After parting ways in the Wave Country, Night Light and Vortex Yuka never saw each other again.
Night Light was busy with Anbu missions, while Vortex Yuka led her clan members in a desperate escape.
"Long time no see," Night Light said. "Yujia, did you warn Senju Rope Tree about the danger, as I told you?"
Last time, he only used a scroll to convey the truth about the Vortex Clan's destruction. This time, Night Light added a more crucial detail: someone was planning to harm Senju Nawaki.
He hoped Senju Nawaki would survive.
"I warned him. I left not only the truth about the Vortex Clan's destruction but also a warning message," Vortex Yuka asked.
"Fox, would the Konoha ANBU really harm Young Master Nawaki?
He's the Young Clan Head of the Senju Clan, a genius of Konoha."
Night Light nodded and said,
"Don't underestimate the resolve of Konoha's higher-ups.
They are Ninjas with exceptionally strong wills, willing to do anything to achieve their goals.
If the truth is exposed and the Senju Clan breaks with Konoha's higher-ups, it will be Konoha's greatest disaster.
And given the Senju Clan's nature of valuing their kin, a complete break is highly likely to happen.
In this Great Ninja War, Konoha will suffer a crushing defeat due to internal strife.
Currently, they are only fighting Iwagakure, but soon Kumogakure, Sunagakure, and Hidden Mist will all pounce and savagely tear at Konoha.
Konoha Village has been strictly guarding Lady Mito, Princess Kushina, and the Senju Clan during this period.
My regular Anbu mission is to monitor the Senju Clan Grounds.
When I warned you in the Wave Country not to contact the Senju Clan for now, I wanted to wait for this storm to subside before making long-term plans.
Senju Bo learned the truth, and he tried to tell the Senju Clan's higher-ups, but he was discovered early by the Anbu."
Vortex Yuka lowered her head and said sadly,
"I accidentally met Cousin Senju Bo in the Land of Grass, and he was shocked that I was still alive.
Under his questioning, I told him some facts. Cousin Bo is very smart and immediately guessed the truth.
He also found it hard to believe and was worried about the tearing apart of Konoha Village. He said he would try to handle it properly upon returning to the village.
Konoha Village's higher-ups don't cherish Konoha, but Cousin Senju Bo always considers Konoha in everything he does.
Are kind-hearted people destined to be bullied?
Unexpectedly, Cousin Bo was discovered by the Anbu, and he sacrificed himself again, earning an opportunity to transmit information.
And I also want to thank you for risking fatal danger to be our inside man."
In the power struggles within Konoha Village, those who cherish Konoha the most are often the easiest for the higher-ups to manipulate.
Conversely, people like Orochimaru, who don't care about Konoha, are unmanageable for the higher-ups, who can only appease him, even letting him experiment on Konoha children without consequence.
Their weakness, Konoha, is the Senju Clan's weakness.
An invincible person with no parents, no children, and no attachments is the one everyone fears.
Even the most heinous villains wouldn't dare provoke an invincible person, would they?
With a hardened heart, death is nothing; they're like someone barefoot, while everyone else wears shoes.
The sky began to pour rain.
The two found a tree hollow and crawled inside.
"Yujia, how many people are left in the Vortex Clan?"
"32 people."
Upon hearing this number, Night Light fell silent.
He hadn't expected that the once renowned Vortex Clan would be reduced to only 32 members.
"Why did you choose the Land of Rain?"
"The Land of Rain is a battlefield for four wars. Sunagakure, Iwagakure, Konoha, and Hanzō of Hidden Rain Village, as well as the rebel organizations that don't obey Hanzō—the situation here is the most chaotic," Vortex Yuka said.
"The more chaotic it is, the easier it is for us to hide.
Before, we were in the Land of Grass, which is Iwagakure's sphere of influence, and their control over each village is quite strong.
After being exposed in the Land of Grass, a Vortex clan member, Vortex Xiangyin, who specialized in medical Ninjutsu, was captured there.
