Chapter 116

In the market of the Uchiha clan grounds, under a canopy set up outside a shop.

"Please enjoy~ Ah~"

A voluptuous purple-haired woman stared at the upright-looking Uchiha Gin with amorous eyes, ignoring Uchiha Hikari, who was about to explode nearby, and brought the shaved ice covered in honey syrup to his mouth.

"Gin-san, why aren't you eating today?"

The woman tilted her head in confusion, tucked a strand of loose long purple hair behind her ear, and scooped up the shaved ice mixed with syrup with the spoon in her hand.

Blown by the hot air, it melted into a viscous liquid that dripped down the woman's lotus-root-like forearm into her cleavage.

Uchiha Gin kept his eyes on his nose and his nose on his heart, his dead-fish eyes not daring to move an inch under the invisible pressure of the girl behind him.

No matter how the plump and juicy woman in front of him acted, he maintained the expression of an old monk in meditation.

"Ara ara~ What's wrong with Gin-san? Is it too hot, did you get heatstroke?"

The woman, exuding a mature and charming aura, saw Uchiha Gin, who was like a different person from usual.

She extended her pink tongue to lick the syrup dripping from her forearm, while pressing her entire head against him, wanting to use her fair forehead to check Uchiha Gin's body temperature.

"AGIN!!!!"

The mercury cloak could barely hold back the angry Uchiha Hikari. Countless black qi surged from the girl's body. Just as she was about to explode, a familiar voice sounded from behind them, full of helplessness.

"Mother! Please stop teasing Mr. Gin."

Uchiha Zhili, also with purple hair, walked out of the house, wearing a cute apron for work.

Her long hair was tied into a simple and convenient ponytail behind her, and she was carrying a plate of shaved ice emitting cold air, her eyes filled with a look of "hate that iron doesn't become steel."

"Bang!"

Placing the shaved ice in her hand in front of Uchiha Madara and Izuna, who were watching the fun, the livid girl turned around and delivered a hand-blade chop to the mature woman's head, saying in a cold tone,

"Don't do things that bother people!"

"Woooooo~~~"

The woman, clutching her head, puffed out her cheeks with teary eyes, waved her lotus-root arms, and started throwing a tantrum like a naive little girl.

"Woooooo, little Zhili has grown up and actually treats Mommy like this. Have you forgotten who raised you through all the hardships?"

"Shut up!"

The girl delivered another merciless hand-blade chop. The girl had long been accustomed to her mother's rogue behavior and felt no compassion at all.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Gin, I didn't manage Mother well."

The sensible girl Zhili bowed apologetically to Uchiha Gin, while holding down her mother's head, and continued in a cold tone,

"Mother, if you don't apologize to Mr. Gin and the others, I will be very troubled in the future."

With that, she was about to press the purple-haired woman's head to bow and apologize to Uchiha Gin.

"No need, no need, little Zhili, I know Lady Yongmei is just joking with me."

The two, who were already well-acquainted, naturally wouldn't mind the woman's deliberate prank. Uchiha Gin hurriedly waved his hands, signaling Uchiha Zhili not to make a big deal out of it; he and the lady were just friends.

"Really, little Zhili, do you also have some ideas about Gin-san?"

The woman, sanctioned by the hand-blade, didn't stop there. Instead, she raised her head with great interest and asked her daughter excitedly,

"You're actually going to be enemies with Mommy? Gin-san is the one who is going to be your Daddy!"

"BANG!!!"

This time, the girl directly picked up the tray she was using to serve the shaved ice and smashed it hard on the head of the woman who was talking nonsense. With a puff of blue smoke, the woman ran back into the house, clutching her head in grievance, leaving a trail of tears.

"Woooooo~ Little Zhili is a big idiot!"

"Sorry, Mother is just like that, she always loves to talk nonsense."

The girl turned her head and said coldly with her back to Uchiha Gin and the others, but the sharp-eyed Uchiha Hikari saw a red earlobe from the side of the girl's ponytail, indicating that the girl's heart was not as calm as her words.

"There's one more serving, I'll go in and make it first."

Uchiha Zhili, with her back to the crowd, walked back into the house without looking back, leaving everyone looking at each other.

"Agin, who is that woman?"

Uchiha Hikari, who hadn't figured out the situation, saw that everyone present had an expression of being used to it, and couldn't help but ask the person involved, Uchiha Gin.

"Uh, Lady Yongmei is little Zhili's mother. Because that brat Itama is familiar with Zhili, our two families have become close over time."

Uchiha Gin scratched his curly black hair, his face full of composure. That's right, I am innocent with the lady. I am unmarried, she is not a widow, how could anything shameful happen?

"So that's how it is!"

Judging from the woman's skillful performance just now, these two definitely had some unclear relationship. Uchiha Hikari squeezed her fists, which had gone numb, and forcibly comforted herself.

Since the other party is little Zhili's mother, even if Agin is hungry and thirsty, he wouldn't make a move on a married woman, right?

"Poor little Zhili, she lost her father as soon as she was born. If it weren't for cousin..."

Izuna, who was eating watermelon-flavored shaved ice on the side, couldn't suppress the restlessness of gossip in his heart and mentioned Uchiha Zhili's background intentionally or unintentionally.

???

Uchiha Hikari's eyes changed instantly. Her falcon-like eyes stared fixedly at Uchiha Gin, who was lowering his head. For a moment, overwhelming pressure covered him, making Uchiha Gin, who was frantically eating shaved ice, shiver.

"That's right, I didn't expect that cousin, who is always lazy, would actually help Lady Yongmei carry water in the middle of the night."

Uchiha Madara, who hadn't spoken, suddenly said slowly, just not knowing if it was deliberate retaliation.

Ah???

