For nearly two full days, Izunai had lain in bed with her head covered. Now, restless, she rose and began pacing the room.
Her mind was a mess. Long hours of thought had only left her more tangled. In her haste to unravel the knot in her heart, she had only made it worse—until it felt almost impossible to undo.
Unconsciously, Izunai picked up the rose from the vase on the table.
Its crimson hue, as red as the Sharingan, and the sharp thorns along its stem made Izunai feel it resembled herself…
Beautiful, proud, and dangerous.
"Was he telling the truth? Or was it a lie? Truth… lie?" Petal after petal was plucked from the rose, drifting up and down in the air like the turmoil of a young girl's conflicted heart.
Even with Izunai's temperament as the leader of the Uchiha clan, what she was facing now was far too absurd, too full of reversals.
Senju Tobirama, whom she had always regarded as her lifelong enemy, had claimed he had secretly loved her since childhood? The one she thought she must kill had, on the eve of war, laid bare his feelings…
Who could possibly withstand such a blow?
By any normal reasoning, the hatred between the two sides had lasted too long. Even if there had once been affection, objectively, too much blood had already been spilled between Izunai and Tobirama. By rights, theirs should have been a feud to the death.
But that logic only held if Tobirama and Izunai were equals in strength.
In that case, no matter what feelings he held in his heart, Tobirama's actions—commanding the Senju against the Uchiha without yielding an inch, matching Izunai's blades and strategies blow for blow—had always been indistinguishable from those of a sworn enemy.
The reversal lay entirely in Tobirama's hidden power!
This enemy of Izunai had, in truth, utterly suppressed her in taijutsu, kenjutsu, even the Fire Release that the Uchiha prided themselves on.
And when it came to the use of the Mangekyō Sharingan, Tobirama had taught proud Izunai a bitter lesson: this was how ocular techniques and Susanoo were meant to be wielded.
Izunai had no doubt—if the Tobirama of the past had ever truly harbored the will to kill her, he had possessed thousands of opportunities to do so.
So why hadn't he?
She pondered long and hard, and by the rules of logic, there was only one answer left—Tobirama really did love her.
As for why he had chosen only now to confess, Tobirama had explained clearly enough.
Now, both Senju Butsuma and Uchiha Tajima, those stubborn old clan heads, were dead.
If they had still lived, such a forbidden bond would surely have been exploited, attacked, and never accepted. And Tobirama, bound by the ties of father and son, even with his newfound strength, could hardly have acted directly against Senju Butsuma.
But once the remnants of that older generation had passed from the shinobi world, and Tobirama and Izunai had risen as heads of their clans…
Tobirama had revealed his heart immediately, without the slightest delay.
And fairly speaking, if Tobirama had harbored ill intent, with such concealed strength he could have orchestrated an ambush to annihilate the Uchiha clan in a single stroke.
Izunai strained with all her might to find proof that Tobirama was lying.
But the ironclad truth pressed against her heart, and even this cool-headed, brilliant Uchiha Rose could not deceive herself…
Especially when she thought of Tobirama's ocular power, so nearly identical to her own…
A wave of tangled emotions surged through her. How deep must someone's feelings run, to make even his eyes mirror her own? Such a bond could not be explained by mere daydreams.
"Is my heart… in turmoil? What on earth am I thinking…"
Her hand grasped at empty air, fingers brushing together, and for a moment she broke free from the chaos of her thoughts.
When she looked down, she saw that she had unconsciously plucked the rose bare, its petals scattered across the floor. A faint trace of blood lingered on her finger where it had grazed a thorn…
That disordered scene struck her like a genjutsu, its heavy atmosphere crashing against her heart.
Her Mangekyō Sharingan flared to life, its crimson patterns spinning furiously until they connected into one.
In that instant, Izunai awakened a new ocular technique—"Totsuka: Izanami"!
As the power surged in her eyes, Izunai slowly touched the corner of her socket, exhaling heavily, her expression a tangle of emotions.
With this dōjutsu…
She could finally discern whether Tobirama was telling the truth or not.
The original Izanami had been a technique that sacrificed a three-tomoe Sharingan, trapping an opponent in an endless loop of a scene they enacted together. Only by accepting the "original" outcome—preordained by the caster—and sincerely repenting from the heart could one break free.
