Shin Uchiha stood atop Hokage Rock, quietly gazing at Konoha, into which the Fifth Hokage had poured her heart and soul. There was no telling what was on his mind.
Although he had already moved nearly the entire Uchiha Clan out of Konoha, a dozen or so households still remained.
Once Sasuke Uchiha and the others-the last group of Uchiha attending school in Konoha-graduated, these remaining clan members would also move to Whirlpool Island.
Although a Ninja Academy had already been established in the Uchiha District on Whirlpool Island a few years earlier, and some of the clan members in Konoha had wanted to transfer their children there,
Shin Uchiha had rejected their requests so that Sasuke could form a bond with Naruto.
Of course, Clan Leader Shin Uchiha certainly had not rejected the proposal merely because it made being intimate with Mikoto more convenient.
At that thought, Shin Uchiha could not help wanting to laugh.
Over the past few years, Uchiha Fugaku had been as good as dead, never returning even once. If Shin Uchiha had not been able to sense his location and condition through the space mark, he would have suspected the man had already kicked the bucket.
And Mikoto, the woman who had initiated him into that side of life, had borne him two children over these past few years, just as Tsunade had.
Of course, as far as outsiders were concerned, these were all Uchiha Fugaku's children.
Since news did not travel very freely between Konoha and Whirlpool Island, the clan members who remained in Konoha assumed that whenever Uchiha Mikoto disappeared, she had gone to Whirlpool Island to see Uchiha Fugaku.
Her two children were therefore entirely legitimate in their eyes.
What they did not know was that during Uchiha Mikoto's absences, she was