Naruto : Konoha Light

During the speeches, the group of Cloud ninja had already broken through the gates of Uzumaki Kushina's residence.

Shimizu's expression turned serious. "Damn it, we couldn't catch up in time!"

"Haha, don't worry," Asuma said with a smug grin. "Those Cloud ninja are in for a bad time. I heard from the old man that that big sister is insanely strong..."

But before Asuma could finish speaking, they saw several masked ninja in black leading away a young girl with striking red hair.

"???" Asuma was stunned.

Noticing Shimizu's strange expression, Asuma quickly tried to explain, "I got it! That big sister must be pretending. She's letting herself get captured on purpose to follow the enemy and take down all the spies!"

Shimizu, however, shook his head slightly. If his guess was correct, the current Kushina was likely suppressing most of her strength because of the Nine-Tails inside her.

After all, when Mito Uzumaki transferred the seal to Kushina, she was already too old to maintain its strength. While Hiruzen and the others were powerful, their knowledge of sealing techniques couldn't compare to that of the Uzumaki Clan.

The crucial issue was that Kushina held the complete Nine-Tails. Because of this, the seal's effectiveness was weaker than what Naruto would have in the future.

To prevent the Nine-Tails from breaking free, Kushina didn't dare to use her chakra recklessly. That meant she was truly helpless against this group of low-level ninja dragging her away.

These Cloud ninja had no idea what kind of danger they were playing with.

Shimizu sighed internally. This world really does let good people get bullied.

But Asuma was quick to notice something was off.

Halfway through their journey, the red-haired girl collapsed multiple times, only to be roughly dragged along the ground by the Cloud ninja.

"Even if she's acting, does she really need to go this far?"

"This isn't good, Shimizu! That big sister might really have been captured! We need to save her now!"

"Wait! Don't be reckless. They have a hostage!"

Asuma grew even more anxious. "Then what do we do? Damn it, if I had known, I would've attacked immediately instead of spying. Even if I was wrong, the worst they could do is scold me!"

"Don't blame yourself. This involves two nations. Without solid proof, the higher-ups wouldn't have allowed an arrest anyway."

"But now there's no time to go back and call for help!"

Shimizu remained calm. "Don't worry, we still have a chance."

Hearing this, Asuma took a deep breath to steady herself. "Alright, Shimizu, what's the plan?"

Shimizu narrowed his eyes. "We keep following them. When they reach the Konoha border, they'll think they're almost safe—that's when they'll be the most careless. That's when we strike!"

Asuma hesitated. "But... what if they don't drop their guard?"

"In that case, I'll have to use genjutsu to attack their minds. I'm confident in my genjutsu, but they're still ninja... I can't guarantee it'll work."

"It has to work!" Asuma grumbled. "If I go back late, that old man is going to spy on me! Ugh, I bet he's using this opportunity to peep on other people too!"

Unlike the flustered Asuma, Shimizu remained composed. Everything was proceeding exactly as he had expected. The real star of this show hadn't even arrived yet.

Sensory types are so useful… tracking one person is easy, tracking two is even better. So don't let me down, Minato-senpai!

Though Shimizu valued Minato's skills, what he cared about more was Kushina's sealing techniques. Still, Minato had the potential to become a powerful "tool" in the future, so Shimizu wouldn't waste the chance to gain some easy experience from this.

"If Minato gets involved, I won't need to use too much effort. I just need to find the right moment to steal some credit. But… what if he doesn't show up in time?"

Shimizu refused to believe that fate was completely unchangeable. Even if he knew the future, he wouldn't allow himself to become passive. That's why he had taken every precaution, even subtly guiding Asuma into confirming the enemy's numbers and strength in advance.

"After all, I never said ordinary genin were beyond my ability to handle. It's only natural for a genius to 'level up' in a real fight, right?"

Under the cover of night, the two continued to tail the Cloud ninja.

Asuma picked up a loose strand of red hair from the ground, her expression complicated. "Shimizu, are these guys really ninja?"

That big sister's hair was way too noticeable. It burned like a flame in the darkness, yet none of those Cloud ninja even seemed to notice.

At first, Shimizu had suspected it might be a trap—perhaps the Cloud ninja were baiting them into acting. But looking at their sloppy skills now, it was clear… these guys were just bad.

Shimizu remained silent. He understood why the Cloud Village did things like this, but still, they had a bad habit of picking easy targets to bully.

After realizing this, Asuma grew impatient. "Shimizu, should we get closer?"

Just as Shimizu was about to respond, a distant chakra fluctuation caught his attention.

That was the chakra he had secretly attached to Kushina's hair.

Even though he wasn't a specialized sensor ninja, he could still sense if someone picked up those fallen strands.

"Minato?"

Looks like I need to act quickly. If he gets here first, there won't be anything left for me to do!

Shimizu made up his mind. "Of course we should move in. In fact, we should strike now while they're off guard!"

Asuma's eyes widened. "Didn't you say we should wait until they were closer to the border?"

Shimizu's expression was serious as he skillfully twisted the truth. "I forgot to consider an important detail—those Cloud ninja probably have reinforcements waiting just outside the border. If we fight too close to the edge, they might notice the battle and rush in. Even if the higher-ups in Konoha receive a message, they won't have enough time to react."

"So the best choice is to attack them before they reach the border—far enough that their backup won't notice, but close enough that we can still stop them from escaping."

Asuma nodded in understanding. "Shimizu, you really think things through."

"Alright, just watch for my hand signal. Once I finish casting my jutsu, you rush in and grab that big sister immediately!"

"Got it!"