"I said, if I lose, then I will accept the Senju clan becoming vassals of the Uchiha clan to form an alliance…"
Shaking his head, Tobirama spoke earnestly, word by word: "If I win, then you will marry me."
"You may have misunderstood. I mean it."
Before Izunai could erupt, Tobirama quickly continued: "You heard it too… this idea of alliance is one Hashirama and I both agreed upon. This Warring States era has already inflicted grievous wounds upon both Senju and Uchiha. If this continues, even if one side emerges victorious, both clans will be left gravely weakened."
"And at that point, even the so-called winners among us will struggle to face the challenges of other shinobi clans, only adding more dead and wounded to the toll…"
Tobirama's voice slowed, calm and steady. "But what if we form an alliance?"
"If Uchiha and Senju combine their strength, I don't believe any shinobi clan could stand against us. We could swiftly subdue the others—perhaps even without battle, forcing them to bow under sheer momentum alone. Once that snowball starts rolling, the chaos that looks endless right now could actually be pacified in no time."
Izunai furrowed her fine brows, her heart in turmoil.
She had stumbled upon a shocking possibility…
Tobirama might not have intended his proposal to disgrace her after all.
Which meant…
This white-haired man truly wanted to marry her?!
No way… right?!
"And alliance itself is not so simple… You know well that, because of history, the Senju and Uchiha have been locked in ceaseless strife for centuries. Each successive clan leader inherited that hatred, driving our two clans to endless slaughter…"
Tobirama took in every detail of Izunai's reaction, smiling inwardly while keeping his expression perfectly composed. "But in our generation, things have changed…"
"Their two clan heads, Senju and Uchiha, were childhood friends! That's why it's time to end this meaningless blood feud between our clans."
"And the hatred born from past wars cannot be ignored. We need a foundation that allows both sides to begin understanding each other… I believe that if you and I were to marry, it would be the strongest proof of our determination to form an alliance."
You don't say, you really don't say…
Though the Uchiha and Senju harbored countless grudges, if the two young clan leaders, Tobirama and Izunai, were to wed, it would indeed serve as an irrefutable source of trust.
If even these two could be together, then surely others could try to set their hatred aside.
"Hehehehehe…" Uchiha Izunai laughed coldly, forcing down her panic and the swirl of other emotions, her voice sharp with hostility.
"What a joke, Senju Tobirama… My marriage is no tool for peace! The Uchiha clan can conquer any enemy—we can beat peace into existence with our fists!"
"I'm sorry. I didn't finish my words earlier…" Tobirama's shocking apology made Izunai's pupils quiver violently!
From the time they were old enough to wield weapons, they had been hacking at each other, spitting every insult imaginable…
But never had he apologized before!
"Besides the matter of our two clans' interests…"
"Personally, I very much want to marry you." Tobirama looked straight at Izunai's face, smiling faintly.
"And I don't intend for you to marry beneath yourself. If you agree, I can mobilize as much of the Senju clan's resources as possible as a dowry, and welcome you with the grandest ceremony as my wife…"
Tobirama had keenly noticed the awkwardness stirring in Izunai's heart earlier.
Indeed, as a powerful individual, if talk of marriage always circled back to clan benefits, it inevitably carried the bitter taste of sacrificing oneself to become nothing more than a tool.
The stronger one was, the stronger their sense of self became…
With the sole exception of Kazuki, almost everyone was like this—something Tobirama understood deeply.
So when Izunai began entertaining such thoughts, Tobirama—who knew the Uchiha clan well—chose the simplest, most direct approach.
No doubts, no overthinking…
Yes, marriage brings benefits to both clans. But personally, I also truly want to marry you!
[Detected violent emotional fluctuation from Uchiha Izunai. Large quantities of alien temporal aura extracted.]
[Your Mangekyō Sharingan technique, Wakatsuki, has been unlocked.]
[Your Mangekyō Sharingan technique, Ama-no-Iwato, has been unlocked.]
Hearing Kazuki's system prompt, Tobirama laughed inwardly, though outwardly he maintained his air of honesty and composure.
This was the confidence the matchmaking system had given him!
Now that he knew stirring Izunai's emotions would restore his strength, Tobirama felt completely at ease.
What was there to it? All he had to do was keep sending Uchiha Izunai's emotions on a roller coaster.
He was simply too good at this! One could say Tobirama had spent the first half of his life researching this very thing, and only in the second half did he turn to forbidden techniques…
Either way, it was all for the sake of quickly regaining his strength and helping Kazuki retrieve Shibai's Remains. To say a few shameful words along the way—what did it matter?
Teasing Uchiha Izunai was just far too entertaining!
