With no more burdens slowing them down, Uchiha Yu's group of defectors moved several times faster. They darted through the forest like a pack of wolves on the hunt.
"You killed Asuma?"
Yūhi Kurenai asked softly.
Her head rested on Uchiha Yu's shoulder, her voice weak and emotionless, her breath light and fragrant.
Yu could feel her breathing, the soft scent of her curled hair, and the faint perfume enhancing her elegant presence.
Kurenai was like a red blossom—everything from her attire to her mature aura felt natural and effortless.
"Mhm,"
Yu didn't hide the truth.
He killed him. That's all there was to it.
Kurenai fell silent, burying her head deeper against his neck, her cheek pressing tightly to his skin. After a long pause, she whispered bitterly:
"Then you owe me."
She said it like a little girl upset about someone breaking her toy, demanding compensation.
As if a new toy could fix it.
And if you gave her one—she'd beam with joy.
"Alright."
Yu felt the soft weight on his back, didn't slow his pace, and agreed plainly.
Kurenai froze. Her beautiful crimson eyes widened, lips parted in surprise.
She'd finally gotten an answer—the one she'd longed for since her teenage years—and it shook her to the core.
During the Nine-Tails' Rampage, Yūhi Makoto's last words before her death were spoken to her daughter, praising Uchiha Yu as a good man.
As a jōnin, Yūhi Makoto had certainly noticed when her daughter hesitated, it was Yu who gave her the final push forward.
If not for Yu…
Yūhi Makoto might never have seen her daughter one last time before dying. That would have been the greatest regret for both her and Kurenai.
Since then, the original Yu had stayed by Kurenai's side for a while—until he was reassigned to an external mission.
Before they parted ways, Kurenai confessed her feelings. The original Yu gently turned her down.
After that, her life once again descended into darkness, and that's when she picked up the bad habit of drinking.
From Yu's perspective, the original did the right thing. He was afraid of accepting her feelings and then dying during a mission. And the Uchiha Massacre that had recently occurred proved that fear valid.
Now Yu agreed without hesitation—not because of Kurenai—but to repay the original's emotional debt. It was the last thing he could do for him.
No rejection.
No promise.
No initiation.
That was Yu's rule for this kind of thing.
"Mm…"
Kurenai suddenly smiled, but tears streamed down like rain. Her arms and legs clung tightly to Yu, like a koala holding onto a tree.
Her pent-up emotions finally released.
She was in high spirits.
Behind them, the other Uchiha watched as their captain made a Konoha jōnin cry with just a few words—tears and all—and they were instantly impressed.
As expected of our role model!
Izumi and Mikoto, however, looked totally baffled. From behind, they couldn't make out what was being said between those two.
Then a loud, sudden voice rang out:
"What're you all lookin' at? If any of you were as badass as Big Bro, you'd be carrying a pretty lady around the mountains too!"
Everyone turned to look at Tamao, who was in high spirits seeing his brother with a beauty in his arms.
"…" A black line formed on Yu's forehead.
"…" Kurenai's face turned crimson.
The Uchihas fell into silence. Some began thinking… this Konoha woman's background seems oddly familiar to that of their clan leader's wife…
Which meant… their Captain Yu's taste in women might be…
Nope. Best not to think about it.
Everyone lowered their heads and kept moving.
Such a great Captain Yu…
Why that kind of preference!?
Pa-dap—
Uchiha Yu carried the weakened Kurenai on his back as they continued on. Just as he stepped over a branch, a sudden tremor ran through his brain, followed by a sharp pain in his eyes.
He squinted.
A white haze clouded his vision.
Yu tensed up and slowed his pace. Raising a hand, he rubbed at his eyes.
"What's wrong?"
Kurenai sensed something was off. Her vivid red eyes filled with concern as she asked softly and urgently.
"It's nothing. Just a side effect of the Mangekyō."
Yu replied nonchalantly.
Kurenai's heart ached. She knew what kind of battle Yu had gone through the night before. She reached out and gently pressed her hand to the side of his face, massaging his temples to ease his mind.
Yu felt her gentle, flowing touch, and the tension near his temples gradually relaxed. He didn't reject her kindness.
They kept moving forward. None of the Uchihas behind them noticed anything unusual.
Yu sank into thought.
The ability of Yasakani no Magatama to control people remotely was powered by Yin Release chakra, projected through the Mangekyō.
Compared to something like Amaterasu—which could make a user bleed from the eyes constantly—this method caused much less direct physical stress.
But still…
It was a Mangekyō ability. Overuse of its powerful Yin chakra could still cause retinal detachment, degeneration of the optic nerve, and eventually permanent blindness.
Yu's heart sank.
Not that there weren't ways to counter it.
1. Transplanting Hashirama cells — cells infused with immense life force that could prolong the Mangekyō's lifespan and reduce its side effects.
2. Awakening the Eternal Mangekyō — which would eliminate the risk of blindness altogether. But for Yu, that wasn't a viable option.
3. Possessing a limitless supply of Green Medicine — which could regenerate damage and potentially bypass the usual drawbacks.
So, in Yu's view, awakening the Eternal Mangekyō was out of the question. His best options were the Hashirama cells and the Green Medicine.
Unfortunately, during the rushed assassination of Danzō, he didn't have time to collect anything beyond Shisui's eye. Ideally, he would've secured some of those cells too.
But that was fine.
He would return to Konoha eventually.
Thinking about the Green Medicine, Yu's expression grew more serious. He had initially assumed it could only heal physical injuries, both internal and external…
He hadn't expected it to also grant him access to Wood Release.
It also replenished a third of the life force he had overdrawn by taking the red pill.
Aside from that…
Yu's own strength had also improved—likely a result of the life force reconstruction his body had undergone due to the Green Medicine.
His physical strength increased by approximately 0.01 times that of an average adult male. Though the gain was small, it opened his eyes to a new path for improving himself.
Letting out a breath, Yu assessed his current condition.
As for Wood Release—he could still sense, within a 500-meter radius around himself, the presence of plants and their natural energy.
However, his version of Wood Release differed from the traditional kind. Rather than conjuring trees or vines out of thin air by combining earth- and water-style chakra and injecting life force into the ground,
he could only manipulate the existing plants within that 500-meter range for combat.
Without the Green Medicine to catalyze those plants…
This form of Wood Release would be rather underwhelming.
With that in mind, Yu injected water and earth chakra beneath his feet and began channeling the natural energy of the surrounding flora into a single vine.
Swish—swish—
"Enemy attack!!!"
Tamao was the first to react. He drew the katana from his back, leapt from a tree, and sliced the vine Yu had just manipulated clean in half with a single swing!
"…" Yu.
Seeing Yu's darkened expression, Kurenai looked at Tamao, then seemed to realize what had happened. She couldn't help but cover her mouth and laugh.
Just as Tamao was about to brag to the confused Uchiha behind him—
Whoosh—
Suddenly, the vine swelled in size. From something no thicker than a thumb, it expanded visibly to the size of a human wrist.
Yu glanced sideways at the transformation, the corner of his mouth lifting slightly.
His guess was right—he could use the natural energy in the 500-meter radius not only to heal injuries,
but also to inject that energy into a plant and forcibly evolve it into something with combat capabilities.
The vine writhed like a snake and suddenly lashed toward Tamao's feet.
Startled, he jumped back in a panic and cried out:
"Is this Danzō's damn mom—or his dad?!"
°°°
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