While Yakushi Nonō was preparing dinner, Kaorui had gone into the kitchen to help.
As they chatted, she learned that Kushina spent much of her day training, while Nonō usually looked after little Naruto in the meantime.
Now that Nonō had mentioned she had other matters to attend to that evening, Kaorui immediately volunteered.
“Please leave Naruto-kun to me. Yakushi Nonō-san, go take care of your own work. I won’t disturb Lady Kushina’s rest.”
Kushina nodded in agreement.
She wanted to care for Naruto herself, but she knew how terrible her sleeping habits were.
She worried that she might accidentally kick him off the bed during the night.
Besides, she had other things to do before going to sleep and after waking up, making it inconvenient to keep Naruto beside her.
“Then I’ll leave Naruto in your care, Kaorui.”
“I’ll help you out in a few days.”
Having looked after Naruto for several days already, Nonō knew exactly how exhausting the task was.
She had to wake up repeatedly throughout the night to prepare milk and feed him, leaving her with almost no uninterrupted sleep.
After Nonō departed, Kaorui carried both babies—who had just finished eating and were full of energy—back to their room.
As she gently laid Naruto on the bed, her eyes fell upon the sealing formula imprinted on his tiny stomach.
Curiosity got the better of her.
What exactly had been sealed inside such a small child?
Almost instinctively, she activated Kagura Shingan.
In an instant…
An immense and sinister chakra flooded her senses.
It felt almost identical to the chakra within Kushina…
Yet subtly different.
Before she could fully process her shock, another scene suddenly entered her perception.
Through her sensory ability, she saw Kushina standing in the bathroom with both hands resting against the mirror.
Behind her, Sima Ming’s spiritual presence manipulated a towel, gently wiping her back.
“Ming-kun…”
“Lord Ming-kun…”
“Could such an approachable deity really exist?”
Kaorui was deeply astonished.
Gradually, however…
The atmosphere became rather strange.
One of Kushina’s hands left the mirror and reached behind her.
Although Kagura Shingan only allowed her to perceive the movement of chakra rather than detailed images, it was enough for her to realize what was happening.
Her face instantly turned bright red.
She hurriedly deactivated her sensory ability.
Her heart pounded violently against her chest as her breathing became uneven.
“Lady Kushina is actually…”
Her thoughts immediately drifted to the photograph hanging on the wall during dinner.
Kushina had clearly introduced the man beside her in that picture as her late husband…
The Fourth Hokage…
Minato Namikaze.
There wasn’t a single character meaning “Ming” in his name.
Which meant…
The deity she had sensed wasn’t Minato’s spirit at all.
The image of the gentle, benevolent god she had imagined instantly became far more complicated.
Quickly patting her cheeks, Kaorui forced herself to focus on the two sleeping children instead.
Still…
The harder she tried not to think about it…
The more impossible it became to push those thoughts from her mind.
Meanwhile, on the front lines…
Several masked figures silently slipped past Konoha’s patrols and infiltrated the area surrounding Kumogakure’s encampment.
After confirming no one else was nearby, they removed their masks and changed into Hidden Cloud uniforms and forehead protectors.
They then split up, each secretly delivering an intelligence scroll to different patrol squads.
When they finally regrouped at their designated meeting place…
They found that the companion responsible for sensory reconnaissance had already become a corpse.
At that very moment…
Several pairs of crimson Sharingan emerged from the surrounding darkness.
“Capture them alive!”
The youthful voice had barely finished speaking when the infiltrators simultaneously bit down on the poison capsules hidden inside their mouths.
“Damn it!”
“They prepared countermeasures against genjutsu!”
“Shisui, what should we do now?”
Shisui remained calm.
“Bring the bodies back.”
“Lord Shikaku can decide what to do next.”
Back inside Konoha’s command headquarters…
Nara Shikaku quietly listened to Shisui’s report.
Earlier that evening, while practicing the Body Flicker Technique, Shisui had noticed someone behaving suspiciously.
Suspecting the person to be a Kumogakure spy, he had attempted to capture them.
