Whoosh—
A gentle breeze swept over the hillside, carrying a faint, soothing warmth.
On a small hill, Juri stood at the summit with a desolate expression, letting the mountain wind lift her long hair. The confusion on her face was impossible to hide.
She had always harbored resentment and bitterness toward the father she had never met, but when she heard with her own ears last night that the man was already dead, an incredibly complicated storm of emotions rose within her.
No matter what, the bond of blood could never be cast aside. No matter how much she hated that man, he had still been her only family in this world. But now, she truly was all alone.
Tap, tap, tap...
Footsteps sounded behind her, drawing closer. Enkō slowly walked to Juri's side. Not knowing how to comfort her, he simply stood quietly beside her in silence.
"When I was little, my mother often told me stories about herself and that man," Juri suddenly said. "I could feel how much she missed him and how deep her feelings for him were. But he never appeared."
"I once wanted to abandon the Uchiha Clan name, but my mother was unusually insistent about it. Even before she died, she repeatedly told me not to hate that man. It was on that day that I gained these eyes."
After she said that, silence fell over the hill once more. Enkō could sense the turmoil in Juri's heart, but he could not truly relate to it. After a long while, he softly asked, "Sister Juri, what do you plan to do now?"
Juri withdrew her gaze from the distance. "I want to visit the Uchiha Clan first. I want to see the place where he used to live, then learn about him for