Teizawa lowered his head and looked at Hinata's face, softened by the moonlight.
Her cheeks were flushed. He could not tell whether it was from waiting or from shyness.
Her long lashes trembled faintly, like butterfly wings.
Her pink lips were slightly parted.
As if she were waiting for something.
A strange, indescribable stirring rose in his chest.
It was not desire.
It was something deeper than desire. Something softer.
"Hinata..."
His hand slid from her waist to her back, stroking her gently.
"Mm?"
She lifted her head, her mind wandering into thoughts that made her even more embarrassed.
"Let's do something interesting."
Hinata's face turned even redder.
Of course she knew what "something interesting" meant.
She lowered her head, not daring to look at him, her voice as faint as a mosquito's buzz.
"Okay..."
Teizawa bent down and lifted her into his arms.
Hinata wrapped her arms around his neck and buried her face against his chest.
She did not dare look toward Karin and Amaru.
She was afraid they might suddenly wake up and see.
Her whole body curled in on itself.
Teizawa carried her into the room next door.
It had originally been a study.
He had placed a small bed in the corner, and when work left him too tired, he would occasionally rest there.
He set Hinata down on the bed.
She curled up, her fingers clutching the bedding tightly.
Like a prisoner awaiting judgment.
Nervous, yet expectant.
Teizawa did not rush.
He lay down beside her and pulled her into his arms.
"Don't be nervous."
"I... I'm not nervous..."
Hinata's voice was dry, as if it had sand caught in it.
Her body was like a bow drawn to its limit, every inch pulled taut.
Teizawa smiled and gently stroked her back.
"Relax."
Hinata took a deep breath and slowly let it out.
Again and again.
At last, her body slowly eased.
Like a crumpled sheet of paper unfurling in warm water.
Teizawa lowered his head and held her close.
She closed her eyes, her lashes trembling fiercely.
He was very gentle.
Very light.
Very soft.
Like a spring breeze brushing across the surface of a lake.
Outside the window, the moon quietly hid itself behind the clouds.
Hinata's hands loosened from the bedsheet.
Slowly, they climbed onto his shoulders.
Her body trembled faintly, but not from fear.
It was an indescribable fluttering in her heart.
She did not know when she had started liking him.
Perhaps it was that night, when she had looked at the bright streetlights across the road.
Perhaps it had been even earlier, from the very first time she saw him.
All she knew was that she did not want to leave him.
She wanted to stay with him, always.
The moon quietly showed its face from behind the clouds again.
Its light slipped through the gap in the curtains and fell over the two of them.
Some time later, Teizawa held Hinata as she slept deeply in his arms.
He pressed a kiss to her forehead.
She curled against him like a quiet kitten, a faint smile hanging at the corner of her mouth.
No one knew what pleasant dream she was having.
...
Over the next few days, Teizawa began secretly assembling a strike force.
He had never been the type to sit around and wait for death.
Now that he had captured so many White Zetsu, there was no way Obito, with that vindictive personality of his, would simply swallow the insult.
The current silence was nothing more than the calm before the storm.
For all Teizawa knew, Obito was already hiding in some dark corner, scheming up another underhanded move.
Obito was one thing.
What worried Teizawa even more was Nagato.
With that man's arrogance, there was no reason he would simply watch Teizawa kill members of the Akatsuki and even abduct Deidara and Sasori.
Those two were pillars of the Akatsuki.
Losing even one would hurt.
Teizawa had taken both in one sweep.
Nagato had not acted yet, but that did not mean he did not want to.
After thinking it over, Teizawa felt there was a good chance the other side would choose Suna as its target.
After all, Suna was the closest village to Amegakure.
It had also just gone through the turmoil of its Kazekage being abducted, meaning it was at its weakest.
When you wanted to squeeze fruit, you picked the softest one first.
If it were Teizawa, he would make the same choice.
But the battlefield absolutely could not be Suna.
If that lunatic Nagato came to Suna like he had in the original story and unleashed an Almighty Push, wouldn't the whole place be blown apart?
Teizawa did not want the territory he had worked so hard to build reduced to rubble.
So if war could not be avoided...
Then he would place the battlefield right on the enemy's doorstep.
Teizawa decided to strike first.
His target was Amegakure.
Of course, he was not going to charge in alone.
That was suicide, not warfare.
He had to drag Konoha, Iwagakure, Kumogakure, and Kirigakure into this with him.
This deal would not be a loss.
Some would provide manpower. Some would provide force. Some would provide funding.
Everyone would get what they needed.
All he had to do was move his mouth.
And write a few letters.
So Teizawa began writing to the leaders of the other villages.
He considered the wording for a long time.
The bait had to be big enough that they could not ignore it.
The temptation had to be strong enough that they could not refuse.
He did not mention the Akatsuki or Kirigakure's internal affairs.
He only stated three things.
First, Hanzō of the Salamander had been assassinated long ago. The current Amegakure was now controlled by a mysterious man who called himself "God," and this man possessed the legendary Rinnegan.
The word "Rinnegan" alone was enough to make any village unable to sit still.
Those were the eyes of the Sage of Six Paths.
The symbol of the shinobi world's founding ancestor.
Whether they believed it or not, they would have to send someone to confirm it.
Second, this person intended to reach for the Tailed Beasts and was secretly plotting to start a war.
This was not empty alarmism.
The Four-Tails had recently gone missing, and it still had not been found.
That fact was like a nail driven straight into the paper.
Iwagakure and Kumogakure were already at each other's throats over the Tailed Beasts.
When the Kage of those two villages saw that sentence, their expressions would certainly turn ugly.
They could ignore who ruled Amegakure.
But they could not ignore the whereabouts of the Tailed Beasts.
So Iwagakure and Kumogakure would definitely come.
Third, Amegakure's geographical position.
It was wedged directly between the Land of Fire, the Land of Wind, and the Land of Earth. It was a strategic chokepoint among strategic chokepoints.
Whoever controlled Amegakure could affect all three great nations at once.
Teizawa could already imagine the responses from the three great nations.
Konoha had always placed great importance on border intelligence.
Once they saw the news that Hanzō was dead, Konoha would not be able to sit still.
Three letters.
Three reasons.
Enough to pull three villages to the same negotiating table.
As for Kirigakure...
Teizawa hesitated for a moment.
In the end, he decided to write a perfunctory letter as well.
The wording was polite, but the content was hollow. The attitude was ambiguous, but he held no expectations.
Kirigakure was far overseas.
It had never cared much about matters on the mainland.
On top of that, Mei was a sharp woman.
She was not someone who could be lured into action with just a few letters.
Whether she came or not was up to her.
In any case, Teizawa did not expect to gather all five Kage for a summit.
Teizawa handed the four letters to the ANBU and had them delivered separately.
He remained in Suna.
On one hand, he trained Sasori and Deidara.
On the other, he waited for replies from the great nations.
The night wind in Suna was dry and biting.
It swept yellow sand across the window lattice, making a low, mournful sound.
Like some ancient warning.
He stood by the window.
Looking at the dark horizon in the distance, he understood clearly...
The moment those letters were sent out, the war had already begun.
(End of Chapter)
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