Miyuki Uzumaki found Qianyu at home.
"Mito-sama wants to see you," she said. "At the main house."
Qianyu nodded. "I'll go now."
Miyuki stretched languidly. "Message delivered. I'm heading back to rest, then."
"You're not coming?"
"Why would I?" She smiled. "Mito-sama told me to fetch you. Not to attend. And… this is about the jinchūriki, isn't it? The Hokage spoke to her, now she speaks to you. It's your business. I'll just wait for the result."
Qianyu met her gaze directly. "Thank you."
Her smile softened. "That doesn't sound like you. Besides, I promised. Now, I'm tired. I'll leave you to it."
A wave of her hand, and she was gone.
Qianyu watched her leave, then turned toward the main Uzumaki residence.
The woman who greeted him was a shell.
Uzumaki Mito sat in her quarters, her form frail, her skin paper-thin. Qianyu could almost smell the scent of decay around her, a quiet, waiting stillness.
Her voice was dry leaves scraping stone. "You succeeded, Qianyu."
He couldn't read her tone. Regret? Something else?
He waited a beat. "Are you disappointed? That Kushina didn't become the jinchūriki as you planned?"
Her cloudy eyes studied him. A faint smile touched her lips. "Your hostility toward me remains undiminished. Believe it or not, Qianyu… I am pleased. For Kushina. For you."
She paused, gathering breath.
"You convinced Hiruzen to change his mind. That could not have been easy. You never gave up. You endured, alone, for her sake. That proves your strength. Your devotion."
She leaned forward slightly. "You were right, all those months ago. Between Konoha and Kushina… I chose Konoha. It was my husband's dream. His legacy. I want it to thrive."
"But my affection for Kushina never changed. I saw her as my own. I had such hopes for her. I wanted her to be the vessel… not just for the village. I believed she could master the Nine-Tails. Turn its power into her own."
Her gaze grew distant. "Some choices force you to sacrifice one precious thing for another. You will face such choices yourself one day. Perhaps then… you will understand."
Qianyu's eyes locked onto hers. His voice was iron.
"Mito-sama. I may face such choices. But I will never understand you."
She blinked, taken aback.
He continued, each word heavy and deliberate. "If you've reached the point of sacrifice, it means both things are vital. Ask yourself this: was Kushina truly the only candidate? Must the jinchūriki always be an Uzumaki?"
"Other villages have jinchūriki. They have no Uzumaki. How do they manage?"
"You were never at a crossroads. You never made a choice between two loves. From the very beginning, your calculus was for Konoha. Konoha needed a vessel. Therefore, you offered your kin."
"Don't cite control issues. I mentioned the Mangekyō could control a tailed beast, but you know the truth. The Hokage knows. Danzō knows. A three-tomoe Sharingan's genjutsu is enough. Madara proved that long ago."
"One Uchiha might not be enough? Fine. The clan has many with three tomoe. Combine their power, their genjutsu—they could subdue the beast, aid the jinchūriki. But the Uchiha are not trusted. They are outsiders in their own village."
"I won't deny you cared for Kushina. But you and Konoha sought to bind her with the very name of that care. How am I to understand that?"
Mito was silent. She had no rebuttal.
Qianyu shifted. "Mito-sama. A question has always bothered me. Why did you not take the Senju name after marrying the First Hokage?"
She seemed thrown by the non sequitur. "It was… a political marriage. Village Head Ashina led Uzushiogakure into an alliance with Konoha, and I married Hashirama as part of that treaty. Our leader asked Hashirama if I might keep my clan name. He agreed."
"And why do you think Village Head Ashina made that request?"
Mito thought for a moment. "So I would remember my roots, I suppose. Remember I was Uzumaki."
A faint, cold smile touched Qianyu's lips. "So you do know. But did you remember?"
A flicker of irritation crossed her worn face. "What are you implying?"
"The fall of Uzushiogakure. As a member of the Uzumaki clan, why did you not go to its aid? Don't say 'because of Konoha.'"
"My teacher, Orochimaru, told me why Konoha didn't send help. There was no benefit. The strongest sealing arts of Uzushiogakure… you had already given them to Konoha. Sending shinobi would gain nothing. So Konoha watched. Did nothing."
"Mito-sama. If you remembered you were Uzumaki, why did you not go? If Konoha refused, why did you, a clanswoman, not act?"
"If your answer is that you were the Nine-Tails jinchūriki, too vital to Konoha to leave… then I have nothing more to say. In that case, you were not Uzumaki. You were merely… someone who shared their name. A stranger to your own people."
Even Mito's famed patience wore thin. Anger, slow and deep, stirred in her eyes.
Qianyu pressed on, ignoring the shift in her expression.
"One more thing. The Konoha of today… does it still walk the path the First Hokage intended?"
"The Hatake Sakumo affair. It was the talk of the village. You must have heard."
"And countless other things before it. I cannot comprehend it. What are you trying to protect? The physical village of Konoha? Or the ideal Hashirama Senju founded it upon?"
"Don't you see? The present Konoha has already betrayed that founding dream."
The old woman let out a slow, rasping breath. The room was heavy with the weight of his words, and the decades of silence they broke.
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