Naruto : Konoha Light

Under the dim glow of the night, several shadowy figures gathered in a secluded spot.

"Tooth, what took you so long? And why were there others at your place?"

"Yeah, because of you, we had to change the meeting location at the last minute."

Hearing his companions' complaints, Tooth felt a sting of frustration and nearly teared up.

He had been tormented for what felt like an eternity by those two little brats, nearly transitioning from a ninja to a butcher in the process. By the time they finally left, he hurriedly retrieved the coded message his comrades had left behind at the back of the store and rushed over, not even having time to grab a bite to eat.

"Do you think this was easy for me?" he muttered under his breath.

Suppressing his irritation, he finally responded, "Sorry, I didn't expect to get tangled up with two annoying kids."

"Two kids?" His companions stiffened. "Wait… were you discovered?"

"How could I be?" Tooth waved his hand dismissively. "If I had been exposed, wouldn't the Leaf's Anbu have swarmed us by now—Mmph!"

Before he could finish, one of his comrades covered his mouth, giving him a sharp glare.

"Don't jinx us," the ninja hissed. "I had a teammate once who said something similar, and let's just say… things didn't end well for him."

Tooth's mouth twitched as he mumbled under his breath, "Come on, there's no way..."

"Enough." The leader of the group cut them off, his tone serious. "What happened?"

"Those two Leaf brats were trying to provoke me on purpose," Tooth explained. "They wanted to lure the patrolling ninjas over."

Hearing this, the other ninjas tensed up.

Tooth quickly clarified, "Relax. They don't know my identity. They were just trying to stir up trouble to avenge the Second Hokage's death."

His companions exchanged amused glances.

"Tch. The higher-ups of the Leaf may be cowards, but I'll give them this—at least some of their brats have some backbone."

Tooth chuckled along with them. "Yeah, and get this—one of them even claimed to be the son of the Third Hokage—"

He stopped mid-sentence as he noticed their expressions shift from amusement to alarm.

"Eh? Why aren't you laughing?" He blinked, then realization dawned on him. "Wait… I should've captured that brat on the spot, right? His value must be far greater than our actual target—"

"Idiot!" The leader's voice dropped to a harsh whisper. "Have you forgotten? The Third Hokage is known for his Surveillance Jutsu!"

Tooth's eyes widened. "Surveillance? You mean—"

A nearby ninja nodded. "Lord Raikage once told us that the Third Hokage has an overwhelming need for control. That's why he developed his Telescope Jutsu—to monitor everything happening in the village."

A chill ran down Tooth's spine. "Then… what do we do now?"

"Luckily, you didn't make a move," the leader muttered. "Otherwise, we'd already be dead." He then narrowed his eyes. "Think carefully. Did you expose any weaknesses?"

Tooth racked his brain. "I… I don't think so?"

"You don't think?"

Just then, another ninja raised a concern.

"Wait—if the Third Hokage's kid didn't make it home for dinner, wouldn't he send people to look for him?"

The leader frowned, considering this. Then, he asked suddenly, "Tooth, you mentioned there were two brats. Who was the other one?"

Tooth thought back, remembering only the annoying little troublemaker who had a smug attitude. "I don't know… but he seemed pretty close with the first kid."

The leader's eyes lit up. "I've got it! That brat must be Shimizu! I've been gathering intel on him these past few days—he's said to be highly favored by the Third Hokage. If the Hokage saw them together through his jutsu, he probably felt reassured and didn't interfere."

Tooth was dumbfounded. "Seriously? That smug little punk? Has the Leaf fallen so far that they choose their elites based on looks?"

"Captain, what should we do now?" another ninja asked.

The leader hesitated briefly before exhaling sharply. "There's no turning back now. The risk of exposure has skyrocketed. We have to act tonight."

A distance away, hidden in the shadows, Asuma and Shimizu were tailing the enemy. However, because they had to keep a safe distance, they couldn't hear the conversation.

"Haaah… why haven't they moved yet? Did they fall asleep?" Asuma yawned before turning to his companion. "Shimizu, should we move in a little closer?"

Shimizu shook his head. "Their strength may not be much greater than ours, but they have far more experience. If we get too close, the risk of being discovered is too high."

"Fine," Asuma sighed, then clenched his fists. "But once we catch these bastards, I swear I'll make them pay for keeping me up this late."

Just then, Shimizu's eyes sharpened. "They're moving."

"Finally!" Asuma perked up. "Let's follow them!"

Keeping their distance, they trailed the enemy through the village. After a while, Asuma frowned.

"Wait… that direction?"

"What about it?" Shimizu asked.

Asuma's expression darkened. "There's nothing in that direction except a certain big sister."

"Big sister?"

"You know about the Land of Whirlpools, right?" Asuma asked.

Shimizu nodded. "Yeah. It was one of the Leaf's closest allies, but it was destroyed in a war a few years ago."

"Right. That big sister is one of the survivors," Asuma explained. "The Hokage let her settle in the village, but because she's an outsider, her relationship with the villagers has always been… complicated."

Shimizu frowned. "But why would these Cloud ninja be after her?"

He couldn't help but smirk inwardly.

In his past life's memories, he recalled that few people knew about this matter. Only the Third Hokage and a handful of elders were aware that this "big sister" was actually Kushina Uzumaki—the future Jinchūriki of the Nine-Tails.

Because of this, the village didn't assign obvious bodyguards to her, knowing that if they did, enemy spies would notice. Instead, they relied on the Konoha Military Police Force to keep watch from a distance.

On the other hand, the Cloud ninja likely had no idea about her true importance. If they did, they wouldn't have sent a bunch of small fry like this—they'd have deployed an elite squad. Their main goal was probably to capture her because of her special chakra… but little did they know, they had just set their sights on the wrong target.

Author Note:

According to the official setting, this event took place 27 years before the end of the Fourth Great Ninja War. Based on my initial timeline calculations, it was supposed to happen in Konoha Year 41. My plan was to place this event at the very end of that year, but in a moment of confusion, I accidentally wrote it as occurring a few days into the following year. So now, the only way to make sense of it is to say that the event spans from the end of Year 41 into the beginning of Year 42.

Yeah… my brain must have been fried when I messed up the timeline.

Also, just to clarify—some people think this part of the story takes place during Minato's academy days because the previous chapter covered that period. But actually, by the time Minato heroically saves the "beauty" in question, both he and Kushina are already wearing the Leaf headband, meaning they've graduated.