"I-I'm not hurt!"
Snapping back, Yuna shouted at Kazuku.
But even she didn't notice her trembling voice.
Before, she'd only faced bandits. When Ashina declared the Uzumaki name, most fled.
The few who fought were instantly crushed by him.
With Ashina, she feared nothing.
But this was different.
Their enemies were trained ninja. When the third charged, Yuna felt an unprecedented emotion.
Fear!
In that moment, she truly thought she'd be taken.
Until Kazuku appeared, punching the enemy away.
Only then did she feel safe again.
But…
She couldn't fathom. Kazuku was her age.
And this was his first mission, right?
Why wasn't he panicked, rushing to protect her?
Most crucially, the guy he floored was an adult!
How was he so strong?
"Good, then." Seeing Yuna's bravado, Kazuku ignored her, heading to the piled bodies.
"Hey!"
Yuna, expecting some comfort after the attack, was stunned to be brushed off. She hurried after him.
As a client, shouldn't he care a bit?
Just "you're not hurt" and done?
How rude!
"Don't we need to interrogate them?" Yuna glanced at the bodies, quickly looking away.
As a young girl, blood scared her.
But to avoid seeming cowardly before Kazuku, she tried to prove her worth.
Classic bravado.
She genuinely wondered.
Shouldn't they extract info, like their goals or who sent them?
"Didn't you notice?" Kazuku glanced back, as if saying, Where are your eyes?
Wasn't the intel they left obvious?
Sarutobi and Ashina, about to discuss the attack, fell silent at Kazuku's remark.
"What?" Yuna blinked, confused.
"Their headbands show they're Kumogakure ninja," Kazuku analyzed.
As a Five Great Village, Cloud had a big role in Naruto.
Kazuku wouldn't mistake their headband.
"They were clearly after you," he said to Yuna.
Against Ashina and Sarutobi, they aimed for vitals, intent on killing.
But with Yuna, they avoided lethal strikes.
This showed they wanted to capture her.
"W-why me?" Yuna asked.
"Your hair."
"Hair?" Yuna froze. What did that have to do with it?
"The Uzumaki's hallmark is their beautiful red hair," Kazuku paused. "If I'm right, Cloud wants to study your clan's secrets."
Like their massive chakra or Adamantine Sealing Chains.
Of course, Kazuku's analysis wasn't just from the fight.
He was a transmigrator!
He knew more than Sarutobi and the others.
Coveting others' assets was Cloud's hobby.
Hyuga's Byakugan, Konoha's Nine-Tails.
They even kidnapped Kushina.
Targeting Yuna wasn't surprising.
Maybe Cloud led the Land of Whirlpools' downfall.
"Great work, Kazuku," Sarutobi praised.
For a first mission, Kazuku shone, handling the fight flawlessly.
And analyzing so much from details.
Though unverified, Sarutobi felt Kazuku was spot-on.
Most crucially, most people couldn't handle seeing bodies first-time.
Yuna, despite her bravado, feared the corpses, avoiding direct looks.
Kazuku's calm stemmed from his past life.
A medical student, specializing in forensics.
Corpses? He'd not only seen them—he'd dissected them.
He'd long puked out any disgust.
Corpses didn't faze him now.
"Also, these were all chunin, showing Cloud took this seriously. Even if we kept them alive, our methods wouldn't get answers," Sarutobi added.
Ninja's first rule: protect intelligence.
Without an interrogation specialist, they'd get nothing.
Taking them to Whirlpool risked betrayal.
Releasing them invited retaliation.
It'd take days to reach Whirlpool.
Killing them was safest.
"But we might face more Cloud ninja," Sarutobi stressed. "Kazuku and Sakumo are genin, first-time on missions. This is too advanced for us."
Abandoning missions labeled you trash in the ninja world, but this exceeded C-rank!
And Kazuku was Hashirama's grandson.
Special cases deserved special treatment.
Hearing the mission might be scrapped, Sakumo looked crestfallen.
His first mission, ending in failure.
"Agreed," Ashina nodded, siding with Sarutobi.
Kazuku and Yuna were high-status. Any mishap…
He couldn't bear the blame.
But…
Kazuku had other ideas.
Though Ashina wasn't in Naruto, his swordsmanship was impressive, holding off two chunin.
His strength was clear.
Sarutobi Hiruzen? A top-tier genius, versatile with five chakra natures.
And Kazuku had Hashirama's chakra and the Eight Gates.
This team could handle A-rank missions.
Most crucially…
He aimed to replace Sarutobi as Third Hokage.
Abandoning his first mission? That'd be a black mark!
"And in this era, abandoning missions invites crushing public backlash."
Kazuku glanced at Sakumo.
"Why're you looking at me like that?" Sakumo asked, baffled.
Ignoring him, Kazuku said, "We accepted this mission, so we should finish it, not quit at the first hurdle. The strong do the impossible."
He took a deep breath, eyes on Yuna. "I'll protect this scaredy-cat. Let's continue."
Yuna froze, drawn to Kazuku, her heart whispering.
"He said… he'll protect me?"
Wait…
Scaredy-cat?!
(End of Chapter)