Main World.
Year thirty of Konoha, summer.
British Continent, New Capital.
Imperial Palace, a side pavilion in the garden.
The side pavilion stood on the eastern side of the garden, open on all four sides. Wind could pass through from every direction, making the curtains hanging from the corners of the eaves sway slightly. There were no unnecessary furnishings inside, only a low table, two cushions, and a pot of tea whose water had already been changed twice.
Kushina sat on the cushion closer to the outside. The cup of tea before her had gone cold and been warmed again. She did not drink it, merely kept it beside her hand and glanced at it occasionally.
Toyotomi Jinsyokuin sat on the other side. He had finished speaking and had been quiet for a while. He set his teacup down and did not touch it with his hands, simply leaving it on the tabletop.
Kushina did not respond immediately. She seemed to be rearranging what she had just heard-she had heard all those words, but had not yet settled them all into place.
When she spoke, her tone was fairly level, but a little slower than usual. "Go on, then. What fine things have you people done?"
Jin Zhiyin's tone did not change. He sounded as though he were relaying a record whose outcome had already been verified, rather than a discovery just made. "We saved the Uzumaki clanspeople, but... the Uzumaki Clan and Konoha have turned against each other. A few days ago, those Uzumaki clanspeople collectively agreed to strip Mito Uzumaki of her Uzumaki surname. The reason-betraying the Uzumaki Clan."
Kushina looked away from him.
She looked toward the vines stirring in the wind outside the pavilion, as though searching for somewhere that did not need to be stared