"Hey… Sogetsu."
Kushina tugged the sleeve of the man walking in front of her. Her face was bright red, and she asked in a small, shy voice,
"Is this… really going to work?"
"Relax. My disguise is flawless. No one will notice a thing."
Uchiha Sogetsu spoke with absolute confidence.
"Just wait for my signal. Then you go straight into tailed-beast transformation and stall the Third Raikage."
Kushina stopped talking. She lowered her head, cheeks burning.
On the wide, level main road, two people were carrying a palanquin.
Inside the palanquin, Kushina wore a spotless white wedding kimono, lavishly decorated with pearls and other expensive ornaments. A white cap covered her hair, and her chest was adorned with delicate lace and a ceremonial sword.
It was the first time Kushina had ever worn bridal clothes.
Her usual fiery, punch-first attitude was nowhere to be found—her face stayed pink and flustered the entire time.
Because she never imagined her "first time" would be… spent like this.
And the worst part was—
The "groom" wasn't Minato.
Originally, Kushina had refused this plan outright.
But Sogetsu had cornered her with a single sentence:
"Kushina… you don't want Minato to die because of you, do you?"
In the end, because she couldn't bear the thought of losing him, she gave up struggling and accepted this outrageous plan.
They would disguise themselves as nobles from a daimyo's country—using a wedding procession as an excuse—to infiltrate Kumogakure.
As for the two "palanquin carriers"…
Naturally, they were ANBU.
Tian Niao carried the front. Over and over, he opened his mouth to speak—then swallowed his words.
He had never believed this ridiculous plan could work.
Unless Kumogakure's shinobi were blind, how could they possibly be fooled?
But after watching Sogetsu slaughter dozens of Cloud ninja with his own hands, Tian Niao had been left with a deep psychological shadow.
Even knowing the plan sounded like suicide, he still couldn't muster the courage to argue with his commander.
Besides…
What if it works?
Ever since he started following Sogetsu, Tian Niao hadn't experienced many major operations.
But for some reason, he always felt like—
No matter how hopeless the situation looked, this man could still force a miracle into existence.
Maybe that was the commander's "charm."
While Tian Niao's thoughts ran wild, Kumogakure drew closer and closer.
When he saw the enormous wooden gate ahead, Tian Niao forcefully shoved down the chaos in his head, steadied his breathing, and walked forward.
The moment of judgment had arrived.
Almost everyone was on edge, terrified the plan would fail and they'd be surrounded on the spot.
This was Kumogakure.
If anything went wrong, the few of them wouldn't even be enough for the Cloud ninja to gnaw between their teeth.
But unexpectedly—
Kumogakure's inspection was not strict at all.
The guards only swept them with a casual glance… and waved them through.
"…That was it?"
Tian Niao's back was drenched in sweat. His face was full of disbelief.
"We… really got in that easily?"
Inside the palanquin, Kushina blinked in a daze.
She had prepared a mountain of excuses in her head…
And didn't get to use a single one.
After a long pause, Tian Niao finally asked in a careful whisper,
"Commander… did you… use genjutsu just now?"
Sogetsu turned his head.
A single look—cold and lethal—hit Tian Niao like a blade.
Tian Niao shuddered and instantly realized he'd said something he shouldn't have. He nearly slapped himself.
"Sogetsu…"
Kushina's red hair seemed to lift on its own. A vein pulsed at her temple as she clenched her fists and glared at him.
"You're not going to explain?"
She looked like she was one breath away from proving why people called her Red-Hot Habanero.
"Don't be so angry, Kushina."
Sogetsu wasn't flustered at all. He lowered his voice and chuckled.
"This is Kumogakure. You don't want the rescue plan to fail right now, do you?"
Minato really was her fatal weakness.
The instant his name came up, Kushina deflated like a punctured balloon.
"…Fine. As long as we save Minato, I'll wear the wedding clothes."
"Heh."
Sogetsu's mood visibly improved.
A pure-white bridal Kushina was rare enough that, in his past life, he'd only seen it in… questionable places.
But at least this satisfied a small personal "wish" he'd never expected to fulfill.
"Next, it's up to you, Kushina."
Sogetsu adjusted his glasses and scanned the busy crowd.
"The moment you see my signal, you must stall the Third Raikage."
"Don't worry. I'll hold him!"
Kushina took a deep breath, clenched her fists, and forced courage into her chest.
"No matter what happens, I'll fight to the death to keep him busy. Minato is in your hands, Sogetsu!"
Sogetsu didn't reply.
He simply slipped into the flow of pedestrians—
And in the next instant, his presence vanished completely, as if he had never existed.
"…Amazing stealth."
Tian Niao stared, stunned.
Outsiders watched for excitement.
Professionals watched for the trick.
That one move was beyond belief.
Even ANBU who specialized in infiltration couldn't erase their "sense of existence" the moment they merged into a crowd—let alone make their body feel like it had been deleted.
In that psychological invisibility state, the packed crowd unconsciously avoided him.
It was as if an invisible hand parted the tide, leaving a one-person-wide path through the people.
Hands in his pockets, Sogetsu didn't head toward Namikaze Minato.
Instead, he walked straight toward Kumogakure's tallest building.
Minato would be rescued—
Just not yet.
Kumogakure's tallest building was, of course, the Raikage's headquarters.
And Sogetsu's target this time… was the Third Raikage.
Under the eyes of countless Cloud shinobi, he walked into the building as if they didn't exist.
He pried open a shinobi's inner mindscape—
And then, like he'd returned to his own house, he casually made his way to the top floor: the most secret place in all of Kumogakure.
He pushed open the door.
The Raikage didn't seem to be inside.
Sogetsu looked around, found a hidden mechanism in the room, and pressed it lightly.
Click.
A crisp mechanical sound rang out, and a scroll popped forward.
On it were the words:
Lightning Release Armor.
It was the Raikage line's inherited body-enhancement combat art—
And one of Kumogakure's strongest techniques.
Truth be told, the shinobi world's "hiding spots" were practically standardized.
Whether it was the Forbidden Scroll… or Lightning Release Armor…
The most important forbidden arts were always hidden somewhere in the Kage's office.
"I didn't expect it to be this easy."
Sogetsu picked up the scroll, then sat down in the Raikage's chair, propped his feet on the desk, and smiled.
"Alright. Let's see what the principle behind this technique is."
At that very moment—
Inside the prison, the Third Raikage's eyes snapped wide.
"…Not good."
He growled, and lightning chakra surged.
His Lightning Release Chakra Mode activated.
Thunder roared.
A violent lightning armor wrapped his entire body.
The Third Raikage slammed through the prison wall with pure brute force—like a terrifying beast breaking free—carrying an overwhelming presence as he shot across the sky in a streak of thunder.
"T-that's… Lord Raikage?!"
Kumogakure's people froze, staring at the figure ripping through the heavens.
That suffocating pressure that crushed the air.
That rolling thunder that felt like it would rupture eardrums.
Everything screamed the same truth—
The Raikage was enraged.
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