What does he mean, he's not that easy?
Mito frowned in confusion, feeling that something was off.
She was too young to understand Kyosuke's risqué quip, but that did not mean the other clansmen missed its meaning.
"How dare you speak so outrageously to Her Highness!"
"You're not leaving here alive today!"
"Princess, let us take him down together."
Mito stopped her furious clansmen. Today, she was determined to defeat him on her own.
That would send the clan's morale soaring to unprecedented heights, helping them in the battles against the Uchiha to come.
"The Uchiha's Evil-Faced Rakshasa. I've wanted to face you for a long time."
Boom!
The moment she launched herself forward, the ground beneath her feet exploded.
The terrifying surge of chakra made Kyosuke frown slightly. He thought the Yin Seal really was an excellent ninjutsu.
Unfortunately, none of that mattered if she could not hit her enemy.
"Your control falls far short of your chakra reserves." Kyosuke dodged nimbly, still finding time to throw her off with his words.
Ponytail was certainly strong. The problem was that she focused too much on increasing her power and overlooked the importance of control.
Or rather, it was not that she did not want to control it. She simply could not manage power on this scale.
Trying to beat him with brute force alone-the girl's thinking was far too naïve.
Her opponent effortlessly dodged attack after attack, and Mito realized she might truly be unable to touch him.
Instinctively, she began forming hand seals, preparing to unleash a powerful ninjutsu to force him into a head-on clash.
But before she could act, she stopped, her expression darkening.
There was no helping it. Mito could hardly kill all the clansmen around her along with him.
Yet in that brief moment of hesitation, Kyosuke blurred into an afterimage, his blade coming to rest directly against the girl's neck.
"You lost."
Glancing at Mito, who looked ready to explode with rage, Kyosuke remained silent, considering whether he should seize this chance to abduct her.
Handled properly, this might force the Uzumaki to stop fighting. Even if it did not, it would at least give that old man something to worry about.
He knew that if the two sides truly fought to the bitter end, the Uchiha would most likely be outmatched.
Commander Hiroki had admitted that himself. He had already suffered several defeats against Uzumaki Ashina.
Had their opponent not been wary of making mortal enemies of the Uchiha, the entire front might have collapsed long ago.
Now that Kyosuke had arrived, he certainly could not leave the initiative in someone else's hands.
Whether they fought, and how they fought, would be his decision.
At that thought, he extended a finger and gently tapped the back of Mito's neck. "Sleep, my beautiful princess."
Before she fainted, Mito was still filled with bewilderment, seemingly unable to believe he had actually dared to act against her.
Does he think he can escape just because he has a hostage?
How naïve. Before Father, all his tricks will amount to nothing.
Catching the ponytailed girl as she fell, Kyosuke ignored the shouting Uzumaki clansmen nearby and looked toward the largest tent in the camp.
A terrifying presence had already locked onto him from there. Kyosuke knew Uzumaki Ashina himself had to be inside.
"Still refusing to show yourself? You certainly put on airs."
Despite the distance between them, Kyosuke could almost feel the Uzumaki Clan Leader's disdain.
It was the particular self-assurance of the older generation. The elders, including Uchiha Tuanjima, were all like this, apparently looking down on youngsters who had only recently risen to prominence.
Kyosuke was not convinced by their attitude. Tajima was one thing, but Uzumaki Ashina would certainly pay for his arrogance.
The destruction of the Land of Whirlpools in the original story seemed to bear out his thinking.
He had chosen to ally with the Senju, yet constantly wavered in battle. Did he really think Butsuma Senju could not see it?
While the world was in turmoil, everything could be brushed aside. Once things settled down, it would be time to settle old scores with the Land of Whirlpools.
Uzumaki Ashina probably could never have imagined that the Uchiha and the Senju would one day form an alliance.
He would be the outsider instead.
With every faction eyeing them hungrily, and that scheming bastard Black Zetsu dealing them another underhanded blow whenever he felt like it, the real surprise would be if the Uzumaki's nation survived.
"Foolish clan." Kyosuke sneered and began forming hand seals.
Suddenly, a figure rushed out at a frantic pace, seemingly having sensed the fluctuations of space-time.
To Kyosuke, it felt as though the entire world was bearing down on him.
This was none other than Uzumaki Ashina, a terrifying figure at the pinnacle of Clan Leader-level strength.
What terrifying power. Kyosuke silently marveled, even remembering to wave at him.
The next second, he and Mito vanished simultaneously.
Having lunged at empty air, Uzumaki Ashina finally lost the smile that had always lingered on his face.
He admitted that he had been far too careless.
For an enemy to enter the Uzumaki headquarters alone, he had to be confident he could escape unscathed.
It was laughable how badly he had underestimated the young man. By the time he sensed the space-time fluctuations, it was already too late to save his daughter.
That left a question...
If the Uchiha held Mito hostage and demanded the Uzumaki's surrender, what choice should he make?
His daughter's life or victory in battle-that question haunted him.
The Uchiha Camp.
When Mito woke, she discovered that sealing jutsu had already been inscribed on her body.
She could move without any trouble, but she could not gather even a trace of chakra.
The fan emblems visible everywhere around her made one thing clear: this was the Uchiha's camp.
"I've been captured." The girl rose in disbelief, unable to understand how he had abducted her from her own camp.
After turning it over in her mind, the only explanation she could think of was that the bastard had held her hostage, forcing all her clansmen, including her father, to hold back for fear of harming her.
But that made no sense, however she thought about it.
After struggling for quite some time, she finally quieted down when she realized she could not undo the seal on her body.
"If I'd known this would happen, I would have worked harder at learning sealing jutsu from Father." Mito felt more than a little regret.
As she pondered, footsteps outside caught her attention.
The ponytailed girl squeezed her eyes shut, planning to feign sleep for now and see whether she could find an opportunity to subdue her captor with taijutsu.
As soon as she closed her eyes, she sensed two people enter.
Then a familiar voice sounded beside her.
"Maya, I'll leave her in your care for now."
"No one but me is allowed to take her away, including our dear Elder Hiroki."
That hateful voice brought the humiliation of her capture rushing back.
Does this bastard think I'm his personal property? He won't even let anyone take me away?!
Beside him, a slightly cool female voice spoke. "Yes, sir. But I have a question..."
"Go ahead..."
"Lord Kyosuke, do you intend to keep her as your mistress? If so, should I train her a little..."
"Enough. Don't say another word..."
Kyosuke stopped her with a headache brewing. Right now, he dearly missed the Maya who had once been so quiet.
Waving his subordinate away, he turned toward the ponytailed girl pretending to sleep and slowly extended his wicked hands...
Before you continue