In the throne room.
Things were calm as Arthur sat in silence. His eyes were closed and he was in deep contemplation.
The events of the past week replayed in his mind like watching a movie.
Not long ago, he had successfully teleported the Sound Five back to Sun Stream Plaza after their unsuccessful confrontation with Jiraiya.
The mission's objectives had been achieved in one sense; they had tested their cloaks effectively, allowing them to approach the legendary Sannin without detection.
Tayuya had expressed her disappointnt to Hoshikaze due to feeling as if she failed. But Arthur knew better than to focus solely on the outcos. To him, their training was a phase, and not every experint yielded its fruit imdiately.
Jiraiya was a force—far too strong for the Sound Five to handle independently. That was considering Kimimaro and Tayuya were the only A-rank ninjas in the group.
The others, while formidable, hadn't trained long enough in the Cayman Jungles to be on their levels. They were at most B and C-ranks with untouched potentials.
Arthur mused on Naruto's latest explosive shadow clone technique. It didn't surprise him; the main character had a way of pulling new tricks from his sleeve. But because of it, now Arthur had to adapt.
He was deep in thought about the next phase of his sches.
The first of his acts involved deploying his clones to drive the wheels of his ambitions while his nation continued its reconstruction. With Naruto back in the Leaf Village, Arthur knew it was ti to escalate to his second act.
A familiar presence approached the throne and drew him from his reverie. Slowly, he opened his eyes to find Rin standing before him—soone he expected.
She bowed before saying, "I'm sorry for disturbing you, my lord... I should be attending to my tasks for today, but—"
"Please, speak freely. What troubles you...?"
Rin did her best to relax her posture as she said, "I've—I've felt ineffective lately, and I feel like I did sothing wrong that might have disappointed you."
"Not at all," Arthur reassured. "But if you feel like you've been insignificant, then how about I send you on an important mission?"
Her eyes widened with intrigue. "Anything, my lord!"
"Then prepare to venture back in the Leaf Village..."
Rin's composure slightly faltered, though she quickly regained it. The last ti she visited there, she engaged in Rock Lee's dojo. She had also t most of the main characters.
"Think you can handle it?" Arthur continued.
"Of course! I'll prepare imdiately."
After a short ti, Rin returned to the throne room, but Arthur was no longer seated. Instead, John Belfort stood waiting.
"Close your eyes so I can give you the details of your mission," he said.
"Okay," she agreed after stepping closer.
John placed a palm on her forehead and activated the Eye Mind Reading technique, filling her with clarity and an unexpected purpose of what she was to do.
After he withdrew his hand, she blinked and fully processed the information she had received.
"I see..." she muttered. "This is..."
Whatever her mission was, she was bent on accomplishing it.
As such, she first perford the Chakra Disguise technique and then the Transformation technique to morph into a wealthy, dignified man. The transformation felt strange but vital for the mission ahead.
It's then that John used the Flying raijin to teleport her. In an instant, she vanished from the throne room and reappeared just outside the Leaf Village borders.
Why she wasn't teleported inside was because John knew how Alice's sensing technique operated. If an unexpected object suddenly teleported in or out of the village, even if it masked its chakra, Alice would know.
But if it was teleported outside the village, where her senses didn't reach, the target was safe.
Rin took a mont to gather herself. She glanced at her palm and couldn't quite register why she had to take on this identity.
"Why did lord Arthur want to change into this man?" she pondered aloud. "And why the ceteries?"
Nevertheless, she clenched her fists and knew that she couldn't fail him.
After a mont of trekking forward, she finally approached the gates. The guards seemingly recognized her appearance and gladly let her through.
'Looks like they've seen this man before,' she thought after passing.
Eyes forward, she kept her expression neutral. Her purpose infiltrated every thought as she maneuvered through the village.
The Leaf was active, and her disguise allowed her to blend in perfectly. However, she couldn't shake the mories of previous engagents she once shared with her friends.
It was odd to walk around the place everyone thought she was still dead at.
Nonetheless, she eventually found herself reaching the central plaza. She avoided eye contact with anyone and was careful to retain her anonymity.
Just as she rounded a corner, however, she was abruptly brought to a halt by a woman's voice.
"You just walked by without saying hi, huh?"
Rin turned around and was internally surprised to find the legendary Sannin, now fifth Hokage, standing before her. And she was giving her a skeptical look.
"I—I'm sorry, Lady Tsunade. I should have been more respectful."
Tsunade narrowed her eyes with mild confusion across her features. "You're sounding awfully formal today. What's with that?"
Rin's mind went crazy as she tried to piece together the situation. She hadn't expected to run into the Hokage, much less engage in a conversation that required her to tread carefully.
"I just thought—" she hesitated, unsure of how to respond without revealing too much.
"You thought what?" Tsunade pressed. "I got that letter from you the other day, so I ca to greet you."
Rin's stomach dropped. What letter could Tsunade possibly be referring to? And why hadn't John relayed this information?
