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  ????

  "This is a headache."

  Shin massaged his temples. He had been looking forward to Kushina's visit, but Tsunade and Mikoto had rui.

  ---

  Outside his room, Tsunade, Kushina, and Mikoto gred daggers at one another.

  "Hmph, I'm going to sleep."

  Kushina snapped, casting an annoyed gre at Tsunade and Mikoto before stomping off.

  "You'd better be grateful we're letting you go without punishment,"

  Tsunade gred at Kushina, theuro her own room. Mikoto did the same.

  Although Tsunade had just arrived, she had a room. Shin had built plenty of rooms with Wood Release.

  ---

  Early the m, Shin was the first up as usual. He spent a while w on his taijutsu in the courtyard.

  Taijutsu training was something that had to be kept sharp—once you scked off, ye dulled quickly.

  Kushina and the others soon woke up. After breakfast, they left the Land of Whirlpools. They were going shopping, as they had agreed yesterday.

  While in a border town, they overheard a piece of startling news:

  [Konoha had a new A-rank missing-nin.]

  Shin wouldn't usually bother with gossip about missing-nin—unless it was something big, like S-rank. But the identity of this missing-nin was a surprise.

  "...."

  "There must be a mistake. Nawaki couldn't have bee a missing-nin." Tsunade frowned.

  "I know you don't want to believe it, but it's probably true," Shin said.

  Tsunade looked at Shin. "Shin, do you know something more about this?"

  "I don't. But Nawaki must be a missing-nin now. Otherwise, the news wouldn't have spread this far."

  They were currently at the border of the Land of Fire, far from Konoha.

  News of a missing-nin wouldn't usually reach this remote area unless it was an S-rank missing-nin. And Nawaki was the grandson of the Shodaime Hokage. The news of his defe would cause a greater otion than that of an ordinary S-rank missing-nin.

  "If Nawaki really did defect, it must be reted to Hiruzen and Danzō," Kushina said.

  "I agree," Mikoto said.

  "To be ho, I'm shocked that Nawaki would bee a missing-nin," Shin said.

  The ces of Nawaki being a missing-nin were as low as the ces of Naruto being one. Shin couldn't believe it when he heard the news.

  "Let's find Nawaki first."

  Shin decided to find Nawaki and see what was going on. Tsunade nodded. She was also worried.

  "The Shinobi world is vast. How are we going to find him?" Mikoto asked.

  "Leave that to me. I pced a marker on Nawaki. It's easy to find him."

  "Let's go."

  Shin opened a Yomotsu Hirasaka portal asunade, Kushina, Mikoto, and Konan through it.

  ---

  They arrived in a dark cave.

  The location wasn't important. What was important was that Nawaki was here.

  "Who's there?"

  Nawaki's voice came from the darkness. He was holding a Kunai, his expression wary. He rexed when he saw Shin.

  "Oh, it's you guys. You scared me."

  He leaned against the cave wall, his clothes torn and his body bearing several wounds.

  "You look terrible."

  Shin walked over and used the Mystical Palm Jutsu to heal his injuries. Shin's mediinjutsu was eveer than Tsunade's now.

  Nawaki's wounds quickly healed. He also had the Sage Body, which had streive abilities.

  "Nawaki, why did you defect from Konoha?" Tsunade asked.

  Nawaki scratched his head. "It's a long story."

  "Then make it short. Remember when we were in the Academy? Your dream was to bee Hokage. What happened?"

  Kushina couldn't help but tease.

  His dream was to bee Hokage, and now he was a missing-nin?

  "I didn't want to bee a missing-nin! I was on a mission when my teammate attacked me. I fought bad killed him, and now I'm accused of killing a rade!"

  Nawaki said, frustrated.

  Tsunade was furious. She wao return to Konoha and front Danzō.

  She suspected Danzō was involved. After all, he had tried to kill her before.

  Nawaki reted events iail, his voice bitter and crestfallen.

  He never inteo betray the vilge—he just ended up as a scapegoat. Now, beled a missing-nin, squads of Konoha shinobi were actively hunting him.

  "So what are you going to do now?" Shin asked.

  Nawaki looked at him bnkly. He didn't know what to do.

  "I told you to leave Konoha. Now look what happened," Shin said with a chuckle.

  "I'm a missing-nin now, and yhing?" Nawaki gred at him.

  "Don't look at me like that. It's creepy. You should be gd you're still alive. Being a missing-nin isn't the end of the world."

  Suddenly, Shin's gaze soward the cave entrance.

  "Looks like the Konoha Shinobi who are chasing you are here." Shin gnced outside the cave.

  "What?!"

  Nawaki jumped up, his Kunai gripped tightly.

  "Leave this to me," Shin said calmly.

  "Hey, Shin, don't kill them! They're just following orders."

  Nawaki said quickly. Even though he was a missing-nin, he didn't want to hurt or kill Konoha Shinobi.

  "You became a missing-nin because you killed a Konoha Shinobi, and you still care about them?" Shin looked at him in surprise.

  "That's different! He attacked me first!"

  "What's the difference? Aren't these Shinobi trying to kill you too?"

  Nawaki eechless. Shin was right, but he still felt it was different.

  ????

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