Don't Tell Mikoto

"A caged canary."

"Huh? What?"

"I'm saying you're like a caged canary. You look glamorous on the outside, but you don't have any freedom at all."

Kushina Uzumaki had personally told him and Mikoto that she had been chosen as the next Nine-Tails Jinchuriki, so Uchiha Yuzuru did not need to worry about bringing it up himself.

Hearing Uchiha Yuzuru's assessment of her, Kushina Uzumaki froze for a moment.

Then her lips pouted, and her eyes immediately welled up with tears.

"What do you know? I've long been prepared to accept this fate."

"That was why I came to Konoha in the first place!"

At that, Uchiha Yuzuru said flatly, "Do you like this fate?"

"What does it matter whether I like it or not?"

"Then rebel if you don't like it!"

Uchiha Yuzuru suddenly pressed a hand onto Kushina Uzumaki's head and said loudly, "Why do you have to accept other people's arrangements? Why can't you do what you want?"

"Blindly compromising will only lead to even harsher oppression."

"You're being forbidden from leaving the village before you've even become a Jinchuriki. What about after you become one?"

"Will you have to be watched even while you sleep? Will you need to report to the Hokage just to go shopping?"

"Mito-sama should have told you about some things, shouldn't she?"

After hearing Uchiha Yuzuru's words, Kushina Uzumaki could no longer hold back. All the grievances in her heart came flooding out at once.

Two streams of tears ran down her face as she murmured, "But... but I want everyone to acknowledge me..."

Uchiha Yuzuru snorted softly. "Why do you care so much about what other people think? Does it really matter whether those people acknowledge you or not?"

"Can recognition gained through compromise really make you happy?"

Looking into Uchiha Yuzuru's dark eyes, Kushina Uzumaki felt all the strength leave her body.

She squatted on the ground, burying her head in her arms as she sobbed, "I... I don't know..."

"Yuzuru, I don't want to become a Jinchuriki. I don't want to be watched every moment of every day. I want to go outside and carry out missions with my companions like everyone else..."

"But... but I really don't know what I should do..."

After all, she was still young, and the Land of Whirlpools had been destroyed.

Even though Kushina Uzumaki disliked the path laid out for her future, she did not know how to resist it, nor did she have the strength to do so.

Seeing Kushina Uzumaki finally speak her true feelings, Uchiha Yuzuru's tone softened.

He sighed and sat down beside Kushina Uzumaki.

"Kushina, people who truly acknowledge you won't force you to do anything."

"Take us Uchiha, for example. Most of the villagers reject us, but so what?"

"Should we change ourselves just to earn their acknowledgment?"

"Would an Uchiha who was smooth and worldly, greeting everyone with a smile, still be an Uchiha?"

After hearing Uchiha Yuzuru's words, Kushina Uzumaki could not help raising her head to think about it. Then she suddenly laughed through her tears.

Uchiha Yuzuru gave her a strange look and asked, "What is it?"

Kushina Uzumaki shook her head. "Nothing. I just imagined what you'd look like smiling at everyone, and it felt really strange."

"That's exactly it." Uchiha Yuzuru smiled. "Kushina, what is it that you truly want to do?"

Kushina Uzumaki thought for a moment, then said softly, "I want to make lots and lots of friends. I want to do the things a ninja is supposed to do. I want to stop being watched by others no matter what I do every day..."

"But if I don't become the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki, a lot of people will be hurt because of it. Some might even pay with their lives..."

"Yuzuru, what do you think I should do?"

"Kushina, you won't find the answer to something like this in someone else's words. You can only figure it out for yourself."

Uchiha Yuzuru gave an ambiguous answer.

For now, Kushina Uzumaki was indeed deeply resistant to becoming a Jinchuriki.

It was only because she had been brainwashed by the so-called Will of Fire and morally coerced in the name of the greater good that she silently accepted it all.

In other words, as long as he made Kushina completely lose faith in Hiruzen Sarutobi and the Will of Fire, she definitely would not remain as indecisive as she was now.

That would make his plan to take Kushina Uzumaki away much easier to accomplish.

That was right.

After spending so many days with her, Uchiha Yuzuru had decided to take Kushina Uzumaki with him when the entire clan relocated.

He and Hiruzen Sarutobi's group were destined to be enemies, so naturally he did not want to leave behind Kushina, a Jinchuriki capable of perfectly suppressing the Nine-Tails, to become Konoha's fighting strength.

When Hiruzen Sarutobi and the others discovered that both the Uchiha Clan and the future Nine-Tails Jinchuriki had vanished, their expressions would surely be quite spectacular, wouldn't they?

Just thinking about it made him look forward to it.

However, Uchiha Yuzuru was not overly impatient.

Kushina had been in Konoha for many years, and under Hiruzen Sarutobi's subtle influence, it was unlikely that he could persuade her with just a few words.

His goal today had merely been to tear open a small crack in Kushina's heart.

When the time came, that tiny crack would be enough to trigger an earthquake that brought everything crashing down!

Because if he remembered correctly, something particularly absurd would happen to Kushina soon.

As long as he guided things slightly, Kushina would definitely be completely disappointed in Konoha's higher-ups.

"Yuzuru, what about you?" Seeing Uchiha Yuzuru lost in thought, Kushina Uzumaki bumped him with her shoulder. "What's your dream?"

Uchiha Yuzuru thought for a moment, then said firmly, "I want to become very strong, so that everyone I care about can live freely as they wish."

"They will no longer be troubled by money, nor threatened by force."

"Even if I have to stand against the whole world, I won't hesitate!"

As his words fell, the air seemed to freeze.

Kushina Uzumaki could hear the resolve in Uchiha Yuzuru's voice.

"Let everyone he cares about live freely as they wish..."

"Even if he has to stand against the whole world, he won't hesitate..."

She repeated the words, feeling her heartbeat suddenly quicken.

Who were the people Yuzuru cared about?

If she was one of them, would Yuzuru find a way to let her do what she wanted?

Thought after thought flashed through Kushina's mind...

Looking into Kushina Uzumaki's eyes so close before him, Uchiha Yuzuru could not help reaching out to wipe away the lingering tear tracks on her face.

Kushina Uzumaki suddenly snapped out of it.

She immediately took two steps back and hurried toward the door like a startled rabbit.

"Yuzuru, don't tell Mikoto about what happened today."

After saying that, Kushina Uzumaki's face immediately turned as red as fire, and she hurriedly ran away without looking back.

Uchiha Yuzuru smiled and shook his head.

It was not that he wanted to take advantage of her. The atmosphere had simply led to it.

Hokage Building.

Hokage's Office.

Hiruzen Sarutobi stared at Kushina Uzumaki walking down the street in the crystal ball, puffing away on his pipe.

Just then, the office door was shoved open roughly, and a man with narrow eyes, dressed in a black-and-gray kimono, walked in.