Nine-Tails, Offer Up Your Heart

After settling the matter of Tailed Beast distribution, Hashirama immediately announced that Konoha would form an alliance with Uzushiogakure.

No one objected to that.

The next day, Uzushiogakure sent representatives to Konoha.

Such extraordinary efficiency had clearly been arranged in advance by the Hokage couple.

Toji could understand Mito Uzumaki's thinking.

After the Tailed Beasts were sold off, the major shinobi villages' demand for Sealing Jutsu would inevitably increase dramatically. The Uzumaki Clan, which possessed the strongest Sealing Jutsu heritage in the Shinobi World, would naturally become a fat prize exposed to a pack of wolves.

Only by tying themselves to Konoha could they secure their own safety and serve as the arbiters of this "Tailed Beast game."

Following that line of thought, the Uzumaki Clan had voluntarily given up competing for the Tailed Beasts. Being both the arbiters and players in the game would only invite a joint assault from the nations.

However, Mito Uzumaki would never have imagined it.

That Konoha, founded by her husband and entrusted to it by her entire clan, would one day abandon its staunchest ally and ultimately stand by as the Uzumaki Clan was exterminated.

Kushina, the gifted red-haired princess with pure Uzumaki blood, happened to be sent to Konoha on the eve of her clan's destruction. As a child, she suffered exclusion and bullying throughout the village, and after growing up, she still had to take on the shackles of being a Jinchuriki.

Seeking advantage and avoiding harm was instinctive in the shinobi world.

But preying on an extinct family was rather disgraceful.

Toji met Uzushiogakure's envoy at the Hokage Building.

The one representing Uzushio in signing an alliance treaty with Konoha was the leader of Uzushiogakure: Ashina Uzumaki.

The Uzumaki Clan's trademark red hair had lost more than half its luster