"I didn't an to cause any confusion," she managed to quietly say.
It was an attempt to deflect the topic quickly. But was it going to work?
"Let's talk things over a drink then," Tsunade suggested.
"Oh, um, I can't right now—" Rin started, shaking her head lightly.
Tsunade tilted her head and asked, "What's the reason? If you're uncomfortable being seen with the Hokage, I assure you, we won't be bothered."
In that mont, sothing clicked in Rin's mind. Her transformation wasn't just about disguise; it was about embodying a past that Arthur had with the citizens who recognized him here. And for John, choosing not to ntion things ans that she was free to act accordingly.
"I'm sorry, but today isn't the best day for us to talk," she finally said with a steadier tone.
Now Tsunade was irritated. "I don't like being ssed with, you know."
"I'm not ssing with you!" Rin protested in a higher tone than she wanted. "I respect you, and you're worth every second of my ti. I just have sothing urgent to take care of in the cetery."
The mont those words were heard, Tsunade exploded into anger.
"I knew you cared more about that cetery than ! I should revoke your rights there!"
All the yelling made several onlookers stop in their tracks and look toward the scene.
'What on earth did I just step into?' Rin asked herself in disbelief.
She felt as if she had wandered into a storm uninvited. The way Tsunade was reacting, did it speak of deeper ties? And the implication of caring more for a cetery—was this so type of romance?
Before she could overthink, she instinctively bowed and blurted out, "I'll repay you tenfold for causing so much trouble and breaking your heart!"
Tsunade's head whipped back as her expression shifted from anger to disbelief. The crowd around murmured in excitent.
"You...!" Tsunade began. "You never broke my—what are you talking about? I'm just answering your letter!"
Rin raised her head, t Tsunade's eyes, and noticed a flush creeping into the Hokage's cheeks.
'Is she embarrassed or frustrated? I can't tells!'
When Tsunade finally registered the growing crowd, she stamred in anger and confusion, "Whatever business you've got going on, hurry up and finish it! After that, just leave. I don't want to see your face in the village anymore!"
Rin opened her mouth to apologize and clarify things, but the words wouldn't co out. This caused Tsunade to turn away abruptly and hold her dignity by walking off through the crowd.
No one could tell that she truly wanted to storm off after that embarrassing exchange.
The onlookers, drawn in by the escalating tension, erupted into a chorus of whistles and comnts.
Rin was left standing there; she felt a lot of emotions tangled in her chest.
What had just happened? The discomfiture of being pushed aside by the Hokage was more awkward than she expected, along with the haunting questions about her transformation and its ties to Tsunade.
Even more odd, why was Rin's own heart pounding?
She turned away from the gazes of the villagers as the noise faded into the background.
'I need to focus,' she thought. 'No more distractions!'
As she walked away, heading toward the cetery, that encounter with Tsunade still lingered in her head.
Questions still chased her thoughts—had there truly been sothing deeper between Tsunade and the man she was impersonating? And was her encounter a misstep in Arthur's grand sche?
If it was, soone would have intervened by now. Right?
As Rin approached the cetery, she felt a tight knot in her stomach. It had been so ti since she last visited this place, and while the mories associated with it were bittersweet, they didn't diminish the urgency of her current mission.
However, as she drew closer, she noticed sothing unexpected: guards stationed at the entrance, checking visitors' identification as they passed through the gates.
'I don't rember there ever being guards here before,' she thought.
This was a public area, after all. And there wasn't any security stationed here since her last visit.
The thought of sneaking in crossed her mind, but she dismissed it. She recalled John's instructions: she needed to walk right in.
Straightening her posture, she approached the guards and kept her deanour composed.
"Good afternoon, sir," one of the guards said, eyeing her pleasantly. "What brings you here today?"
"Just paying my respects," Rin answered.
"Co right in then, sir."
Rin blinked as she walked through. That was odd. She thought they were going to check her I.D. If they had asked, she was going to co up with a fabricated story.
Little did she know, the person she was transford as owned this cetery.
Stepping inside, she barely suppressed her surprise. The place had changed considerably since her last visit. There was lush green grass carpeting the ground, and the tombstones were made of a polished material that shone under the sunlight.
mories flashed back; the first ti she had co here, Arthur had been by her side, and she had been choked with grief. She could barely recall any details from that visit.
Even after her second visit, she was too lost in her sorrow to notice any construction or improvents.
As she walked deeper into the cetery, she noticed a new building that hadn't been there before—that was her destination.
Inside, the ambiance felt reverent with a certain solemnity. Among the tombs were all the forr Kage. But these tombs were not her objective.
Performing a hand sign, she created a large genjutsu to encase the area. This would allow her to mask her actions from any potential observers.
She then made her way down the stairs and descended into an underground chamber adorned with more tombs. As she searched the space, she spotted a tomb with a swirling pattern on it. So she approached it and opened the lid.
Inside, she found what appeared to be a woman's remains. Her gaze fell upon the engraved na: "Kushina Uzumaki."
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