"Your Kazekage isn't coming for you," the black cat mocked, with a hint of false pity in his voice. "It looks like he's given up on you, meow."
He sounded genuinely sorry for them, which was the very definition of a cat weeping for a mouse. The sentiment wasn't just lost on their two captives, Chiyo and Ebizo, even allies like Minato and Kakashi felt the taunt was a bit much.
There was no need to keep twisting the knife. What if he actually managed to enrage the two Suna elders to death? Suna would surely fight them to the bitter end then.
'He was a true villain,' they thought. And yet... he had a point.
There was no real friendship between Konoha and Suna. For all the Chunin Exams they had co-hosted, the exams themselves were just another form of war, and any so-called alliance was more fragile than glass. Suna had ambushed Konoha plenty of times before.
"They're probably trying to decide whether to surrender or keep fighting," Kakashi added, picking up the Takeshi's point. "Honestly, I don't see what there is to hesitate about."
It was then that Chiyo's gaze fell upon the silver-haired young man standing behind her. At first, there was no recognition, but after a moment, her eyes went bloodshot. A low growl rumbled in her throat as her face twisted with a sudden, violent hatred, as though she wanted to tear him apart.
Kakashi met her stare without a visible change in expression, his mask hiding whatever thoughts lay beneath.
"You're White Fang's son!" she spat, the words laced with venom.
His silver hair, those eyes, they were almost identical. The sight awakened an instinct in her so powerful it was all she could do not to lunge forward and tear that face apart. In all of the Sunagakure, no one hated the White Fang more than she did.
She strained against her bonds for a few seconds before going still. Guy relaxed his grip slightly, thinking she had given up. But in the next instant, Chiyo threw her entire weight into one final, desperate struggle and broke free.
Ebizo's eyes widened. 'She's free? But she can't possibly land a blow...'
He had seen Takeshi and Minato move. Trying to get to Kakashi past shinobi with that kind of speed was a fool's errand. His judgment was sound, but he had underestimated the wrong person. He expected Takeshi or Minato to intervene, but it was Guy, the one he had paid the least attention to, who reacted.
The moment Chiyo broke loose, Guy spun into a flawless Leaf Hurricane.
*CRACK!*
A single kick sent her flying into a distant tree. With no chakra to soften the blow, she could only take the impact with her body. She tried to push herself up, struggled for a moment, and then collapsed, motionless.
Rin hurried over to her side, only letting out a breath of relief after confirming she was stable. 'She's fine,' Rin thought, 'just unconscious.'
"Meow. Why make things so difficult for yourself?" Takeshi said, turning his gaze pointedly toward Ebizo. He lifted a paw, flexing his claws.
Ebizo immediately took a step back. "I'm your prisoner," he said warily. "I concede. There's no need for that."
"Good," the cat replied, lowering his paw.
"Let's go," Minato sighed, having done nothing to stop his team. "We'll head back to camp."
Ebizo followed without resistance, his eyes scanning the young shinobi. Kakashi and the Uchiha were clearly exceptional, he had noticed them earlier. But the other one, Guy... he looked so unremarkable, yet his taijutsu was stronger than that of most elite chunin.
'I know far too little about Konoha,' he admonished himself. 'Our intelligence has been severely lacking.' Once he returned, if he returned, he would have to push for more infiltration into the Land of Fire.
That was his first thought. His second was that, after being captured, he probably didn't have much of a future to return to.
For a village elder to be taken alive was the ultimate disgrace. Rasa had been consolidating power recently, and this was the perfect excuse. Even if he wanted to stay, Rasa would find a way to push him out. A wave of exhaustion washed over him, and he let the thoughts go. Perhaps he and the Third Hokage could have a long chat about the simple joys of retirement.
Takeshi decided to leave the old man be. A man like Ebizo knew how to control his emotions, so further prodding would be pointless. Besides, he had already earned more than enough points from this encounter.
He glanced at his system panel, and his heart gave a little jump.
'Over fifty thousand points!'
He had never held so many at once. For a moment, he was at a loss for how to spend them. It felt like a lifetime's worth of savings, though a quick look at the shop reminded him how quickly it could all disappear.
His first priority was fuinjutsu. He had hesitated before, but now he didn't need to be picky. He could get whatever was good. The Reaper Death Seal and the Reverse Four Symbols Sealing were out, of course. Both were death traps, and he had no grand ambitions beyond living a long, peaceful life.
Scrolling up from the bottom, he saw several promising options. Three in particular caught his eye: the One-Tail's sealing formula, the Four Symbols Seal, and the Adamantine Sealing Chains. But there was another, one that was almost irresistibly tempting.
Sage Art: Gate of the Great God.
It was a technique mastered by the First Hokage, Hashirama Senju, who had used it to suppress even the Ten-Tails. But... 'This system is a trap,' Takeshi grumbled internally. Hashirama was a monster, not a man. Takeshi had a good amount of sage chakra now, but he was nowhere near the level needed for the Gate of the Great God or the True Several Thousand Hands. A technique that could dominate the world in Hashirama's hands would be far less impressive in his own.
Still, the temptation was strong. It cost forty thousand points, one of the most expensive non-Hokage items available to him. The price was only that low because he had already mastered Sage Mode.
'I'll ask Tsunade if she knows anything when I get back,' he decided, opting to save the points for now. The more he thought about it, the more practical the Gate of the Great God seemed.
He really only had two kinds of enemies: those he could beat and those he couldn't. He didn't need sealing jutsu for the first group, he could just physically restrain them. It was for the tricky, evenly matched opponents that he needed an edge, and in those situations, a technique like the Gate of the Great God would be far more valuable than anything else.
They escorted their prisoners back toward the main camp. Before they even arrived, Hizashi Hyuga was there to meet them.
"Minato, Takeshi... Wait, is that Ebizo?" he asked, surprised. "I thought you were only after Chiyo."
Ebizo lowered his head. 'These Konoha bastards,' he thought bitterly. 'You act like capturing me was an inconvenience.'
He kept his silence, calmly surveying his surroundings. But inwardly, he was stunned. The Hyuga and Uchiha were on patrol together? Weren't they bitter rivals? The more he saw, the more he realized how dangerously out-of-date his information was.
He sighed. It was pointless to dwell on it now. His fate was out of his hands.
"Meow. He decided to chase us, so we decided to catch him," Takeshi said with a casual shrug. "He was just a bonus, really. Chiyo was the main prize. Too many of our shinobi have died from her poisons."
"Let's report to Orochimaru-sama," Minato said, a hint of weariness in his voice. "My team needs to rest."
Hizashi dispatched a few men to help carry Chiyo, and they made their way back into the camp. Once the prisoners were handed over, their mission was officially complete.
But for Konoha and Suna, things were just beginning. The next stage would be a delicate dance of negotiations. If Rasa refused to surrender, another battle was inevitable. And knowing Rasa, Orochimaru was betting on another battle.
===============
Dear Readers and Fans,
For those eager to dive into next chapters earlier before others, I invite you to join us on Patreon. By becoming our Patron, you not only gain access to exclusive advanced chapters but also help us continue this endeavour and expand it further.
https://www.pat reon.com/8Ashes8
(no space)
You can read upto 7 Chapters in advance.