Chapter 159: Madam, Please Have Some Self-Respect

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

"Please enjoy~ ah~"

A voluptuous, purple-haired woman stared with amorous eyes at the upright-looking Uchiha Gin, ignoring the Uchiha Hikari beside her who was on the verge of exploding, as she brought a shaved ice drizzled with honey syrup to his lips.

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

The woman tilted her head in confusion, tucking a stray lock of long purple hair behind her ear, the spoon in her hand scooping up shaved ice mixed with syrup.

Blown by the hot air, it melted into a sticky liquid that dripped down her white, lotus-root-like forearm and into the cleavage revealed by her leaning posture.

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

No matter what antics the plump and juicy woman before him pulled, he maintained the expression of an old monk in meditation.

"Ara ara~ what's wrong, Gin-san? Is it too hot? Did you get heatstroke?"

Seeing Uchiha Gin acting so unlike his usual self, the woman, who radiated a mature and charming aura,

stuck out her pink, tender tongue to lick the syrup dripping from her forearm, while pressing her entire head forward, wanting to use her fair forehead to check Uchiha Gin's temperature.

"Gin!!!!"

The mercury cloak could barely contain the furious Uchiha Hikari; countless black auras surged into the sky from the girl. Just as she was about to erupt, a familiar voice sounded from behind them, filled with helplessness.

"Mother! Please stop teasing Mr. Gin."

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

Her long hair was tied into a simple, convenient ponytail behind her, and she carried a plate of cold, steaming shaved ice in her hands, her eyes filled with a look of "wishing iron could become steel."

"Bang!"

Placing the shaved ice in front of the spectating Uchiha Madara and Izuna, the pale-faced girl turned and delivered a hand-blade strike to the mature woman's head, saying in a cold tone,

"Don't do things that make people uncomfortable!"

"Wuwuwu~~~"

Holding her head, the woman puffed out her cheeks with teary, beautiful eyes, waving her lotus-root arms and throwing a tantrum like a naive little girl.

"Wuwuwu, little Jiri has grown up, to actually treat Mommy like this. Have you forgotten who raised you through all the hardships?"

"Shut it!"

The girl delivered another merciless hand-blade strike. She was long accustomed to her mother's shameless behavior and felt not a shred of pity.

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

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

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

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

"No need, no need, little Jiri. I know Lady Yumi is just joking with me."

The two, already well-acquainted, naturally wouldn't mind the woman's intentional pranks. Uchiha Gin hurriedly waved his hands, signaling Uchiha Jiri not to make a big deal out of it, as he and the lady were merely "friends of the pipe and bow."

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

The woman, sanctioned by the hand-blade, did not stop there; instead, she raised her head with an excited expression and asked her daughter eagerly,

"To actually want to be an enemy of Mommy, Gin-san is someone who is going to become your daddy!"

"Bang!!!"

This time, the girl directly grabbed the tray she was using to serve the shaved ice and slammed it onto the head of the woman spouting nonsense. As a puff of blue smoke rose, the woman hugged her head in grievance and ran back into the house, leaving a trail of tears.

"Wuwuwu~ little Jiri is a big idiot!"

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

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

"There is one more serving; I'll go inside and make it."

With her back to the crowd, Uchiha Jiri walked back into the house without looking back, leaving everyone staring at each other.

"Gin, who is that woman?"

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

"Uh, Lady Yumi is little Jiri's mother. Because that kid Itama is close with Jiri, our two families have become quite familiar 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, and she is not a widow, so how could anything unseemly happen?

"So that's how it is!"

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

Since the other party is little Jiri's mother, even if Gin were starving and desperate, he wouldn't make a move on a married woman, right?

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

Izuna, who was eating watermelon-flavored shaved ice on the side, couldn't suppress the restlessness of wanting to gossip and intentionally or unintentionally brought up Uchiha Jiri's background.

???

Uchiha Hikari's eyes changed instantly. Her hawk-like gaze stared fixedly at the head-bowing Uchiha Gin. For a moment, an overwhelming pressure covered him, making Uchiha Gin, who was frantically devouring shaved ice, shiver involuntarily.

"That's right, I didn't expect the usually lazy big cousin to actually help Lady Yumi fetch water in the middle of the night."

Uchiha Madara, who hadn't spoken until now, suddenly said leisurely, though it was unclear if he was doing it out of spite.

Ah???

I didn't expect you, this thick-browed and big-eyed Asura of the Ninja World, to have a petty side too.

