Lately, though, it seemed to be getting worse. She'd planned to go to the hospital in a few days, but now that she'd heard Shimizu had studied under Yakushi Nonō, she decided to let him take a look first.
"It's chills all over your body, right?"
"That's right."
Mikoto seemed to realize something and grew a little embarrassed.
Because of this, she hadn't been intimate with Fugaku.
Once her body was back in good shape, she would need to have another child soon.
"I understand."
Shimizu nodded.
It was only a temporary case of uterine cold caused by chakra.
When refining chakra, one of the meridians in the abdomen was blocked, causing some chakra to be depleted there year after year.
Over time, that extra chakra drain had affected her body.
Shimizu now understood why Itachi hadn't been born yet.
The condition interfered with intimacy and left women feeling cold, with poor circulation.
On top of that, Uchiha Fugaku wasn't the sentimental type. He was young and ambitious, so Shimizu guessed he'd never taken the initiative to bring up that sort of thing.
"Big Sister Mikoto, find somewhere to lie down."
"All right."
Seeing Shimizu act so maturely, Mikoto nodded without thinking and lay down on the living-room sofa.
"Expose your stomach," Shimizu said.
"Is that really necessary?"
Uchiha Mikoto looked troubled, a faint blush appearing against her fair skin.
She was a traditional wife, and exposing her stomach in front of a man made her feel at least a little bashful.
"I can do it through your clothes, too. It'll just use up a little more chakra."
Shimizu shook his head. A pale green glow appeared in his hand as chakra gathered in his palm.
"Mm..."
A wave of warmth spread through her lower abdomen, and Mikoto let out a soft moan without meaning to.
Shimizu continued channeling chakra, guiding it to the damaged area in her meridian system.
Konoha Hospital was highly advanced in its use of chakra, unlike in his previous life, where all sorts of medicines were needed to treat illnesses.
Here, chakra could serve the same purpose, making even cancer much easier to treat.
"If you sense my chakra, don't resist. Relax your whole body."
Mikoto nodded and let her stiff body relax.
The chakra inside Shimizu dwindled rapidly. In less than a minute, he had used up nearly thirty percent.
Under normal circumstances, this technique wouldn't consume nearly so much chakra.
The reason it did now was that Shimizu was slowly letting his chakra seep into Mikoto's meridian system, making the treatment feel comfortable.
Shimizu's chakra reserves now far surpassed those of his peers and were nearing Kakashi Hatake's.
If Kakashi Hatake from the first part of the story were used as a unit of measurement for chakra reserves,
Shimizu now had 0.9 Kakashi.
He'd achieved that in just under two years of growth, reaching the chakra reserves Kakashi had when he first made a name for himself. Two years of growth had rivaled more than a decade of Kakashi's development.
Though Kakashi was often teased for running low on chakra, even with his Sharingan suppressed, he still had at least as much chakra as an ordinary Jonin.
Still, chakra reserves alone didn't determine someone's strength. Their actual combat ability mattered, too.
Kaguya Otsutsuki had the greatest chakra reserves, yet took the most beatings—a classic chakra tycoon who didn't know how to use her chakra wisely.
"Phew... all done."
After two minutes, Shimizu drew his hand back.
"Eh? That's it?"
Uchiha Mikoto opened her eyes. The warmth she'd just felt had been as comforting as napping in the sun.
When Shimizu suddenly pulled his hand away, she felt a faint pang of loss at the vanished warmth.
"It'll take a little more time to get you back to health. I'll come by every half a month."
Shimizu smiled gently.
The illness was simple. In fact, it would take only two courses of treatment to cure.
But once she was cured, he'd have no reason to visit Uchiha Mikoto anymore.
For now, he could use the treatment as an excuse to get closer to her.
Taking advantage of the quiet moment, Shimizu looked more closely at the beautiful woman before him, a strange light glinting in his eyes.
She looked to be in her twenties, with neat brows and eyes, a delicate nose, and small lips. The corners of her eyes and mouth held the charm of a woman in the prime of her maturity, giving her even more grace than she'd had when she was younger.
As Mikoto rose from the sofa, her voluptuous figure swayed slightly, revealing the fullness of a mature woman. Her ample breasts were strikingly soft, yet her body still held a youthful vitality.
She was like spring and autumn woven together: the allure of a mature woman paired with a young body.
Perhaps because she'd once been a Jonin, Mikoto's skin was especially fair and smooth, like lotus root starch. It was clear she took excellent care of herself.
Shimizu glanced at her, then looked away.
There was no denying it: Mikoto was a fine woman.
It was a shame she'd married the wrong man and met a tragic end.
Mikoto had the temperament of a perfect traditional wife, devoted to her husband.
The original story said that she supported Fugaku solely as his wife.
Yet Fugaku had her die alongside the rest of the clan.
If Fugaku insisted on killing Itachi, Mikoto might not have simply accepted it.
To die so young, in the prime of her life, was a terrible waste.
Fugaku could let that happen. Shimizu couldn't.
Besides, Uchiha Fugaku didn't value the lives of the other clan members, so Shimizu had no reason to watch Mikoto walk into a trap.
When the time came, Mikoto might become the best tool for dealing with Fugaku.
"If Fugaku doesn't cherish you, then I will."
Shimizu thought to himself.
If he blocked the spring from which Uchiha Itachi was born, would Itachi still come into the world?
Shimizu was very curious about the answer.
That afternoon.
Hokage Building.
Hiruzen Sarutobi sat in silence, looking at the application in his hands.
After a long while, he set it down.
It was Uchiha Shimizu's application for early graduation, which Shimizu's Chunin instructor had handed to him ten minutes earlier.
"Asuma, I'll leave this matter to you."
"Got it. Stop giving me these troublesome jobs."
Asuma Sarutobi walked out, looking annoyed.
"Have I really failed so badly as a father?"
Smoke drifted from Hiruzen Sarutobi's mouth and out the window.
He wanted his son to become an excellent shinobi, and this was his way of paving the path for him.
But Asuma Sarutobi's rebelliousness gave Hiruzen Sarutobi a serious headache.
Already far away, Asuma Sarutobi couldn't hear Hiruzen Sarutobi's muttering. He was too busy grumbling to himself about the old man.
The old man had never asked him to go to the Hokage Office before, but suddenly he'd told him to come by.
Asuma had thought his father was going to give him some kind of certificate of merit. Instead, he'd assigned him a mission.
He was supposed to visit Uchiha Shimizu that evening and feel him out about his Will of Fire. How was Asuma supposed to know whether Uchiha Shimizu had the Will of Fire?
He barely knew Uchiha Shimizu, yet the old man had given him this mission. He was just dumping another troublesome job on Asuma.
"I was going to invite Kurenai to dinner later, but now I don't have any time."
Asuma Sarutobi left the Hokage Building, bit through his lollipop, and casually tossed the stick onto the ground.
He was worried. Kurenai had been growing more and more distant lately. If he didn't find a way to cheer her up, they might drift apart.
But he couldn't just ignore the mission the old man had given him. No matter how strained their relationship was, his father was still the Hokage. Asuma had no reason not to follow orders.
"I've got it!"
Asuma Sarutobi suddenly lifted his bowed head, having thought of a way to kill two birds with one stone.
He hurried through Konoha's bustling streets, on his way to find Kurenai Yuhi.
Before you continue