Chapter 20: The Heist Route Plan (Part 3)
That night, 10:00 PM.
The Third Hokage had clocked out for the day, but his bodyguards were still hard at work.
Just a reminder: the ANBU operatives guarding the Hokage's office rotate in 12-hour shifts, meaning they're always alert and full of energy while on duty.
Lupin and Kaito Kid—wait, no—Kushina and Hagoromo walked openly into the Hokage's office building, one after the other.
They strode in like they owned the place. With their swagger, no one in their right mind would guess they were about to commit a grand theft. Tonight, the Hokage's building would host a heist worthy of legend.
Kushina led the way. After all, the main key to this building was her face.
Hagoromo followed close behind. He couldn't afford to be just a bystander tonight.
As they walked, Kushina muttered under her breath, low enough that only Hagoromo could hear:
"Plan-T, Operation Start."
Hagoromo blinked. Since when did stealing something require a codename? And why Plan-T? Not Plan-A or Plan-B? It made them sound like they had a whole alphabet of plans lined up.
"Plan-T, Operation Start. Agent Hagoromo, do you copy?" she repeated.
He got the hint—ignoring her wasn't an option.
"Hagoromo, loud and clear."
Come on, could she be a bit more serious? This was literally a felony.
To his surprise, Kushina snapped into character. "Proceed with caution. This is not a drill. I repeat, this is not a drill!"
"Understood!" he gritted through his teeth.
Lady, wrong genre.
Keeping up the charade, the two of them made it up to the third floor without a single person stopping them—exactly as Hagoromo had predicted.
Through his sensory abilities, Hagoromo could detect quite a few ANBU scattered throughout the building. Of course, there were more than Kushina had mentioned earlier. But while the number was higher, most of the additional presence was made up of regular administrative staff, who posed no threat in terms of combat.
Yes, Hagoromo could sense chakra. While he wasn't anywhere near Karin Uzumaki's level—who basically had a built-in radar—he could still function as a sensory-type ninja when needed. As for how it worked… well, that intel was classified for now.
They soon arrived outside the Hokage's office.
Now, this didn't mean breaking into the Hokage's office was easy—far from it. Kushina could do it because she was Kushina. If this were an enemy shinobi from another village, they wouldn't even get past the building's entrance barrier before being captured. That's also why there was no concern of imposters faking her identity.
Kushina glanced briefly at Hagoromo, then—without hesitation—pushed open the door to the Hokage's office.
It was important to keep things normal. Normally, if Kushina wanted to enter this room, she wouldn't even knock. Not kicking the door down was already her being polite.
Anyone who entered this space would instantly fall under the surveillance of the four ANBU within. Which is why Kushina needed to appear completely natural. If even one of them got suspicious and raised an alert, taking them down quietly would be nearly impossible.
ANBU weren't rookies. Their job often involved assassination, espionage, and sabotage. These squad-leader-level shinobi had nerves of steel. Think adult Kakashi—while not every ANBU was that strong, most weren't far off.
Kakashi in a 1v1 would almost always win against an average squad leader.
In a 1v2, he'd probably be overwhelmed.
In a 1v3? He'd be toast in minutes.
So Kushina and Hagoromo never intended to fight these guys head-on.
Thankfully, Kushina wasn't just a powerful ninjutsu user—her sealing arts were even deadlier. And perfect for surprise attacks.
Since the Third Hokage was absent, one of the ANBU appeared as soon as the two entered.
"Kushina-sama, what brings you here? If you're looking for the Hokage, he's already gone for the night."
"So it's your team on duty tonight, Reiho," Kushina said casually, all while glancing subtly around the room.
Her sensory field picked up the exact positions of the other three ANBU hiding in the room.
"If it's urgent—"
Before he could finish the sentence, Kushina struck.
She was wearing a loose-sleeved coat that concealed her hands, and while she was chatting with him, she had already been weaving hand seals.
Sealing Technique: Adamantine Chains.
Four silver chains of chakra burst from her back, streaking through the air like arrows and striking the hidden ANBU dead-on.
All four were instantly bound up like dumplings before they even knew what hit them.
Confused as to why Kushina was attacking them, their instincts kicked in: resist—and fast.
But the Adamantine Chains were powerful enough to suppress even a tailed beast. Normal shinobi had little chance of breaking free.
The chains wrapped tightly around their throats, cutting off both breath and voice.
That's when Hagoromo made his move. He dashed forward, appearing behind each restrained ANBU, and delivered swift, brutal karate chops that knocked them out cold.
Kushina released the seal. Her eyes scanned the room—and there it was. The Scroll of Seals.
It wasn't exactly hard to spot, given its ridiculous size and presence.
"Hagoromo, over here." Kushina waved him over and reached out to grab the scroll.
But right as her hand touched it, she paused. She turned to look at Hagoromo with a serious face.
"Hagoromo, I just thought of something... We walked in here so openly and left such obvious traces. Isn't it basically guaranteed that the Hokage will know it was us? How exactly are we planning to explain this?"
Ah, yes. A very good—and very real—question.
Except maybe, just maybe, it would've been better to ask before you stole the thing?
Too late now.
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