Izuna found an inn and booked a single room. The attendant quickly led them to the second floor. "Please rest well, sir and madam. Is there anything else you need?"
Hearing the attendant's form of address, Mito fumed. *Who's in that kind of relationship with this bastard?*
"Bring me a brush and paper, as quickly as you can," Izuna said, tossing the man a silver coin.
"Right away, sir. I'll be right back."
After receiving the tip, the attendant hurried downstairs. He was back with the paper and brush almost as soon as they had stepped inside the room. Money certainly made things happen.
Izuna sat down with the writing materials, quickly ground some ink, and began to write a letter. Mito stood by the door, unsure of what to do. Eventually, she just leaned against the window, gazing outside. She was just a hostage, after all.
Soon, Izuna finished the letter. He bit his finger, quickly formed some hand seals, and slammed his palm onto the desk. "Summoning Technique!"
*Poof!*
A cloud of white smoke billowed out, revealing a ninja hawk with black and gray feathers. Izuna rolled up the letter, tucked it into the band on the hawk's leg, and sent it flying.
"Are you taking me back to the Uchiha clan compound?" Mito asked suddenly.
"Who said I was going back?" Izuna turned from the window to face her.
Mito frowned, confused. "Your clan is about to face a joint attack from the Senju and the Uzumaki. Aren't you, the Vice-Clan Head, going to return to take charge?"
"I have my own plans. A captive shouldn't worry about such things." Izuna pulled a blanket from the room's cabinet, spread it on the floor, and lay down. "It's late. Time for sleep."
Mito was conflicted. Although they weren't sharing a bed, how could she, an innocent young woman, possibly sleep in the same room as a man?
Soon, the sound of steady breathing came from Izuna on the floor; he was fast asleep. An idea sparked in Mito's mind. *Should I try to escape while he's sleeping?*
But she dismissed the thought as soon as it arose. She had witnessed his strength back in the Land of Whirlpools. Uchiha Izuna was powerful enough to contend with the Senju clan head, Senju Yuma. And when he used that strange chakra giant jutsu, he had the clear upper hand. How could she possibly escape from under his nose?
Still, hearing his deep breathing, Mito couldn't resist. On the off chance it might work, she quietly crept past his head, opened the door, and darted out.
However, just two steps out of the room, her vision blurred, and her entire body went numb, causing her to collapse to her knees. Everything around her became indistinct, and a dizzying confusion flooded her mind. Mito's eyes widened. She didn't even realize her pupils had transformed into a Three-Tomoe Sharingan. Bracing herself with her hands on the floor, she murmured in disbelief, "This... is... a genjutsu?!"
"Transcription Seal. A jutsu of my own invention. Not bad, right?" Izuna's voice came from behind her. Shocked, Mito tried to turn her head, but her body was paralyzed by the genjutsu.
Izuna walked over and knelt in front of her. He placed a hand on her shoulder, sending a surge of chakra into her body. "Release!"
Instantly, Mito's body went limp, and she fell into his arms.
"You... you..." Mito was mortified, her eyes filled with bitter unwillingness.
Izuna, a man from the 21st century, didn't share her old-fashioned views on men and women. He simply carried her back into the room. "It seals a 'jutsu' and a 'condition' into the target's eyes. The moment the 'condition' is met, the jutsu automatically activates. The jutsu I sealed in your eyes was a Sharingan-induced sleep, and the condition was you trying to escape."
He placed Mito on the bed. Having lost the desire to sleep, he sat cross-legged on the floor, created a Lightning Release: Shadow Clone, and began practicing Sage Art right in front of her. It wasn't something he needed to hide anyway.
Mito was seething at his trick. But as she sensed the change in Izuna's chakra, her anger turned to curiosity. Just as Izuna's body began to transform, the shadow clone beside him struck, hitting the real Izuna's back with a chakra-infused palm. The shock snapped him out of it, and his body returned to normal.
"Still not working?" Izuna muttered to himself.
The effects of the genjutsu hadn't completely worn off. Leaning against the corner of the bed, Mito suddenly spoke. "The way you're training with this new chakra makes it prone to turbulence. If you don't find a way to control it, you'll never succeed."
"Nonsense," Izuna replied coldly, his back to her. If he knew how to control it, would he be going through all this trouble?
Mito, who had received a proper upbringing, was incensed by his retort. "I'm just trying to help," she huffed. "It was just a reminder. If you had our Uzumaki clan's..."
She stopped abruptly, realizing she had said too much, and clamped her mouth shut.
"What did you say?" Izuna sensed the slip and immediately questioned her.
"Nothing. I'm going to sleep." Mito feigned annoyance, pulling the blanket over her head.
After lying there for a long time without hearing any movement from Izuna, she couldn't help but peek out from a corner of the blanket. She saw Izuna had resumed his training.
*Why isn't he threatening me?* Mito frowned, thinking to herself. She had braced herself to be controlled by his Sharingan again, but to her surprise, he hadn't done so.
***
Meanwhile, at the Uchiha's temporary camp on the front lines against the Sarutobi and Shimura clans.
Uchiha Enka, a messenger hawk perched on his shoulder, strode into Madara's tent. "Clan Head, a secret letter has arrived from the Vice-Clan Head's hawk."
Madara, who had been studying a map, looked up sharply and gestured to the hawk on Enka's shoulder. The bird fluttered over to Madara's arm, and he retrieved the letter tucked into the band on its ankle.
The further he read, the tighter his fists clenched. After finishing the letter, Madara immediately took out a brush and paper and began to write with furious speed.
"Get this letter to Uchiha Gakugyo, who is guarding Mount Congyun, as fast as you can," Madara ordered, handing the sealed letter to Enka.
"Yes, sir," Enka nodded.
"Also," Madara's voice was grim, "inform all clan members: we are retreating!"
***
Just as Uzumaki Mito had predicted, Senju Hashirama, with the help of Senju Tobirama's Flying Thunder God Technique, had managed to perfectly evade the watch of the Uchiha and the four allied clans, bypass their territories, and arrive at the Sarutobi and Shimura clans' main compounds. But because they took a roundabout route, it had taken a considerable amount of time, even with the aid of the Flying Thunder God.
A further complication was the terrain of the two clans' strongholds, which were backed by towering mountains and steep ridges. This made the rear assault Izuna had once considered extremely difficult, unless one used the Flying Thunder God Technique: Third Step for a mass teleportation.
When the Senju brothers reached the summit of the mountain behind the compounds, they could just make out the two clan bases below, looking no bigger than anthills.
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