Hidden Leaf, Hidden Talents 135 (Patreon)

Shinji gave the tanto a quick swing.

It was a little lighter than what he usually used, and the edge had definitely lived a rough life. There were so many little chips along the blade that he had to wonder if whoever owned it before Minato had spent their free time trying to cut rocks with the poor thing.

Still, a sword was a sword, and right now he wasn't going to be picky.

"Just stay up here," he said. "And if you notice anyone coming up behind me, give me a yell, yeah?"

Minato looked over. "Wasn't that already the plan?"

"Yeah, but I'm saying it again so I can blame you if I get stabbed."

Before leaving the roof, he spread his senses across the town again, because apparently getting ambushed once by someone wearing an anti-sensor tag was all it took for his brain to develop a very healthy and definitely not concerning amount of trauma.

Before today, sensing someone meant knowing they were there. He had gotten so used to it that he barely thought about it anymore. Then Kiri came along wearing Uzumaki tags, walked straight through his senses, and killed Rokuro before Shinji even realized there was another person nearby.

So, yeah. Now every empty rooftop felt a little too empty, and every alley he couldn't see with his own eyes had somehow become suspicious.

He pushed his awareness farther through the town and started looking for Kiri's Seven Swordsmen. At least their naming system was kind enough to tell him exactly how many people he needed to worry about.

Samehada was his now and Kubikiribōchō too, which knocked two names off the list right away, while Terumi still wasn't anywhere inside town despite Shinji checking again just in case she'd somehow crossed half the village while he wasn't looking, and nope, still gone, which wasn't exactly surprising considering how far away she'd been.

That left four. Two of them were easy enough to find. They were the same two Swordsmen he'd run into before, the ones who'd been hanging around the Mizukage, and Shinji recognized their chakra almost right away on the south side of town. The signatures around them kept spreading out, rushing back in, then scattering again.

Definitely a fight, which still left two Swordsmen Shinji had never met and, more annoyingly, that tanto guy, so he swept the town again and found absolutely nothing.

Maybe the guy had already left town. Maybe somebody else had killed him. Maybe he was ten feet away right now wearing one of those anti-sensor tags, sitting quietly with a knife and waiting for Shinji to stop checking behind him for five seconds.

Shinji looked over his shoulder.

The rooftop was empty.

Probably.

He made a gesture at the shadow clone chilling on the second floor. The clone gave him a quick nod, hopped down to street level, and took off.

Shinji followed a moment later, heading toward the fight.

Thankfully, Jiraiya had already gotten Sage Mode up and running. The old perv looked a lot less like Kushina’s personal punching bag now. He wasn’t getting swatted across the street every few seconds either. Now he was giving some back, sliding past her attacks and sneaking in a hit whenever she left him even half an opening.

The yellow frog eyes were a pretty obvious giveaway too, even from here.

Okay.

That was good.

Shinji could do things with good.

Then the whole street went dark.

Shinji looked up.

"Oh."

Gamabunta was falling out of the sky with his massive tanto raised in both hands.

And Kushina was directly underneath it.

She threw her head back and roared at him.

One of her tails stabbed into the street while another whipped around the corner of the building beside her, wrapping around it like a rope.

Then she yanked.

BOOM!

The street exploded under Gamabunta's blade, but Kushina was already gone, a red blur ripping through the debris. One tail snapped around the buried sword and whipped her around its side, slinging her up toward Gamabunta's arm. As she came up, two more tails swung with her.

WHAM! WHAM!

They clubbed Gamabunta across the ribs.

The giant toad lurched sideways with a startled grunt before crashing shoulder-first into the building beside him, sending chunks of stone and wood tumbling into the street.

She went after him immediately.

Gamabunta had barely shoved his way out of the rubble before Kushina came screaming at his face. He slipped aside with one sharp kata step, let her rocket past his shoulder, then buried a foot in her back.

THOOM!

She tumbled down the street, bouncing off the road before crashing through a pile of broken stone.

Gamabunta pulled himself up and yanked his tanto free from the ground.

