Muchitsujo Chapter 4 Preview

Discord watched with growing disinterest as the Head Kumo ninja refused to talk. The would-be kidnapper was bound and restrained in an interrogation room behind a one-way window while he watched along with Minato, Kushina, the leader of the anbu, Inoichi Yamanaka, and one new arrival.

"I was half-expecting the hawk to arrive instead of the monkey, Hiruzen-kun," Discord greeted idly, drawing the everyone's attention to the retired hokage.

"Sandiame-sama!" the all greeted, almost on instinct.

"Everyone, Muchitsujo-sama," Hiruzen greeted with a brief smile before looking to Minato grimly. "I take it things aren't going well, Yondiame-sama?" he guessed.

"I wouldn't say horribly yet, but yes," Minato answered calmly while glancing back in the room as three anbu, two being genjutsu specialists and one a medic, worked over the foriegn ninja. "The Raikage made sure he had a seal that would reder him essentially brain dead if someone like Inoichi tried to probe his mind."

Inoichi nodded as the fourth motioned for him to speak. "Judging by the workings of the seal, Sandiame-sama, it could be worse than that; there's a chance that any mindwalker caught in his mind when the seal is trigger would be trapped in the now-empty mind with no way to escape. I wouldn't be much different than being stuck in a coma."

"Making any gambles to one-sided in odds," Hiruzen acknowledged with a hum, looking to Minato with a raised eyebrow in silent inquiry.

"It'll take time even for me to undo it safely without help, but Jiraiya-sensai won't be back anytime soon and Kushina..." Minato trailed off to glance to said red head.

The wife of the fourth fumed silently, glaring death at their captive as her hair billowed in a manner similar to a certain multi-tailed vulpine. "I see your point," Hiruzen acknoweldged with a sweetdrop. "And Kumo wouldn't have sent someone with a will that was easily broken for a risky operation such as this."

"Yes, he's holding rather well up against those illusions: chakra-bugs laying eggs in his stomache, a pack of rats eating at his limbs? Crude, but normally effective," Discord complimented idly.

Inoichi blinked as he caught the implication. "You can see their genjutsu?" he asked in surprise, stiffening as Discord gave him a blank look. "R-right, of course you can, Muchitsujo-sama!"

"Kami-sama, please do not turn the illusions real," Minato requested in a expecting monotone.

Discord rolled his eyes as he summoned a green smoothy with a bendy straw that was somehow in the shape of a kunai. "That'd hardly be all I'd do, but I get your desire, Mina-kun. Still, how important is this confession to the village in the grand scheme of things?" he inquired as he sipped his drink.

Years had built up tolerances to the god's casual behavior for most in the room, as Hiruzen taking a deep drag of his pipe. "Without the confession, Kumo will simply state this one was acting on his own and demand his return. Not doing so would sparkle an international incident, but doing so would make us look weak."

"Weak to whom? Kiri is still tearing itself apart, Suna is the weakest and your ally, Iwa has failed to defeat you in literally every war, and Kumo keeps trying to steal your bloodlines like they're some rare collector's item," Discord pointed out with a raised eyebrow.

Minato sighed as he pondered a way to get this across tothe god. "We're the strongest village, but that is a very tentative and precarious position. And the other major villages are not our only concerns. If enough of our enemies feel emboldened enough to strike us together-"

"A feeding frenzy," Discord summarized with a hum, blowing into his straw to turn the drink into a bubble. "Mina-kun, I believe I made it clear I'm not got to solve all of your problems for you?"

"Nor do we expect you too, Muchitsujo-sama," Minato assured quickly before turning curious, ignoring Inoichi stepping away from the green bubble. "But are you volunteering?"

Discord crossed his arms as he floated there in idle contemplation. "Honestly, I'm doing this for my own interest. I have some questions for this electric punk myself," he answered, glancing to Kushina, still glaring through the glass. "You can have my sloppy seconds, Tomato-chan."

Kushina chose not to acknowledge him, even as he pass by her.