A branch of wood sprouted from Shigeo's fingertip. He withdrew the Mokuton (Wood Release), then looked up toward the cell entrance as a guard walked in.
"Hyūga Shigeo, your sister has come to take you home. Let's go."
As he spoke, the man unlocked the cell door. Shigeo frowned and asked:
"Even someone who isn't a real sister can take a prisoner away?"
At this late hour, it couldn't possibly be Uzuki Yugao. Something was wrong here.
At those words, the Uchiha Clan guards instantly grew wary. At the same time, flames erupted in the rear courtyard, and someone shouted loudly:
"Fire! Put out the fire!"
The guards of the Keibitai (Police Force) were stunned, not knowing what to do. There were three men on duty; two of them rushed toward the back courtyard to deal with the fire.
The remaining one was just about to lock the door when he was stabbed straight through the chest, collapsing to the ground.
A young girl appeared before Shigeo's cell. She had long blue hair, around thirteen or fourteen years old, and a charming smile curled at her lips.
"Little brother, it's time to go home."
With that, she reached out, unlocked the cell, and stepped in to grab Shigeo.
He had never seen this woman before. Twisting away from her talon-like grasp, Shigeo slipped out of the cell. Outside, flames lit up the night sky, and most of the guards were too distracted with the fire to notice what was happening here.
"Come here, little brother!" the girl laughed, reaching for him again. At the same time, several Shōton (Crystal Release) spires shot up from the ground, nearly trapping Shigeo inside a crystalline prison.
Seeing this, Shigeo immediately realized who she was—Guren, wielder of the Shōton kekkei genkai, and one of Orochimaru's former vessel candidates. How could she appear in Konohagakure?
At this time, the people of Konoha still didn't know that the missing children were taken by Orochimaru. Since Shigeo had killed him just two nights ago and there had been no sign of him since, it seemed likely he had been seriously injured. Otherwise, why would he send Guren to do the job?
"Well, well, you actually dodged my Shōton: Kesshō Gokakuro (Crystal Pentagonal Prison). Not bad at all. No wonder Lord Orochimaru wants you so badly," the girl sneered. This time she rushed at him, unleashing multiple Shōton attacks from every direction.
To be fair, Guren's abilities now, while formidable as a kekkei genkai, were still weaker than what she would achieve years later.
Shigeo kept his eyes on Guren. The mirror replication had already succeeded—her ninjutsu training methods and basic data now appeared in his system list.
Dodging nimbly, he burst into the courtyard. Originally, he had thought to counter her with Mokuton, but then noticed several jōnin and ANBU had already appeared nearby. If he revealed himself, their attention would turn to him immediately.
So he concealed his powers, slipping left and right until he suddenly spotted someone. Dashing over, he flung himself into her arms:
"Sis, help me…!"
The woman he clung to was none other than Shizune, disciple of Tsunade.
She caught Shigeo and instantly leapt aside to avoid Guren's attack as the ANBU and other shinobi arrived.
Realizing the situation was bad, Guren retracted her Shōton constructs. With a turn, she fled. The others gave chase, but strangely, she seemed to vanish into thin air. Even after scouring the entire area around Konohagakure, they couldn't find her.
Looking up at Shizune and the shinobi around him, Shigeo spoke:
"That woman was the one stealing the children. She said Orochimaru wanted them. Could it be that Orochimaru is the kidnapper? By the way… who is Orochimaru?"
Since Orochimaru didn't want him to live peacefully, then Shigeo had no intention of letting him live peacefully in Konoha either!
(End of Chapter)
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