“Dammit, Jiraiya! What kind of mess did you drag me into this time?!”

Kushina came right back at him, even angrier than before.

WHAM! KRAK! SKRAANG!

The street dissolved into red tails, webbed hands, flying feet, and slabs of flashing steel. Kushina kept trying to bulldoze straight through him with raw strength, battering at his guard and wrenching at him with her tails, while Gamabunta slipped around the worst of it with footwork, blocks, counters, and martial technique that looked almost ridiculous coming from something that huge.

BAM! KRAK! THOOM!

Neither gave the other an inch. Walls split. Roof tiles jumped. Every hit kicked rubble across the road, and the whole brawl bulldozed its way farther through town.

Then Gamabunta caught her mid-charge.

He turned with the rush and kicked her right over the rooftops.

WHOOOM!

Kushina disappeared beyond the buildings.

"Ha! That's how you do it, you little furball!" Gamabunta dropped into a crouch. "I'm on a roll right now!"

Then he jumped after her.

Shinji's mouth twitched.

Yeah. Enjoy that feeling while it lasted. Four-tail Kushina didn’t exactly strike him as someone who took losing gracefully, especially after getting smacked around by a toad with an oversized sword.

But Gamabunta just handed him the perfect gift. With Kushina chasing after the toad, this was probably the best shot Shinji was going to get to take down the Mizukage!

He'd already seen firsthand what losing a Kage could do to an army. When the Third Hokage went down against the Sand and Iwa Kage, Konoha's morale had cracked with him. The whole force started falling apart not long after. A Kage wasn't just another strong shinobi. He was the guy everyone else looked at and thought, ‘As long as he's still standing, we're fine.’

Take that guy away and suddenly nobody felt fine anymore.

If Shinji could put the Mizukage down right here, this might not just make the fighting easier. It might be his best chance to end the whole damn war!

He dropped off the rooftop and landed soundlessly in an alley, hooked left at the first corner, crossed a cramped service lane, and squeezed through the gap between two buildings. He didn't slow down at all.

His eyes kept checking windows and rooftops and doorways, watching for anyone else with an anti-sensor tag who might be waiting, while his senses stayed focused on the fight ahead.

The Mizukage was still there. Jiraiya was still there. His clone was still there. Kushina was getting farther away, still trading blows with Gamabunta.

Perfect.

Shinji hooked right through another alley, vaulted a broken cart, and kept the tanto down beside his thigh as he circled the fight through the backstreets, changing direction whenever trouble spilled into his path, a blast of wind swept across one street before he reached it, something smashed through wood somewhere behind the buildings, somebody shouted, and when flames suddenly swept across the next intersection, he bounced off the wall and slipped into the alley across the street.

Metal rang ahead.

Once. Twice.

Then so fast the sounds basically melted together into one long scream of clashing steel. That had to be the Mizukage.

Shinji kept circling as another impact rattled the buildings, shaking dust from the walls.

Then his clone finally moved.

Finally!

It crept in closer to the Mizukage. Then closer. And closer again.

Nice. Shinji took another left just as Jiraiya backed away and the Mizukage followed, his clone quietly eating up the distance between them one step at a time.

Getting closer.

Shinji gripped the tanto tighter and sprinted around the next corner.

BOOM!

His clone exploded.

So did a few buildings.

Smoke rolled across the street ahead.

Now!

Triple Accel!

Lightning flooded through his veins.

There were still several alleys between him and the fight. Then there weren't.

He flooded the tanto with lightning.

More.

Blue-white arcs rippled over the steel as heat poured into the blade, the edge turning red like a hot coal.

Left.

His foot kissed the wall.

Right.

One more step—

Then Shinji burst out of the alley.

Smoke swallowed the street and took Jiraiya and the Mizukage with it, which would've been a problem if Shinji actually needed to see either of them, but he didn't. The old man's chakra was right there, clear as day.

Shinji plunged into the smoke.

There!

He swung.

The superheated blade flashed through the smoke, splitting the entire cloud apart around his swing.

The Mizukage appeared in front of him, singed and scorched. His eyes widened. Shinji had actually caught the guy by surprise, but even then, the Mizukage's katana was already coming out of its sheath.

