War at the Shrine

"Otome, stop for a moment."

The pine trees rustled, Kushina darted out like a squirrel, intercepting Otome as she hurried along, her shoulders and cuffs still adorned with emerald green pine needles.

They stood there, blocking each other's way in the middle of the road, staring at each other.

"······"

Otome remained silent, only staring at Kushina with an extremely oppressive gaze.

"... Kanzuki asked me to come and stop you," He will handle things at the shrine, "Don't worry." Kushina pouted, The little girl who used to be so cute in my arms, The sheer power of his aura made her feel a chill down her neck.

However, for the sake of my younger brother's future happiness, I can't back down now.

He clenched his fist, silently encouraging himself.

"Otome, let's wait here for a while! Katsuki will take care of things at the shrine..."

"Otome!!"

A dark shadow flashed, the pine tree swayed violently, Uchiha Maki stood not far behind Otome, followed closely by Otoha.

"Don't run around, Otome. Let Otoha handle things at the shrine. Don't get involved. This commotion is huge; things have clearly escalated. If you go, you'll probably make things even worse..."

Uchiha Maki rambled on and on, then suddenly realized the presence of Kushina, whose aura was weak, and immediately fell silent.

With outsiders present, some things become difficult to say, especially since this outsider is a member of the Uzumaki Clan.

"Kushina, what are you doing here?"

Regardless of her father's mood, Otoha asked curiously.

"Haha... well, I wanted to chat with Otome. Lately... we haven't talked much, and I'm feeling a bit lonely," Kushina chuckled dryly.

"Oh! Is that so!"

Otoha drawled out a reply, his meaning ambiguous, before turning to look at Uchiha Maki.

"Father, I'm going to check on the shrine. You stay here and watch over my sister, okay?"

"Hmm... well, it's up to you now. Be careful. There are elders from the council there. Don't act on your own; just go with the flow, understand?"

Uchiha Maki grabbed his son, gave him a long lecture, and then let him go.

Otoha left, Kushina did not stop her. Her request was to stop Otome alone, not wanting Otome to see the miserable state of the Naka Shrine, nor wanting to meet her before the matter was fully resolved, as that might cause things to deviate from the planned course.

"Let's go back!"

"That's what Otome said suddenly."

"Huh?"

"Ah?"

Kushina and Uchiha Maki were both stunned, picking at their ears with their little fingers, wondering if they had a hearing problem.

Perhaps it would be better to go to the hospital for a checkup...

"Kushina... Sister, come to my place for tea! I just found a few ounces of this year's new tea in Father's study."

"Oh, okay, no problem..."

Kushina mechanically took steps to follow Otome, her mind a complete blank, utterly bewildered as to why things had turned out this way. When she came, she had planned to stop Otome by force if all else failed.

Uchiha Maki stood there blankly, muttering to himself, repeatedly saying things like "my tea leaves" and "I haven't even been able to bear drinking them."

Is it strange that I'm so easy to talk to?

Kushina was startled by Otome's voice and shrank back. Was this mind reading? Did the Sharingan have such a terrifying ability?

"Since Katsuki said he would leave it to him, then there's no problem. He has never broken a promise to me."

Wow!

Kushina covered her mouth, her face filled with shock.

"I never knew you two were so in sync."

"Isn't it because you only have eyes for Kushina -Minato?" Otome's question instantly made Kushina blush and let out a scream.

Naka Shrine.

"Uzumaki Clan Head, don't forget the great battle against the Stone Ninja. My Uchiha Clan provided our full support. How can you remain indifferent to your destruction of our clan's shrine?"

"An elder of the Uchiha Clan shouted."

"Ha! Go all out to help? Are you kidding me? I can handle those Stone Ninja all by myself. Leading a bunch of useless rookies, I'd be the one babysitting them!"

Katsuki stood on the half-destroyed statue of the divine messenger, looking completely unconvinced.

Today, he specially asked Kushina for help. The siblings went to propose marriage, but before they even met Uchiha Maki, they were intercepted by the elders and brought to the Naka Shrine. They couldn't agree on anything and soon a conflict broke out.

Then it evolved into the situation we see now.

Uchiha Fugaku, the clan head, was not at home today, but was working at the Police Force building, as he was unable to stop the elders' foolish actions.

"Besides, it's just a shrine. If it's destroyed, just rebuild it. Don't give me that nonsense about how ancient or historical it is. We're ninjas, and destruction is our specialty, not building." Katsuki argued illogically, making the elderly Uchiha Clan men tremble with anger.

"What are you all standing there for? Are you just going to watch them demolish the main shrine?"

Seeing the clansmen who came to help hesitate and shrink back, an elder angrily cursed, "When did the Uchiha Clan always turn out to be such spineless cowards?"

Despite being severely reprimanded by the elders, many people still moved slowly, dawdling and hesitating, unwilling to step forward.

This group of people had all witnessed Katsuki's formidable power on the battlefield, and had recently served under Katsuki. Now, they were suddenly asked to turn their swords against Katsuki; not everyone could do that.

"Fire Style: Great Fireball Technique"

Some hesitated, but others charged forward. Their sense of family honor overcame their fear, and they launched a fierce attack on Katsuki. A huge orange-red fireball, more than six meters in diameter, burned a trench in the ground and rushed towards her head-on.

"The Uchiha's Great Fireball? I haven't seen one of those in ages."

Katsuki stood motionless atop the ruins of the divine messenger statue, facing the oncoming fireball.

His right hand slashed down like a knife, the palm blade wrapped with sharp wind blades easily cutting through the fireball, and using the wind to direct the two streams of flame that had been split apart to the left and right sides.

Once again, a clever dodge... or perhaps it should be called a violent defense, using Wind Release Technique to suppress Fire Style.

"Not bad, but it's still a bit lacking Great Fireball power. Kid, I'll give you a demonstration, watch closely."

Katsuki glanced admiringly at the young Uchiha Clan had made the move, her hands slowly forming hand seals, her lower abdomen suddenly bulging out and then quickly sinking in.

A massive fireball, over ten meters in diameter, hurtled across the ground and crashed into the already shattered water storehouse. It was like adding insult to injury, turning the water storehouse, which still bore traces of its former state, into a remnant of its former existence.

"So strong!"

Sparks flew past his ear, scorching a few strands of hair until they curled up. The young man who had attacked earlier stood frozen in place, too afraid to move. (To be continued)