Chapter 88 (Patreon)

The Nine-Tails was absolutely livid.

If he had not been careless enough to get caught, would a Sharingan really have controlled him that easily? It was not as though every Uchiha was Madara.

He was certain that the masked man from that night had been nowhere near Madara’s level.

The sneak attack had only succeeded because it came immediately after the Nine-Tails had been torn from Kushina, when his mind was still unsettled and his guard was down.

If the circumstances had been even slightly different...

The Nine-Tails’ anger suddenly faltered.

Come to think of it, he did not actually have any reliable way to defend himself against Sharingan genjutsu.

With Roy helping her calm down, Kushina gradually regained her composure, and her usual sharp mind began working again.

She refused to believe that someone could change so completely without a reason. Something must have happened to make Minato’s student, Uchiha Obito, turn against the village and destroy his teacher’s family.

Although Kushina had remained in Konoha throughout the Third Shinobi World War and never set foot on the battlefield, she had still heard about many of the events that occurred during it.

And when talking about Obito, it was impossible to ignore his teammates, who had also been Minato’s students—Kakashi Hatake and Rin Nohara.

Obito’s feelings for Rin had never been much of a secret. Yet not long after Obito supposedly died, Rin was killed by Kakashi.

The girl he loved had died at the hands of the closest friend to whom he had entrusted his Sharingan. That alone would have been enough to break almost anyone, especially an Uchiha, whose emotions ran deeper than most.

Kushina had only just learned how deeply the Uchiha loved and what that love could become after they lost someone precious.

“Was it because of Rin’s death?” Kushina asked. “Did he hate Kakashi for killing her? And Minato for failing to reach them in time?”

“Yes. Those things certainly played a part.”

Roy’s answer was still too vague.

Kushina frowned. “There’s more, isn’t there?”

Roy glanced at the Nine-Tails, who had gone strangely quiet, and lowered his voice.

“Uchiha Madara was involved as well.”

“Impossible!”

The Nine-Tails immediately bristled, becoming even more agitated than when the masked man had been mentioned.

“Madara was killed by Senju Hashirama decades ago—”

However, the moment he saw Roy’s calm expression, the Nine-Tails realized there was more to the story.

“Back then, Madara sacrificed the sight in one of his Sharingan to activate an Uchiha forbidden technique and fake his death. In truth, he survived all the way into the Third Shinobi World War. What happened at Kannabi Bridge and Rin Nohara’s death at Kakashi’s hands were both events he had orchestrated from behind the scenes. His goal was to drive Obito into darkness so that he could use him to carry out a plan.”

The Uchiha were a clan that felt love more deeply than any other. When that love was lost, the hatred that replaced it could be just as powerful.

Kushina finally understood why that old bastard Madara had chosen Obito.

Unlike many of the cold and aloof Uchiha, Obito had always been cheerful and openhearted. He genuinely cared about everyone in the village. Even Kakashi, who had shut himself off from others following his father’s suicide, had gradually begun to change because of Obito’s persistence.

For someone like Madara, who understood the Uchiha better than almost anyone, Obito must have seemed like the perfect target.

Kushina did not ask what Madara’s plan was.

She had only just discovered the truth about Obito and still needed time to process everything.

One was the brat who used to spend every day grinning foolishly whenever Rin was nearby. The other was the cold and ruthless masked man who had attacked Konoha.

If Roy had not told her himself, Kushina could never have connected those two people.

If she had been born with the Sharingan, the turmoil she was experiencing might have been enough to awaken a three-tomoe Sharingan on the spot.

She had no room left to worry about whatever Madara might have been planning.

Over the next few days, many people noticed that the usually cheerful Hokage no longer had even the slightest smile on her face.

“Kushina, did something happen?”

Hiruzen had arrived in high spirits, eager to announce that their work on simplifying Earth Release ninjutsu had succeeded. However, the moment he saw Kushina’s expressionless face, his chest tightened.

He had known Kushina for a long time.

Apart from the first month after Minato’s death, he had never seen her like this.

