"Kushina… what's wrong with you…?"
Inside the luxurious mansion, a spacious bedroom, dimly lit.
An old woman lay on the large bed, her face withered but kind.
"Grandma Mito, woo woo…"
Kushina, who had been holding back her emotions, quickly broke down at her gentle voice.
She knelt by Uzumaki Mito's bedside, burying her face in the bedhead and sobbing, "My confession failed, woo…"
Uzumaki Mito slowly raised her hand and placed it on Kushina's head, gently stroking her hair. "The boy you like, does he not like you?"
Kushina shook her head vigorously, choking out, "No… he… he likes me…"
"Then why did your confession fail?" Uzumaki Mito asked, puzzled.
Kushina looked up, her eyes misty with tears, "He… he…"
She choked for a while before finally saying, "He only likes ambiguity, he doesn't want to define the relationship, woo…"
Even at Uzumaki Mito's age, with one foot in the grave, her mind paused for a moment upon hearing that sentence.
"Only likes ambiguity?"
She was silent for a while before slowly speaking, "Kushina, what's the name of the boy you like?"
"He…" Kushina was about to speak but suddenly stopped, a worried expression appearing on her face. "Grandma Mito, please don't take it out on him."
Uzumaki Mito slowly shook her head, her cracked lips curving into a smile. "How could Grandma hurt the boy you like?"
"Oh…" Kushina relaxed. "His name is Hyuga Arima ."
"Hyuga… Arima ? The Hyuga Clan?"
Uzumaki Mito's gaze suddenly deepened. "So that's how it is."
Kushina rubbed the corner of her eye with the back of her hand. "Grandma, do you know something?"
"Kushina," Uzumaki Mito patted her head, "the Nine-Tailed Jinchuriki is a strategic weapon of the Village. Hiruzen won't allow a Jinchuriki to get too deeply involved with a major clan like the Hyuga. Compared to Hyuga Arima , perhaps he would prefer you to like a talented commoner Ninja."
"But I just like him!"
Kushina instinctively cried out, but then suddenly froze. "Do you mean that Arima and I breaking up wasn't his choice, but Hokage-sama's demand?"
Uzumaki Mito nodded. "It's very likely."
Kushina's small face visibly flushed. "I… I'm going to find him!"
As soon as she stood up and turned around, her hand was caught by Uzumaki Mito.
Kushina looked back in confusion. "Grandma Mito?"
Uzumaki Mito smiled kindly. "It's very late. Are you sure you want to go find him now?"
"Ah?"
Kushina's cheeks flushed.
Uzumaki Mito looked at her, as if seeing her younger self.
Such fervent affection, in those war-torn days, was the only past worth remembering.
"Kushina, do you truly intend to be with him for your entire life? Even if Hiruzen tries to stop it?" she asked softly.
"My entire life?" Kushina blinked her sparkling large eyes. "I haven't thought that far ahead…"
Uzumaki Mito pulled her to sit by her bed, reaching out to caress her tender small hand. "In three days, you will become the new Nine-Tailed Jinchuriki. By then, you will be protected by the Village and will no longer have the freedom you have now…"
Kushina's eyes reddened, and she gripped Uzumaki Mito's aged hand tightly. "Grandma Mito, are you… are you leaving me too?"
Uzumaki Mito looked at Kushina's frail small body, as if seeing her future lonely days, and a hint of sorrow appeared in her cloudy eyes.
"Kushina…"
She spoke in a low voice, "The Jinchuriki's heart will develop a void. You must find something to fill it, only then can you find happiness."
"A void in the heart… finding happiness…"
Kushina clutched her heart. The thought of her future as a Jinchuriki felt like a heavy stone pressing down on her, making it hard to breathe.
"Grandma, what… what should I do…" she asked, bewildered.
In Uzumaki Mito's cloudy eyes, the image of the First Hokage seemed to be reflected. "Kushina… find the person who brings you peace of mind… he will help you fill the void in your heart…"
Kushina was flustered and disoriented, her mind drifting.
Arima , will you be the one to fill me? I'm so scared…
The next evening.
After Ninja School, Hyuga Arima , as usual, carried the freshly bought groceries through the streets, walking alone back to his clan's compound.
The Hyuga Clan, as Konoha's second-largest clan currently, occupied a vast area.
Of course, a clan member like him, without the Byakugan, was naturally assigned to the very edge of the clan compound, with no access to the core area.
He didn't mind it himself.
The Hyuga Clan wasn't particularly good or bad to him; they didn't disown him as a clan member, but they couldn't stop the strange looks from other clan members.
"After all, I'm the only normal person in a clan of Byakugan users, so it's normal to be envied, jealous, and hated."
He often comforted himself this way.
"Creak."
Pushing open the courtyard gate, Hyuga Arima entered the familiar small courtyard.
Even the peripheral houses occupied over a hundred square meters, a sign of a major clan.
Though Hyuga Arima often found it spacious.
Living alone in such a house was very lonely.
"I'm home… Huh?"
He was about to welcome himself home when his attention was drawn by the figure of a girl at the entrance hall.
She wore a pure white kimono, her face gentle, kneeling on the wooden floor of the corridor, and softly said, "Young Master, welcome home."
Hyuga Arima : "..."
He looked back at the courtyard gate. "Did I not lock the door?"
He quickly dismissed this ridiculous doubt.
In a world where Ninjas leap around, is a lock useful?
"Young Master, the clan elder sent me to take care of you." The girl bowed her head respectfully.
Hyuga Arima scanned her up and down. "Oh, from weaning until I was six, my mother, as a main family guard, was rarely around. The clan only sent me three meals a day and no one else cared for me. Now that I can take care of myself, they send a maid?"
The girl's body trembled, and she looked up, revealing a surprised expression. "You've never had anyone take care of you?"
Hyuga Arima looked at her strangely, especially at her every move from just now until now.
Slowly, a hint of amusement appeared at the corner of his mouth.
"Get up," he smiled. "What can you do?"
The girl got up from the floor, her pretty face bright. "I can cook, wash dishes, clean the floor for Young Master, and tidy the house."
"Alright then, go help me stew this fish first."
Hyuga Arima handed over the bag he was holding.
The girl, clattering in her wooden clogs, scurried over with small steps and took the bag from his hand.
"Thwack."
Suddenly, the fish tail slapped against the bag, making a soft sound.
"A live… live fish?"
The girl's hand trembled, almost dropping the bag.
Hyuga Arima said expressionlessly, "A fish for stewing soup, of course it's fresh."
"Oh…"
Her distressed expression made him secretly laugh.
"Is there a problem?" he asked, feigning surprise.
"No… no, Young Master, please wait a moment, it'll be ready soon."
Watching her run into the kitchen in a panic with the bag, Hyuga Arima shook his head with a smile, leisurely changed into his wooden clogs, and shuffled to the kitchen doorway.
"Eh? Wait, wait!"
He took one look and couldn't help but speak, "Are you planning to just throw the live fish into the pot to boil?"