SKRAAAAAANG!

Lightning sprayed everywhere from the collision, and then there was a sharp SHHHHK sound somewhere beside them.

A hair-thin red line appeared across the nearest building.

For half a second, nothing happened.

Then the entire upper floor slid sideways.

RRRRRUMBLE!

"Oi! Watch it, kid!"

Shinji's eyes flicked over.

Jiraiya was standing on the other side of the street with sweat dripping down his forehead.

"You almost cut me in half!"

Shinji didn't bother responding and sent the red-hot tanto flashing for the Mizukage’s neck.

SKRAANG!

“Gah!”

Blood sprayed into the air.

Shinji felt pain rip across his shoulder.

Then came something worse. A sharp pain that lanced up his neck like he already knew what was coming. Like death was whispering a warning. A vision so real it felt like a memory, like the blade was already falling, already reaching him.

His breath froze. His body knew.

That wasn't imagination. The Mizukage's killing intent and that terrifyingly perfect swordsmanship had become so sharp that Shinji could feel the next cut before it even came. Death was already there. The blade just hadn't caught up yet.

But there was something even more terrifying than perfect swordsmanship.

The eyes of the Sage of Six Paths.

Purple flooded his vision.

BOOM!

The air exploded and sent the Mizukage flying straight across the street toward Jiraiya, who stepped up with a kick the old man saw coming from a mile away. He just shifted to the side, watched Jiraiya's foot miss him by a few inches, and looked like he was about to relax when something hit him anyway.

THOOM!

The impact slammed into him even though Jiraiya had missed by several inches.

“W-what?!”

Frog Kata.

Shinji couldn't help grinning as the Mizukage got sent flying back across the street toward him like a ping pong ball.

Jiraiya looked past the old man and at him. "I'm leaving this one to you, kid!"

Then he was already gone. He jumped onto the next roof and kept moving after Gamabunta and Kushina.

"I'm not a kid, dammit."

And why the hell was he leaving?

Okay, Shinji knew why. Getting Kushina sealed back up and back to normal was obviously the main thing they needed to do. But Shinji had been banking on the two of them beating this old guy to death together, and apparently Jiraiya missed that whole plan and just decided to dump the Mizukage in his lap instead. Come on. Where was the teamwork?

Shinji glanced at the tanto in his hand.

Half the blade was gone. The rest was glowing red, and the heat was already burning through the handle into his palm.

Well, that sucks.

He threw it.

The half-melted tanto spun straight at the Mizukage's face. The old man swatted it aside with a senbon, then flicked that same senbon straight at Shinji as his right hand dropped toward the katana at his waist.

Not again! Shinji blurred out of the street and landed on the roof, which made the old man stop reaching for his sword.

"Well? Aren't you coming?"

Lightning faded off Shinji's body as he shut Triple Accel down.

Now that the old pervert had run off, trying to take down the Third Mizukage solo went from hard to just asking for trouble. Shinji could probably spend the next few minutes throwing the old man around with Shinra Tensei and Banshō Ten'in. Smash him through buildings, drag him back, smash him through another one, over and over until something inside him broke.

Would that even work though? Would it actually kill him?

…Maybe. Probably?

If he kept doing it long enough, eventually physics had to win, right?

He squinted.

Actually, that sounded kind of tempting.

Just keep pulling and smashing until the Third Mizukage wasn't an old man anymore but more like a meat sack. A really pliable meat sack.

Shinji rubbed his chin.

Should he do that?

He was seriously considering it.

But throwing chakra around everywhere in the middle of a fight with nobody reliable watching his back was a great way to get himself killed.

Well, Minato was around. So technically he had someone watching his back.

A talented chunin.

A really talented chunin.

Still just a chunin though.

Yeah, that wasn't making Shinji feel much better about anything.

If another Swordsman came crawling out of some alley wearing one of those anti-sensor tags, Shinji really didn't want his entire survival plan to be, Hopefully Minato notices before I get stabbed in the kidney.

