawa's clone ignored him.
Instead, he looked directly at Kurotsuchi.
For once, there was something almost gentle on his face.
"Bye-bye, Kurotsuchi."
He paused, the smile deepening.
"We'll be seeing each other again…"
"Very soon."
Kurotsuchi's pupils contracted.
What did that mean?
Before she could react--
Poof.
The clone collapsed, dissolving into a heap of sand that scattered across the ground.
The night wind swept through, catching a few grains and carrying them off into the darkness.
All that remained was Kitsuchi's group, standing there, staring at each other.
A long moment passed.
An Iwa shinobi cautiously spoke.
"Kitsuchi-sama… what was that?"
Kitsuchi didn't answer.
He stared at the pile of sand on the ground, Teizawa's final words repeating in his mind.
We'll be seeing each other again very soon.
And that look.
That look at Kurotsuchi's stomach.
His expression turned intensely complicated.
Behind him, Kurotsuchi looked just as conflicted.
Without thinking, she lifted a hand and pressed it lightly to her lower belly.
That bastard…
That last glance…
What did he mean?
Under the moonlight, father and daughter stood in silence, each trapped in their own thoughts.
In the distance, Sunagakure's outline hovered in the night like a shadow.
This rescue…
Was it a success, or a failure?
No one could say.
(End of Chapter)
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