"Uzumaki Aizen was thirteen years older than Yanbai. Because of his status, he had to shoulder the Uzumaki Clan's marriage alliance obligations. Until a suitable match was found, he wouldn't marry."
"Although Uzumaki Aizen had no principal wife, he became a father at fifteen. He was a promiscuous womanizer with plenty of women, and he already had ten children by different mothers."
"If Uzumaki Aizen's marriage partner were Yanbai, Father would definitely require him to marry into the Senju Clan. He certainly couldn't bring his women along, but most of his children would probably come with him."
"If you could dig up Uzumaki Aizen's history, you'd understand. That man never let go of anything he wanted. To get what he wanted, there was nothing he wouldn't do."
"If he saw Yanbai..."
The night air over the Senju Clan Grounds brimmed with the scent of nature.
It was the vitality rising from the earth, the fresh scent given off by the trees, and the vigor radiating from the fat of animals racing across the fields.
The revelry that should have continued all night had stopped when Princess Senju returned.
Uzumaki Aizen quietly walked along a wall covered in flowering vines, as though the moonlight had swallowed every sound.
It was already late at night, and few people were out.
The shadowy plants, vines, and fragrant flowers offered certain dangerous creatures excellent camouflage.
If someone took a kunai and stabbed into the vine-wrapped shadows, at least a few out of ten attempts would make those shadows convulse. Then, as though someone had poked a hornet's nest, the entire vine-covered wall would writhe.
Under the moonlight, Uzumaki Aizen wore the Uzumaki Clan's standard attire. He was handsome, looking about seventeen or eighteen, with the clan's signature long, blood-red hair, but his face