Uchiha Kai was blunt.
He didn't bother hiding a thing, laying his bottom line out on the table right away.
Namikaze Minato let out a breath of relief, but the knot in his chest didn't ease.
Nohara Rin was his disciple.
Such an outstanding girl, and now she was being handed over to Uchiha Kai. Worse still, the guy already had another woman.
As someone who believed in monogamy, Minato would be lying if he said he wasn't bothered.
But… What could he do?
By a twist of fate, he actually owed Uchiha Kai some thanks.
Damn it all—where was he supposed to find justice in this?
In the end, Minato could only sigh. After a pause, he slowly nodded and said:
"Alright, I understand.
I talked with Kushina about this last night. Rin… we'll think of a way to handle it.
It shouldn't be too big a problem."
Uchiha Kai nodded.
After that, the two of them chatted about other matters—possible responses from the Hokage's side, and the mission concerning the Third Raikage, A.
Roughly half an hour later, Kai bid farewell to Minato and took Rin on a leisurely stroll through the village.
Of course, along the way—
With his keen perception, Kai easily noticed the ANBU tailing them, as well as Obito, that jealous mutt who couldn't have the grapes and claimed they were sour.
But to Kai, it didn't matter.
He sneered inwardly.
Those people weren't even worth his attention.
So he simply ignored them and enjoyed himself as if nothing were wrong.
Yes.
The stroll with Rin was secondary.
His real goal today was to declare one thing to everyone:
Nohara Rin is mine.
Anyone who dared touch her would be making an enemy of Uchiha Kai.
He was no Namikaze Minato.
That upright gentleman could be handled by Sarutobi Hiruzen.
But him? Uchiha Kai?
They could try him if they dared.
See if he wouldn't unleash Susanoo and cleave the Hokage Tower in half with one strike!
Meanwhile, inside the Hokage Tower—
Sarutobi Hiruzen sat high behind his desk, face dark.
Before him, Nara Shikaku stood with arms crossed, wearing the same grim look.
Listening to the kneeling ANBU's report, the two of them felt like smashing the table.
Goddamn it.
This was a complete disaster!
After a long silence, Hiruzen finally spoke in a flat tone:
"Understood.
You may leave."
The masked ANBU bowed and withdrew.
Then, Hiruzen lit his pipe, exhaled a cloud of smoke, and turned a sharp gaze onto Shikaku.
His eyes were filled with killing intent.
He wasn't a fool.
Just yesterday, Shikaku had made his move—only for Uchiha Kai to unravel it in an instant.
If he didn't suspect that a Nara loyal to Uchiha had intervened, he might as well insult his own intelligence.
So if he had the choice, he'd have killed Nara Shikaku right here and now.
Unfortunately, his faction was already falling apart.
He needed time to reel his allies back in.
So he took a deep breath, then asked coldly:
"Shikaku, what do you think?
Your operation was supposed to be top secret.
How did it leak?
Where do you think the problem lies?"
On the surface, it was a question.
In truth, it was an accusation.
Only the two of them knew about this plan.
Now that the mission had failed due to leaked information, if it wasn't him, then who else could it be?
If Shikaku had a solution, he could still be spared.
But if not—
then Hiruzen wouldn't hesitate to crush him.
"Lord Hokage, I apologize." Shikaku's voice was bitter. "This indeed falls on the Nara clan.
I'll be honest with you: I'm not the smartest Nara of my generation.
I have an elder cousin, Nara Hiroshi.
He's truly the sharpest mind of our clan.
Back when I became clan head, I had to use underhanded means to wrest the position from him.
For years I've kept him suppressed, tightly.
But no one could have predicted Uchiha's sudden rise.
And worse—Uchiha Kai's close friend, Nara Kazama, was raised by Hiroshi himself.
So of course, Hiroshi has now gone over to Uchiha's side.
When I fought him for leadership, I only won because I was more ruthless.
But if we were to clash now… honestly, I'm not confident.
I swear I didn't leak this plan.
But it must have been Hiroshi who deduced it.
He knows me too well.
I can't beat him, Lord Hokage. Forgive me."
Shikaku's face was filled with helplessness and frustration.
Every word carried the bite of clenched teeth.
But in truth, his response was simple:
Find a scapegoat, refuse to admit fault—then just lie flat.
Yes.
Lie flat.
Because last night, Nara Hiroshi—feeling guilty for throwing his cousin under the bus for Kazama's sake—had sent Shikaku a warning.
And when Shikaku read it, he froze.
He wasn't stupid.
If Uchiha Kai had decided to act, then success was guaranteed.
Even if he didn't know how Kai would do it, there was no way someone who could already stand toe-to-toe with the Hokage faction would fail to break a little scheme.
Which meant—Sarutobi Hiruzen would not spare him.
So he thought about it all night.
And his conclusion was clear: lie flat.
Because with Minato and Kai working together, with Hiroshi as their strategist, assassinating Nohara Rin was nothing but a pipe dream.
If it couldn't be done, why struggle?
So he'd tell the truth about Hiroshi—facts that couldn't be disproven.
Then admit he wasn't his cousin's match.
And leave it at that.
Hiruzen could do whatever he wanted.
Shikaku had his reasons for being so bold.
The Hokage faction was collapsing from within.
Until Hiruzen consolidated his core power, he wouldn't dare eliminate Shikaku.
Because the Ino–Shika–Cho trio was still one of Hiruzen's trump cards.
So no, Shikaku didn't believe for a second that Hiruzen would actually dare cut ties with him.
And as expected—
When Hiruzen heard Shikaku's words, he was left utterly dumbfounded.
What the hell?!
Was this guy even speaking human language anymore?
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