I wanted to rescue her, but unfortunately, I couldn't. It was also while trying to rescue Xiangyin that I met Cousin Senju Bo."
Night Light guessed that Vortex Xiangyin was Karin's mother in the original story.
He said, "When I find an opportunity, I will tell Senju Rope Tree to rescue Vortex Xiangyin."
Night Light added in his mind, if Senju Nawaki could survive...
Vortex Yuka had been very tired lately, almost on the verge of collapse.
If not for the help of Cousin Senju Bo and Fox, she would have felt she couldn't go on.
Seeing Fox now, she felt so close.
Outside the tree hollow, the rain pattered down.
Inside the tree hollow, Yujia lightly kissed Night Light's neck, then quickly shed her clothes, soon covered in fragrant sweat from passion.
"Fox, why is your body so much better?"
Yujia thought to herself that Fox's Senju bloodline was becoming stronger with practice.
She kissed strawberries down Fox's neck, shoulders, chest, and waist. The strawberries quickly faded, proving Fox's excellent self-healing ability, which was a mark of the Senju Clan.
An hour later, Night Light couldn't help but marvel at the Vortex Clan's strong physique, especially their lasting moisture.
No wonder the Senju Clan wanted to intermarry with the Vortex Clan; only then could they be evenly matched.
"Yujia, the Nine-Tailed transfer seal is imminent. I'm here to understand the Nine-Tailed seal. To your knowledge, what Ninjutsu can affect the Nine-Tailed seal?
I have a feeling that the Nine-Tailed transfer seal won't go smoothly, and I'm very worried about Lady Mito and Princess Kushina."
Vortex Yuka slowly put on her clothes, saying at the same time,
"Ninjutsu that affects the Nine-Tailed seal?
To my knowledge, there is only one sealing Ninjutsu that can affect the Nine-Tailed seal, and that is the Contract Release. It's a secret technique of the Vortex Clan, rarely passed on outside.
Another thing that can affect the Nine-Tailed seal is not a sealing Ninjutsu, but the Uchiha Clan's Sharingan."
Night Light thought for a moment and said,
"The Vortex Clan's Sealing Scroll is in Clan Head Senju Rinmu's hands, so the risk of the Contract Release being leaked is very low.
Then we need to be wary of the Uchiha Clan.
The Uchiha Clan and the Senju Clan have a long-standing feud. Perhaps the Uchiha Clan will take advantage of the situation and cause trouble for the Nine-Tailed seal.
Yujia, you all hide for now.
Lady Mito is too old. Ever since the battle at Mt. Niuhe, she's rarely conscious for long periods each day.
Once Princess Kushina grows up, everything will get better."
"Okay, I understand. We will wait for Princess Kushina to grow up."
Night Light left the tree hollow, stepped into the rain, and disappeared with the Body Flicker Technique.
Vortex Yuka leaned against the wooden wall of the tree hollow, feeling the lingering warmth of Fox.
What Fox said was right; as long as Princess Kushina grew up, everything would be fine.
Vortex Yuka returned to the rainforest where the Vortex Remnants were hiding.
They were building treehouses there, barely making a living.
3 children, 26 women, 3 men—this was the entirety of the Vortex Clan.
According to Ninja World customs, women change their surname after marriage, but the women of the Vortex Clan had agreed not to change their surname after marriage and for their children to take the Vortex surname.
The Vortex Clan must not be annihilated. They were the last embers of the Vortex Clan.
Vortex Yuka thought that Fox's Senju bloodline was excellent, and it would be wonderful if she could have a child with Fox.
"Seriously, he only gave me two times in an hour. I should have kept him here..."
As she thought, Vortex Yuka started to laugh to herself.
A woman leading a child happened to pass by and asked, "Yujia, did something good happen?"
"Oh, no, no," Yujia said, teasing the little boy. "Nagato, have you been eating well lately?"