Chapter 277: It Is a Wife's Duty to Collect Her Husband's Remains
When Amemiya Kenichi found Sasuke, Sasuke was crying, and Mikoto stood beside him with reddened eyes. It was obvious she was the one who had hit him.
Kenichi scratched his head. To be honest, he had planned to discipline Sasuke himself once he came out.
Kenichi knew Sasuke was still young, and in a way, what happened today was understandable. But Sasuke's actions had still put Kenichi, Sasuke, and Mikoto in an extremely dangerous position.
A lesson was necessary.
He just hadn't expected Mikoto to act first.
Still, that made sense.
This was Konoha, Konoha with Tsunade in it. And even if Tsunade hadn't been there, the Third Hokage alone was not an easy opponent. The current Third Hokage was not the frail old man of the future, either.
If Sasuke hadn't shouted, Kenichi could have taken his time weighing whether to save Mikoto and how to get her out.
But Sasuke shouted, forcing Kenichi into an awkward dilemma.
Now, from the way Mikoto's eyes were red, it was clear she understood that perfectly. That was why she hit him.
"Did you… discipline him?" Kenichi asked politely.
This had nothing to do with strength. It was simply respect for an elder, the same way people naturally addressed someone older with proper courtesy.
"I'm sorry, Mr. Amemiya. My son caused you trouble." Mikoto bowed immediately, a deep ninety degree bow, sincere to the point it was hard to doubt. Sasuke, wiping his tears, also mumbled an apology.
Kenichi felt a little embarrassed to stay angry.
Their attitude was genuinely earnest, and Sasuke's age mattered.
Kenichi could not compare Sasuke to himself. When Kenichi was Sasuke's age, he was just a runny nosed kid who would cry even in kindergarten. Sasuke's behavior now had a lot to do with Mikoto's upbringing.
"It's nothing. Sasuke has always behaved well. He just hasn't seen his mother in a long time, so he got a little too excited today." Kenichi waved it off politely.
Since he had brought Mikoto and Fugaku's remains out, he had to make good use of that favor.
Still, looking at the gentle woman in front of him, Kenichi was curious.
To be honest, he could not understand why Mikoto would appear in a place like that.
Mikoto's strength was not particularly high. Kenichi had once heard Shisui mention that Fugaku's wife had been a Konoha jonin before becoming a housewife.
Jonin sounded impressive, but there were clear gaps even among jonin. Mikoto was obviously one of the more average ones.
Of course, some jonin were usually low key and only erupted at critical moments. Guy was the classic example.
"What a pity. I never got the Eight Gates." Kenichi sighed. If he could obtain the Eight Gates, it would also raise his combat power.
But what puzzled him was this.
To become a jonin, you had to have at least basic intelligence analysis ability. With Fugaku's remains hanging at the Konoha gate, anyone could tell it was a trap.
So a ninja like Mikoto should not be unaware that if she came to Konoha, not only would she fail to retrieve her husband's remains, she might even die there herself.
If that was the case, why come?
"To bury my fallen husband, that is my duty as his wife." Mikoto answered gently, a soft smile on her lips.
Kenichi froze.
He truly had not expected that reason.
But when he looked into Mikoto's eyes, he understood. She had entered Konoha with the resolve to die.
She just had not expected her luck to be bad enough to run into Tsunade. She did not even get the chance to take her own life. Tsunade captured her alive, and that triggered everything that came after.
"What about the Uchiha who escaped from Konoha with you back then? Where are they now?" Kenichi asked again.
He also wanted to know whether Shisui and Itachi had found those Uchiha who fled. If not, then the Uchiha would owe him an even bigger favor.
"After we left Konoha…" Mikoto started to explain their wandering story, but before she could continue, Kenichi interrupted her.
He did not want to discuss those things near Konoha.
If Konoha's ninja overheard them, or if Konoha's trackers latched onto them, it would be a massive headache. Some Konoha ninja specialized in tracking, after all.
So Kenichi invited Mikoto into his airship.
"…I saw this thing at home last time, but I didn't expect it to be this big…" Mikoto touched the interior in surprise.
