Kurenai sighed as she hugged Hinata, who was crying silently in her arms.
Her young student had tried to act tough in the last month, but it was obvious how depressed she was inside.
The Jounin looked at her other 2 students, who wisely gave their classmate space to vent.
But although Kurenai was happy that Hinata was freed from the Caged Bird Seal, inside she felt alarmed by the implications.
Although she detested the seal used in the Hyuga clan branch family, the woman could not deny that the Caged Bird Seal was a high-level seal, an extremely strong one that had not been broken for a long time.
From the Age of Warring Clans to the Age of Ninja Villages, many had tried and failed to solve this Seal.
But here they were, with Hinata as a living example in front of them, and Kurenai was scared.
Of course, he was happy for his student. But he feared the reason why her kidnappers had removed the Caged Bird Seal from Hinata's forehead.
The only thing he could think of was that they wanted his student's eyes.
They might even have thoughts about the Hyuga clan's bloodline, which made Kurenai hug her student tighter, fearing the future that awaited him.
As a Kunoichi, Kurenai knew the possible future she would have if she were captured, not to mention Hinata who had a valuable bloodline.
Previously, with the Caged Bird Seal, Hinata did not run the risk of being humiliated in that way.
But now that she no longer had the caged bird seal to protect her, things were different.
Therefore, the idea of killing his student to spare him that horrible suffering and then committing suicide appeared in his mind.
¡Toc! ¡Toc!
Suddenly, the sound of someone knocking on the bedroom door took them by surprise.
Even Kiba and Akamaru were surprised, since their senses usually warn them in advance when someone is about to arrive in the same room as them.
But this time it was different.
His ears didn't pick up any sound until the doorbell rang.
Without saying a word, Team 8 got into combat position.
Even if they couldn't use all their skills, they weren't going to give up so easily.
The door opened and the group saw a young man enter carrying a bag over his shoulder.
Kurenai's eyelids trembled as she watched how easily the door opened, showing that all it took was turning the lock to open it.
The woman scolded herself for assuming the door was closed, but she didn't dwell on it for long as her eyes scanned the young man who had just entered the room.
And she wasn't the only one. Her students also paid attention to the young man.
The young man was handsome and appeared to be the same age as the three Genin from Team 8.
The group was unsure of their kidnappers' intentions and the young man's position within it, so they waited to hear what he had to say.
"I'm sorry"
"There was a misunderstanding"
What they didn't expect was that the young man, who introduced himself as Kozue, would lean slightly towards them and apologize.
Team 8 remained silent.
They found themselves in this situation suddenly and thought they were in mortal danger.
They were even ready to die fighting to their last breath.
But now, were they told that it was all a misunderstanding?
It was reasonable that they believed his words and couldn't find words to respond.
The young man seemed to understand his situation, so he gave more details.
"The store's barriers detected the presence of someone with a cursed seal, so they assumed an attack was imminent and acted immediately to contain the invaders," the young man said.
Kozue saw Team 8 and analyzed their appearances.
This was his second close encounter with the main characters of the series.
First it was team 10 and now it's team 8.
Team 7 didn't count, since they only saw them from afar through their shadow clones.
And just like Team 10 and Team 7, Team 8 was made up of their counterparts aged several years.
Leaving aside the two boys and the dog, Kozue delighted in the beauties of the two women.
Leaving aside Kurenai with her beautiful red eyes and white legs, Hinata had a special beauty with her white eyes and tender face.
Furthermore, her gaze couldn't help but descend, and a word appeared in her thoughts.
'Huge'
While Kozue was examining Team 8, they were also examining him.
Although it seemed like an excuse their captors would give to make them lower their guard, the young man's words in front of them seemed... reasonable.
The mention of the Cursed Seal caused most of Team 8 to involuntarily look at Hinata, who involuntarily shuddered upon hearing the mention of the seal that had marked her forehead for the past month.
"These are their weapons"
"You can count them, they're all there," Kozue said as she walked over to one of the now empty beds and dropped the bag she was carrying over her shoulder.
"Since I didn't want any accidents to happen, we took away their weapons."
"But I hope that after my explanation, you won't use them to cause trouble," Kozue said as she opened the bag and dropped a large number of shuriken and kunai, as well as some explosive tags, onto the bed.
But even so, Team 8 has not let its guard down.
Kozue saw that they didn't believe her so easily, so she could only continue as if the incident was nothing.
"I also have to apologize for removing her colleague's stamp without her permission."
"It was after seeing his eyes that I realized he was someone from the Hyuga clan."
Kozue's words this time impacted Team 8 and they finally showed a reaction.
Although they had seen Hinata's forehead was clean, it was still hard to believe that someone had managed to remove it.
Just like Kurenai, Shino and Kiba knew what that seal meant.
After all, they were heirs to important clans of the Leaf Village and knew the importance of the Caged Bird Seal to the Hyuga clan.
"Did you remove the seal?"
Hinata's soft voice was heard and everyone saw Kozue nod her head.
"Like I said, I'm sorry"
"I thought they were intruders with bad intentions."
"And since I couldn't properly interrogate you with a cursed seal that might kill you if you said something you shouldn't, I removed it before realizing your identity."
"But look on the bright side, now you're free, aren't you?"
Kozue responded to Hinata with a smile, as if what she did was nothing.
Ignoring Hinata's lost gaze, Kozue returned to her place near the door.
"I know this meeting didn't get off to a good start..." Kozue said, crossing her arms over her chest.
"...but it was all a misunderstanding and no harm was done."
"We don't have to be enemies"
"They can leave at any time"
Team 8 looked at each other before they began to show signs of letting their guard down.
They were already at the mercy of the enemy, so there should be little reason for the enemy to put on an act before letting them go free.
"Can we really leave?" Kurenai asked, and Kozue nodded.
.
.
.
Team 8 didn't take long.
Grabbing their weapons, the four shinobi and a dog left the shop under the watchful eye of Kozue, who sighed at yet another difference in the world she knew.
He had told the truth when he said they were captured because one of them had a cursed seal, but he omitted many things.
To begin with, it wasn't a barrier erected for that purpose, but a rule he put in place in all his stores with the help of his Dimensional Store.
Every living being with a cursed seal will be captured.
Although she had been systematically eliminating Root, they could still be alive somewhere, and Kozue dictated this rule to avoid any accidents.
It was his shadow clones present in this store who captured the rest of Team 8 and called him to decide what to do with them.
After taking control of the Ichihara family, Kozue had been on the lookout for any calls in preparation for the blackmailers' meeting.
He didn't know who was targeting him and asked the Ichihara family for money, but he didn't want any accidents before that.
Therefore, he came immediately when he received the alert of an incident at his store in Hiruya City.
What I didn't expect was that the incident would involve other main members of the series, and even less to see the Caged Bird Seal on Hinata Hyuga's forehead.