Chapter 94: Your Divorce Would Be a Huge Advantage for Me
Konoha.
Somewhere underground.
Inside an inconspicuous little room, an oil lamp suddenly flickered to life.
Under its swaying light, the room's crude old furniture, slightly moldy ceiling, faded and peeling wallpaper, and four shadows swaying with the lamplight could all be seen.
Orochimaru had removed his clothes and sat upright in a chair while a medical ninja treated his injuries.
Recalling his brief clash with Asuka earlier, a satisfied smile appeared on his face. He had originally thought tonight's operation would be easy. He hadn't expected it to become so troublesome.
He had failed.
Although he had obtained a great deal of intelligence from Danzō beforehand, he hadn't expected the information to be not only incomplete, but somewhat outdated as well.
However, not all of it was outdated.
For example, the medical ninjutsu Asuka had displayed was only at the level of an ordinary jōnin. Yet people familiar with him, such as the deputy head of the Medical Department, knew that his achievements in medical ninjutsu were extremely high.
Judging from the deputy head's vague remarks and Asuka's recovery speed today—which was far beyond what should have been possible—Orochimaru could roughly deduce the truth.
Asuka's medical ninjutsu should be somewhat inferior to Tsunade's, but the gap shouldn't be particularly large.
His solid taijutsu and skillful combinations of ninjutsu also made it possible to estimate the difference between his abilities and Asuka's.
There was still a gap.
But it wasn't particularly wide.
A former Uchiha genius.
With that thought, Orochimaru looked toward the Uchiha genius beside him.
Uchiha Shisui.
Looking at Orochimaru, who had already put his clothes back on, Danzō's gaze fell upon Shisui.
"Shisui, what do you think of your fellow clan member, Uchiha Asuka?"
Shisui thought seriously for a moment before giving a very fair assessment.
"His strength is difficult to gauge, and his ideology is equally difficult to understand."
"He's the only Uchiha who frequently claims to think from the Hokage's perspective, and whose thinking isn't constrained by the boundary between the Uchiha clan and the village."
"But in reality, he often thinks from the perspective of the clan."
"He doesn't have the arrogance of an ordinary clan member, and he's quite friendly toward both insiders and outsiders."
"He often teaches the clan members things that appear useful but are actually completely useless."
"He does whatever comes to mind."
"He isn't dangerous, but he isn't safe either."
After hearing this, Danzō looked up at Orochimaru again and continued,
"How are your injuries?"
Orochimaru licked his dry, cracked lips and said quietly,
"I wanted to test the power of his combined ninjutsu. In the end, I overestimated myself."
Danzō nodded.
Then he took out a thick notebook and placed it on the table.
Looking at the large characters Uchiha written across its cover, Danzō licked his finger and began flipping through the pages.
"Give me a detailed update on Uchiha Asuka."
"This old man needs to bring his records up to date."
"And Hiruzen Sarutobi's daughter-in-law has shown no sign of pregnancy even after all this time. If there's really still no movement, she should go to the hospital for an examination."
"Uchiha Asuka has been on her team for so long, yet they've only completed one mission."
"What a waste."
"If you had listened to this old man's advice back then, you would've handed him over to me."
At this point, Danzō raised his head and looked around his dilapidated office, his expression darkening.
Casually, he tore a page from the notebook containing information on the Uchiha clan members.
He folded the torn sheet in half, dividing it into two.
On one half, he wrote four large characters:
"Hiruzen Sarutobi—Provide Funding!"
On the other half, he also wrote four large characters:
"Kumo—Provide Funding!"
Morning.
When a faint glow appeared along the horizon, Asuka had already arrived outside Uchiha Fugaku's house.
The streetlights on both sides of the road had just gone out. Under the black-and-white sky of the fading night, even the clan head's entrance seemed divided into two contrasting shades.
Before Asuka could step forward and knock, the door opened from inside.
Seeing Uchiha Mikoto standing in the doorway, Asuka greeted her.
"Good morning, Mikoto-san!"
Mikoto looked at his torn clothes, scabbed-over wounds, and the other traces of battle covering his body.
She asked in surprise,
"You really fought that person last night?"
"Yes!"
Asuka nodded and stepped inside as he spoke.
"Yesterday, Orochimaru hit me with a genjutsu and temporarily blinded me. At the time, I thought you had finally decided to chop me into pieces in the middle of the night, Mikoto-san."
"But after I regained my sight, I found Orochimaru standing in my room, sticking his tongue out at me."
"Heh heh~"
Mikoto's cheek twitched.
She didn't respond to his remark.
The thought of chopping Asuka into pieces would occasionally surface in her mind.
Sometimes, he would even appear in her dreams at night, saying all sorts of vicious things.
Over the past six months, she had dreamed about Asuka almost as often as she saw him every day.
Or, more precisely—
Every time she saw him during the day, she would dream about him that night.
"Haa..."
Mikoto sighed softly. Her voice was surprisingly gentle when she asked,
"Why did Orochimaru come after you?"
Asuka looked her up and down before answering casually,
"Probably because two days ago, when I asked Orochimaru to take the blame for me, I praised him a little too much."
"Perhaps he already had a guilty conscience, and my praise kept him awake all night."
His explanation wasn't completely baseless.
When he had pushed the blame onto Orochimaru, he really had intended to provoke him.
He simply hadn't been able to find any clues about what that man had been doing.
He just hadn't expected Orochimaru's reaction to be so intense.
Orochimaru had shifted the blame onto him the day before yesterday, and then showed up in the middle of the night yesterday.
His execution really was impressive.
"Be careful from now on."
Hearing the rare note of concern in Mikoto's voice, Asuka looked at her in surprise.
Then he sidestepped several steps away and cautiously said,
"Mikoto-san, if you have something to say, just say it directly."
"We don't exactly have a good relationship."
Mikoto's footsteps froze.
Seeing the wariness in Asuka's eyes, the anger she had temporarily suppressed once again began to burn fiercely inside her.
"Uchiha Asuka, do you think I'm as cold-blooded and heartless as you are?"
"Haa..."
Seeing that Mikoto had finally returned to her usual state, Asuka breathed a sigh of relief.
"I'm just trying to find a way to help this clan escape its current predicament."
"There have been all sorts of strange suggestions at the clan meetings."
"Mikoto-san, there's no need to take it out on me like this, is there?"
Mikoto crossed her arms and sneered.
"Who's taking what out on whom?"
"I've always felt that you've been targeting me behind the scenes."
"But ever since you became a jōnin, you've only gotten worse. Now you're openly targeting me by name."
"Would my divorce benefit you?"
"Benefit?"
Asuka looked at Mikoto's fuller figure, swollen by pregnancy, and silently took another step backward.
"Your divorce wouldn't benefit me at all."
"But it might benefit the clan."
"What if Captain Fugaku married a girl from the Sarutobi clan?"
"If that happened, perhaps half of the clan's current crisis could be resolved."
"Who can say?"
Seeing the contempt and disdain in his eyes, Mikoto's expression darkened.
A terrible thought suddenly flashed through her mind.
If even a clan member could feel such disgust toward her, then what would Fugaku, who spent every day and night with her, think?