Chapter 213: Recognizing Kin? Ugly, Rejected!

"Big Brother, look at the moon tonight, isn't it quite round?"

As night fell, outside the Uchiha clan's camp, Uchiha Izuna lay on the grass, pointing his finger at the full moon hanging in the sky, his eyes filled with longing.

The moon emitted a gentle radiance, imbuing this place of slaughter with a moment of tranquility.

"Hmph, what is there to look at with the moon?"

Uchiha Madara, off to the side, heard his younger brother's childish remark and sneered, continuing to polish the cold, gleaming flying sickle in his hand; right now, he was only interested in Hashirama, and ignored everything else.

"Sigh~ You really have no sense of romance."

Uchiha Izuna couldn't help but pout upon hearing his older brother's words, the bright moonlight reflecting in his black pupils.

Suddenly, as if remembering something, he turned his head and said to Uchiha Madara beside him with a mysterious look on his face,

"Big Brother, Big Brother, let me tell you a secret."

"What?"

"I remember one time, a drunk Big Cousin pointed at the moon and told me that we have relatives up there."

Izuna leaned in cautiously, scanning his surroundings vigilantly, and quietly shared the secret he had kept hidden for many years with his own brother.

"Are you an idiot?"

Uchiha Madara's hand paused at these words, and he looked at his younger brother's determined expression with black lines on his forehead, unable to stop himself from cursing out loud.

"Huh? Big Cousin never lies to me."

After all, the New Year's money he had received over so many years wasn't for nothing; Uchiha Izuna trusted his kind and amiable Big Cousin from the bottom of his heart.

"Then what do you say those relatives are doing on the moon?"

Looking at his childish younger brother, Uchiha Madara sighed inwardly; the kid was already over twenty, so why was he still like a child?

"Heh, you asked the right person; Big Cousin told me specifically."

Hearing Uchiha Madara's cooperative question, Uchiha Izuna, who had been waiting for this, lit up, immediately rolled over to stand up, pointed at the silvery-white moon, and said with a smile,

"The relatives on the moon are guarding a tree, and our ancestors are hanging on that tree."

"Drink less with your cousin in the future; it rots the brain."

After a long silence, Uchiha Madara raised his gaze toward the full moon in the sky for the first time.

At this moment, the moon looked just like a fairy who had inadvertently wandered into the world, suffused with an indescribable beauty.

It did indeed have some charm, but the cousin's story was told too poorly; how could anyone possibly live on the moon?

"I am gazing into the distance, above the moon, how many dreams are flying freely~"

In the dense jungle, humming a familiar divine song leisurely, Uchiha Gin sat on the ground, facing an endless lake, the water shimmering and meeting the sky.

A sun emitting slow waves of heat hung in the sky not far above his head, bringing a comfortable temperature while adding vigorous vitality to this paradise; enjoying a moment of peace, Uchiha Gin couldn't help but exclaim,

"If nothing else, this place is really a great spot for a relaxing vacation."

"Discovery. Intruder."

An untimely noise broke this rare leisure.

"Snap!"

Uchiha Gin rolled his eyes, his good mood just rising now ruined; without turning his head, he flicked out a bolt of lightning, and with a crisp sound, the noise stopped abruptly.

"Sigh~ How exactly am I supposed to go back?"

Uchiha Gin sighed, stood up and brushed the dust off his body, faint blue light appearing in his pitch-black eyes; his vision instantly pierced through layers of tree shadows, attempting to find clues to return.

"Eh? There seems to be signs of life there; let's go find a local brother to lead the way~"

Under the enhancement of his mutated Byakugan, Uchiha Gin quickly searched out a city exuding an ancient aura in the distance, and without further hesitation, he kicked off the ground and sprinted in that direction.

Not long after he left, several figures in long robes appeared at the spot where Uchiha Gin had stayed.

Looking at the charred ground beneath their feet, the middle-aged woman in the lead felt her heart skip a beat, her white eyes filled with deep horror.

"So many years have passed, and there is actually an intruder from the Earth Ninja."

Before her lay scattered hundreds of Otsutsuki puppets used for combat.

Some had been burned to charcoal by fire, some torn apart by brute force, and more had been blasted into scattered parts by lightning; such methods were definitely not from their clan.

"Just how many people did the other side bring to be able to destroy so many puppets without leaving a single clue behind?"

In the woman's view, although these puppets were mass-produced, their strength was not inferior to ordinary clansmen; she hadn't expected so many to be destroyed, so it seemed the intruder was definitely prepared.

"You few stay behind to continue the investigation; I will go back to report to the Clan Leader."

With a growing sense of crisis, the woman turned to arrange things for the clansmen behind her, while she herself boarded a small hovering airship and sped off toward the sky.

"Tsk! Why is it a ghost town? There isn't even a dog here."

Before long, Uchiha Gin arrived at his destination and wandered around the lifeless city, finding no traces of any living people.

