The Root Cause of Uzushio Village's Fall

Chapter 9: The Root Cause of the Fall of Uzushio Village

Uzushio Village and Konoha were bound by an alliance, and when the village came under attack, Konoha did indeed dispatch high-level operatives to assist.

Kagami Uchiha, Shimura Danzō, and virtually the entirety of Root—such a lineup was enough to wage a small-scale war. If the objective was to wipe out a small country, leaving aside anomalies like the Land of Rain, no other nation could put up any real pressure.

It could not be said that Konoha provided meager assistance to Uzushio Village; even Mito Uzumaki could find no fault with their actions.

Furthermore, the very existence of Uzushio Village and the Land of Whirlpools was frowned upon by other nations. The Uzumaki Clan served as both the village leaders and the Daimyō—how were the Daimyō of other countries supposed to look at that?

Good grief, if you ninja are all going to become Daimyō, what are the rest of us supposed to do?

Did they truly believe they possessed the bloodline of the Sage of Six Paths?

Even without the matter of the sealing jutsu, the Land of Whirlpools was destined to be targeted by other nations sooner or later. To say nothing of other factors, the Daimyō of the Land of Fire hardly looked upon Uzushio Village with favor.

It could be said that the seeds of Uzushio Village's destruction were sown the moment it was founded.

Konoha had not expected that by the time they reached Uzushio Village, the place had already collapsed, and the strength of those mysterious ninja had far exceeded imagination. Even Kagami Uchiha and a large portion of Root perished there; managing to bring Kushina Uzumaki back home was already a feat of extreme preciousness.

It could also be considered fulfilling their duty as allies.

Mito Uzumaki had been uncertain whether she intended to make Kushina Uzumaki a Jinchūriki. If she were to become a Jinchūriki, she would receive Konoha's finest protection and would not need to go out on missions like other ninja; for Kushina Uzumaki, this was also a form of protection, and a way to ensure the Uzumaki Clan left a legacy in Konoha for the future.

Hiruzen Sarutobi, however, worried that Kushina Uzumaki might grow to a point where she became uncontrollable, and harbored no intention of making her a Jinchūriki.

After finishing her meal, Uchiha Mikoto packed up the lunchbox and departed. Yet through this single meal, Uchiha Mikoto and Kushina Uzumaki had already become good friends.

Encounters between people do not require lengthy periods of association; sometimes, a simple meeting of the eyes is all it takes to become friends.

For Kushina Uzumaki, Uchiha Mikoto was clearly just such a friend.

The afternoon classes ended quickly. Neither Uchiha Yi nor Uchiha Mikoto remained at the academy to train; unlike ordinary civilian ninja, clan-affiliated ninja like them were more inclined to return to their families for training.

The training environment there was vastly superior to that of the academy.

There were even ninja within their families to offer them pointers—this was one of the factors why clan ninja were often stronger than civilian ninja.

"Yi-kun, Mikoto, see you tomorrow." Arriving at the academy gates, the three parted ways as Kushina Uzumaki bid the two farewell.

Kushina Uzumaki lived in the ancestral residence of the Senju Clan, which lay in the exact opposite direction of the Uchiha Clan Compound. If she could, Kushina Uzumaki truly wished the walk home could take a little longer.

"See you tomorrow, classmate Uzumaki."

"See you tomorrow, Kushina, I'll bring you lunch!"

"Sorry for the trouble, Mikoto!"

"It's nothing, I'm just cooking a bit more, it doesn't add to my workload at all." Uchiha Mikoto smiled, her eyes narrowing into crescents. Once Kushina Uzumaki had walked away, her tone turned teasingly cool as she spoke to Uchiha Yi: "Classmate Kushina is quite lovely. What do you think, Yi-kun?"

The suffix of Yi-kun at the end made Uchiha Yi shudder involuntarily.

Still, he deliberately changed the subject: "Didn't you two get along quite well earlier?"

He recounted what had happened during the lesson: "I just didn't expect her to pay me so much extra attention because of it."

Uchiha Mikoto frowned. "Are you sure Kushina is approaching you simply because you helped her?"

"The probability of that is high. It couldn't possibly be love at first sight, could it?" At this, Uchiha Yi fell silent once more.

He thought of another possibility: his father had just fallen in battle on a mission, while Kushina Uzumaki had been brought to Konoha within the past few days, and news of the fall of Uzushio Village was no longer a secret.

In recent days, certain villagers had even been clamoring to hunt down those who had destroyed Uzushio Village and exact vengeance for the Uzumaki Clan.

It was just that the higher-ups seemingly had no desire to trigger a war over this. The destruction of Uzushio Village had likely involved participation from every major village outside of Konoha; the moment Konoha took action, the Second Shinobi World War would erupt.

No one wished to see such a thing happen.

Could it be because of Kagami Uchiha?

Was he using his own life to secure a daughter-in-law for himself?

Come to think of it, if he were to win over both Uchiha Mikoto and Kushina Uzumaki at the same time, what would become of the future Naruto and Sasuke?

Would they be his own children, or descendants of other Uchiha, Uzumaki, and even Senju bloodlines?

Ahem, on this point Uchiha Yi felt compelled to put in a good word for Hiruzen Sarutobi. Many people called the man an old schemer who, alongside Shimura Danzō, had schemed to drive the Senju Clan to ruin.

In reality, however, the Senju Clan had been disbanded by Tobirama Senju; the majority of the Senju had integrated into Konoha's civilian population, while another portion had headed off toward the Daimyō's Residence.

Hashirama Senju's son had married the Daimyō's daughter, fathering Tsunade and Nawaki, and currently led that fraction of the Senju Clan residing near the Daimyō's Residence.

This could also be considered a form of diversified investment—one must never underestimate Tobirama Senju's political wisdom.

Unlike the Uchiha, who stubbornly fixated on the Konoha Military Police Force and remained utterly oblivious even when sold out by others, if the Uchiha had genuinely made preparations outside, they would never have been driven to clan extermination.

Alas, a path like the Daimyō's Residence was temporarily closed off to the Uchiha—at least for the time being, it was impassable.

"Alright, let's head back. Grandpa still has to teach you how to use the Sharingan today." Seeing that Uchiha Yi seemed to have realized something, Uchiha Mikoto offered a wry smile, a trace of envy flashing in her eyes.

Previously, Uchiha Yi's strength had been roughly on par with her own, but ever since Yi awakened the Sharingan, she was no longer a match for him.

As a gifted daughter of the Uchiha Clan, Uchiha Mikoto found it difficult to accept such a reality, especially because she did not want to be left too far behind by Uchiha Yi.

Meanwhile, stepping with light, quick paces, Kushina Uzumaki entered Mito Uzumaki's house. "Grandma Mito, I'm back!"

"Ah, Kushina! How did you get along with your classmates?" Mito Uzumaki beckoned Kushina Uzumaki to sit beside her, inquiring with a gentle, kindly expression.

It seemed the destruction of the Uzumaki Clan had not brought an excess of grief and sorrow to this elderly woman.