?
Nawaki naturally knew whom Yamato was asking about. Without beating around the bush, he smiled and said, "After I rescued her back then, I took her in with the others under the Senju Branch Family.
"Among your group of orphans, her willpower and talent were the best aside from yours!
"After studying at the Ninja Academy, she graduated successfully as a martial-track ninja. She has now advanced to chunin and joined the Anbu Intelligence Division.
"She has been keeping an eye on news about you all these years. But to avoid alerting Danzo, I never allowed her to contact you directly."
"So she still remembers me?" A delighted smile appeared on Yamato's face.
"Of course! The bond you two forged through hardship since childhood—how could she forget you?" Nawaki watched Yamato's foolish grin and casually added, "Oh, right. I gave her a name as well. She is now called Senju Kikuko! She's a genius ninja of our Senju Branch Family and will be qualified to enter the main family in the future. Quite a few young men from the main family are eager to marry her!"
Yamato's expression shifted uncertainly at those words. As a Root member, he was very familiar with the Senju Clan's internal rules because of Danzo!
According to the Senju Clan's rules, branch-family ninjas with outstanding talent and strength could be promoted into the main family, but there was one condition: they had to marry an unmarried ninja with Senju blood! Only in this way could the Senju Clan absorb the branch family's superior bloodlines while ensuring the dominance of Senju blood.
Furthermore, to ensure the Senju Clan's population growth, female members of both the main and branch families were generally forbidden from marrying ninjas outside the clan, unless it was part of a marriage