The matter of Shisui leading a portion of the clan out to seek a way forward was only known to a handful within the Uchiha. Mikoto knew because it involved her two sons.
That day, she kept watching. When she saw the Third Hokage rush out, she almost could not stop herself from activating her Sharingan and chasing after him.
She knew how strong the Third Hokage was. She knew the gap between herself and him.
But her sons were there.
Fortunately, no one was captured and dragged back. And Mikoto, who had activated her Sharingan, had also seen the flying airship. Even if she only watched for a short time, she had seen it clearly.
"This thing can carry a lot of people. How many clan members did you have?" Kenichi chatted with Mikoto while using Wind Release chakra to rapidly raise the airship higher.
"…This time, only seventy seven clan members were willing to leave Konoha." Mikoto's eyes dimmed.
She still remembered that day, the way she and her husband embraced and said goodbye.
Fugaku smiled, then walked out the door to die, buying them time.
And she, as the clan head's wife, had not accompanied him into battle in his final moment.
That regret would follow her for the rest of her life.
If not for Itachi and Sasuke, the children she could not abandon, she would have stayed, no matter what.
But after leaving Konoha, she learned that her husband's remains were hanging at Konoha's gate.
It shattered her.
That year, she constantly dreamed of Fugaku coming to her with a smile, telling her to take care of Itachi and Sasuke.
Yet she did not even know where her sons were.
After countless torments and countless searches, she found nothing.
In the end, Mikoto made a decision.
She would return to Konoha and collect Fugaku's remains, so he could finally rest in peace.
"Itachi, Shisui, and the Uchiha who left earlier… they've all been searching for you." Kenichi did not know how much Mikoto had been carrying.
He was focused on piloting the airship toward the location Mikoto had given.
But she had only been able to describe it roughly, so for now, he could only choose a direction and move.
"Yes. Sasuke told me." Mikoto smiled.
She had already learned their location from Sasuke, but she never expected it to be the Land of Rice Fields. It was almost absurd.
The Land of Rice Fields was north of Konoha, while they had been hiding south of Konoha.
"Amemiya big brother… I'm sorry. I was too impatient earlier…" Sasuke came over, tugging carefully at Kenichi's clothes. He lowered his head, full of remorse.
After being scolded by his mother, Sasuke finally understood how much trouble his earlier cry of "Mom" had brought to Kenichi and Mikoto.
He had seen it clearly. If he had simply stayed quiet, things could have been resolved much more smoothly.
Instead, Kenichi had been forced to spend enormous effort cleaning it up. There had even been life threatening danger.
Little Sasuke felt crushing guilt.
Kenichi was no longer angry.
Sasuke was still young. It was not worth staying furious with him.
So Kenichi smiled, ruffled Sasuke's hair, and reminded him to think before speaking next time.
Then he continued south through the Land of Fire.
In Konoha, Naruto was rolling around on his bed in misery.
"The method Amemiya big brother taught is so hard!" Naruto groaned.
He had tried refining chakra all day, but he just could not do it.
Every time he tried, he felt something disrupting it, scattering it. He failed again and again.
"Ugh… I'll definitely… succeed!" Naruto muttered, then took small bites of the grilled fish beside him, chewing and swallowing the cold meat.
These were the fish he had brought back from the stream earlier.
Amemiya big brother and that strange kid had eaten two, but Naruto still had three left.
Even after Amemiya big brother left, Naruto used a stick to hook a few stunned fish floating on the surface and dragged them back, solving dinner.
"But the fish Amemiya big brother grilled was really delicious… hehehe." Naruto smiled to himself, remembering what happened today.
After being isolated and avoided for so long, it was the first time someone had interacted with him like that, without contempt or disgust.
"Mom, Dad… I finally made a friend!" Naruto spoke softly to the empty room, sounding proud. "He's kind of a weird guy, and there was also a big brother who was really good to me!"
In the small room, Naruto continued talking to himself, smiling as if the loneliness could not touch him.
...
[TL: Check out my newly Released fanfic]
[TITLE: Starting in One Piece with Vector Manipulation]