Especially while he was basically playing human paddleball with a Kage.

He clicked his tongue. So annoying. The idea was still appealing, though.

But apparently the Mizukage wasn't any more eager to make the first move.

So they stayed where they were, Shinji on the roof and the old man in the street below, watching each other. The Mizukage kept one hand near his katana. Shinji kept his distance. By now, both of them knew exactly what the other could do.

Shinji knew that if he got anywhere near that sword, he might not get another chance to regret it.

And the Mizukage knew that one wrong move could end with him flying through another building.

So neither moved.

A thirteen-year-old jonin stared down a Kage, waiting for an opening.

The Kage stared right back, probably waiting for the thirteen-year-old to pull some bullshit.

“…”

“…”

Then Shinji did something completely unexpected. He just... sat down. Right there on the roof tiles, his legs crossing beneath him. He reached into his pack, fished out his canteen, unscrewed the cap with a soft clink, and took a long drink without ever taking his eyes off the Mizukage.

The old man's hand stayed on his sword hilt, but his eyes narrowed with confusion.

"Grandpa," Shinji said, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. "You don't seem like the type to do something without reason. So what was it about the Uzumaki that made you want to destroy them?"

The Mizukage studied him for a moment, like he was deciding whether the question deserved an answer. Something about Shinji must have interested him, though, because eventually he spoke.

"You're young still. You don't understand how these things work," he said, stroking his beard thoughtfully. "The Uzumaki were a problem that needed solving. One way or another, the other nations would've made the same choice eventually. The Uzumaki threatened the balance. We all saw it coming."

Shinji tilted his head, considering this "But they're all over the world. Killing everyone on this island won't erase the ones outside. So what's the point?"

"Think bigger. We're not here to merely kill them. We're here to destroy the institution. The symbol of Uzumaki power. A scattered clan is manageable. Scattered people can be hunted down over generations. But an intact village? A seat of power? That becomes a rallying point. That becomes hope. You destroy the center, you destroy the mythology. The scattered ones become refugees instead of exiles. They lose legitimacy."

The Mizukage went quiet after that, his eyes narrowing slightly as something seemed to occur to him.

"Come to think of it... that jinchuriki, and that white-haired shinobi with the ridiculous frog face."

His gaze shifted toward the direction Jiraiya and Kushina had gone.

"They resemble descriptions my men gave me of the thieves who stole from us."

His brow furrowed.

"Could it be...?"

He muttered something else under his breath.

"Should I..."

Then his eyes slid back to Shinji.

A chill ran across Shinji's neck.

His hand almost came up on instinct.

Smash him away. Right now. Put three streets between them before whatever had just started cooking in that old head turned into an actual plan.

Shinji’s arm twitched.

No. Easy.

He forced his hand to stay put.

He raised the canteen instead and took another long drink, but his mind had already latched onto one thing.

Stole from them? Stole what?

Shinji swallowed. What the hell had that old perv gotten himself involved in now?

Actually, stupid question. It was Jiraiya. Half his job seemed to be solving problems, and the other half was causing them.

Shinji lowered the canteen. "That's a pretty serious accusation. Are you suggesting someone stole from you, Grandpa?”

He gave the canteen a small shake. "You sure it wasn't the other way around?"

The old man frowned, his weathered face hardening.

Shinji shrugged. "I'm just saying. Usually it's the invaders doing the stealing. That's kinda how invading works."

"I think we've talked enough." The old man said.

His hand moved from his beard toward his katana.

But he didn't make it.

Shinji's hand rose, and the Mizukage's entire body lurched off the ground like he'd been grabbed by an invisible fist. The old man flew backward, his body punching through the nearest building. Wood splintered, a table, several chairs exploded into fragments.

Shinji raised his hand higher, and the Mizukage shot upward out of the roof, suspended in mid-air for just a moment. Long enough for Shinji to flick his wrist downward.

The old man dropped like a stone.

BOOM!

The earth shuddered. Dust rolled in a thick cloud, swallowing the street in gray powder.

Not enough!

