Dim torchlight flickered across the stone walls of the hidden cave deep within the forests of the Fire Country. Around a crude wooden table sat a group of rogue shinobi—hardened mercenaries, missing-nin, and a few loyalists to Doto Kazahana. The mood was tense, and the conversation heated.
"We've searched all over the border," one of the rogue-nin grunted, slamming a fist on the table. "Yukie Fuzikaze just vanished after her last film shoot. One day she's on set in the Fire Country, and the next—gone like a ghost."
Another, wrapped in ragged cloaks and bearing the scar of a past skirmish with Konoha shinobi, scoffed. "She's not ordinary. She's Koyuki Kazahana—the heir of the Kazahana bloodline. It's no surprise she had people protecting her. But disappearing from under our noses? That's not just skill. That's help."
Just then, heavy footsteps echoed down the tunnel leading to the meeting chamber. All heads turned as a figure emerged from the shadows—clad in the unmistakable dark flak vest and masked face of an Iwagakure ANBU. His presence brought immediate silence.
The Iwa ANBU looked around before speaking in a flat, cold voice. "We've received new intelligence."
One of the rogue shinobi narrowed his eyes. "From Iwa?"
"Yes," the ANBU replied. "Our scouts confirmed Yukie's last known public location was a film shoot in the Fire Country. After that, Konoha ANBU were sighted in the area—too many to be a coincidence. Since then, all trails went cold."
"So she's in Konoha?" another rogue spat, brows furrowed in frustration.
The Iwa ANBU gave a slow nod. "Most likely. The disappearance was too clean. No sightings, no leaks. It was a professional extraction. That's not the work of her film crew—that's Konoha's ANBU Division."
The leader of the rogue cell clenched his fists. "That means Konoha is harboring her."
"Yes," the Iwa ANBU confirmed. "But there's no official word from the Hokage's office. Which suggests they're keeping her presence secret."
"Doto-sama won't like this," muttered one of the mercenaries. "He wanted her back quietly."
The Iwa ANBU leaned forward. "Then you should act quickly. If she's in Konoha and Doto waits too long, she'll become something more than a political nuisance. She'll be a symbol. And symbols start rebellions."
"What do you suggest?"
The Iwa ANBU's eyes gleamed behind his mask. "Create pressure. Spread rumors. Incite unrest in the Land of Snow. Force her to reveal herself. If not, we hit Konoha's outer territories—covertly. Draw them out."
The rogue shinobi looked to one another, then nodded grimly.
The hunt for Yukie was no longer a search. It was now a political war in the shadows—and Konoha had just been pulled further into the storm.
Konoha's Hidden Barrier – Failed Infiltration Attempt
Night fell quietly over Konoha, but the shadows were not still.
From the outskirts of the Land of Fire, a small group of seasoned mercenaries approached under the cover of darkness—each one hand-picked by Doto's operatives and trained in infiltration, sabotage, and assassination. Their mission was clear: enter Konoha, find evidence of Yukie's presence, and if possible, extract her—or at the very least, shake the illusion of Konoha's security.
The group stopped just a few hundred meters from the outer walls. The leader, a man with a jagged scar across his eye and the scent of steel on his breath, motioned for silence.
"Stay sharp," he whispered. "This village isn't what it used to be. No flashy entrances. Just in, recon, and out."
They began their approach. One by one, they moved—skilled in earth and wind techniques, using camouflage and cloaking seals to bend the air around them. But none of them knew what awaited them ahead.
Just meters from the boundary, the first mercenary stepped over a root—and vanished.
No sound. No trace. One second he was there, and the next, he was simply… gone.
The leader stopped in his tracks, eyes wide. "What—?"
He turned, raising his hand to signal a retreat, but it was too late.
Within seconds, glowing symbols of an intricate anti-infiltration seal array lit up across the ground. Bursting from the foliage came elite Konoha ANBU, clad in sleek black, masks gleaming under the moonlight. Hidden wires snapped from the trees, kunai flashed in every direction, and the silence was broken by the hum of chakra suppression fields.
A voice echoed above them. "Do you really think you can just walk into my village?"
All eyes turned skyward.
Standing on the branch of a tall tree, backlit by the moon, was Kakashi Hatake, now in full Elite Jounin uniform with the ANBU tattoo barely visible beneath his sleeve. He dropped into view, pulling back his hitai-ate to reveal his Sharingan.
