Main World.
Konoha Year 27, autumn.
British Continent, New Capital.
Shopping street.
The autumn sunlight spilled over the broad street, making the glass storefronts on either side glitter. Pedestrians thronged the street, some wearing the Empire's standard dark gray uniforms, some in ordinary work clothes, and some in the priestly robes of the Mechanical God Cult. Everyone's face held an indescribable calm-not numbness, but the calm of having something to look forward to.
Mikoto walked beside Kushina, dressed in a pale purple kimono, her hair pinned up to reveal her slender neck. She carried a woven bamboo shopping basket containing a few pieces of fabric, a packet of tea, and a small jar of honey. She had not gone shopping in a long time. Even back at the Uchiha Clan Compound, she had rarely gone shopping. Not because she did not want to, but because she could not. The clan head's wife going shopping would draw too much attention. Now that she was a maid, she could go instead. No one recognized her, no one would point and whisper behind her back, and no one would say, "That's the Uchiha Clan Head's wife." She was just Mikoto. An ordinary woman wearing a kimono and carrying a shopping basket.
Kushina walked beside her in a dark red kimono, her long red hair falling loose over her shoulders like a burning flame in the sunlight. She, too, carried a woven bamboo shopping basket, hers containing a few pastries, a packet of candy, and a cookbook. She was Consort Xin, but she never put on airs when she went shopping. Not because she did not want to, but because she had no need to. The Empire's subjects recognized her and would bow when they saw her, but they would not gather to stare.