Chapter 19: Important Content That Failed to Load

The three returned to the camp, where Ryoichi Uchiha and Tsuru Uchiha had already cleared their tracks and were waiting to depart.

Seeing Gin Uchiha and Daro Uchiha, the two exchanged a glance with strange expressions; taking advantage of the gap while Gin Uchiha went to fetch Itama Senju, they approached Daro Uchiha.

"That guy Gin Uchiha, did he ask you to spar?"

Ryoichi Uchiha spoke first, and Daro Uchiha, taken aback by the question, answered in confusion,

"Yeah, how did you know?"

"Did he also say the clan leader taught him something?"

Tsuru Uchiha also chimed in.

Looking at Daro Uchiha's surprised expression, the two were certain he had been teased by Gin Uchiha with the same trick.

"That guy is just messing with us; he said it was a spar, but admitted defeat after a few moves."

"Not just that, when he sparred with me, he just dropped his sword on the ground."

"In short, he's just making fun of us."

Daro Uchiha, left dizzy by their few words, only came to his senses a moment later.

"You mean to say that when Gin Uchiha said he wanted to learn from us, he was actually just playing us for fools?"

"Exactly!"

Ryoichi Uchiha and Tsuru Uchiha reached a consensus and replied in unison.

Hearing this, Daro Uchiha's honest face turned from pale to red.

"That despicable guy!"

Then, he became a bit curious.

"Why would he do that?"

Upon being asked, all three fell silent.

"Maybe he's just bored."

Feng Huo Uchiha, who had been watching the drama from the sidelines, said leisurely after hearing the story.

"After all, that kid might just be an empty shell now."

"???"

Ryoichi Uchiha and the other two were full of question marks.

Just as they were about to press for more, Gin Uchiha walked over carrying the hog-tied Itama Senju, and the three shut their mouths at the right moment.

Ryoichi Uchiha and Tsuru Uchiha looked at the sky as if something there was attracting them, while Tsuru Uchiha lowered his head, counting the ants moving house on the ground with his toes; only Daro Uchiha looked at him with indignation.

"Brother Daro, I still have a few doubts about the question from just now—"

"Hmph! ╭(╯^╰)╮" Daro Uchiha walked away with an expression of being ashamed to be associated with him.

"o((？﹏？))o" Gin Uchiha was completely bewildered.

"Move out!"

Feng Huo Uchiha ignored the farce and ordered the departure.

The territory that the Uchiha and Senju had been fighting over was located within the borders of the later Land of Fire, with the Senju clan's land to the east, right against the sea.

Adjacent to them was their distant relative, the Land of Whirlpools; the Uchiha clan's land was to the west, and Gin Uchiha's group was currently in the east of the Land of Fire, fleeing along the coastline in a southwesterly direction.

The June sun was blazing, and because they were close to the coastline, the traveling group could feel a trace of coolness in the sweltering air.

Based on the map, Feng Huo Uchiha deduced that they should be about to escape the Senju clan's territory.

As long as they successfully ran out, they could shake off the pursuers behind them and enter the coast of the Land of Whirlpools, at which point they would be basically safe.

Gin Uchiha, at the back of the group, was chatting idly with the carried Itama Senju.

"Kid Itama, I heard you guys have a pretty good relationship with the Uzumaki clan of the Land of Whirlpools."

"Of course, we're cousins. The Uzumaki clan leader often comes to visit our Senju clan grounds; the last time he came, he even talked about arranging a marriage between us."

As he spoke, he wiggled his petite body, intentionally or unintentionally keeping his vital parts away from Gin Uchiha's warm, large hands.

Itama Senju knew well that he couldn't escape or commit suicide, so he simply gave up; either way, reaching the Uchiha clan grounds meant certain death, so he would live one day at a time for now.

Moreover, after a few days of being together, he learned that he was able to stay alive because of this Gin Uchiha before him.

It was he who protected him when the others wanted to kill him; although he always felt Gin Uchiha's motives were impure, the other party didn't abuse him in daily life.

When they bickered, Gin Uchiha would use his iron fist to discipline him, but afterwards, he would give him dried meat (fearing the kid would starve to death).

He would also tell him some strange jokes; although he couldn't understand them, they could still make him laugh out loud (maintaining a happy mood would help him live longer).