I didn't expect you, this thick-browed and big-eyed Ninja World Asura, to have a narrow mind too.

Uchiha Gin, who didn't know how to explain for a moment, had to bury his head in eating shaved ice and treat the two's words as wind in his ears.

"Hehe, I didn't expect Agin to have such a special hobby!"

The girl, with black qi on her face, looked at Uchiha Gin, who was lowering his head and playing ostrich, with a sickly look, her tone of voice sounding like a different person.

"Please don't say these misleading things. Although Mr. Gin looks unreliable, he is also a decent and good person."

Lifting the curtain, the purple-haired girl carrying the last serving of strawberry-flavored shaved ice said with a normal expression.

Uchiha Zhili placed the strawberry shaved ice in front of the "Uchiha Hikari" with a strange expression, looked at this girl, whose temperament was completely different from yesterday, with some surprise, and tilted her head in confusion.

"Hikari-senpai, are you not feeling well?"

"Hikari is wearing too much, maybe she has heatstroke."

Uchiha Gin, who noticed that the girl's situation was a bit wrong, temporarily put it aside and spoke up to explain for her. Is this the dark personality usurping the throne again?

"It's indeed very hot today. Hikari-senpai, eat quickly. Our shaved ice is famous on this street for being delicious."

Uchiha Zhili could only see that "Uchiha Hikari's" complexion was not right, so she believed Uchiha Gin's words and began to strongly recommend her family's shaved ice.

"Uchiha Hikari," who was about to act, looked at the food she had never seen before, and with the mentality of giving it a try, immediately scooped up a large spoonful and threw it directly into her mouth.

"Don't! Eating it like that will..."

Seeing the girl's heroic operation, Uchiha Zhili, who knew the power of her shaved ice, hurriedly stopped her, but it was too late.

"Umm~~~"

The "Uchiha Hikari" who had just come out only felt a chill rushing from her head to her feet. After repeating several cycles, this chill finally impacted her crown, instantly freezing her consciousness, and then she fell back into the darkness.

"Uh, what just happened to me?"

Uchiha Hikari, whose brain was aching from the shaved ice, came back to her senses. She knew nothing about what had just happened. Looking at the strawberry shaved ice with a large piece scooped out, she asked with slight confusion,

"Look, don't you feel much better?"

Seeing the girl return to the posture she saw yesterday, Zhili said to Uchiha Hikari, who was stunned, with a smile.

"Not bad, recommending your mother to open a cold drink shop was indeed the right choice."

Seeing the girl return to normal, Uchiha Gin, who breathed a sigh of relief, picked up the shaved ice in his hand as if claiming credit, and revealed the reason why the girl's family ran a cold drink shop.

"That's right, thank you Mr. Gin. If it weren't for your help, Mother would still be working hard for others."

Uchiha Zhili recalled the man who suddenly appeared in her home a few years ago.

He helped the mother and daughter, who worked hard but had meager rewards, open this cold drink shop, allowing her to have time to do formal training instead of doing errands every day to subsidize the family.

"This is all what I should do, after all, little Zhili is so hardworking."

Eating the shaved ice in his hand, Uchiha Gin recalled the stubborn figure of the girl in front of him.

To reduce the burden on the family, she did all kinds of troublesome tasks that others looked down upon, regardless of wind or rain, day and night.

Her small body contained tenacious power, which made him at that time unable to help but reach out a hand.

Seeing that the atmosphere between the two was a bit wrong, the sensitive Uchiha Hikari sensed something bad.

She thought this purple-haired one had no threat, but she didn't expect the two to have this past, and it was a buy-one-get-one-free, mother-daughter bowl! In this situation, how could an ordinary man hold up?

"Actually~ I have always had something I want to ask Gin-san for!"

I don't know when, the charming purple-haired woman appeared again. Zhili saw her mother and thought the other party was going to make trouble again, so she stretched out her hand, ready to give her unreliable mother another sanction.

"Don't bring up any messy, strange requests again!"

"Hee hee, I'm talking about business this time."

The woman giggled and dodged her daughter's hand-blade, turned her head, and her charming face was full of seriousness at this moment.

Only hearing her tone sincere, she spoke to the man in front of her who had helped her but didn't covet anything,

"Little Zhili is not young anymore. Her dream has always been to be an excellent ninja, but her father died early, and no one has ever taught her ninja techniques formally, so..."

The woman's tone paused, and her alluring eyes carried a hint of pleading.

"I hope Gin-san can take little Zhili as an apprentice and train her into an excellent ninja."

With that, she bowed deeply to Uchiha Gin, her plump waist and buttocks fully exposed in front of Uchiha Gin.

Uchiha Gin looked at the beautiful scenery in front of him and swallowed subconsciously.

The humble attitude of the woman in front of him made him fall into deep thought. The situation of all major families is basically like this now.

Although the Uchiha clan has a place for training and sends special people to guide the training, the deep-level techniques of ninjas,

such as taijutsu and ninjutsu, are mostly passed down through blood ties. Children inheriting their father's mantle is the normal inheritance method of this era.

And Uchiha Zhili, although her father was a ninja, he sacrificed early, and her mother is an ordinary person who cannot give her guidance on the ninja path.

In this case, if no one teaches her everything, then Uchiha Zhili may have difficulty achieving anything in her life.

Uchiha Zhili heard her mother's words and was also stunned on the spot. The precocious her had seen through the rules of ninja inheritance a long time ago. Originally, she only thought about relying on her own exploration to move forward in the future.

I didn't expect that her mother, who usually looks unreliable, would actually beg others humbly for her sake.

For a moment, endless warmth surged into her heart. Sure enough, her mother is not the kind of shallow woman who only cares about finding men for herself.

"Quick, Zhili, what are you stunned for? Come over and kowtow to your new Daddy!"

(End of chapter)