The Root Cause of Uzushio Village's Fall

Uzushio Village and Konoha were allies, and when Uzushio Village came under attack, Konoha did send its best shinobi to help.

Kagami Uchiha, Shimura Danzō, and nearly all of Root—that force was enough to fight a small war. Barring an outlier like the Land of Rain, they could have destroyed any small nation without much trouble.

No one could say Konoha had done little to help Uzushio Village. Even Mito Uzumaki had no grounds to complain.

Besides, other nations had never looked kindly on Uzushio Village or the Land of Whirlpools. The Uzumaki Clan led the village and held the title of daimyo. What were the daimyo of other nations supposed to think of that?

So shinobi get to be daimyo now? What does that make the rest of us?

Do you really think having the blood of the Sage of Six Paths makes you special?

Even without their Sealing Jutsu, the Land of Whirlpools would have been targeted by other nations sooner or later. The daimyo of the Land of Fire himself might not have welcomed Uzushio Village.

In a sense, the seeds of Uzushio Village's destruction had been planted the day it was founded.

Konoha hadn't expected Uzushio Village to have already fallen by the time its forces arrived. The shinobi of unknown origin were far stronger than anyone had imagined, too. Even Kagami Uchiha and most of Root had died there. Bringing Kushina Uzumaki back at all was an extraordinary feat.

Konoha had fulfilled its duty as an ally.

It was unclear whether Mito Uzumaki intended to make Kushina Uzumaki a Jinchūriki. If she did, Kushina would receive Konoha's best protection and wouldn't have to go on missions like other shinobi. That would protect her and allow the Uzumaki Clan's legacy to endure in Konoha.

Hiruzen Sarutobi, however, feared that Kushina Uzumaki might one day grow beyond his control. He had no intention of making her a Jinchūriki.

After lunch, Uchiha Mikoto packed up the lunchbox and left. Over that single meal, though, she and Kushina Uzumaki had become good friends.

Friendship didn't always take years to form. Sometimes two people simply clicked.

To Kushina Uzumaki, Uchiha Mikoto was clearly someone she could call a friend.

The afternoon classes passed quickly. Neither Uchiha Yi nor Uchiha Mikoto stayed at school to train. Unlike ordinary shinobi from civilian families, those from clans like theirs usually went home to train.

The training facilities there were far better than the school's.

Some clan shinobi could even receive guidance from their elders. That was one reason they were often stronger than shinobi from civilian families.

"Yi, Mikoto, see you tomorrow." When the three reached the school gates, Kushina Uzumaki said goodbye.

Kushina Uzumaki lived in the Senju Clan's ancestral home, in the opposite direction from the Uchiha Clan Compound. If she could have, she would have liked to walk home with them a little longer.

"See you tomorrow, Uzumaki."

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

"Sorry for the trouble, Mikoto!"

"It's no trouble. I only have to cook a little extra. It won't be any more work." Uchiha Mikoto smiled, her eyes narrowing. Once Kushina Uzumaki had left, she turned to Uchiha Yi, her voice taking on a pointed edge. "Kushina's cute, isn't she? What do you think, Yi?"

The way she said "Yi" sent a shiver down Uchiha Yi's spine.

Still, he changed the subject. "Didn't you two get along well?"

He told her what had happened in class. "I didn't expect her to pay so much attention to me because of it."

Uchiha Mikoto frowned. "Are you sure Kushina approached you because you helped her?"

"That seems most likely. It's not as if she fell in love with me at first sight, right?" Uchiha Yi fell silent as soon as he said it.

Another possibility occurred to him. His father had only just died on a mission, and Kushina Uzumaki had been brought to Konoha in the past few days. By now, the fall of Uzushio Village was no secret.

Some villagers had even spent the past few days demanding that the people who destroyed Uzushio Village be found and made to pay for what they'd done to the Uzumaki Clan.

But the village leadership apparently had no desire to start a war over it. Apart from Konoha, the other major villages had probably all been involved in Uzushio Village's fall. If Konoha took action, the Second Shinobi World War would break out.

No one wanted that.

Was it because of Kagami Uchiha?

Had his father given his life to bring him a future wife?

For that matter, if he ended up with both Uchiha Mikoto and Kushina Uzumaki, what would happen to Naruto and Sasuke?

Would they be his children? Or would they be born to other Uchiha, Uzumaki, or even Senju descendants?

Ahem. Uchiha Yi did have to say one thing in Hiruzen Sarutobi's defense: many people called him a scheming old fox and claimed that he and Shimura Danzō had brought about the Senju Clan's downfall.

In fact, Tobirama Senju had disbanded the Senju Clan himself. Most of its members had joined Konoha's civilian population, while some had gone to the Daimyo's Residence.

Hashirama Senju's son had married the daimyo's daughter, and they'd had Tsunade and Nawaki. He now led that branch of the Senju Clan at the Daimyo's Residence.

It was a way of spreading their bets. Tobirama Senju's political wisdom shouldn't be underestimated.

The Uchiha, by contrast, had fixed their attention on the Konoha Military Police Force. They wouldn't even realize they'd been sold out. If they'd made preparations outside the village, their clan might not have been wiped out.

Unfortunately, the Uchiha couldn't take the path to the Daimyo's Residence—at least, not yet.

"Come on, let's go home. Grandpa's going to teach you how to use your Sharingan today." Seeing that Uchiha Yi seemed to have realized something, Uchiha Mikoto smiled. A flicker of envy passed through her eyes.

Uchiha Yi's strength had once been close to hers, but since he awakened his Sharingan, she had been no match for him.

As one of the Uchiha Clan's most talented young women, Uchiha Mikoto found that hard to accept. More than anything, she didn't want Uchiha Yi to leave her too far behind.

Meanwhile, Kushina Uzumaki skipped into Mito Uzumaki's room. "Grandma Mito, I'm back!"

"There you are, Kushina! How did you get along with your classmates?" Mito Uzumaki beckoned Kushina Uzumaki to sit beside her and asked with a kindly smile.

The destruction of the Uzumaki Clan did not seem to have left the old woman overwhelmed with grief.