"Sigh~ It looks like no one has lived here for at least a few hundred years; this is going to be difficult~"

He reached out to touch the faded wall, finding that these once-hard rocks now crumbled at a touch, then sighed, brushed the dust off his hands, and said in disappointment,

"Outsider."

A vague voice suddenly sounded in his ear.

"I guess I can only go look elsewhere~"

Uchiha Gin, upholding the correct guide for escaping horror movies, directly ignored the hazy voice in his ear.

"Outsider."

The voice in his ear grew clearer, and there was a hint of impatience in it.

"Byakugan, activate!"

Uchiha Gin chose to be selectively deaf, refined chakra into his eyes, and the Byakugan glowing with blue light appeared once more.

"Outsider... Kin! You have finally come!"

The impatient voice in his ear, following the activation of Uchiha Gin's Byakugan, instantly changed its tone, turning into a flattering cadence that chattered incessantly in his ear.

"Oh?"

Uchiha Gin tilted his head, raised his eyebrows awkwardly, and posed a soul-searching question.

"Cough, cough, cough... it was my rudeness; kin from the ground, please move to the inner hall."

The voice that had been so nasty just a moment ago switched to a cautious tone, and within the vision of Uchiha Gin's Byakugan, it pointed out a path using chakra.

"Heh."

Sensing the change in the other party's attitude, Uchiha Gin stopped playing deaf and dumb, followed the direction indicated by the chakra, jogged all the way, and passed through an underground secret door into a dim hall.

"Whew~ Why is it so eerie in here?"

The dark hall was pitch black to normal vision, but fortunately, with the help of the Byakugan, everything around was clear at a glance.

Uchiha Gin looked at the mounds of earth rising before him, and subconsciously got goosebumps; is this a graveyard, for heaven's sake?

"Hey, hey, hey, is there anyone alive?"

Uchiha Gin sensed that there was no sign of life around, the chill in his heart growing heavier, so he politely called out.

"If no one is here, I'm leaving~"

Seeing that the surroundings remained silent, Uchiha Gin chose to run; if he stayed in a place like this for too long, his vigorous Yang energy would be drained dry.

"Wait, kin from the Earth Ninja."

Just as Uchiha Gin turned to leave, a cold voice rang out in the darkness.

Accompanied by the voice, a hazy figure slowly walked out; it was a long-haired man with his eyes closed, and the voice had come from him.

"Uh, hello, but did you mistake me for someone else? I don't have such ugly relatives."

Uchiha Gin looked at the man's unremarkable old face with disdain, his tone slightly euphemistic as he spoke.

Our Uchiha clan's looks are still quite impressive; I'm really sorry, but I can't claim kin with someone who looks like you.

"Ugh..."

The long-haired man heard Uchiha Gin's words, and the draft he had just prepared died in the cradle.

Although he couldn't see the other person's appearance right now, he could already imagine the punchable face of the person before him.

Forcibly suppressing the anger in his heart, the long-haired man organized his words and continued to speak.

"Kin, although I do not know how you came to us, as a descendant sharing the blood of our ancestor, please listen to me..."

"Not listening, not listening."

"Listen to m—"

"Like a turtle chanting scriptures~"

"＃"

The long-haired man's already lifeless face was now covered in black energy; looking at Uchiha Gin, who was covering his ears and shaking his head, he slowly opened his tightly shut eyes.

"Uh, where are your eyes?"

Uchiha Gin, covering his ears, saw the pitch-black void in the man's opened eyes, stopped the noise in his mouth, and asked with a frown.

"Can you listen now?"

"Fine, you're blind, so you're the boss; just say what you have to say~"

Although he knew the gist of it, Uchiha Gin still gave the NPC some face; after all, the other party's purpose for appearing was just this.

"Kin of the Earth Ninja, do you know who we are?"

"Uh, this part can be skipped; if you have something to say, say it, don't use the original work to pad the word count."

Uchiha Gin rolled his eyes while his Byakugan was already active, turning them white upon white, and said impatiently to the long-haired man, who was wearing a bitter expression.

"Huh?"

His full draft died in the cradle once again, but as it was his duty, he had to explain it clearly to this guy.

"We are..."

"Stop yapping, just tell me who to beat up and be done with it!"

Thinking about speed-running the map, Uchiha Gin waved his hand to interrupt the long-winded introduction the other party was about to give, hoping they would get straight to the point; he just wanted to finish the fight and go home.

"Ugh, ugh, ugh~"

Uchiha Gin's words caused the long-haired man's breath to hitch, nearly choking him to the point of reviving on the spot; he reached out, dug a purple orb of light from his throat, and smashed it fiercely onto the ground.

"I'm not saying anything! Whoever wants to talk, go ahead!"

The long-haired man adopted a "give-up" attitude, angrily lay down in a stone coffin beside him, and took the initiative to slowly pull the coffin lid shut with his hands, not forgetting to add one last remark before finishing:

"No matter how pure the Byakugan is, it's useless if the brain isn't right!"

(End of chapter)