During the days of traveling, he had also been carrying him without any impatience (fearing he might accidentally crush the kid to death), and young Itama Senju suddenly found that the other party's image overlapped with his most respected eldest and second brothers.

"How pitiful, stepping into the grave of love at such a young age." Hearing this, Gin Uchiha sighed with emotion.

"Does a kid like you also want to marry an Uzumaki woman? I heard their clan lives on islands filled with thick fog all year round, and the women are all beauties with fair skin, paired with that fiery red hair—tsk tsk tsk, you have no idea how tempting that is."

Gin Uchiha teased the blushing Itama Senju.

Struck by such adult topics, Itama Senju turned his head away with a flushed face, his ears burning as he said,

"I—I don't want a woman from the Uzumaki family! Those guys are all violent maniacs!"

"Oh my, you're shy now? Does that mean you have someone you secretly like? Come on, confess."

Seeing Itama Senju's appearance, the bored Gin Uchiha felt a surge of playfulness.

"No! I don't secretly like Sister Toka!"

In his panic, Itama Senju actually blurted out an unfamiliar name for the first time.

"Hahaha, such a little kid with big thoughts."

Itama Senju, having exposed himself, wished he could find a crack in the ground to crawl into; he had been tricked so easily.

"You evil Uchiha!"

Itama Senju barked helplessly, "I'm never talking to you again!" With that, he closed his eyes and said nothing more.

"What a kid who can't take a joke."

Gin Uchiha shook his head with a smile, while also considering how to handle this hot potato, Itama Senju, after completing the mission.

Although he had relied on joking around and using the excuse of the clan leader's hints at first, once they returned to the Uchiha clan grounds and the clan leader came out to confront them, the truth would undoubtedly be exposed.

This kid might really be skinned and deboned by an enraged Tajima Uchiha, ending up without a whole corpse.

"The mission said to save Itama Senju from the hands of Feng Huo Uchiha and the others; I should have already saved this kid, so why hasn't the mission been completed yet?"

The first mission description was very brief, and Gin Uchiha couldn't see any clues; he was currently like someone being roasted on a fire.

On one hand, he feared that if he returned to the clan and the mission still wasn't completed, he would surely die; on the other hand, he feared that if he secretly let the kid go and was questioned by the clan leader upon returning, he probably wouldn't die, but his life would definitely be worse than death.

"Sigh, why am I so unlucky to have ended up with such an ancient-era treasure system."

Other people's systems give out beginner gift packs that are either powerful ninjutsu or top-tier divine artifacts, or at the very least, attribute points that make you take off once you add them.

As for him, it gave him a treasure chest that took four days to open, and just when he had finally saved up one win and one loss, preparing to be sanctioned by the system for a losing streak, it started all over again.

It gave him a skill that was useless and almost scared him to death; he was skewered for 72 hours in Tsukuyomi by Itachi, and in the end, it only gave him a fragment, then told him he had to be skewered 39 more times.

After so many days, his strength hadn't improved, but instead, the system had hung a Sword of Damocles over his head; is there any transmigrator more miserable than him?

"System, when will my mission finally be completed? I've already saved Itama Senju."

In desperation, Gin Uchiha tried to call out to the system in his mind once again.

"Host's mission completion progress detected at 60%. You must continue to protect the mission target, Itama Senju, until he returns to the Senju clan grounds for the mission to be completed."

The system, which never responded, actually broke its precedent and answered his question.

"&*%￥%@#￥*&……&*%&……%"

Gin Uchiha, immediately angered to the point of vomiting blood by the system, spewed fragrant language in his mind; after calming down, he asked,

"The mission content at the time didn't say I had to protect Itama Senju all the way to the Senju home!"

"The system was still loading at the time, 80% of the content was not loaded, and the mission data was incomplete. The mission release module has now finished loading.

Mission as follows: Save Itama Senju from the hands of Feng Huo Uchiha and others, 'protect him until he returns to the Senju clan grounds', obtain 10 points, 'Random Orb *1'. If Itama Senju dies, the mission fails."

"So the part you didn't load was the most important one."

"Insufficient bandwidth. Please increase your strength, Host. System loading speed is linked to the Host's strength." The system sent another cold notification.

"!???"

(End of chapter)