Kushina Stood Her Ground

The clothes Uchiha Kurohane had worn carried his strong scent.

Uzumaki Mito was drawn to it.

Something she had long forgotten stirred within her.

She could not help burying her face in Uchiha Kurohane's clothes and breathing in deeply.

Then she smiled with pleasure.

"Ah, this boy smells wonderful."

"He has so much chakra, and he's so strong. Kushina is lucky to have met him."

Recalling what she had seen earlier, Uzumaki Mito felt a sincere envy of Kushina Uzumaki.

She knew Kushina had a happy life ahead of her.

At the same time, she felt sorry for Nawaki.

Uzumaki Mito knew what Nawaki was capable of. His meager chakra was no match for Uchiha Kurohane's.

He probably did not even have a fraction as much.

He could not compete with Uchiha Kurohane for Kushina.

"Ah, it looks like my plan to marry Kushina to Nawaki and bring the Senju Clan and Uzumaki Clan together again has failed."

"I'm sorry, Hashirama. Your dream won't come true."

Senju Hashirama had hoped the next generation would continue marrying into the Uzumaki Clan, deepening the bond between the two ninja clans.

But barely a dozen years later, the Wood Release experiments had left the Senju Clan a clan in name only, and the Village Hidden in the Whirlpools had been destroyed.

Almost everyone in both clans was dead.

Nawaki and Kushina Uzumaki might well be the only children left from either clan.

And one was a boy, the other a girl. They could have been a match.

It seemed like fate, a chance to fulfill the dream of Senju Hashirama and Senju Tobirama.

But now a Uchiha boy had appeared out of nowhere, and he was far more impressive than Nawaki.

Uzumaki Mito could see no way for Nawaki to turn things around.