"Why do I get the feeling there’s some hidden story between me and Uncle Suzaku?" Nara Kazuki wasn’t stupid. He had clearly noticed the complex look in Suzaku’s eyes. If he didn’t already know for certain that he wasn’t Suzaku’s biological son, he might’ve started to wonder.
But Suzaku had already left, and Kazuki couldn’t exactly chase after him for answers. So he closed the door, still full of unspoken questions, and picked up the scroll he’d been given.
Actually, Suzaku had given him more than just that—some money, a few ninja tools, and even a sleek, high-quality set of shinobi gear. But what intrigued Kazuki most right now was the Wind Breath Perception Technique. He wanted to see how it compared to the design he’d just been theorizing.
"Wind Release, huh? That part’s the same. Makes sense, it’s all about air... but this part here..." Kazuki began forming hand seals to test the technique. His seal work went smoothly, but as he tried molding the chakra, something went wrong. When he released it, the result was a slicing gust—more like a Wind Blade than a sensory wave. Definitely not what the jutsu was supposed to do.
Kazuki scratched his head.
Sensory jutsu and fūinjutsu—both were common categories in the shinobi world, but neither was easy to master.
If using elemental jutsu was like doing grade-school math, then learning sensory or sealing techniques was like tackling advanced calculus. You either got it or you didn’t.
Fortunately, Kazuki had time.
The next day, while on patrol, Kazuki perched on his usual tree branch, practicing the Wind Breath Perception Technique again. He kept failing, but bit by bit he noticed patterns—he was starting to understand how the jutsu functioned, and even saw ways it might be improved.
"Hm?" Kazuki paused. He spotted a familiar couple. This time, they’d brought a little girl with them—cute, with features resembling the woman. Looked like a typical family of three.
"Back for another round of wild mushroom hunting, huh..." Kazuki silently observed from above.
The family laughed and chatted as they searched, spreading out across the area. Kazuki said nothing. After all, that was how mushroom foraging worked—covering more ground individually increased your chances. Of course, that also required real knowledge. If not... you could end up flat on a slab.
He kept a cautious eye on them. So far, nothing unusual—they picked and discarded mushrooms like anyone who knew what they were doing. Kazuki glided silently through the treetops, maintaining visual contact, but the three of them were starting to drift further apart. His eyes narrowed.
"Xiao Ye! Why are you running so far off?" The mother’s stern voice snapped the little girl back to attention just before she wandered into the deeper woods. She stuck out her tongue, then quickly ran back. Everything seemed normal again.
Kazuki watched where the girl had been last. Quietly, he drew a kunai and hurled it. It pinned a small white snake to the earth.
Kazuki descended, lifted a mushroom the girl had tossed aside. His fingers brushed over it. There—strange bumps along the cap.
He looked up again, watching the child as she hopped away, rejoining her parents. Laughter echoed through the woods. The perfect picture of familial warmth.
Kazuki raised a hand and gave a silent signal.
Minutes later, rustling in the forest signaled the arrival of ANBU. A masked operative landed beside him.
"Wood Dummy," the agent greeted, confirming their code.
Kazuki handed him the mushroom. "Just tossed. White snake nearby, too. I don’t know what these bumps mean, but they’re not natural."
The ANBU agent took it, felt the surface, and nodded slowly.
That was all Kazuki needed to hear. That family was headed straight to the T&I Department.
It wasn’t Kazuki’s concern anymore. He’d done his job—spotted a spy in the middle of transmitting a message. The only strange part was who they were trying to send it to...
Kazuki glanced at the dead white snake. Orochimaru? No... didn’t feel right. Orochimaru wouldn’t use such crude methods. As far as Kazuki remembered, the man still had a shady understanding with Shimura Danzō, a backchannel through Root.
If it was Orochimaru, he’d just pull intel directly from that source.
But knowing Orochimaru’s paranoid nature, maybe this was just a backup line. Still—not Kazuki’s problem. Interrogation would squeeze the truth out. And Kazuki? He’d be racking up contribution points.
"How’d you even notice something was off?" the ANBU operative asked. It wasn’t written, after all. The message had been encoded through subtle ridges in the mushroom—nothing most people would catch.
"I’d seen this species before," Kazuki said, scratching his head. "It’s called Amanita. Highly toxic. I remembered it didn’t have bumps ."
"Smart. Alright, you’re dismissed. We’ll take over from here," the operative said, clearly impressed.
Kazuki blinked. That was it? He was off duty after three hours? Ridiculously lucky.
No—European lucky. Wait, no... even Europeans would’ve worked longer than that. This was capitalist boss mode hours.
On the way back to the village, Kazuki caught sight of that same family again, now in custody and looking miserable. The little girl stared straight at him, eyes burning with pure venom, as if she wanted to rip a chunk out of him with her teeth.
Kazuki licked his lips, smiled lazily.
Shame they weren’t in hostile territory. Otherwise, he’d have loved to run a little hell-tier test and see if she had backup hiding nearby.
But it was just a thought. Kazuki, after all, was a staunch anti-pedo, and a real one at that.
"Captain, heard you nabbed a spy?" Shisui asked, curious. Itachi stood nearby, quiet as ever, but clearly listening.
"Yeah. Otherwise we’d still be out there waiting for the next shift." Kazuki nodded. He hadn’t expected to catch a spy today. Total fluke. The guy just happened to toss a mushroom he recognized. Pure luck.
If he hadn’t known what that mushroom was, he might never have realized anything was off.