But now, Izunai had elevated the technique to the level of the Mangekyō!
Much like the Izanami of old, if the target could not withstand the test of the illusion in a short time, they would sink forever—under both ocular power and the might of the Totsuka Sword—becoming nourishment for Izunai's spirit and soul.
And unlike before, it could be charged and used repeatedly…
Uchiha Izunai had already made her decision. She would not conserve her power.
She would test Tobirama openly, to his face! With the full force of a complete Mangekyō Sharingan, she would interrogate his heart within the illusion.
If Tobirama's words were true…
Then, under the shock of awakening such a dōjutsu, Izunai would confront her own heart.
She would accept it!
Marriage—so be it! She would marry!
After all, at this point, if it came to enmity, with the strength Tobirama had displayed, even with this fearsome new technique, Izunai knew her odds of striking him head-on were vanishingly small.
She knew full well—this white-haired bastard was not only on par with the Uchiha in Mangekyō mastery, but a specialist in countering them. He had perfected defenses and counters against ocular techniques, with skill and experience exceeding any Uchiha.
"With the resolve to marry him, I will test him this way… If he has nothing to hide, he will not refuse. If he truly feels for me… if he truly loves me, then I will accept!"
Amusingly, even with no one around her, Izunai seemed to argue with some unseen presence.
"Tch, there's no helping it. Who told me to lose that bet with him?"
"I'm not some despicable Senju dog-tail grass. I am the Rose of the Uchiha clan—I cannot go back on my word!"
"But if he dares deceive me… heheheheheheheheheh!"
Izunai's expression twisted into something fearsome. A heavy shadow seemed to fall across her beautiful, valiant features. Her hand curled as though gripping the handle of a razor-sharp cleaver.
"To trick me like that would mean some terrible plot against the Uchiha clan! To insult me to such a degree… then that would be my best chance to remove this scourge for the sake of the Uchiha!"
Her gaze turned vicious, her fist clenching until it flushed red.
"Even if I lose my sight completely, I'll tear apart the soul and spirit of the faithless man who deceived me!"
Once she settled on that resolve, it was as though the heavy stone pressing on her heart finally lifted.
If Tobirama truly loved her—truly, as he claimed—if such love could exist for an Uchiha like her…
By every standard for choosing a partner—status, wisdom, strength, and compatibility—the two of them matched perfectly.
Especially if the Uchiha and Senju were to unite in marriage, the historical weight would be immense.
From that moment on, the shinobi world would see the rise of a colossal power that no other clan could resist. It would found an unprecedented peace on this land scarred by millennia of war.
That was indeed what Uchiha Izunai longed to see.
"Not only that… what he said about the so-called Indra's chakra within my brother—that's a deadly issue as well…"
Having straightened out her feelings about Tobirama, Izunai's mind regained its clarity and broad vision.
"There's no way I can permit some other presence to seize my brother's body!"
"But matters concerning soul and spirit… I wonder if my ocular techniques can handle it?"
For the first time, Izunai felt anxious.
Even if she had identified the problem, if Indra's chakra could not be dealt with, and she had to watch helplessly as it corrupted Uchiha Madara…
Wouldn't that be torture?
And in that moment, a familiar figure rose in her mind.
Soul, spirit, parasitic chakra—these abstruse, forbidden domains were unfamiliar even to the Uchiha, despite their Sharingan. Unless one's Mangekyō awakened a related ability by chance, such matters were almost never explored.
In the Uchiha records, references to such techniques were vanishingly few.
But if it was that man… perhaps even something so troublesome could truly be resolved perfectly.
Once again, Izunai realized how exceptional Tobirama was.
When he was not an enemy but stood as an ally, he was utterly beyond comprehension!
Compared to the so-called young talents of the Uchiha clan, they were laughable before Tobirama—like mayflies against the vast sky.
"But… if he does not love me, if this is nothing but a deception…"
Izunai drew a long, steady breath, then turned decisively and strode out the door.
---
I will post some extra Chapters in Patreon, you can check it out. >> patreon.com/TitoVillar
---