It Wasn't a Love Letter, It Was a Statement

What a big catch! After leaving Ota's house, Uchiha Asuka walked along Konoha's streets, gazing at the passersby around him with a thoughtful expression.

He had never expected that female ninja to have such a special identity.

The Nara Clan. Thinking of the information Ota had just told him, Asuka's lips curled upward. In the past, although he had always paid for intelligence, he still had to resort to threats, inducements, and even use the Sharingan from time to time.

But now that he had an Anbu identity, gathering intelligence had become much easier.

While Minato Namikaze was still alive, he needed to make the most of his Anbu status and get more done, lest the Third Hokage take office in the future and kick him out of the Anbu.

Creak!

The moment he pushed open his door, Asuka saw a fat orange cat sprawled across his bed.

After hanging his Ninja Tool pouch on the wall, he greeted the orange cat.

"Yo, Fei Fei, you're back. Did you deliver the letter?"

"Hmph!"

The orange cat lifted her eyelids to glance at Asuka, then closed them again. A young girl's voice came from her throat.

"Delivered it. That old hag Tsunade nearly punched me into a cat pancake, but when I handed over the hundred thousand ryo, she had Shizune write a reply."

"What else did she say?"

"She said Jiraiya wrote her 328 letters when he was pursuing her, with a total word count of over two million. Only then did her heart begin to soften a little.

She said one letter from you doesn't prove anything. Write 500 first.

Oh, right. Remember to put money in the letters, or that old hag's fists will land on me."

At that, the orange cat rolled over. She stared up at the ceiling, a very human look of helplessness on her face.

"Asuka, I think you're wasting your effort.

Five hundred letters, with a hundred thousand in each one—that's fifty million. Do you know how many cans of food this cat could buy with fifty million? I could learn the Transformation Jutsu and keep you company whenever you're lonely."

"You don't understand!"

At those words, the orange cat abruptly stood up from the bed. She padded quickly onto Asuka's head, rubbing her claws against his hair as she said indignantly.

"Then tell me, what's your goal in doing all this? Don't try to fool this cat with that excuse from last time."

"Sigh!"

Asuka sighed. He raised his eyes slightly and looked at the orange cat, who seemed just about ready to shit on his head, then explained.

"Outsiders know that the Senju and Uchiha Clans have been enemies for nearly a thousand years. If they suddenly heard that the Uchiha Clan Head wanted to marry the Senju Clan Head, their first reaction would definitely be that it was fake news.

But when they discovered that quite a few members of the Uchiha Clan actually supported this proposal, they would have to seriously consider it.

After all, the will of the clan members can often influence the Clan Head.

It doesn't matter whether this letter came from the Clan Head. As long as outsiders see it as having come from the Uchiha Clan, that's enough, because it represents the will of certain people within the Uchiha Clan.

I don't like the Hawks, the Doves, or the moderates.

So I intend to go a little more extreme and establish a Divorce Faction. The faction's purpose will be to urge the Clan Head to divorce, marry the Senju Clan Head, merge the two clans into one, and set our sights on the Fifth, Sixth, and Seventh Hokage.

This isn't just about declaring my ideas within the clan. It's also meant for certain people in Konoha to see. After all, easing the conflict between the two clans is also an embodiment of the Will of Fire.

And it doesn't matter whether Senju Tsunade and Uchiha Fugaku agree or not.

What matters is that I did it. Those who see my actions and agree with my ideals will stand behind me and become my supporters.

Besides, the love letters can't stop in the future. They represent my unwavering resolve.

At worst, I'll take missions to earn money and support Tsunade. If I held the Uchiha Clan Great Elder's position right now, this letter would have been signed with my name."

"So."

Though she had not understood much of what Asuka had said, seeing the serious look on his face made her seem to come to a realization.

"You don't really want to persuade Uchiha Fugaku to get divorced?"

"No, that part is real. Not only do I want to persuade him to divorce, I want to have him sterilized too."

"Then challenge the Great Elder and write it under your own name."

"No. Tsunade's getting a little old. I want to find someone younger."

"I thought she looked pretty tender."

"You saw it?"

"Not only did I see it, I even slept on her chest while she was gambling. Haven't you seen it?"

"..."

The night was deep.

Dressed in black, Asuka pushed open his door and leaped onto the roof. After identifying the direction of the Nara Clan Grounds, he used several Body Flickers and vanished from the Uchiha Clan Grounds.

In the sickly Uchiha Clan, it would be difficult to gain supporters if his ideas were not extreme enough.

Especially those conservative old men, who proposed things like "secure second place, contend for third, charge at fourth," only to waste the clan members' expectations for nothing.

In that case, why not try his own idea? Konoha had been established for fifty-one years. There were fewer and fewer members of the older generation, while the younger generation had lived alongside the Senju Clan for fifty-one years. The hatred in their hearts had long since faded.

Was he writing Tsunade a love letter?

No.

It was a statement.

Screech! The sound of sudden braking rang out. Asuka crouched on a rooftop and closed his eyes, sensing the location of that Nara ninja.

Over there?

A moment later, Asuka opened his eyes. Looking at the darkened house in the distance, he muttered.

"This is my first time sneaking into a widow's home at night."

Since he had not made much effort to conceal his movements, the moment he pushed open the door and entered, he felt a slight sting at his neck.

"Who are you?"

His gaze dropped slightly to the kunai pressed against his neck. Asuka slowly raised both hands in surrender.

"It's me, the Uchiha you attacked last time."

"You—"

Before she could finish, pain suddenly shot through her wrist. The kunai slipped from her hand and clattered onto the floor.

"Nara Ryoko, don't casually press a kunai against someone's neck. It's dangerous."

Asuka rubbed his neck, then kicked the kunai on the floor aside. He felt his way through the darkness toward the table, preparing to light the candle.

"Don't light it!"

Nara Ryoko also recognized him by the moonlight. She hurriedly stopped him from lighting the lamp, then stood across from him, staring directly at Asuka with a frown.

"You came to my house in the dead of night without making a sound, and you're blaming me for holding a kunai to your neck?"

"Don't joke around. If I hadn't deliberately made noise before coming in, how could you have noticed me?"

Asuka sat down carelessly in a chair. Seeing the unpleasant look on Nara Ryoko's face, he continued.

"Don't overthink it. I came at night because it wouldn't look good for me to visit a widow's house during the day."

At that, Nara Ryoko's eyes widened as she glared at Asuka.

"And it looks good for you to come at night??"

Asuka shrugged and replied casually.

"No one will see us at night."

"What exactly do you want?"

"I came to chat with you."

"I have nothing to talk about with you. Don't expect to get anything out of me."

"..."

As the two argued in low voices inside the room, a member of the Nara Clan passed outside Nara Ryoko's courtyard. She glanced at Ryoko's darkened room, then looked up at the moon, which was about to be obscured by Dark Clouds, and sighed inwardly.

Ever since Ichiki left, she wondered whether Ryoko was afraid living alone.

She should come keep her company sometime. ???? Seeing the black shadow that had suddenly appeared in Ryoko's room, she rubbed her eyes in disbelief.

She hadn't seen wrong, had she?? Why were there two shadows in Ryoko's house?? Could it be that she missed her husband so much that she had used her shadow to conjure an illusion of her dead husband?

PS: See you tomorrow, dear readers.