Uchiha Gin, not knowing how to explain, had no choice but to bury his head in his shaved ice, treating their words as wind passing by his ears.

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

The girl, radiating black aura, looked at Uchiha Gin—who was burying his head like an ostrich—with a sickly expression, her tone sounding like a different person.

"Please don't say such misleading things. Although Mr. Gin looks unreliable, he is still an upright and good person."

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

Uchiha Jiri placed the strawberry shaved ice in front of the strangely-acting "Uchiha Hikari," 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 a bit too much; she might have heatstroke."

Uchiha Gin, noticing that the girl's condition was a bit off, temporarily held his tongue and spoke up to explain for her. Is the dark personality usurping the throne again?

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

Uchiha Jiri could only see that "Uchiha Hikari's" complexion was off, so she believed Uchiha Gin's words and began to strongly recommend her family's shaved ice.

"Uchiha Hikari," who had intended to act out, looked at the food she had never seen before. Holding the mindset of giving it a try, she 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 maneuver, Uchiha Jiri, who knew the power of her shaved ice, hurriedly tried to stop her, but it was too late.

"Ugh~~~"

The "Uchiha Hikari" who had just emerged felt a chill rush from her head to her feet. After repeating this several times, the chill finally impacted her crown, instantly freezing her consciousness and causing her to fall back into the darkness.

"Uh... what just happened to me?"

Uchiha Hikari, whose brain was aching from being frozen by the shaved ice, came to her senses. She knew nothing of what had just happened. Looking at the strawberry shaved ice with a large chunk missing, she asked with slight confusion,

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

Seeing the girl return to the posture she had seen yesterday, Jiri smiled and said to the bewildered Uchiha Hikari.

"Not bad. Recommending your mother to open a cold drink shop back then was indeed the right choice."

Seeing the girl return to normal, Uchiha Gin, relieved, picked up his shaved ice as if claiming credit and revealed the reason for the girl's family running 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 Jiri recalled the man who had suddenly appeared in her home a few years ago.

He helped the mother and daughter, who were working hard for meager pay, open this cold drink shop, allowing her time to undergo proper training instead of doing errand-running missions every day to subsidize the household.

"This is all what I should have done, after all, little Jiri is so hardworking."

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

To reduce the burden on her family, she would do all sorts of troublesome missions that others looked down upon, rain or shine, day and night.

Her small body contained a tenacious strength that made him, at that time, unable to resist helping.

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

She had 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"—a mother-daughter bowl! In this situation, how could an average man resist?

"Actually~ there is something I have always wanted to ask of Gin-san!"

Before she knew it, the charming purple-haired woman appeared once again. Jiri, seeing her mother, thought the other party was going to cause trouble again and reached out her hand, preparing to give her unreliable mother another sanction.

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

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

The woman giggled and dodged her daughter's hand-blade, turning her head, her charming face now full of seriousness.

Only then did she speak with a sincere tone to the man before her who had helped her without coveting anything.

"Little Jiri is not young anymore. Her dream has always been to be an excellent ninja, but her father died early, and there has never been anyone to teach her ninja techniques properly, so..."

The woman paused, her alluring eyes carrying a hint of pleading.

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

With that, she bowed deeply to Uchiha Gin, her voluptuous waist and hips fully exposed before him.

Uchiha Gin looked at the beautiful scenery before him and subconsciously swallowed a mouthful of saliva.

The woman's humble attitude made him fall into deep thought. The situation in all the major clans was basically like this now.

Although the Uchiha clan had training grounds and assigned specialists to guide training, the deep-level techniques of a ninja,

such as taijutsu and ninjutsu, were still mostly passed down through blood ties. Children inheriting the mantle of their parents was the normal way of inheritance in this era.

As for Uchiha Zhili, although her father was a ninja, he sacrificed himself early on, and her mother was an ordinary person, unable to provide her with any guidance on the path of a ninja.

Under these circumstances, if no one were to teach her everything they knew, Uchiha Zhili might struggle to achieve anything in her lifetime.

Upon hearing her mother's words, Uchiha Zhili was also stunned where she stood; being precocious, she had long ago seen through the rules of ninja inheritance, and originally, she had only intended to rely on her own exploration to move forward.

She had not expected that her mother, who usually seemed unreliable, would actually humble herself to beg others for her sake.

In an instant, an endless warmth surged into her heart; as expected, her mother was not the kind of shallow woman who only cared about finding men for herself.

"Quick, Zhili, what are you standing there stunned for? Come over here and kowtow to your new father!"

(End of this chapter)