"I…"
Senju Mio suddenly tightened her grip on the kunai in her hand. Her knuckles turned pale from the force.
Facing Uchiha Katsu's burning gaze, she shook her head fiercely and spoke with absolute resolve, word by word, "I can't go with you, Katsu."
It was only a light sentence, yet it exploded beside Uchiha Katsu's ears like thunder.
"What did you say?!"
Uchiha Katsu's arm holding the katana suddenly stiffened. The chakra surging around his body instantly froze, and his crimson two-tomoe Sharingan widened abruptly.
The heat and expectation in his eyes froze bit by bit, leaving only shock.
He even forgot to breathe. He simply stared blankly at Senju Mio, as if he were meeting for the first time the person he had been so happy to protect.
After a long while...
"Why?", Uchiha Katsu asked in a hoarse voice.
He staggered a step forward. The fierce killing intent around him completely dissipated, leaving only confusion and helplessness in his heart.
"I'll take you away. We'll go to a town where no one knows us and live ordinary lives. Why won't you agree?"
"You don't understand.", Senju Mio closed her eyes. When she opened them again, only heavy responsibility remained in them.
She looked at him and said, "Because I belong to the Senju."
"Katsu, the survival of the clan is far more important than my personal love."
"This marriage alliance is the foundation of the alliance between the Senju and the Uzumaki. I can't let the entire clan fall into danger just for myself."
"Personal interests will always be beneath the interests of the entire clan!"
"A clan…"
Uchiha Katsu repeated these two words in a low voice. His expression darkened at a visible speed, sinking like deep ice in a cold pool.
The crimson Sharingan in his eyes spun even more violently, and the aura around him turned cold and piercing again.
Katsu truly could not understand what was worth such sacrifice in that so-called clan, that she would give up everything like this, even willingly sacrificing her entire life.
He could not understand because from beginning to end, the two of them had lived in completely different worlds.
He was an orphan of the Uchiha clan. Since childhood he had no father or mother, growing up under the cold eyes, exclusion, and bullying of his clansmen.
To him, the Uchiha clan had never been a harbor. It was only a cold cage, shackles carved into his body.
That was why he could abandon everything without hesitation just to grasp the light in front of him.
But Senju Mio was the direct daughter of a Senju elder.
Since childhood she had been cherished in the palms of the clan. The Senju clan was her root, her home, the sense of belonging and responsibility carved into her bones.
To her, the safety of the clan would always outweigh romantic love.
"Heh…"
Uchiha Katsu stared fixedly at Senju Mio. He gripped the katana tightly, his knuckles turning white.
His voice carried anger suppressed to the extreme as he demanded harshly, "Just because of the Senju clan?! For you, I can even abandon the Uchiha!"
"I can give up my surname, give up my identity, leave that clan that brought me nothing but suffering!"
"But what about you? You cling to your Senju clan so tightly that you won't even take one step for me?!"
"No! You don't understand!", Senju Mio's expression became even more solemn, without the slightest retreat.
She raised her eyes and stared directly into Uchiha Katsu's crimson Sharingan. Her tone was cold and certain, each word stabbing into his heart like an ice spike.
"You will never understand, Katsu."
"I am the daughter of a Senju elder. From the moment I was born, I carried the responsibility and expectations of the clan. My life has always belonged only to the Senju clan."
"And you... you're just an Uchiha orphan with no father or mother, with nothing tying you down. Of course you can throw everything away as you please, but I can't!"
Buzz!
Those words were like the sharpest blade, stabbing straight through the most hidden and fragile scar in Uchiha Katsu's heart.
Katsu's defenses shattered.
Yes... He was an orphan.
Katsu's heart trembled violently. A sharp pain instantly swept through his entire body, and even breathing became difficult.
The past of being bullied by clansmen and growing up alone and helpless had just been dragged out by Senju Mio and placed nakedly between them as the gulf dividing them.
"Senju Mio!", Uchiha Katsu shouted hoarsely. His voice carried broken pain and extreme disbelief.
The two-tomoe Sharingan trembling violently in his eyes suddenly burst with a dazzling crimson light under the extreme heartbreak and emotional explosion.
The two tomoe spun rapidly and split apart. A third pitch-black tomoe appeared out of nowhere. The three tomoe rotated quietly in a triangular formation within the crimson pupil, strange and cold...
The two-tomoe Sharingan evolved directly into the three-tomoe Sharingan.
"Three-tomoe Sharingan! This kid actually evolved!"
"What exactly is the relationship between Miss and this kid?!", The nearby Senju experts' expressions changed drastically, their eyes filled with fear and shock.
Feeling the explosive surge of chakra and the cold killing intent erupting from Uchiha Katsu, they did not dare hesitate for even a moment. With an angry roar, they carried fierce chakra and charged forward again, "Prepare to die, Uchiha brat!"
But Uchiha Katsu did not even glance at the Senju expert attacking him.
He simply slowly turned his head and used his newly evolved three-tomoe Sharingan to look coldly and deeply at Senju Mio one last time.
In that gaze, there was no longer the gentleness from before, no longer the burning love.
There was only frozen silence and a light that had completely gone out.
The next second, Katsu's body suddenly shifted to the side, easily dodging the heavy attack from the Senju expert.
A white smoke bomb quickly formed in his palm and he smashed it hard onto the ground.
BOOM!
Thick white smoke instantly exploded outward, filling the entire ancient road and blocking everyone's vision.
By the time the smoke slowly dispersed, Uchiha Katsu was already gone from where he stood.
Only chaos remained on the ground, along with the cold, piercing chakra lingering in the air.
When the dust settled, the forest road returned to deathly silence.
Senju Mio looked toward the direction where Uchiha Katsu had disappeared. Her fingers clenched tightly, her knuckles pale, her expression extremely complicated.
Guilt churned in her heart.
Helplessness.
And a trace of panic she herself did not want to admit.
The moment those words that struck his deepest wound had left her mouth, she had already begun to regret them.
Was it too cruel to say something like that?
"Miss Mio, are you alright? What exactly is your relationship with that Uchiha brat? The conversation between the two of you just now truly left us confused!"
Several Senju experts immediately gathered around her, their expressions serious as they questioned her repeatedly.
They were all her uncles. That confrontation just now had been full of strange details, and they simply could not feel at ease.
Senju Mio's hand hanging at her side trembled slightly. She slowly withdrew her gaze. There was no emotion left on her face. She simply shook her head faintly, her voice calm and flat.
"I'm fine. Just an argument between old acquaintances. It's nothing serious."
With that light and casual reply, she tried to brush away all suspicion.
The uncles exchanged glances with one another. Each could see the doubt in the others' eyes.
'Old acquaintances with an Uchiha?'
However, they also knew Mio's temperament. No matter how much they asked, they would not get an answer.
Right now, escorting the marriage alliance procession was the top priority, and it was not suitable to cause further trouble.
The few of them immediately made up their minds to report this matter urgently to Mio's father, the Senju clan elder, once they arrived at the Uzumaki clan.
Senju Mio said nothing more. She turned and silently walked back into the carriage.
The moment the curtain fell, all her emotions finally dared to surface quietly, leaving only an unresolvable heaviness in her eyes.
"..."
═❀═❀═❀═❀═❀═❀═
[email protected]/XenosX
🥳Joining P@treon keeps me motivated and eager to work diligently, so please consider joining.🥰