After leaving Uchiha Fugaku, Uchiha Mikoto gradually moved away from the core area of the Uchiha Clan compound and arrived where ordinary clan members lived.
"Mikoto, you're back?"
By the roadside, two elderly Uchiha greeted her kindly.
Uchiha Mikoto smiled politely at them and returned their greeting before entering the house assigned to her.
Ever since she had deliberately exposed her Sharingan and been brought back into the Uchiha Clan, she had received this fairly well-located residence, along with the clan's benefits.
At the very least, she did not need to worry about making a living.
Though she had not needed to worry about that before either...
"Click."
After sliding the wooden door shut, Uchiha Mikoto neither washed up nor did any housework. Instead, she sat in seiza alone in the living room and closed her eyes to rest.
Only after quite a while, as though she had confirmed something, did she open her eyes again.
"Tap, tap, tap..."
Uchiha Mikoto rose to her feet. Her slender, lovely figure produced a string of crisp, pleasant clacks as her wooden sandals crossed the floor.
But as she gradually moved deeper into the house, she stopped, looked back, and lifted a floorboard after confirming no one was there.
A hole was revealed.
Uchiha Mikoto looked down, and her eyes suddenly turned blood-red as a pair of tomoe slowly revolved within them.
She jumped down.
"Click."
After replacing the floorboard to conceal the opening, she walked along the tunnel.
With the Sharingan, she felt no fear in such darkness.
Of course, she had walked this passage many times before.
Its endpoint was a shop outside the Uchiha Clan compound—the largest ninja tool specialty store in Konoha.
Since the Uchiha Clan compound had not been far from Konoha's center when the village was founded,