Shinji raised his hand again, and his wrist flicked in sharp, jerking motions. Back and forth. Up and down. The Mizukage became a projectile, a battering ram of flesh and bone hurled through the settlement like a toy in the hands of an angry child.

BOOM. A house collapsed.

BOOM. Another building got wrecked.

BOOM. BOOM. BOOM.

One after another, buildings crumpled under the impact of the old man's body. Dust rose thicker, choking the air. The sound was terrible—the wet crash of impact, the groan of breaking wood, the sharp crack of stone splitting. Shinji threw without rhythm, without mercy, his hand moving in erratic patterns like he was genuinely trying to break the Mizukage into pieces.

A full minute passed.

Then Shinji felt his chakra dipping dangerously close to the red and cut it off. The endless smashing finally stopped.

Shinji's hand dropped as he stared at the wreckage before him, the scattered ruins of at least a dozen buildings, smoke still rising from the debris.

"...Did I get him?"

Dead. He had to be dead. No one could survive that.

But Shinji's senses didn't lie. He could feel it. a presence. Somewhere in that mess of rubble and broken wood, the Mizukage was still alive. Still breathing.

How? It shouldn't have been possible.

Blub.

Blub-blub.

Something shifted inside the dust.

Shinji narrowed his eyes.

The Mizukage walked out of the rubble.

A thick layer of water covered his entire body, but it wasn't flowing normally. It clung to him in a clear, jelly-like shell that wobbled with every step. The stuff jiggled twice around his shoulders, slid down his arms, then finally lost its shape and splashed onto the street.

The old man's clothes were wrecked, blood ran from the corner of his mouth, and bruises covered half his body, but aside from that? He looked annoyingly alive.

Shinji stared at the jelly-like water still dripping off him.

What the hell was that supposed to be?

Some kind of slime jutsu? Water armor? Jelly Suiton?

No, seriously. What was he even supposed to call that thing?!

He didn't stick around long enough to satisfy his curiosity.

Mostly because curiosity was a luxury for people whose Shinra Tensei wasn't currently dead for the next several minutes after spending a full minute throwing a Kage around like a soccer.

The moment the old man's about to move, Shinji was gone. Left into an alley, right through an open window, across somebody's living room, out the back, over a fence, through another house, into another room, then straight through the next doorway.

The Mizukage's signature followed, chasing him.

Shinji clicked his tongue and pushed harder.

Without Shinra Tensei, getting caught at sword range was pretty much the same thing as volunteering to get carved open, and Shinji had already donated enough blood today.

Whatever happened, however many walls, houses, alleys, kitchens, and bedrooms he had to go through, Shinji was keeping that sword far, far away from him.

The good news was that the Mizukage's ridiculous sword speed apparently didn't extend to his legs. At close range, the old man was a nightmare. His hand moved too fast, his blade moved even faster, and Shinji had already learned what happened when he tried to rumble with him up close.

But chasing somebody through a maze of alleys and buildings? Yeah, that was different.

Shinji hopped another wall, bounced off a roof, and raced across the next street while the Mizukage's chakra stayed stubbornly behind him. Close enough to keep following, sure, but nowhere near close enough to actually put a sword through him.

That was all Shinji needed. He kept the gap wide and waited for Shinra Tensei to come back.

…

Halfway through Shinji's cooldown, the Mizukage finally seemed to notice a problem. Or rather, he noticed what wasn't happening. He wasn't catching Shinji.

The old man stopped in the middle of the street as his expression tightened. He let out a long sigh. What a pity.

Konoha had somehow produced another troublesome genius, one already dangerous enough to threaten a Kage despite how young he looked. Given a few more years, the boy would only become stronger, probably with even more bizarre jutsu Kirigakure had never seen before.

He would have preferred to remove that problem here and now, before Shinji could become a much bigger thorn in Kiri's side.

But chasing him through the ruins was accomplishing nothing. As much as he disliked admitting it, continuing this pointless game of chase would only waste his time.

…

Huh?

Shinji slowed when he realized the Mizukage had stopped following him.

What was that about? Did the old man give up already?