As one of the saviors who had stood with Kazuki to rescue the shinobi world, Tobirama-sama felt he had earned the right, in this foreign timeline, to indulge himself a little…
With no familiar eyes on him, and faced with the beautiful Uchiha Izunai, this white-haired man seemed to cast aside the stern, cold mask of the Second Hokage. Using "helping Kazuki" as his excuse, he grew utterly unrestrained…
'Anyway, she'd never agree… What, am I really going to marry Uchiha Izunai? It's just a joke!' Tobirama thought gleefully, watching Izunai's face shift from pale to livid by turns.
He had never managed to anger Uchiha Izuna to this degree before… Truly, this was another remarkable achievement!
"You—you want to marry me? You've been secretly in love with me?"
Izunai's striking red eyes widened, the Mangekyō's pattern flashing with a ruby-like glow as she exclaimed in disbelief, "Are you insane?!"
She truly could not comprehend it.
Just over ten days ago, this bastard had nearly sliced off half her shoulder with the venom of a striking viper—now he claimed he wanted to marry her?
He had to be sick, gravely sick!
Even among the Uchiha, where awakening the Sharingan under immense trauma often twisted a person's nature, none had ever shown a derangement as severe as Tobirama!
So all these years of him flashing across her path, clashing with her in frenzied battles of Water Release against Fire Release—was it all just to get her attention?
If that was the case…
Even among the Uchiha, this wasn't ordinary madness. This was the kind that demanded punishment, harsh and immediate!
Absolutely disgusting!
"I had no choice. While Senju Butsuma lived, I could only suppress these feelings…"
Tobirama lied with practiced ease, dumping the blame on the father he had never even met: "If I revealed such feelings, then my father would surely have used them as bait for an ambush, just as Hashirama and Madara's bond was once exploited…"
"You remember, don't you? Back when those two trained in secret, it was Senju Butsuma and Uchiha Tajima who dragged the two of us out to set ambushes against each other."
"I refused to let my feelings be used like that! So I had no choice but to keep my eyes on you, always, on the battlefield…"
Tobirama then adopted that classic Uchiha expression of obsessive resolve, vividly imitating it with a faintly deranged look as he added: "Think about it… In all these years, have you ever been ambushed in battle? No. The only opponent you've ever faced head-on—was me! Only that way could I make sure you were safe."
"As for your brothers… I'm sorry. I once tried to protect them, but I failed."
Staring at Tobirama's face—wearing that all-too-familiar Uchiha look of obsession—Izunai nearly broke apart on the spot.
Senju Tobirama? More like Uchiha Tobirama!
As the clan head who understood all too well the "illness" of the Uchiha, Izunai was familiar with this kind of obsessive mindset… If Tobirama had been an Uchiha, then his logic would actually have made sense.
That was simply the way of the Uchiha!
But if the one saying it was Senju Tobirama…
In that moment, even Uchiha Izunai had no idea how to respond. Who could tell what was true and what was false?
Were Tobirama's words genuine—or just another deception?
Fact was, over all these years Izunai had never truly suffered any grievous injury. Compared to clansmen who had lost limbs or died outright on the battlefield, the worst she had endured was a shoulder wound that healed in a matter of days.
But wasn't that simply because she and Tobirama were evenly matched? How did that turn into him "protecting" her?
'No, something's wrong, something's very wrong! This bastard must think that now I've awakened the Mangekyō Sharingan, he can't find a way to beat me. Cornered, he's resorting to this rhetoric to confuse me!'
So thought Uchiha Izunai, her beautiful eyes filling with killing intent, the confusion swept away in an instant.
[Detected violent emotional fluctuation from Uchiha Izunai. Large quantities of alien temporal aura extracted.]
[Your base techniques have been unlocked.]
Tobirama noticed the subtle change in Izunai's expression and allowed himself a faint smile.
Exactly as he expected—this was the normal logic.
But the real question was… if, in their next clash, he completely overwhelmed Uchiha Izunai even after she had awakened the Mangekyō Sharingan, then how would things appear?
A man who clearly had the ability to end her life instantly—yet had spent over a decade patiently dueling her again and again…
Why hadn't he killed her?
The answer could only be one thing.
Yet there was a flaw Tobirama himself failed to see. His plan might have been flawless on the surface…
But was he truly prepared to take a wife?
In his own mind, he was only after strength, only toying with Uchiha Izunai for amusement…
He assumed that even if he defeated her, this beautiful woman, burdened with hatred, would never actually agree to marry him—though she might consent to peace talks, forcing the Senju–Uchiha alliance into being much earlier.
But what if Izunai actually agreed? Tobirama had never considered that possibility.
As a master of forbidden techniques and a researcher, he had fallen into a habitual trap! Izunai and Izuna might seem similar—but the problem was, Izuna and Izunai were not the same at all…
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