Land of Lightning, Raikage's Office.
The Fourth Raikage, A, sat behind a mountain of documents.
Veins bulged on his forehead as one massive hand clenched into a fist while the other continued processing paperwork with surprising precision.
"Damn it! Why are there so many documents?! Stop sending every useless report to me!"
The sight was incredibly contradictory.
A mountain-like man whose muscles looked capable of shattering boulders was sitting quietly behind a desk doing paperwork.
Meanwhile, another man sat nearby at a separate desk.
Dark circles hung beneath his eyes.
The amount of paperwork piled in front of him was several times larger than the Raikage's own stack.
Assistant: "Raikage-sama, most of the unimportant documents are already with me..."
A: "Shut up!"
Assistant: "Yes, sir!!!"
The atmosphere inside the office immediately became suffocating.
If he were an ordinary office worker, it would not have been so bad.
Unfortunately, the Raikage's assistant had long transcended the concept of normal work.
When tired, he slept on the desk.
When traveling, he worked during the journey.
His vacations consisted of bringing documents somewhere else and processing them there.
It was twenty-four-hour overtime with almost no breaks.
The dark circles beneath his eyes were practically permanent.
Just then
BANG!!!
The office door was violently pushed open.
A's entire body trembled.
The assistant nearly dropped his brush.
Standing at the entrance was none other than Nii Yugito, who had recently uncovered part of Chinatsu's true identity.
"Raikage-sama! I wish to go to Konoha!"
"Huh?"
A raised an eyebrow.
"What are you going to Konoha for?"
"There haven't been any major conflicts between Kumogakure and Konoha lately."
"No need to stir up trouble."
The Fourth Raikage crossed his arms.
Although relations with Konoha were currently stable, merely thinking about Konoha's terrifying "secret weapon" was enough to give him a headache.
Peaceful development.
At least until Kumogakure's giant chakra cannon project was completed.
Hopefully it would be finished before he retired.
"No."
Yugito shook her head seriously.
"I don't intend to cause trouble."
"I want to visit Konoha as a diplomatic representative."
The Raikage and his assistant both froze.
Yugito?
Diplomatic representative?
This...
This...
This...
Then suddenly, A's eyes widened.
He understood.
At least, he thought he did.
"Hahahaha!"
A burst into laughter.
He stood up from behind his desk and strode over.
His enormous palm landed heavily on Yugito's shoulder.
"Excellent!"
"I knew you could do it!"
"As expected of Kumogakure's strongest kunoichi!"
"Don't worry."
"As long as you perform well, I'll guarantee your position as the next Raikage candidate!"
"The title of Fifth Raikage might even become yours someday!"
A laughed loudly while repeatedly patting Yugito's shoulder.
Fortunately, Yugito possessed the physique of a perfect Jinchūriki.
If it had been someone else, they might have coughed blood from those pats alone.
Yugito blinked.
She didn't completely understand what the Raikage meant.
However, since permission had been granted, the details were unimportant.
"Understood."
"I'll do my best."
She gave a standard shinobi salute.
Then she turned and quickly departed.
The Fourth Raikage folded his arms and watched her leave.
The more he thought about it, the more satisfied he became.
Meanwhile, the assistant beside him looked completely confused.
Neither of them seemed to realize they were thinking about entirely different things.
"Raikage-sama..."
The assistant cautiously raised a hand.
"May I ask what exactly Lady Yugito intends to do in Konoha?"
"Huh?"
A looked at him with disappointment.
"You couldn't tell?"
"What kind of assistant are you?"
"..."
The assistant's eye twitched.
If the person speaking were not the Raikage, he genuinely felt like performing a flying tackle.
"You... please explain."
The assistant pulled out a handkerchief and wiped his face.
A immediately straightened his back proudly.
"Obviously."
"Yugito plans to infiltrate Konoha through diplomacy."
"She'll spread Kumogakure's will."
"Recruit talented people."
"Maybe even convince a few Hyūga or Uchiha descendants to move to Kumogakure."
"If we can get a Byakugan or Sharingan user, that would be perfect!"
"..."
The assistant silently stared at him.
The sweat on his forehead multiplied.
Are you absolutely certain that's what she meant?
Because it really doesn't sound like that at all.
However, seeing the Raikage's confident expression, he wisely chose silence.
He only hoped Yugito wouldn't create some sort of diplomatic incident.
After leaving the office, Yugito didn't even bother packing.
She immediately began her journey toward the Land of Fire.
Meanwhile...
At this exact moment...
Chinatsu was indeed still in Konoha.
But only at this exact moment.
"Sister!"
"You've been going out a lot lately."
"Are you secretly planning something huge?"
Sasuke narrowed his eyes suspiciously.
"No, no."
"What huge plans could I possibly have?"
"I'm a very simple person~"
Chinatsu waved her hands innocently.
"Yeah! Yeah!"
"Chinatsu-neechan's vision is too small "
BONK!
Naruto immediately grabbed his head.
"Ouch!"
"Why did you hit me?!"
chinatsu narrowed her eyes.
"Who are you calling narrow-minded?"
Naruto & Sasuke: "..."
Inside the living room of the Uchiha residence, chinatsu sat comfortably on the sofa chatting with Naruto and Sasuke.
Both boys had recently returned from missions.
At first they discussed chinatsu's recent activities.
Sensing the topic becoming dangerous, chinatsu quickly redirected the conversation toward their own experiences.
Fortunately, since Naruto and Sasuke were members of Team Kakashi, many of their stories overlapped.
Listening to them talk about missions, training, and village life was surprisingly relaxing.
Time passed quickly.
Then
The moment the topic shifted toward Sasuke himself
An overwhelming wave of negativity suddenly filled the room.
chinatsu's right eyelid immediately twitched.
Danger.
Extreme danger.
What?
What happened?
Before Sasuke even spoke, chinatsu felt a sense of impending doom.
She wasn't stupid.
There was only one thing capable of causing Sasuke to emit this level of obsession.
Sasuke slowly lowered his gaze.
Then raised his head.
His Sharingan wasn't even activated.
Yet the darkness in his eyes alone seemed capable of dragging someone into an abyss.
"Sister..."
"During a recent mission..."
"I found traces of that man."
The room instantly became silent.
Naruto looked between them nervously.
Sasuke continued speaking.
His voice was calm.
Too calm.
"Perhaps..."
"It won't be long now."
"Before I can personally kill him."
"And avenge the Uchiha Clan."
As he spoke, the expression on Sasuke's face looked eerily similar to chinatsu's own terrifying yandere smile.
Usually chinatsu was the one frightening other people.
This time she felt a chill run down her spine.
So...
The day had finally arrived.
Uchiha Itachi.
The man responsible for the Uchiha Clan Massacre.
The target Sasuke had chased for years.
chinatsu silently swallowed.
She didn't particularly care what happened to Itachi himself.
What truly worried her was Sasuke.
After all these years...
After all her effort raising him...
After guiding Naruto and Sasuke for so long...
She absolutely could not allow Sasuke to walk down the same dark path as the version from the original story.
No matter what happened next
She had to make sure her little brother survived it.
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