The Zetsu surfaced from the wall like a pale growth pushing through bark. Its voice was low, filtered through the half-formed face that turned toward Akane.
"The Wind Daimyo received a report. He had summoned Akemi to a private room."
Akane did not look up from the letter he was writing. "What did they say?"
"The woman told him she completed the task. He told her to wait one hour, then make a public scene. Demand to see Himari. When she is denied entry, he will arrive personally to investigate."
Akane's brush stopped moving.
"And then?"
"He will discover the body. He will accuse the Fire Daimyo of failing to protect his daughter. The narrative will be set before anyone can question it."
Akane set the brush down. Something was wrong.
Tsunade had been treating Himari. She had been monitoring the mansion's security. She knew about the poison, and the fact that they would do something. She would not have left Himari unguarded.
Unless she had planned for this.
He stood and reached for his cloak. "Where is Tsunade now?"
"Meeting with the Fire Daimyo. She has been in the audience chamber for the past thirty minutes."
That explained why he could not reach her. He had felt the pulse of her chakra when the meeting started, distant and occupied. He had not thought much of it at the time.
He should have.
"I need to check on Himari."
He was out the door before the Zetsu finished sinking back into the wall.
The mansion was quieter than it should have been.
Akane entered through a service entrance he had noted during his earlier reconnaissance. The corridors were empty, the guards positioned at their usual posts without urgency. There was no sign of heightened alert and no indication that anything had happened.
He reached the medical wing without incident.
The door to Himari's room was closed. He pressed his palm against it, extended his senses, and found a single presence inside. Her chakra signature was weak but steady. She was alive, and he didn't find any issues there.
He opened the door.
Himari lay in the bed exactly where he had left her. Her breathing was even, her colour better than it had been the previous day, meaning the poison was clearing.
She was fine.
Akane stood in the doorway and stared at her for a long moment. The Zetsu's report replayed in his mind. Akemi had claimed to complete the task. The Wind Daimyo believed his daughter was dead.
But she was alive.
Which meant Tsunade had done something he did not know about.
He looked around for something present now but wasn't before. A few moments later, he found a vial containing a liquid. Looking at the vial, he understood this was the poison Akemi was talking about, and it seemed Tsunade had done something.
"Did she use Genjutsu on her?"
Akane murmured with a thoughtful face, and the situation became clear to him. He understood that Tsunade saw Akemi trying to do something, and she used Genjutsu to know everything.
'But why isn't she here then? What kind of big discussion is happening in the room?'
He thought of calling her with Zetsu, but he decided against it. Orochimaru was there, and even if the chance of him noticing Zetsu was zero, he couldn't take a risk.
He closed the door and leaned against the wall beside it. He tried to reach Tsunade through their emergency signal, a small chakra pulse that she would feel even in a meeting, but there was no response.
She was still in the audience chamber. He could wait, or he could act.
He decided to wait and see how the situation went.
Twenty minutes passed.
Akane remained in the corridor outside Himari's room, his senses extended to cover the approaches. He heard the patrols make their rounds. He heard the distant clatter of the kitchen staff preparing the evening meal. He heard the normal rhythms of a mansion that did not know it was about to become a stage.
Then he heard footsteps.
They were deliberate and measured, one at a time. A lone person walking toward the medical wing with the confidence of someone who belonged there.
Akane recognised the gait before he saw the face.
It was Akemi.
She rounded the corner and stopped when she saw him. Her expression flickered, first surprise, then calculation, then a mask of neutral professionalism.
"I was not aware anyone was with the patient," she said.
"She is resting."
"I need to check her vitals. Lady Tsunade's instructions."
Akane did not move. "Lady Tsunade is in a meeting with the Fire Daimyo. She left no instructions with me."
Akemi's jaw tightened at the words, but she kept calm. She took a step forward. "I am her medical aide. I do not need permission to perform my duties."
"You may not need permission, but you will not enter this room."
Akane spoke, his words calm and final. He understood what she planned to do, but he was more curious about what else she had in her bag.
At the unknown guard's words, Akemi's hand moved toward her sleeve. She wondered where he got the audacity to speak to her, but when she thought of this as Tsunade's orders, she let go of those thoughts.
