With a loud bang, the door swung open.
Uchiha Madara looked at Izunai in both delight and worry.
At last, his sister had come out instead of shutting herself away.
But the very first words Izunai spoke after pushing open the door left Madara completely dumbfounded.
"Brother, forgive me… If that Senju Tobirama is lying to me, then I can't bring myself to pretend to marry him just to trick him into removing the Indra's chakra within you…"
"After all, if he deceived me, he can no longer be trusted. That would mean he harbors malicious intent toward the Uchiha clan! There's no way I could entrust him with something so dangerous for your sake."
"But don't worry, Brother… I've awakened a powerful ocular technique! If he turns out to be a faithless liar, then after I kill him, I'll inherit the forbidden knowledge within his mind and find a way to resolve the Indra's chakra for you!"
"But if everything he said is true…" Izunai's face flushed scarlet in an instant, and she spoke in a low voice: "Then please, Brother, prepare a generous dowry for me… After all, he's spared me on the battlefield for more than ten years. I don't want to still be taking advantage of him when we marry, alright?"
Madara's eyes spun with dizzying circles, as if he had suddenly awakened the Rinnegan.
What kind of nonsense was this!
Izunai had secluded herself in her room, and somehow in the process she had awakened new Mangekyō techniques—and now she was talking about marrying that bastard Senju Tobirama?!
This sister of his, who had always looked down on others and sent the young men of the clan fleeing in shame, had really been turned around in circles by a few words from that Senju dog?
Even if Izunai herself didn't think she had fallen for him, as an onlooker, Madara could see it perfectly clearly—this was practically marriage preparation already!
She hadn't even gone to the Senju yet, and she was already worrying about what dowry to bring to Tobirama…
Madara felt as though his face had been blasted head-on by a Fire Release, the heat climbing higher and higher!
At that moment, through the flames burning in his chest, that bastard's image became utterly detestable. Even that white hair of his looked hateful—like the scruffy head of some worthless punk!
"First, explain your plan to me, Izunai! How did this turn into marrying Senju Tobirama? And what ocular technique did you awaken? How exactly are you going to test him?"
"Tell me everything—my heart's beating a little too fast… As for the dowry, you can bring however much you want, just don't start with dowry talk right now!" Madara demanded in exasperation, driven half-mad by his usually calm and clever sister's scattered words.
Even with zero experience in romance, Uchiha Madara could still sum up the situation in one phrase—Izunai's done for… she's about to fall in love!
Only then did Uchiha Izunai come to her senses, her face instantly flushing crimson.
She explained everything to Madara in detail—the pros and cons she had weighed, her plan, and the ability of her new technique, "Totsuka: Izanami."
After listening, Uchiha Madara fell into deep silence.
Even he had to admit it.
Setting aside the fact that Senju Tobirama was a bastard, if his feelings for Izunai were sincere, and if Izunai herself was willing to accept him, then their marriage truly did seem like the most perfect option.
It would allow both the Senju and the Uchiha, bound by alliance, to finally rest easy.
If these two reconciled, then surely others would learn to lay down their grudges as well and open the way to a new era…
Especially considering what Izunai had said—
If the truth behind Indra's and Asura's parasitic chakra were uncovered, then perhaps the very feud between the Uchiha and the Senju had been nothing more than the schemes of those two hidden forces!
In that case, the Senju and the Uchiha ought to unite, as victims, and demand justice together.
Uchiha Madara let out a long sigh.
"Izunai… whatever happens, I have only one request. Don't think about me, and don't think about the Uchiha clan. If you truly can accept being with Senju Tobirama, then whatever you choose, I'll stand by you."
He fixed his eyes on Izunai, afraid that his sister might be sacrificing her own happiness for the so-called greater good.
"I know, Brother…"
Izunai gently shook her head.
"Everything rests on whether he can pass my test."
"No matter how flawless his strategies, Senju Tobirama could never anticipate that I've awakened such a dōjutsu! Truth or falsehood—Izanami will give me the truest answer."
Madara closed his eyes. After a long while, he gave a slight nod.
"Alright. I'll contact Hashirama now and arrange the next meeting."
...
[Detected intense emotional fluctuations in Uchiha Izunai. Extracting certain alien temporal aura.]
