That night in the lobby of Sunagakure guesthouse, a full-scale martial arts showdown was about to erupt.
"Shen Uchiha, you despicable sneak! You actually dared to ambush me, your honorable senior Nawaki!"
"You've lost it, haven't you? My punch didn't even have any real force!"
"Then why did you kick me in the face afterward?"
"How was I supposed to know that little brown spot was you?"
Nawaki stared at Shen, who had his head tilted back almost touching the ceiling, practically bursting with rage.
Kazushi had just come back from dinner with the Third Kazekage. As soon as he walked through the door, he overheard this conversation.
He figured his youngest son must've been up to no good again, so he casually asked with an indifferent expression, "You rascal, what kind of mess have you gotten yourself into now?"
But Shen put on an innocent expression, completely unfazed. "Dad! How was your meal with the Kazekage? I heard those things pack a real punch when it comes to boosting your strength, if you know what I mean."
"Phew!"
Meide, who had just taken a sip of water behind Kazushi, immediately spit it out upon hearing this slightly suggestive remark.
"Brat, what do you know about such things at your age?"
"Old man, our Team One eats them all the time."
"What? You eat them daily?"
"That's right. See how special our treatment is."
Kazushi was practically green with envy.
He couldn't for the life of him understand why these "manly delicacies" were available to his brat son on a daily basis.
In an instant, Kazushi shot Shen a suspicious look — how could anyone eat that much and not get caught?
Sensing his father's gaze, Shen immediately responded with a reassuring glance.
As an extra measure, he gave himself a pat down there, signaling all the good stuff was still intact.
Long suspecting something fishy, Kazushi now wore an expression that said "I knew it."
Didn't he know what kind of troublemaker his son was by now? There was no way the kid would willingly consume such bizarre things unless someone was supplying them.
Now believing he'd found his source of supplements for the year, Kazushi gave an eerie smile.
Shen, meanwhile, turned his head away, making it clear his old man couldn't just mooch off him — these were hard-earned treasures after all. Extra payment would be required, otherwise it would be better to just walk away empty-handed.
How could Kazushi tolerate such greedy behavior?
"You little brat, you want to raise prices?"
Saying this, he lightly slapped toward his son.
"Bang!"
Shen, who had been watching his father's hand movements carefully, naturally dodged the strike with agility.
"Why are you hitting me, old man?"
"Hmph!"
Kazushi thought about the rival waiting behind and silently added this incident to his mental ledger.
To put it plainly, he wanted to monopolize these good things for himself.
Watching this strange interaction between father and son, Nawaki felt just like Gerissen had moments ago — completely bewildered.
Meide seemed to catch on and bluntly asked, "Hey Shen, you hiding something good on us?"
"Uncle Meide, don't say it like that — I really do have..."
Kazushi quickly covered his mischievous son's mouth and changed the subject. "You old relic, don't listen to him ramble. What good stuff could a little kid possibly have?"
"Old man, mmmph mmph hmmph!"
Shen struggled desperately until he saw his old man secretly wiggle two fingers in front of him, then he stopped acting up.
Meide also started feeling confused.
He always felt this dramatic father-and-son duo were in cahoots playing tricks on him. "No matter what you say, old geezer, I won't believe you!"
"Don't believe me then! What can you do about it?" Kazushi, who had successfully negotiated, now showed a fearless attitude.
"Old fart... you're ruthless!" Meide was frustrated but helpless against the other party.
Now comfortably smug, Kazushi found great satisfaction in seeing his long-time rival so infuriated - "Hahaha today really is a good day! I'm gonna go wash up and get some sleep now, hahaha!"
Nawaki, having become an ignored bystander, refused to let the offender escape accountability: "Come on, Uncle, what about what Uchiha Shen did?"
Kazushi walked away without even turning back: "If you don't like it, either come to the Uchiha territory for a proper showdown, or take it up with my brat here. Why should adults interfere with kids' matters?"
"???'
Nawaki's attempt to tattle had completely failed, and he hadn't expected this outcome at all.
At this moment, he finally understood why he had hated Shen so much.
Deciding that all members of the Uchiha Clan must be just as annoying, he abandoned his original plan: "Then how about you? What do you have to say?"
"Pfft-haha!" Shen burst into laughter when he saw the giant shoe print stamped across the other guy's face.
Finding this person ridiculous enough to be comedic relief, he started rambling nonsense: "What do you want me to say? I was simply giving you a lesson - remember there's no trust between enemies. And I haven't even dealt with your false rumors about me having diarrhea yet!"
He managed to spin a simple prank into some deep-life advice and somehow still made it sound like the whole thing was your fault for spreading those nasty rumors about my toilet habits.
"What reputation could you possibly have?"
"Then consider us even now - after all, I didn't lose anything."
Seeing how stubborn Shen was being, Nawaki felt increasingly frustrated deep down, lacking any effective countermeasures against this person.
Feeling totally wronged, he could only sputter out: "Just you wait!"
After making his empty threat, he hurriedly retreated to his room looking thoroughly defeated.
It seemed like he might even cry into his pillow?
Shen watched Nayou run back to her room behaving exactly like one of those over-the-top Mary Sues.
He suspected that this goofy character trait had probably been warped by some mysterious power.
"Shen, I'm going to rest in my room now." Naya, who had been using her Byakugan for surveillance all along, was feeling somewhat tired.
She said hi to Shen, who was still stuck in full self-doubt mode, before returning to her room alone.
"Hmm? Snake Uncle (Orochimaru) has disappeared too? Sure enough, people of the snake sign always move silently."
Shen's multitasking brain couldn't detect Orochimaru's departure, which proved even more how "sneaky" the other party was.
(Orochimaru: Young man, aren't you using the wrong word?)
(The original Orochimaru: You have great taste indeed. Want to take a trip with Uncle?)
In the Land of Lightning, located far from Sunagakure Village,
Within Kumogakure Village,
A cloaked figure, fully shrouded in black, was engaged in a secret conversation with The Third Raikage.
"The plan is as described above. Does Lord Raikage have any interest in joining us?"
"Are you people not afraid of retaliation from Konoha? Even though the current Hokage is a pacifist, he won't just stand by if something happens to the Uzumaki clan."
"Lord Raikage, please rest assured. Our plan only involves abduction rather than wiping out an entire village. We believe they absolutely won't detect anything like this."
"Fine. Kumogakure will join this plan!"
"In that case, I'll take my leave first, Lord Raikage. There are many other Hidden Villages I must contact."
After the cloaked ninja departed, The Third Raikage gazed out the window, already scheming behind the plan: "Abduction? Since when has Kumogakure ever engaged in such underhanded dealings? If the Uzumaki clan really possesses the power to suppress tailed beasts, then it would be better for them all to disappear completely!"
"This would also work perfectly to frame Amegakure Village for the crime. With these two countries so close together, wouldn't they inevitably end up at war?" The Third Raikage decided to publicly back the plan while quietly plotting his own agenda.
He wore a satisfied smirk at the plan's design: "Konoha has reigned supreme for over twenty years. Using this opportunity to weaken them is a very worthwhile deal indeed. As for the Land of Rain, a puny country without even a tailed beast should just grovel before their so-called demigod!"
Meanwhile, the ninja in black racing toward the Land of Water would have little idea that the scheme he started would be betrayed — not just by this one ally,
but by multiple allies who had promised cooperation.
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