They'd barely even started. Shinji hadn't gotten far enough away to call this a proper chase. This was more like somebody jogging after a thief for half a block and deciding the wallet wasn't worth it.

He looked back toward the Mizukage's position.

Mm. Should he follow him?

Leaving a Kage alone in the middle of town sounded like a terrible idea. There were still Uzumaki everywhere. Wounded people. Civilians. Shinobi trying to regroup.

But then there was Konan, Mrs. Uzumaki, and Kushina to worry about. Shinji rubbed the back of his neck and admitted that, yeah, he couldn't babysit everybody, so whichever unlucky bastard ran into the Mizukage next had his deepest apologies and, preferably, a very peaceful afterlife.

Shinji doubled back and found Minato in a trash-strewn alley.

"...What the hell happened to you?"

Minato somehow looked worse than before. Then he noticed the body.

A Kiri shinobi lay sprawled in the alley a few feet away, very dead, with a huge sword beside him. One side of the blade had what looked like a giant paper roll strapped to it. For some reason, the first thing Shinji thought of was toilet paper. Once that comparison got into his head, he couldn't unsee it.

Then a much worse thought occurred to him.

"Don't tell me the toilet-paper sword is one of the Seven."

Well, who was he to judge? Shinji shrugged and walked over, clapping Minato on the shoulder.

"Not bad, Minato. Not bad at all." Clap. Clap. "Toilet sword or not, you still took down one of the Seven all by yourself. Respect."

Minato winced hard in pain and twisted away from the next clap. He pressed a hand against his side and gave the corpse a tired look. "I nearly died doing it, so I'm not sure that's something I should be happy about."

"Look, you're breathing and he's not. That's all that matters."

After stuffing the toilet sword away and healing Minato until he was at least no longer one bad landing away from keeling over, they went looking for Konan.

They found her inside one of the more intact houses nearby.

She was sitting beside Mrs. Uzumaki, who lay unconscious on a futon near the back wall. The second Shinji stepped through the door, her whole face lit up.

"Sensei!"

"Hey."

She hurried over, and Shinji gave her head a quick pat as he passed.

Then he looked around. "My clone. Where'd he go?"

Konan blinked. "He left like... ten minutes ago? Why?"

He left? Shinji frowned as he dropped beside Mrs. Uzumaki and put two fingers against her neck. Chakra spread from his hand as he ran a medical scan through her body.

Behind him, Minato settled beside the window and watched the street through a narrow gap in the curtains.

Shinji sighed. Mrs. Uzumaki was out of the danger zone now, her breathing even, her pulse normal, and the internal damage no longer getting worse, but recovery was another story, and she wasn't waking up anytime soon.

He let the green glow fade from his fingers. Stopping here wasn't a terrible choice. Wasn't a great one either, but he could see why his clone had done it.

Even if the clone stayed and kept pouring chakra into her, there was only so much healing could do before the body itself needed time to catch up. Mrs. Uzumaki needed rest more than another hour of somebody glowing green over her.

So the clone had probably looked at that, decided its job here was basically finished, and gone off to make itself useful somewhere else.

Still, why the hell had he left Konan here alone with her?

What if somebody came through that door? What if another Kiri squad happened to sweep this street? Shinji clicked his tongue.

He stood and looked toward his friend. “Minato, mind staying here with them for a bit?”

Minato glanced away from the window. “I’m guessing you’re going after Kushina?”

Shinji nodded. "Yeah. I'm not really comfortable leaving the old perv alone with her."

Minato raised an eyebrow.

Shinji shrugged. "He doesn't exactly inspire confidence."

Minato clearly didn't agree with his statement, but he just smiled. "Be careful."

"Always am."

Shinji held out a fist. Minato bumped it with his own.

Then Shinji turned to Konan. She looked up at him with bright, expectant eyes, apparently waiting for her fist bump. Big mistake.

He grabbed both her cheeks.

"Uwaaah."

Her eyes widened as he started squishing them back and forth.

"Sensei, what are you—stop that!"

"Just a little longer."

"Sensei."

"Almost..."

Her cheeks were ridiculously soft.