[Your Senju Sage Body has been fully unlocked.]
Just as Uchiha Izunai awakened the Totsuka Izanami, Tobirama frowned, realizing something was off.
"This woman… what on earth is she brooding over in the Uchiha compound? And why is her emotional state spiking like this…?"
After receiving this ability from Kazuki, Tobirama had quickly grown adept at using it.
But the difficulty of provoking constant emotional fluctuations in a specific person rose in steep steps… A single scheme might work the first time, but after that the effect would diminish drastically.
If he pulled at her emotions repeatedly in a short span, Izunai's threshold would quickly climb higher and higher.
That was the nature of shinobi. One of the traits instilled in them from childhood was extraordinary adaptability.
And for someone like Uchiha Izunai—a powerhouse even among shinobi—that was all the more true.
"I came up with that bizarre unrequited love story, even fabricated the Senju stone tablet… and then I threw in an engagement to provoke Uchiha Izunai. Even I had no idea how to keep her emotions stirred after that…"
"But she actually worked herself up on her own?"
Tobirama rubbed his chin, pondering intently what was happening with Izunai.
An Uchiha suddenly flying into agitation—especially one this talented—was downright terrifying!
Tobirama couldn't help but recall past memories.
Back in the days inside Kazuki's body, Tobirama had never feared Kazuki killing anyone. Even if he blasted tens of thousands off the battlefield, it only struck Tobirama as slightly excessive…
But the moment Kazuki started to think, when his emotions turned unstable and he asked—Tobirama, is the shinobi world real or false…?
Those words alone made Tobirama feel as though his entire body was shuddering. He would instantly snap to full focus, engaging Kazuki with all his effort, not daring to slack for even a breath…
"Has she awakened a Mangekyō dōjutsu? Or under my humiliation, has she fallen into that Uchiha madness?" Tobirama spoke of Uchiha madness with his lips, yet the patterns in his own eyes spun rapidly.
The most troublesome thing about the Uchiha lay in that so-called eye that reflected the soul.
It awakened all manner of strange and unpredictable dōjutsu according to the user's emotions and inner needs, impossible to guard against, utterly irrational…
But to Tobirama, it hardly mattered.
Dōjutsu: Wakatsuki.
On Tobirama's body, a thick radiance wrapped around him, condensing into a dense armor.
At once, that armor of light kept compressing, seeping beneath his skin, and upon his chest it formed a blazing mark like the sun itself.
"With this, there shouldn't be any major accidents…" A cold gleam flashed in Tobirama's eyes. Although he was satisfied with Izunai in every respect, his ingrained prejudices from years of battling the Uchiha held fast—
He couldn't believe Izunai would be so emotional, so easily swayed by his words. There had to be more to it!
Tobirama never forgot his mission. Kazuki might have told him he was here simply for a marriage meeting, and that even failing to retrieve the Shibai's desiccated remains would be no great loss… but Tobirama thought differently.
This was the first task Kazuki had entrusted to him since his resurrection!
There was no way Tobirama would allow himself to fail.
If he did, he could only imagine the ugly expressions with which Uchiha Izuna and Madara, those two bastards, would mock him.
And more than that, Tobirama himself could never accept failure. He had to complete his mission flawlessly—one hundred percent!
"With this, ambushes on the soul and spirit front are out of the question…"
He confirmed the ocular imprint of Wakatsuki on his chest, calculating the Uchiha's dangerous techniques. "If it's a ninjutsu-type attack… all I need to do is lay down Flying Thunder God seals everywhere, and I can evade freely."
"As for Susanoo, that's nothing worth mentioning, all flash and no substance… The real problem left is Izanagi." Tobirama reminded himself that if Izunai suddenly blackened and went all out against him, he must guard against that technique.
"Izanami?"
Thinking of Izanagi naturally brought Izanami to mind. He quickly shook his head.
There was no way he would ever be forced into a situation where he needed Izanagi. And besides, even in its extended applications, Izanami only worked on those with weak minds or lacking self-awareness.
At this moment, Tobirama had accounted for everything.
But what he overlooked was that the dōjutsu Izunai had awakened was not meant to kill him—it was meant to test his sincerity!
If she truly went all out, it would only be after she had judged him to be nothing more than a "lying, faithless man."
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