A month later.
Neji and Mikoto walked into the Crimson Leaf Izakaya side by side.
Night had fallen, and the first lights were coming on. The nightlife was just beginning, and the izakaya was at its busiest.
When the proprietress saw that her guests were ninjas, she hurried over to greet them.
"Ninja Lords, would you like a private room on the second floor?"
"Let's stay on the first floor."
Mikoto hesitated.
Since moving to Kumogakure, money had been tight.
And with the izakaya so busy, it was clearly not cheap.
Neji looked at Mikoto and said, "Let's get a private room. It'll be quieter."
He sounded as though he were asking, but he had already made up his mind.
"Okay."
Mikoto could only agree.
After all, she was the one treating Neji to dinner.
To be honest, she was nervous and embarrassed about what would come next.
The marriage alliance would determine whether the Uchiha could establish themselves in Kumogakure for the long term.
Mikoto just hadn't expected such a heavy responsibility to fall on her shoulders.
She was already a thirty-two-year-old woman, and a mother of two.
Was she really that desirable?
Or was it because of her Mangekyō Sharingan?
That was the most reasonable explanation Mikoto could think of.
The Uchiha now had two Mangekyō Sharingan users.
But Shisui was the clan head.
If Kumogakure wanted to get its hands on a Mangekyō, Mikoto was their only option.
The only thing she couldn't explain was how Kumogakure had learned that she had awakened the Mangekyō.
After awakening it, Mikoto hadn't told anyone. Like Fugaku, she had chosen to keep it hidden, preserving it as a means of protecting the clan.
Since Kumogakure wanted her Mangekyō, she could only go along with it. She had no other choice.