Chapter 120: For the Uchiha Clan, Rebellion Is the Only Salvation!
Without wasting words, Oborotsuki pulled out the document Terumī Mei had given him earlier—the letter from the daimyō's office of the Land of Water.
"You can read, right?"
"…Do you think I'm illiterate?"
Mikoto rolled her eyes in mild exasperation.
She really had no words for this man sometimes.
"Good. Then read it yourself—I won't read it out loud for you."
Oborotsuki gave her a playful smile and handed over the letter.
Looking at the document in his hand, Mikoto hesitated for a moment, but eventually reached out, took it, and opened it.
Almost immediately, Oborotsuki saw the vivid play of emotions flash across her face.
The letter stated that the daimyō of the Land of Water had received a request from the daimyō of the Land of Wind.
The Land of Wind intended to invite the Land of Water to join them in taking action against the Land of Fire.
Sunagakure and Kirigakure would jointly move against Konoha.
Of course, all of this was conditional:
If Konoha refused to meet Sunagakure's demands.
Mikoto already understood the full context of the situation.
Among Sunagakure's demands was that the Uchiha clan hand over the culprit, compensate Sunagakure for all losses, and return the One-Tail Shukaku.
None of these three conditions were something the Uchiha clan would willingly accept.
And if they refused, Sunagakure would use that as justification to declare open war on Konoha.
"This is…"
"Is this real?"
After reading the contents, Mikoto was completely stunned.
Her hands trembled slightly, and her lips quivered.
She slowly lifted her gaze toward Oborotsuki and asked in disbelief:
"You think I'd go through the trouble of coming all this way just to show you a fake letter and deceive you?"
That silenced Mikoto.
After thinking it over carefully… yeah, it really didn't make sense for him to lie.
"In that case… why did you come all the way here just to tell us?"
"Isn't this supposed to be top-secret information? Kirigakure joining Sunagakure to attack Konoha—isn't that exactly what you want?"
Mikoto's mind raced. She fired off several questions in quick succession.
But Oborotsuki didn't answer any of them. He simply looked at her with that half-smiling, half-mocking expression.
After a few seconds of silence, Mikoto asked in a low, hesitant voice:
"What exactly… do you want…?"
"What I want is actually very simple."
Oborotsuki finally spoke:
"Remember what I told you last time?"
"When we meet again, I'll have a proper talk with you about what you'll need to pay in exchange for my help."
Mikoto's body gave a barely noticeable tremble.
Her heart raced, pounding wildly with tension and unease.
She had long since realized that Oborotsuki harbored ulterior motives toward her.
This young man kept coming to see her again and again—and always chose times when no one else was home.
Any normal person would understand what that meant.
Yet right now, Mikoto was pretending not to understand. She didn't want to say it out loud.
So she asked in confusion:
"I don't know."
"So tell me…"
Her voice dropped even lower, her mood growing more anxious and lost.
But Oborotsuki fell silent again. His gaze roamed up and down her figure with obvious interest.
Mikoto in her twenties was at the absolute peak of both beauty and maturity.
Her appearance, temperament—everything about her was top-tier.
And most importantly—she was the mother of the reincarnations of the Sage of Six Paths' two sons!
That alone made her far more valuable than ordinary women.
If he could have her bear him a child, the rewards would likely be extraordinarily generous.
"The Land of Wind is barren to begin with. Sunagakure has always lived in hardship."
"Now that this has happened to them, they're actually overjoyed in a way. Have you ever heard the saying?"
Oborotsuki suddenly changed the subject, completely ignoring Mikoto's earlier question.
"What saying?"
Mikoto, now completely lost on what to do, unconsciously followed his lead and asked.
"A barefoot person isn't afraid of someone wearing shoes."
"What… does that mean?"
"It means that in Sunagakure's current state—both the village and the Land of Wind—they have nothing left to lose. They can't afford to rebuild anyway."
"So they're not afraid of war at all!"
"To put it bluntly—no matter what choice the Uchiha clan makes this time, given the Land of Wind's attitude, they won't back down."
"You might think they'll take what they can get and leave—but take a closer look at this letter."
Oborotsuki pointed at the secret letter still in Mikoto's hand.
He wasn't talking nonsense.
This very letter was the clearest proof.
Sunagakure—or rather, the Land of Wind—had never intended to resolve this peacefully.
They would only demand more and more.
So no matter what the Uchiha did, they would end up exhausting themselves for nothing.
They wouldn't gain any recognition from Konoha. They would only continue being scapegoats, bearing the stigma for a lifetime.
At the same time, they might very well lose both money and men.
They'd pay a huge sum to Sunagakure on behalf of Uchiha Obito, hand over one elite clansman as an explanation,
And most importantly—they didn't even have the One-Tail Shukaku!
How were they supposed to return it to Sunagakure?
Hearing this, Mikoto lowered her head and looked at the letter again. Soon she noticed those seemingly minor but critical details and conditions.
Her body trembled lightly once more. Her breathing grew heavier:
"So you're saying… apart from rebellion, the Uchiha clan has no other path?"
Mikoto remembered what Oborotsuki had said earlier—that if the Uchiha wanted to resolve this crisis peacefully, the answer was simple: there was no solution.
So she had thought of another possibility.
The village leadership's attitude was already crystal clear: sacrifice the Uchiha to appease the Land of Wind's anger.
Since they were being squeezed from both sides and getting nothing in return, perhaps the Uchiha clan's only true path to self-salvation… really was to take the extreme option…
Oborotsuki looked at Mikoto with that same half-smiling, half-mocking expression and gave no direct answer to her question.
After a few seconds of silence, he spoke again:
"There actually is another way—one that doesn't require bloodshed or sacrifice."
"I already told you the method last time."
"The entire Uchiha clan secretly relocates to Kirigakure and accepts our protection."
"That way, the remaining conflict would be strictly between Sunagakure and Konoha."
"The choice is yours now. I've already given you the option."
With those words, Oborotsuki suddenly flashed in front of Mikoto.
"Now… let me collect a little interest first…"
"W-what are you doing?"
Mikoto instinctively tried to back away, but she couldn't escape his grasp.
In an instant, a powerful force seized the softest, most vulnerable part deep within her soul.
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