Before she could complete the motion, a voice called from the far end of the corridor.
"Lady Akemi! The Wind Daimyo's representative is asking for you."
Akemi turned. A servant stood at the intersection, his expression apologetic. Two men in the grey livery of the Wind Daimyo's household stood behind him.
Akemi's mask slipped back into place. "I will be there shortly."
"The representative insists it is urgent."
She hesitated. Her gaze flickered to Akane, then to the door behind him. She was weighing something.
Akane watched her, reading her posture the way he read a battlefield. She was not here to check vitals.
'She was here to confirm something.'
The success of the poison, the presence of a body, and she had been intercepted at exactly the wrong moment.
He did not believe in coincidences.
Akemi turned and walked toward the servant. As she reached the intersection, one of the grey-clad men stepped forward.
"I am afraid I must insist," he said, his voice carrying a thread of steel beneath the courtesy. "The Wind Daimyo requires a full accounting of the princess's condition. He has sent us to collect a report directly from her attending physician."
The servant's expression shifted. "The attending physician is currently unavailable."
"Then we will wait for her."
"You cannot wait in the medical wing. It is restricted."
"By whose authority?"
"The Fire Daimyo's."
The grey-clad man's eyes narrowed. "The Wind Daimyo's daughter is in this building. We have every right to ensure her safety."
'Her safety?' Akane almost smiled at the phrase.
"You have the right to request an audience through proper diplomatic channels," the servant replied, his voice hardening. "You do not have the right to enter restricted areas unescorted."
The grey-clad man took a step forward.
The servant did not step back.
And in that moment, Akane understood.
This was not a real confrontation. It was a performance. The servant had been instructed to block entry. The grey-clad men had been instructed to push. Both sides knew their roles and what had to be done.
He looked past them, down the corridor, and saw the pieces falling into place.
Two more grey-clad men appeared at the far end of the hall. On the opposite side, three of the Fire Daimyo's guards rounded the corner, hands resting on their weapons.
The corridor was filling.
And Himari was alone in the room behind him.
One of the grey-clad men shoved the servant. The servant stumbled back, his hand going to his belt.
A blade flashed.
It was not a lethal strike. A shallow cut across the servant's forearm, meant to draw blood, not to kill. But the effect was immediate. The Fire Daimyo's guards surged forward. The grey-clad men met them. Steel clashed against steel in the narrow corridor, and the farce became a brawl.
Akane watched for three seconds.
Three seconds was enough.
He turned, opened the door to Himari's room, and crossed to the bed in four steps.
Himari's eyes opened as he touched her shoulder. She was groggy, disoriented, but she didn't recognise him.
"Stay quiet," he said. "We are leaving."
He helped her stand. She was weak, but she could walk. He guided her to the window, checked the courtyard below, and found it empty. The guards had all been drawn to the commotion in the corridor.
The brawl had been planned to create exactly this opening.
Which meant someone else had planned it.
He did not have time to figure out who.
He lifted Himari onto his back, secured her with a length of cloth, and stepped onto the windowsill.
"Hold tight."
He jumped.
The wind rushed past them as he angled his descent, landing silently in the courtyard. He did not stop moving. He crossed the yard in a low crouch, slipped through a gap in the wall he had noted the previous day, and emerged into the empty street beyond.
Himari's breath was ragged against his neck. He could feel her heart pounding.
"You are safe," he said. "But we are not stopping yet."
He moved into the shadows of the Capital, the sounds of the brawl fading behind him.
A Zetsu surfaced from the ground ahead of him.
"Notify her when she is alone," Akane said. "Tell her the extraction happened early and I have the target."
The Zetsu nodded and sank back into the earth.
Akane adjusted his grip on Himari and decided to continue the run. The plan had not gone the way anyone expected. But the result was the same.
Himari was out.
---
Sorry Guys:
-> Had a mandatory college Hackathon to attend
-> Capitalism won, and I lost 🥀🥀
-> Yeah, and that's it.
-> Also maybe, need a referral for a CS internship
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Till Chapter 90 on ptreon.