So while Seijuro was having his moment and maybe planning some truly diabolical plan to get rid of certain people—

Somewhere else, an old man—who was a sore loser and got hard anytime the word "Hokage" was mentioned for him—was fuming.

His greatest excuse being "for the good of the village," and whose greatest contribution to the village would honestly be dying in the future.

He could be seen inside one of his Root bases. Not the main one—that got shut down. This was one of the many side bases he had. Currently, he had like 40-ish Root members still under his belt. The others had their seals removed and had joined the ANBU.

Oh well. They were still only loyal to him, so it was good.

His lone eye twitched as he stared at the reports—each one damning in its own way.

"Because of one brat—one boy—my entire network is under scrutiny..."

His voice echoed in the stone chamber.

FUCK THAT KID.

He remembered the emotionless look on the boy's face as he asked Hiruzen for permission to blow up his fucking base.

That Kurama brat—Seijuro.

A child with a blade and illusions sharper than most ANBU's convictions. Who should've been another pawn, another tool. Yet somehow, Danzo lost. And worse, he lost publicly.

Root could no longer move unchecked. The Hokage's office was watching. The Uchiha Clan had their eyes peeled. Even Homura and Koharu stopped defending him openly.

He gritted his teeth.

He couldn't try again.

No "accidental mission failure." If the boy were to die due to an accident during a mission, all eyes would be on him.

So he couldn't try that shit, especially since the Hyūga were probably aware of that crap—alongside several other major clans in Konoha. Plus, Hiruzen was looking out for the boy.

Fuck.

"...Tch."

From across the dim lab, Orochimaru cackled softly, humming to himself as he rotated a jar of Hashirama cells like a wine connoisseur.

"Oh my, Danzo-sama. Still brooding?"

His golden eyes glittered in the gloom.

"To think a teenager managed to put you on a leash," Orochimaru said, laughing a bit.

"Kukukukuku..."

Danzo didn't respond. His glare did the talking.

"If I didn't need your expertise to make myself an arm made of Hashirama cells, you would have long been dead," Danzo threatened.

"As if you could ever kill me," Orochimaru replied, a dangerous glint in his eyes.

Meanwhile...

Under the dappled sun of the training fields near the Senju Clan compound, Kushina Uzumaki twirled a brush between her fingers.

"Okay, okay, your turn! I made the Four Corner Bind—now you try!"

Seijuro sat cross-legged in front of a clean sealing scroll, brush in hand, lips pursed.

"Four-point kanji array, chakra flow clockwise, bind seal in center..." he murmured.

Kushina leaned in over his shoulder. "Don't overthink it! Sealing's like cooking—know the base, season with chakra!"

He chuckled.

"Since when are you the sealing chef?"

"Since now!" she puffed her cheeks. "Hurry up, Onii-chan, or I'll draw whiskers on your face."

He sighed dramatically. "Fine, fine."

He dragged the brush with a steady hand, letting his chakra guide the ink. The symbols formed—a near perfect replication. His sealing was getting better, at least from Kushina's point of view. In reality, in terms of sealing ability alone, he was very close to Mito level—if not surpassing it—being able to write seals in the air with only chakra alone.

But oh well. It was what it was. There was nothing he could do about it. Not like he would reveal such a big secret to her.

At least not yet.

Kushina clapped at his progress.

"Nice! You're way better than Minato when he started. Don't tell him I said that."

Hm, good to know. So even in this suppressed form, he was better. Oh well, that was good to know.

There was peace in this moment. A softness. No war, no plotting, no illusions or experiments—just an older brother teaching seals to his adopted little sister.

"Ne, Seijuro," Kushina said suddenly, looking up.

"Hm?"

"You'll protect me, right? If things ever go weird?"

He blinked, then smiled gently.

"With my life, little sis."

She grinned and gave him a firm nod, returning to her seal work.

As to when the fuck she became his sister—don't worry about it. It started off light, as in someone was bullying her and, out of nowhere, he kind of said something sister-ish related... and then bam. Now no one wanted to bully her. I mean, who would bully the Genjutsu Devil's sister?

Especially when he was known to use Genjutsu on civilians who attacked her—making them see their worst nightmares or something like that.

Oh well. She was quite chummy, and he decided why not. She fit the sister spot so damn well.

Plus, she was adorable. She seemed proud of herself, and she had some friends in the academy. Well, she had graduated now, but she still had friends.

And she could walk outside the seal area, so it was fine.

"How are your chains holding up?" he said softly.

She created the Adamantine Chains before smiling.

"I'm a lot better with them now! I can summon four of them at the same time...."

Odd, even though she call him brother, her gaze did not say as much, matter of fact she looked at him exactly how Mikoto used to when she was suppressing her feelings.

Heh, he was sure she could suppress it.