Seriously, where had this been all day? Shinji could practically feel his mental energy refilling. After getting stabbed, chased by nine tails, fighting a Kage, and dealing with every other piece of nonsense Uzushio had thrown at him, this was elixir.

"...Done."

He let go.

She immediately rubbed both cheeks and glared at him.

Shinji took a deep breath. "Yep. Fully recharged. I feel human again."

He headed for the door. "Alright, I'm leaving you guys here. Don't open the door for strangers, don't answer the phone, and behave yourselves while I’m gone, okay?"

Phone? They blinked at him, both looking equally confused.

Shinji paused with one hand on the door. "Oh, right. Minato."

Minato looked over. "Yes?"

"You want to use the toilet sword?"

"The what?"

Shinji pointed vaguely toward the sword he'd taken from the dead Swordsman.

Minato's face flattened. "I'm good. You can use it."

"I'm storing it for now, not using it, ok?" Shinji scratched his cheek. "What about a greatsword? I've got two. One really likes chakra. The other one's just... a greatsword, I guess."

"I've never used a greatsword in my life, so I don't think I should start now."

Shinji shrugged. "Suit yourself."

He was halfway through the doorway when Konan spoke again.

"Oh, right, Sensei."

He paused at the door.

"What now?"

"About ten minutes ago, I sensed a lot of shinobi passing nearby. Thirty-seven, I think."

His hand stopped on the handle. "Thirty-seven?"

She nodded. "I don't know which village they belong to. I just thought you should know."

He frowned. Thirty-seven was a lot of shinobi. Uzushio or Kiri? If they'd passed this close without going after Konan, then hopefully they were Uzushio. If they weren't, then the invasion was entering its next phase. Kiri was moving in bigger groups now, and Shinji doubted thirty-seven would be the largest one he saw today.

"Thanks for the heads-up." He looked back at her. "If you sense another big group coming anywhere near this house, don't wait around to find out who they are. By the time you know for sure, it might already be too late. Grab Mrs. Uzumaki and get out."

She nodded.

"And assume they might have a sensor too. Kiri's putting way too much effort into hunting down Uzumaki, so I'd rather not gamble on them somehow missing her."

"Don't worry, Sensei. I got it." she glanced toward Minato. "I'll protect this friend of yours too."

Shinji slowly turned toward Minato.

Then grinned.

"Minato. She thinks you're a weakling who needs protecting."

Minato just smiled. "Who's to say? Helping each other out isn't a bad thing."

"..."

The older Minato got, the harder it was becoming to get a rise out of him. A few years ago Shinji could've poked him twice and gotten some reaction. Now the guy just smiled and answered like somebody's responsible older brother.

"By the way, don't get cocky. Weak-looking or not, this guy's stronger than you. I doubt you could beat him."

Her head snapped toward him. "No way."

Minato's smile became a little awkward.

Shinji raised an eyebrow. "No way?"

"Anyone following Sensei's orders can't be stronger than me."

“…”

What kind of logic is that? She looked perfectly serious too.

He shook his head and pulled the door open. "I'm leaving."

The door clicked shut behind him.

Shinji's smile disappeared.

He checked the city with his senses and quickly found the thirty-seven Konan had mentioned. And they weren't alone. Farther out, hundreds more chakra signatures were pouring in from the east, with more still coming. Maybe more than a thousand.

The little bit of calm Konan had managed to beat into him with those stupidly soft cheeks was already slipping away.

For a second, he considered taking them with him. Leaving Konan and Mrs. Uzumaki here while Kiri flooded the city made his stomach twist, but dragging an unconscious woman through a war zone wasn't exactly safe either. Sending them out of town sounded better until he remembered there were probably Kiri squads circling the outskirts too.

Shinji clicked his tongue. There wasn't a good choice.

In the end, leaving them here was still the least terrible option. Konan could sense anyone approaching and move Mrs. Uzumaki if she had to, and they would still be close enough for Shinji to rush back the second something went wrong. Once he found Kushina and Jiraiya, they could all get off the island together.

Kushina, wait for me.