Instead…
The spy immediately committed suicide by taking poison.
Realizing there might be more infiltrators nearby, Shisui secretly summoned an Uchiha squad to lie in wait.
Sure enough…
Several more arrived.
Unfortunately…
Every single one took poison before they could be captured alive.
Shikaku briefly examined one of the corpses before speaking.
“A blood-activated poison.”
“It kills the instant it enters the bloodstream.”
“Combined with their anti-genjutsu preparations…”
“It’s no wonder even Shisui couldn’t stop them.”
He dismissed the Uchiha.
“You’ve done well.”
“Go get some rest.”
“We’ll let the Intelligence Division examine the bodies.”
Once everyone had left…
Shikaku’s expression darkened.
He had seen this poison before.
Opening one of the corpses’ mouths, he immediately noticed the familiar marks beneath the tongue.
That was enough.
He already knew exactly who these people were.
Rather than calling the Intelligence Division…
He quietly sealed every corpse inside a storage scroll.
Then he personally wrote an urgent report and dispatched it to the Hokage.
Afterward, he summoned every division commander and immediately altered the entire defensive deployment.
Although none of the commanders understood why the battle lines were suddenly being rearranged…
They obeyed without question.
The Uchiha, however, quickly guessed that the decision was connected to the mysterious corpses they had recovered earlier.
Even so…
Since Shikaku hadn’t made any official announcement, they kept silent and instructed every clan member involved not to spread rumors.
Early the next morning…
Advisors Homura Mitokado and Koharu Utatane arrived at the Hokage’s office.
“Hiruzen.”
“We heard Kakashi brought back a woman from the Uzumaki Clan.”
“Since the war on the front lines has reached a stalemate, perhaps we should let—”
“Enough!”
Hiruzen slammed his hand onto the desk.
“I’ve already made myself perfectly clear to Danzo.”
“If he wants that woman…”
“He can ask Kushina himself.”
His outburst stunned both advisors.
Seeing how furious he was, neither dared continue pressing the issue.
Instead, they quickly changed the subject.
“What about the Fire Daimyō?”
“Should we send Danzo to negotiate again?”
This wasn’t the first time the Fire Daimyō had considered reducing Konoha’s military funding.
Strangely enough…
Whenever Danzo personally handled the negotiations, the full budget was always approved.
Hearing the suggestion, Hiruzen rubbed his aching temples.
After a long silence…
He reluctantly nodded.
Back at Kushina’s home…
Kaorui stared blankly as Kushina fastened well over a hundred pounds of training weights across her body.
She couldn’t understand it.
Since when had the Uzumaki Clan’s training involved this much taijutsu?
Shouldn’t they be focusing on sealing techniques?
Or perhaps practicing ninjutsu?
Ordinary ninja strengthened their bodies to increase their physical stamina and expand their chakra reserves.
But the Uzumaki Clan already possessed chakra reserves that most shinobi could never hope to match.
Why push the body so hard?
Kushina smiled.
“It’s not about increasing my chakra.”
“It’s about fully awakening my body’s potential.”
She repeated the explanation Sima Ming had given her.
“I see…”
“So physical training can actually stimulate the Uzumaki constitution?”
Kaorui found it difficult to believe.
The Uzumaki Clan’s history stretched back far longer than Konoha’s.
Yet nowhere in the clan’s teachings had anyone ever claimed that physical exercise directly enhanced their bloodline abilities.
Techniques like Kagura Shingan and the Adamantine Sealing Chains normally awakened naturally once a person reached the proper age.
If someone failed to awaken those abilities…
It usually meant they lacked the necessary talent.
Hard work alone wasn’t supposed to change that.
Kushina slowly shook her head.
“In reality…”
“Our clan has barely scratched the surface of what our bodies are capable of.”
These past several days had proven it beyond doubt.
Each time she pushed herself to her absolute physical limit…
Then recovered…
Her constitution became noticeably stronger.
The nearly thirty-percent increase in her chakra reserves was, surprisingly…
The least remarkable improvement she had experienced.