Naruto: Saving the Uchiha

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After Mabui left and Izumi returned to the private room, the look she directed at Kazuki was rather peculiar. "What? Don’t tell me you thought I was serious?" Kazuki asked.

"No," Izumi quickly shook her head in denial. "The Advisor would certainly never joke about something like this. However, I do think the Cloud Village might take it seriously."

Trading a Raikage’s secretary for immensely valuable classified intelligence wasn’t something the Cloud Village would necessarily oppose. Even if the Raikage valued Mabui highly, he would still seriously consider such an exchange under the circumstances, because some intelligence was simply worth more than a person. If the Cloud Village truly needed this information, forget just one Mabui – throwing in a Samui as well wouldn’t be out of the question.

"Perhaps," Kazuki replied with a chuckle, not pursuing the topic further. He picked up his chopsticks and began grilling the meat. Since Mabui wasn’t going to eat, Kazuki and Izumi would just have to reluctantly help themselves to a bit more. Before starting, Kazuki lightly tapped his bowl twice with his chopsticks.

Concealed in the shadows, Itachi said to Kisame, "Let’s go."

"???" Weren’t we supposed to be on guard duty? The person we’re protecting is eating – where are we going?

Itachi stated flatly, "Would you prefer grilled meat, or something else?" In truth, he wanted some dango – it was a sweet treat he was particularly fond of. But Itachi was considerate enough to ask Kisame’s opinion first. Having only recently become a bodyguard, Kisame hadn’t yet figured out many of Kazuki’s habits.

"Grilled meat, then," Kisame said. Though he didn’t quite understand, if Itachi was suggesting it, it meant they could relax for a bit and grab something to eat. Since they were eating anyway, why wander around? They could just settle things right here at the barbecue restaurant.

"Very well," Itachi replied, a hint of regret in his tone. Kisame blinked. Did that mean he didn’t much care for grilled meat? Before Kisame could even ask, Itachi proactively explained, "I wanted to buy some dango. It’s more convenient."

"..." You could have just said you like sweets! All this about ’buying dango being more convenient.’

"I’ll handle the grilling. You go buy your dango," Kisame said. Since Itachi wanted sweets, Kisame was happy to go along with his wish. But grilled meat was still essential. A bodyguard’s salary wasn’t low; why be so stingy? Besides, meals during work hours were reimbursable.

"Alright," Itachi agreed without any pretense, decisively leaving to buy his dango. Kisame was left to communicate with the barbecue restaurant staff, requesting a smaller private room and placing the order.

Having enjoyed a satisfying meal, Kazuki gathered his purchases and headed home to rest. Meanwhile, Mabui was completely numb with shock. She had never dreamed that Kazuki would have his sights set on her! She quickly transcribed the day’s conversation with Kazuki onto a scroll and sent it back to the village via ninja hawk. In the scroll, Mabui still included Kazuki’s rather unique requirement.

These were matters for the Raikage to contemplate. As the Raikage’s secretary, she had absolutely no decision-making authority. The Cloud Village was desperately trying to extract intelligence from Kazuki, while on the other front, the initial contact between the Mist Village and the Sand Village was progressing relatively smoothly.

Neither the Mizukage, Mei Terumi, nor the Kazekage, Rasa, had any desire to prolong the war. To demonstrate her own and her village’s sincerity, Mei Terumi had already ordered the gradual withdrawal of the ninja forces still stationed within the Land of Wind’s borders. Peace talks were for everyone’s benefit. The Mist Village was willing to negotiate peace also to salvage the village’s severely damaged reputation.

However, if the Sand Village made exorbitant demands, the Mist Village might just wash its hands of the whole affair and walk away. If negotiations fell through, it would simply mean no deal. After all, the Sand Village was too black-hearted, and they lacked the capability to invade the Land of Water anyway. Even without negotiations, the Mist Village’s only loss would be to its reputation. The Mist Village was in a difficult position, but the Sand Village was facing an equally dire situation. Mei Terumi had precisely calculated this point and was willing to engage in peace talks with the Sand Village, even taking the initiative to withdraw her village’s ninja. If this were the Stone Village and the Cloud Village, withdrawing troops?

Impossible! That could only happen after peace talks concluded. Both sides would fear a sudden sneak attack. But the Mist Village had no fear of the Sand Village seizing the opportunity to stir up trouble, because the Sand Village simply lacked the capacity. The Sand Village didn’t even have enough funds for normal village development, let alone to develop naval power and launch an overseas assault on the Mist Village. They had the desire but utterly lacked the means.

"Lord Raikage, an urgent scroll from Lady Mabui, sent from the Leaf Village." Late at night, A, having finished a long day’s work, was just preparing to retire for the evening. Before he could even step out of the Raikage’s office, personnel from the Intelligence Division burst in, handing him a scroll.

"It seems Mabui’s thinking was correct. Some intelligence doesn’t require covert espionage. If you ask openly, the other party may choose to share it." The prerequisite, of course, was paying a certain price. Muttering to himself, A sat back down in his chair and unfurled the scroll. His fierce, tiger-like eyes scanned the scroll, which was filled with a considerable amount of content.

"How is this POSSIBLE!!!" A’s reaction was explosive, because the scroll’s contents had genuinely frightened him. Mabui had used a very stern tone to warn him: there was a very high probability that a Leaf Village spy existed among the Cloud Village’s upper echelons. The spy even knew with absolute clarity that the Eight-Tails Jinchuriki, Killer Bee, had become a perfect Jinchuriki.

HOW THE HELL?! He had sent someone to the Leaf Village to obtain intelligence! Instead, before he could get anything, the Leaf Village had dropped a bombshell right on his head! A’s dark-complexioned face began to flush crimson. He was dangerously close to coughing up a mouthful of blood. A matter like this would make anyone’s heart pound with terror, and the Raikage was no exception.

A spy existing among the village’s upper echelons – was this something to joke about?! If there was no Leaf spy among the village’s high command, then how on earth did the Leaf Village know that Killer Bee was a perfect Jinchuriki?! Barely a handful of people knew that information!

"DAMN IT! WHO IS IT?!" A roared in fury. As for the final, joking condition Kazuki had mentioned, A didn’t take it to heart at all. He knew his secretary was exceptionally capable; it was no surprise that Kazuki had taken an interest. Compared to the leaders of other villages, Kazuki was relatively high-profile, at least in matters concerning women. The intelligence files every village kept on Kazuki all contained one recorded tidbit: Kazuki liked beautiful women.

"GUARDS! Immediately assemble the Anbu!!" They had to act instantly. Absolutely no word of this could be allowed to leak. At this moment, every single person A looked at seemed like a potential Leaf spy. After mentally filtering through everyone privy to the information, A made a decisive command. Since everyone looks like a spy, then round them ALL up! Detain them all first, then interrogate them slowly. He trusted the higher-ups would understand his painful dilemma. After all, the risk was simply too great. If there was a Leaf spy even among the upper echelons, then wasn’t the Cloud Village’s intelligence network riddled with more holes than a sieve? It might very well have become a fishing net – dense and completely full of holes.

With a single order from the Raikage, every Anbu squad still present in the Cloud Village was summoned, assembling at the Raikage’s building.

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