Hours had now passed since Shiki freed Uchiha Nanashi from the seal that held her.
With Earth, Water and Fire Release, the boy had crafted a small residence to rest as well as a hot spring.
By producing supplies like toiletries, delicious food, bedding, etc from a storage scroll, Shiki had rendered the place fully livable, even comfortable for at least a couple of days.
Once Nanashi had rested for a full day and eaten better food than she ever remembered eating, the boy felt it was enough to soften the incoming blow and explained the basics of the situation to her.
*
"So I've been stuck in that place for more than a hundred years?" Nanashi questioned with pure disbelief in her voice, her dark eyes, no longer bearing the Sharingan, blankly staring in nothing.
She sat on an earthen couch with soft stuffed fabric over it making a simple couch, courtesy of Shiki.
'So you have yet to move on from the part huh . . .' The boy thought to himself.
Though he had started by telling the girl how long she had slumbered, he had gone much further afterwards, giving her a simplified version of historical events until the present time.
However, it seemed the Uchiha remained stuck on that first line and did not even register the remainder of what he spoke.
'Still . . . I suppose that is more than understandable.' Shiki reasoned and silently waited for Nanashi to come to terms with that, at least enough so that the conversation could proceed.
For the girl to fully accept it however, he suspected it would take a far longer amount of time and experience of living in this new world.
"And the shinobi clans of the Warring States . . . They're all gone?" Nanashi questioned.
'She really wasn't listening at all.' Shiki mentally noted.
He still answered her though.
"No, they simply reorganized into bigger Hidden Villages, each made up of several shinobi clans."
"After the clans founded these villages, civilians began joining in and eventually, new shinobi emerged from them, resulting in clanless shinobi only affiliated to the Hidden Village itself instead of any particular clan." The boy further explained.
"The Uchiha . . . Are they still around then?" The girl inquired after her own clan.
The dark emotions roiling off of her however, made it clear that it was not out of concern.
"They are. Part of the same Hidden Village as me actually, Konoha." Shiki honestly replied.
Nanashi froze slightly at that.
"So the Konoha you spoke of when you introduced yourself is one of these Hidden Villages . . . and the Uchiha clan are a part of it." The girl commented, mulling over less than kind thoughts in her head.
"Konoha is the strongest amongst all Hidden Villages, the first one to be founded which led to the others being created, the Uchiha are not only a part of it, they are one of the two founding clans." The boy went into further detail.
Nanashi was not surprised.
The Uchiha were always considered the strongest or second strongest clan. Being one of the founders for the strongest Hidden Village seemed par for the course.
"Who is the other founding clan?" She inquired.
"The Senju." Shiki bluntly replied.
Now Nanashi was truly shocked, her small mouth hanging agape as her beautiful black eyes widened in disbelief.
"H-How . . . How is that p-possible." She murmured in disbelief.
It was unthinkable.
And it stirred the darkest hate and resentment within her, stoking its flame.
Not because the Uchiha allied with the clan that imprisoned her, she never thought for a moment that anyone in her clan valued her as more than a weapon.
But her treatment, the way she was raised, the suffering she endured, all the fighting, all the atrocities, all of them were justified under the banner of crushing the clan's ancient enemies, the Senju clan.
'After all of THAT! They just went and allied with them!?' The thought nearly made her explode on the spot.
"HOW DID THIS HAPPEN!?" Nanashi shouted, her Sharingan flaring to life automatically beyond her will.
Shiki sighed and gave her an abridged version of the Hashirama/Madara story and how things evolved from there.
From that point on, Nanashi barraged the boy with continuous questions about Konoha, its clans, how it worked, how everyone got along, etc.
On the part of "how everyone got along", Shiki almost laughed to himself.
Rather than getting along, it was more like they shifted battlefields from the bloody battlegrounds to the political arena.
But the boy doubted Nanashi was the politically savvy sort.
In fact, nearly all Uchiha seemed to be quite terrible at it.
"How did you even find out about my existence?" Nanashi asked a very critical question.
"Konoha has a place where secret records of past events are kept, each clan contributes so they go back quite far into the Warring States Era. One particular document has information on shinobi sealed during that era." Shiki explained.
"Most of those seals were undone or lacked the potency to stop the deterioration of their prisoners so they died within." The boy continued.
"Your seal however, is of much better make and since there are no records of you ever being freed, I figured you would be right where the records showed. And I was correct." He concluded.
"And why?" Nanashi continued to ask.
"Why?" Shiki asked for specificity.
"Why did you free me? Do you want me to fight for you?" The Uchiha sharply inquired.
"To be completely honest . . . Not really. I'm fairly confident in my ability to handle my own battles" The boy replied.
"As for the reason . . . The initial impulse was simply because I was interested in you after seeing the records of your existence, the few that remain." He elaborated.
At that, Nanashi froze slightly, not really knowing how to react to a boy declaring interest in her.
Of course, Shiki's interest was in no way of "that" kind but the girl's mind went in that direction regardless.
Unaware of all this, the boy continued from his previous sentence.
"Recently though, I clashed with an old . . . let's say dissident, of the Uchiha clan and I was worried that either he or his associates would find and manipulate you for their own ends."
"I don't need you to fight for me but I also don't want you fighting against me. Makes sense right?" Shiki honestly explained.
Alas, Nanashi's Uchiha mind with its eccentricities, devalued that part about pragmatism while emphasising how the boy, "didn't want her to be manipulated" and "didn't want her to be hurt".
The latter being a very liberal and rose tinted interpretation of Shiki not wanting her to fight him.
After that exchange, Nanashi looked towards the boy with a rather intense look, one he was not quite sure how to interpret.
'There's no way a hate filled Uchiha coming out of a seal after a century is getting her head filled with romance right now . . . is there?' Shiki thought to himself.
Sweet summer child.
It was high time he fully realized and accepted the degeneracy and precociousness that seemed to rule over the Shinobi world.
Thankfully, Nanashi still had questions to ask so the conversation started again, not letting things grow too awkward.
"So there are no big wars anymore?"
+++++
Hey, Author here!
To promote the novel I will be releasing BONUS CHAPTERS on SUNDAYS based on the previous week's power stone count.
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Every earned BONUS CHAPTER on Webnovel will also be posted on Scribble.
Just a reminder that you can read up to a FULL MONTH ahead of this site on pa-treon.
I'm trying to become a full time Author now and I'm not going to be starting any new novels just so I can make sure this one is properly completed.
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