"That's pretty much what happened."
Kyosuke sat leisurely to one side, even taking the time to peel a chestnut and eat it.
"I-I have to wait here for a whole year?!" Mito was dumbfounded.
Why had her father agreed to such a request? A year's delay would surely provoke fierce resentment from the Senju.
By then, the Uzumaki would have alienated both sides.
Quietly studying the beautiful Uzumaki princess, Kyosuke pondered for a moment before asking curiously, "You have territory of your own, don't you? Why insist on coming to the Land of Fire and getting mixed up in this mess?"
At first, Mito had no intention of answering him. Only when she saw the boy start loosening his clothes did she hurriedly explain in alarm:
"The Uzumaki have unique constitutions. Plenty of people on the black market are willing to pay to have us captured."
"We wouldn't have founded a country on an isolated island overseas if we'd had any other choice."
Hearing that, Kyosuke roughly understood the Uzumaki's plight.
As descendants of a branch of Asura's bloodline, they possessed truly exceptional constitutions. They could fight, withstand punishment, and serve as subjects for all sorts of experiments.
The Senju were much the same, but they were the foremost clan of the Warring States Period. They weren't people anyone could simply snatch up at will.
Uzumaki Ashina was powerful, certainly, but Sealing Jutsu was easy to understand and difficult to master. Most of his clansmen fell short of the strength they should have possessed.
Unless they sought the protection of a powerful clan, disaster would befall the Uzumaki sooner or later.
The moment their guardian fell would mark the start of the countdown to their clan's destruction.
Mito understood these problems perfectly. That was why she had sided with the Senju without hesitation, hoping to find a suitable safe haven for her people in the future.
After listening to her lengthy explanation, Kyosuke nodded. Some of the questions in his mind finally made sense.
"Why not seek the Uchiha's protection?" he asked, though he knew the answer perfectly well.
"Yours?" Mito smiled scornfully and tipped her chin, inviting him to look for himself. "Go take a walk around the Camp right now. Apart from prisoners, see whether your Uchiha have ever tried accepting any outsiders."
That was indeed the truth. The Uchiha Clan was incredibly arrogant, priding itself on being descended from a sage and looking down on every clan except the Senju.
Accept other clans?
Those people weren't even worthy of serving as their slaves.
Even in the Konoha era, the Uchiha had remained apart from the rest of the village, practically forming a state within a state.
Whatever anyone said about the Hokage's faction, no ruler could tolerate such an existence. Putting up with it for thirty or forty years before acting had already taken considerable restraint.
Thinking about his own clan's situation, Kyosuke couldn't help sighing softly. He couldn't come up with a good solution on the spot.
That was simply the Uchiha's nature. What could he do?
He released the girl's restraints, then, under Mito's wary gaze, took her hand with a smile and tore her sleeve.
"Ah! What are you doing?!"
"Didn't I tell you? A year from now, we'll take our baby to meet your father."
"You bastard, you... calm down..."
Riiip!
"Calm down? There's no way I'm calming down now."
Two hours later, Kyosuke and Mito set off together.
To stand against the Senju's allied army, the Uchiha needed to join forces with other clans.
Kyosuke couldn't control what others thought, but with him around, he wouldn't let the Uchiha follow their old path again.
In short, where there was a will, there was a way. Freeing the Uchiha would begin with alliances with other clans.
To oppose the Uzumaki Clan, their allies would have to come from the powerful clans of the Land of Fire.
There weren't many such clans, and most had a poor impression of the Uchiha.
It would be good enough if they didn't kick the Uchiha while they were down. Getting them to lend a hand at a critical moment would require something profitable enough to sway them.
Something valuable enough to make them overlook casualties among their members.
Glancing at the sulking Mito, Kyosuke found the whole thing rather amusing.
The girl had genuinely thought he intended to violate her and had threatened him with something as naive as biting her tongue off to kill herself.
In truth, Kyosuke had only wanted to ensure she couldn't escape by marking her arm with the Flying Thunder God's Space Coordinates.
A scrawny little girl like her would have felt too bony even as a body pillow.
He hadn't intended to bring a burden along on this trip, but on second thought, leaving her with the Uchiha might not have been a good idea.
While he was there, no one dared act rashly. Once he left, however, someone might start plotting something nasty.
They might, for instance, threaten Mito's life to force the Uzumaki to withdraw. If things went that far, there was a good chance everything would end in disaster.
With no other choice, he could only take the princess along.
With the Flying Thunder God in place, she wasn't strong enough to cause any serious trouble.
The Yin Seal was powerful, certainly, but accumulating chakra took far too long. If one all-out attempt failed, who knew how long she would have to wait for another?
Rather than spending all day thinking up ways to cause trouble, she would be better off quietly spending a year with him. Then he would naturally let her return home to her family.
"Why does that sound a little wrong somehow?"
Beside him, Mito kept tugging at her sleeve and occasionally rubbing her arm, trying to erase the Flying Thunder God marking.
"Stop rubbing. It'll be embarrassing if you start rubbing off dirt." Kyosuke gave the girl a distinctly mischievous look.
"Hmph." The Uzumaki princess snorted coldly, but her hands slowly stopped moving.
Perhaps she had realized the mark couldn't be removed by hand, or perhaps his remark about rubbing off dirt had hit too hard.
Either way, the two of them didn't exchange a single word over the next few hours.
Until they passed through a remote little town...
"I want to wash up." Mito made her first request.
She had expected him to refuse, which would give her a chance to bargain.
Instead, Kyosuke nodded and said, "We really should find somewhere to get a proper rest. Conditions on the front lines were pretty lousy."
"Uh." The red-haired girl blinked, and a thought suddenly occurred to her.
Maybe this guy isn't so difficult to get along with after all?
Unfortunately, she soon tore that notion to shreds herself.
"Ah! Uchiha Kyosuke, what are you doing?!" In the hot springs, Mito completely lost her temper.
She had only wanted to soak in a hot spring and ease the strain of the past few days. Yet before long, that Uchiha bastard had come in too.
"What are you screeching about?" Kyosuke picked at his ear and said impatiently, "This is a mixed bathing hot spring. Whose fault is it that you didn't check before coming in?"
"B-but..."
"Go do your stammering somewhere else. Don't disturb my rest." With that, Kyosuke closed his eyes and even began snoring softly.
Seeing this, Mito Uzumaki soon calmed down. She raised her hand, itching to give it a try.
If I attacked right now, could I...
Before she could finish her little daydream, the corner of Kyosuke's mouth curled slightly, and he mumbled indistinctly, "Naughty children get their bottoms spanked... mm, spanked..."
Across from him, the ponytailed girl's face instantly fell. She draped her towel over her head and sulked in silence.
Before you continue