Bathing with Mito

"That's roughly how things happened."

Kyosuke sat leisurely to the side, not forgetting to peel a chestnut to eat.

"I, I have to wait here for a year?!" Mito was dumbfounded.

Why would her father agree to such a request? Dragging things out for a year would surely cause strong dissatisfaction from the Senju.

At that point, the Uzumaki Clan would be caught between a rock and a hard place.

Gazing quietly at the beautiful Uzumaki princess, Kyosuke pondered for a moment before suddenly asking curiously, "You guys still have your own territory, so why do you have to come to the Land of Fire and stir up trouble?"

Initially, Mito didn't want to bother with his question. However, upon seeing the young man's actions of loosening his clothes, she was so startled that she hurriedly explained:

"The Uzumaki Clan has a special physique, and many people on the black market would bid to capture us."

"If we weren't forced to, we wouldn't have chosen to establish a nation on that isolated island overseas."

Hearing this, Kyosuke roughly understood the Uzumaki Clan's predicament.

As descendants of Asura's collateral branches, their physiques were absolutely top-tier, capable of fighting and enduring, and could also be used in various experiments.

The Senju were similar, but they were the foremost clan of the warring states period, not something that could be plundered at will.

Uzumaki Ashina was indeed strong, but unfortunately, Sealing Jutsu was easy to learn and difficult to master, and the clan members' strength generally did not reach the expected level.

If they didn't choose to ally with a powerful clan, the Uzumaki would face disaster sooner or later.

When their guardian god fell, it would be the beginning of the countdown to the Uzumaki's annihilation.

Mito understood these issues very clearly, which was why she had unhesitatingly sided with the Senju, hoping to find a suitable safe haven for her clan in the future.

After listening to her lengthy explanation, Kyosuke nodded, finally clearing up some of the doubts in his mind.

"Why didn't you choose to ally with the Uchiha?" he asked, feigning ignorance.

"You guys?" Mito scoffed, nodding slightly to signal him to go and see for himself. "Go take a stroll around the camp now and see if the Uchiha, besides the prisoners, have ever tried to integrate any outsiders."

The reality was indeed so. The Uchiha clan was incredibly arrogant, considering themselves descendants of the Sage, and looked down upon any clan other than the Senju.

Integrate other tribes?

They weren't even qualified to be servants.

Even during the Konoha period, the Uchiha remained on the fringes of the entire village, appearing like a state within a state.

Never mind how the Hokage lineage acted; any person in power could not tolerate such an existence. It was already difficult enough to endure for thirty to forty years before taking action.

Thinking about his own family's situation, Kyosuke couldn't help but sigh softly, unable to come up with a good solution for the time being.

The Uchiha were inherently like this; what could he do?

He unbound the girl's restraints, and under Mito's wary gaze, Kyosuke smiled and took her hand, tearing her sleeve.

"Ah, what are you doing?!"

"Didn't I say? We'll bring our child to see your father in a year."

"You damn bastard, you, calm down..."

Riiip!

"Calm down? I can't calm down right now, old man."

Two hours later, Kyosuke and the two of them embarked on their journey together.

To counter the allied forces of the Senju, the Uchiha must unite with other family powers.

Kyosuke didn't care what others thought. With him around, the Uchiha would not repeat their past mistakes.

In a word, things are done by people. Liberating the Uchiha would start with uniting with other families.

To counter the Uzumaki Clan, their helpers would undoubtedly be the powerful families of the Land of Fire.

There weren't many such existences, and most of them didn't have a very good impression of the Uchiha.

It would be good enough if they didn't add insult to injury. To expect them to provide assistance at a critical moment, unless he could offer benefits that would move them.

Immense benefits that would make them disregard the casualties of their members.

Glancing at the sullen Mito, Kyosuke found it somewhat amusing.

The girl genuinely thought he was trying to do something improper and had even threatened him with the naive method of biting her tongue to commit suicide.

In fact, Kyosuke only wanted to ensure she wouldn't escape and had carved the spatial coordinates of the Flying Thunder God Technique onto her arm.

She was such a skinny little girl; he felt she would be uncomfortable even as a pillow.

He originally didn't want to bring this burden along on this trip, but on second thought, leaving her behind in the Uchiha might not be a good thing.

It would be fine when he was around, and no one would dare to act rashly. Once he was away, someone might have ill intentions.

For example, using Mito's life to forcibly coerce the Uzumaki Clan into retreating. If it really came to that, the outcome would most likely be total failure.

He had no choice but to bring the princess along.

With the Flying Thunder God Technique, she couldn't cause any major trouble with her strength.

The Yin Seal was indeed powerful, but it took too long to accumulate Chakra. It was useless for one attempt; who knew how long he would have to wait for the next one.

Instead of thinking about how to cause trouble all day, she should obediently spend a year with him, and then they would naturally let her go home to reunite with her family.

"Why does that sound like something's not quite right?"

Beside her, Mito kept tugging at her sleeves and rubbing her arms from time to time, trying to wipe away the symbol representing the Flying Thunder God Technique.

"Stop rubbing it, it'll be embarrassing if you rub off the dust," Kyosuke said, looking at the girl with ill intent.

"Hmph," the Uzumaki princess snorted, but her hands slowly stopped moving.

Perhaps she realized the mark couldn't be removed manually, or perhaps the comment about the dust was too cutting.

In any case, the two of them didn't exchange any words for the next few hours.

Until they passed by a remote small town.

"I want to go wash up," Mito stated her first request.

She had thought the man would refuse, and then she could bargain with him.

To her surprise, Kyosuke nodded and said, "It is indeed time to find a place to rest properly. The conditions on the front lines are still a bit too harsh."

"Uh." The red-haired girl blinked, a feeling suddenly rising in her heart.

Is this guy not as difficult to get along with as I thought?

Unfortunately, this thought was quickly shattered by her own actions.

"Ah, Uchiha Kyosuke, what are you doing?!" Inside the hot spring, Mito completely lost it.

She had wanted to soak in the hot spring to relieve the hardships of the past few days, but before long, she saw that scoundrel Uchiha come in too.

"What are you yelling about?" Kyosuke picked at his ear, saying impatiently, "This is a co-ed hot spring to begin with. Who's fault is it if you don't look properly when you come in?"

"But, but..."

"Go to the side and don't disturb my rest." With that, Kyosuke closed his eyes and even started to snore lightly.

Seeing this, Uzumaki Mito quickly calmed down and felt an urge to try something.

If I make a move now, will it...

Before her daydream could finish, she saw Kyosuke's lips curve into a slight smile, and he mumbled incoherently, "Naughty children need spanking, uh, spanking..."

Across from him, the girl with the bun hairstyle's face instantly fell. She covered her head with a towel and sulked, refusing to speak.

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