After listening to the Third Raikage, the young man fell silent, his gaze fixed on the canyon stretching out before him.
The Cloud Lightning Gorge was named for the perpetual lightning that crackled through the region.
The phenomenon was localized, but a direct strike would leave a shinobi paralyzed for a long time.
Because of that danger, very few people ever came here.
For reasons he could not clearly explain, this place suited him.
Perhaps it reflected his nature.
He favored clarity and directness, believing that the simpler something was, the more reliable it became.
Unable to keep his thoughts to himself any longer, he finally spoke.
"Father, the Eight Tails is the most important asset of our village. Are you truly willing to let someone from another village become its Jinchuriki?"
For reasons he could not explain, he felt an instinctive resistance toward that Uzumaki girl.
The thought refused to leave his mind.
If she became the Eight Tails Jinchuriki, he would lose the partner most important to him.
The Third Raikage placed a firm hand on his son's head.
"My child, you must understand something," he said calmly.
"The value of a Tailed Beast lies in its overwhelming destructive power. Once it appears on the battlefield, it can change the tide of war instantly."
He paused briefly before continuing.
"But if that power cannot be controlled, then it is nothing more than an illusion. Worse, it becomes a disaster that can turn on its own village. Is that what you want?"
"I…"
The young man could not answer.
This time, when the Eight Tails went berserk, countless shinobi had died.
His cousin, Fukai, who served as the Jinchuriki, was among them.
If this continued, who would be next?
The Third Raikage spoke again.
"That Uzumaki girl may be a risk, but we have no alternatives. There are no other Uzumaki left that we can find in this shinobi world."
"And," he added, his voice rising slightly with excitement, "while she herself is unstable, her child will not be."
"Her… child?"
"That is right," the Third Raikage said firmly.
"As long as an Uzumaki exists in our village, I believe that within a few generations, Kumogakure will give birth to a new clan, the Uzumaki clan."
The Third Raikage straightened, his eyes shining.
In truth, even without the Eight Tails incident, he would have brought her back eventually.
The Uzumaki clan was simply too valuable.
She might be the last surviving Uzumaki in the entire shinobi world aside from Uzumaki Mito.
If nurtured properly, the future would hold both the Two Tails and Eight Tails Jinchuriki under Kumogakure's control.
The village's security would be unmatched.
Compared to the Uzumaki clan, the Third Raikage had once coveted the Hyuga clan even more.
The Byakugan might not rival the Sharingan in raw combat, but in terms of strategic value, it surpassed it by an enormous margin.
Why was Konoha always able to maintain such an overwhelming advantage?
Talent played a role, but more often than not, it was the support of powerful clans.
Unfortunately, the Hyuga clan's rigid main and branch family system made that dream impossible.
More than once, the Third Raikage had sighed inwardly, wishing he could abduct the Hyuga clan's princess as well.
Such covert actions damaged the village's reputation, but what choice did he have?
Kumogakure simply had too few shinobi with bloodline limits.
Even when one appeared by chance, it was rarely stable enough to be passed down through a family.
In contrast, Konoha and Kirigakure held the majority of the shinobi world's bloodline limit clans.
Others struggled to obtain even one, while those two villages seemed almost adept at wiping out entire bloodlines for sport.
From a certain perspective, Kumogakure could be considered a protector of heritage, and the Third Raikage was its most dedicated guardian.
Watching his father grow increasingly animated, the young man could only curl his lips helplessly.
He was not entirely convinced by the idea of building a clan over several generations.
After all, Samui still had not married.
Why?
Was it not because she was considered unattractive?
In Kumogakure, pale skin was hardly popular.
These days, if you were not a brown skinned beauty, finding a partner was no easy task.
More importantly, the Eight Tails Jinchuriki traditionally bore the name "Bee."
The young man did not want that title to belong to a kunoichi from another village.
"Father," he said after a moment, "what if the mission fails?"
"Fails?"
The Third Raikage shook his head calmly.
"If it fails, then we will select a candidate from the new generation."
...
The Third Raikage spoke with ease, but far away in Konoha, the Third Hokage was anything but relaxed.
Standing by the window and looking out at the Hokage Rock, he felt a chill run through him despite the sunlight.
The Nine Tails was Konoha's most important strategic deterrent.
If it was not recovered, the consequences would be devastating.
With public opinion turning against him, resignation would only be a matter of time.
Some would say Danzo was responsible for village security.
But the shinobi assigned to protect Kushina were Anbu, not Root.
Root had been explicitly excluded from her protection by the Third Hokage himself.
Danzo might bear some responsibility for allowing a spy to exist, but if Kushina was not recovered, the primary blame would fall squarely on the Hokage.
"Hiruzen, you will regret this," Danzo's words from years ago echoed in his mind, spoken before Uzumaki Mito's grave.
"If anything happens to the Nine Tails Jinchuriki, you will bear full responsibility."
He never expected those words to feel so heavy now.
"Hokage sama, the search team has reported in."
"Proceed."
"Four Anbu corpses have been discovered outside the forest surrounding Konoha. Based on the trail, the enemy appears to have moved toward the Land of Water."
"The Land of Water… Kirigakure?"
The Third Hokage frowned.
Kirigakure had shown no interest in joining the current war.
Would they provoke Konoha now of all times?
And if they truly kidnapped Kushina, why leave behind such obvious clues?
Was another village attempting to frame Kirigakure, or had Kirigakure decided to move against the current?
His head throbbed.
The Land of Fire was vast, and Konoha simply did not have enough manpower for a full scale pursuit.
They needed to narrow it down.
"Any other information?"
The reporting shinobi hesitated before continuing.
"A significant number of Root shinobi have been sighted moving toward the Land of Lightning."
The Third Hokage stiffened.
If Danzo had orchestrated this deliberately, then Root's movements were extremely telling.
Could it be Kumogakure?
They had just lost the Eight Tails Jinchuriki and were in desperate need of a replacement.
The Third Raikage had also abruptly ceased hostilities with Iwagakure, a suspicious move if he intended to shift focus toward Konoha.
That theory only held, however, if Kumogakure did not yet know that Uzumaki Mito had passed away.
Once it became known that Kushina was the new Jinchuriki, any village could be responsible.
Kirigakure, Iwagakure, or Kumogakure.
After a long moment of thought, the Third Hokage finally issued his orders.
"First, have Hyuga Tenku lead the reconnaissance unit toward the Land of Water."
"Second, notify our forces stationed in the Land of Rivers and have a portion of them investigate in the direction of the Land of Earth."
As for the Land of Lightning, he left it unspoken.
If Danzo truly intended to act, then Root could handle that front.
If Danzo managed to bring Kushina back, the Third Hokage would accept the result, no matter the cost.
____
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