“It’s nothing. Just a family matter.”

“Is Naruto causing trouble and keeping you from resting?” Hiruzen asked. “Would you like me to find someone to help take care of him?”

Hiruzen thought of Nonō Yakushi, the woman Kushina had previously hired to look after Naruto. She was now working as a teacher at the Academy.

Without anyone helping her care for the child, it would have been a miracle if Kushina managed to get enough rest.

Back when Hiruzen’s own children were young, Biwako had often been run ragged even with members of the Sarutobi clan helping her. There had been plenty of times when exhaustion caused her temper to flare.

Kushina clearly did not want to discuss the matter any further, so she immediately changed the subject.

Meanwhile, the shinobi from Iwagakure and Kumogakure safely returned to their respective villages.

Upon learning that the Fifth Hokage had genuinely taught them the Sealing Jutsu they had requested, Ōnoki grew suspicious all over again.

He could not believe Konoha would be so generous without a reason. There had to be some deeper purpose behind the training program, but no matter how much he thought about it, he could not figure out what Konoha stood to gain.

In the end, he decided to continue testing them.

Kumogakure was far less suspicious.

They had learned the promised Sealing Jutsu, and Yugito, despite being held in Konoha as a hostage, was being treated well. That was enough to show them that Konoha’s new Hokage could be trusted to keep her word.

A entrusted every remaining Uzumaki sealing scroll in Kumogakure’s possession to Mabui and sent her back to Konoha.

News of what the Iwagakure and Kumogakure shinobi had learned soon reached Sunagakure and the other major powers.

Many of those who possessed Uzumaki scrolls or relics became interested. Apart from a few especially suspicious groups that chose to continue watching from the sidelines, the others gathered their money and scrolls before setting out for Konoha.

Among them was Sunagakure.

Roy had expected the Hidden Sand to join the first group of students, yet it had remained absent. Now, however, it could no longer afford to wait.

Bunpuku, the One-Tail’s jinchūriki, had died while imprisoned.

Although Kazekage Rasa had managed to seal the freed Tailed Beast again in time and select a new jinchūriki, not every jinchūriki could be another Bunpuku.

With Sunagakure’s current Sealing Jutsu, the new jinchūriki would most likely be unable to keep the One-Tail restrained. If the beast broke free, the destruction it caused within the village could easily outweigh whatever deterrence it offered against outside enemies.

Konoha was now offering Sealing Jutsu training, and both Kumogakure and Iwagakure had confirmed that the instruction was genuine. There was no longer any reason for Sunagakure to hesitate.

However, there was still one problem.

Although Sunagakure possessed several Sealing Jutsu left behind by the Uzumaki clan, they were all low-level techniques that held little value.

The tuition for advanced Sealing Jutsu was also extremely high, and money was precisely what Sunagakure lacked most.

After holding several meetings with his advisers and village elders, Rasa finally decided to send a group of students to Konoha.

They carried every Uzumaki relic in Sunagakure’s possession but did not bring a single ryō.

Elder Chiyo personally led the group. She intended to negotiate with Konoha and see whether they could pay the tuition with something other than money.

Of the Five Great Shinobi Villages, only Kirigakure had been slow to act.

No one outside the Hidden Mist knew what it was planning. Did Kirigakure simply not value the Uzumaki clan’s Sealing Jutsu?

That seemed unlikely.

In the past, Kirigakure had possessed the greatest geographical advantage and had been one of the most aggressive villages when it came to seizing the Uzumaki clan’s techniques.

Roy had missed only one day of accompanying Kushina to work, yet when he returned, she had quite the surprise waiting for him.

“Did you just say you went outside the village today to see how well the irrigation technique worked in practice?” Roy stared at Kushina in astonishment after hearing her account.

Kushina did not understand why he looked so shocked.

“Yeah. We tested it on the farmland east of the village. It worked even better than we expected. In half a day, five ordinary people who weren’t even shinobi managed to irrigate more than six and a half acres.”

“The farmland east of the village is nearly seven or eight kilometers away, isn’t it?!”