"Konoha doesn't take kindly to uninvited guests," Kakashi said lazily, "especially those sneaking around like rats."
The mercenaries attempted to flee, but the second they moved, barrier tags scattered around the field activated, locking their bodies in stasis. The leader grit his teeth, trying to bite his tongue to use a suicide seal—but a kunai pinned his jaw shut before he could finish the thought.
From the shadows, Ibiki Morino stepped forward, flanked by a squad of specialized T agents. "Alive, every one of them," he growled. "We'll see what they know."
Hokage Tower, Surveillance Room – Moments Later
Inside a dark room beneath the Hokage Tower, ANBU Commander "Dragon" watched through a chakra mirror. Next to him stood Naruto, seated in his Hokage robes, his young face calm but intense.
"None of them made it through," Dragon reported. "The outer seal network functioned exactly as expected. They were intercepted within twenty meters of the first perimeter."
Naruto's eyes didn't leave the mirror. "Good. Bring them to Ibiki. Have him isolate the one in charge first. I want names, contacts, routes, and—most importantly—who sent them."
"They'll break."
Naruto stood slowly. "They always do."
He turned to leave but paused at the door. "Also… update the network. Have Jiraiya upgrade the summoning ward again. If Iwa tries anything more, I want them neutralized before they take their second breath in our territory."
"Yes, Hokage-sama."
Naruto disappeared with a swish of his cloak.
Konoha's defenses weren't just stronger—they were now intelligent, adaptive, and deeply paranoid. And under the rule of a child-genius Hokage who already knew too much of the future, there was no crack left unsealed.
Just three nights after the failed infiltration attempt, Doto's forces sent another wave. This time, they were more careful. A different set of mercenaries—stealth specialists, genjutsu experts, and even a rogue summoner—attempted to pierce Konoha's defenses under the new moon, assuming the village had relaxed after their last defeat.
They were wrong.
Konoha's Forest Outskirts – Midnight
Five mercenaries crept silently through the woods, one of them carrying a unique chakra-suppression scroll, hoping to block sensor-nin detection for a short period. They moved with precision, silent as the wind, avoiding known trap routes and maintaining strict radio silence.
As they neared the barrier, the leader whispered, "Activate scroll—now!"
A subtle pulse of chakra spread out, temporarily dimming the barrier's outer sensors. They began slipping through a narrow path between sealing anchors—previously tested during a recon mission.
But just as the first stepped through, a slash of white-hot lightning split the darkness.
"Raikiri!"
The ground exploded, sending two mercs flying. A single figure stood in their way, lightning dancing along his arm, a familiar slouch in his stance and a single eye gleaming red.
Kakashi Hatake.
"Didn't I already warn your friends?" he asked, voice quiet but lethal.
The mercenaries tried to scatter. One launched a barrage of senbon laced with sleep-inducing poison. Another attempted a powerful genjutsu aimed at slowing Kakashi's reflexes.
He vanished before the senbon reached him.
Shadow clone.
From behind them, Kakashi reappeared, his Sharingan active, moving with surgical precision. He threw a smoke bomb—not to hide, but to isolate. In the chaos, one by one, he took them down.
One merc tried to summon a snake to escape.
Sealing array triggered.
A red barrier lit up around him, and the summoning was blocked entirely—Naruto and Jiraiya's anti-summon seal had worked again.
Another merc dashed into the forest, fleeing wildly.
"Don't bother," Kakashi muttered and flicked a kunai laced with a paralysis seal tag. The runner crumpled mid-leap, twitching but unable to move.
Within ninety seconds, the entire squad was down.
Scene: ANBU Interrogation Post – 10 Minutes Later
Kakashi stood outside the darkened room as Ibiki entered to begin his work. His hands in his pockets, Kakashi looked to the side where a masked ANBU nodded in silent approval.
"Second squad taken out," Kakashi reported via comms. "They're pushing hard to get someone inside."
Naruto's voice came through the line: "Let them keep trying."
Kakashi raised an eyebrow. "You're setting a trap?"
"Not just that," Naruto replied. "Every attempt gives me more data. More justification. Eventually… they'll make the mistake I'm waiting for."
Kakashi smiled behind his mask. "Remind me again—how old are you?"
Naruto's reply crackled through, calm and cold: "Old enough to make traitors bleed."