Chapter 29: Farewell is for a Better Meeting

Uchiha Gin, who had rushed over, watched the two brats' antics with a strange expression, and only spoke up to warn them when Itama Senju was about to pass out.

If Mito Uzumaki were to accidentally play this Senju brat to death, he would have to kick the bucket right along with him.

"Ah! You're back? How is my brother?"

Seeing that the person who arrived was Uchiha Gin, the young girl threw away the tree branch in her hand, circled him twice, and then reached out to pat him up and down.

"You're actually not hurt; did you not go?"

Uchiha Gin extended a finger and flicked the chattering girl on the forehead.

"Ouch, what are you doing?"

Clutching her red, swollen forehead, Mito Uzumaki said with tears in the corners of her eyes.

【Men and women should not touch, unless it's a mature beauty in black silk.】

Ignoring the girl's nonsense, he reached back, pulled out the black-red bead that was still trembling, and handed it over.

The girl, still teary-eyed, was struck dumb upon seeing it, her speech becoming incoherent.

"Y-you actually succeeded?"

Even without using her sensory abilities, Mito Uzumaki could distinguish from the aura emanating from the bead that her older brother, Hanado Uzumaki, was sealed inside.

"How do you plan to deal with him?"

The pouting girl asked anxiously; she truly had not expected her brother to actually lose to this unreliable Uchiha before her.

Although her talent allowed her to sense that the other party was by no means an evil person, sometimes the conflicts of factions override human nature.

Squinting, Uchiha Gin rubbed the bead in his hand a few times, and without a second thought, tossed it toward the girl amidst her worried expression.

"Huh?"

Mito Uzumaki, who hurriedly caught the bead, looked at Uchiha Gin in disbelief.

"You're just giving him back to me so casually? My brother is an important figure of the Uzumaki clan; if you turned him in to your clan, you would surely receive a generous reward."

"Young in age, but old in spirit."

Uchiha Gin looked at the girl before him; although he knew that following her suggestion to return would surely lead to being strictly managed by the clan head, doing so would forge an irreconcilable blood feud with the Uzumaki clan.

"As the saying goes, 'More friends mean more paths, more enemies mean more walls.' In case I can't make it in the Uchiha clan in the future, I can still find you to take me in."

Uchiha Gin rolled his dead-fish eyes and said with an indifferent expression.

Upon hearing this, Mito Uzumaki gave him a strange look, first putting the bead back into her bag, then walking to Uchiha Gin's side and taking his left hand.

Uchiha Gin was startled by the girl suddenly grabbing his hand and discovered that the hands holding his were emitting a blue light. Just as he wanted to pull away, the girl spoke to stop him.

"Don't move. I am using a secret technique of the Uzumaki clan to place a chakra mark on you. In case you really become homeless, you can use this mark to seek help from the Uzumaki clan."

Just as the girl was earnestly performing the technique, she was caught off guard and repelled by a burst of powerful red light.

"What's going on? How could it fail?"

The girl, interrupted by the strange power, leaned in again and grabbed Uchiha Gin's left hand to examine it repeatedly, but even using her sensory abilities, she couldn't detect any clues.

It actually failed? Uchiha Gin pulled back his left hand, clenching and unclenching his fist to test it repeatedly; he didn't feel any discomfort. Perhaps the girl wasn't skilled enough with the secret technique yet.

"If that doesn't work, should we try the other hand? Or maybe a foot?"

Uchiha Gin made a gesture to extend a foot, scaring Mito Uzumaki into grabbing his right hand for a second attempt, which went very smoothly this time.

As a cool sensation entered his right hand, Uchiha Gin saw a swirl-shaped mark appear on the back of his hand—the clan emblem of the Uzumaki clan—which vanished after a few seconds.

"What are your plans now?"

Uchiha Gin, now branded with the Uzumaki clan mark, lowered his head and stared at the girl's two swaying hair buns as he asked.

"My brother's seal can only be undone by our father. I've snuck out to play for long enough; it's time to go back."

Knowing full well the importance of her brother to the family, even if she wanted to continue wandering the world, she had no way to linger outside any longer.

"Shall we part ways here then?"

Uchiha Gin asked, raising an eyebrow.

"In the world of martial arts, one is not always the master of one's own fate."

Mito Uzumaki put on a grown-up face and sighed solemnly.

"Uh, as long as you're happy."

Uchiha Gin, with black lines on his forehead, waved goodbye to Mito Uzumaki, who had once again shouldered her huge bundle.

At the moment of parting, the girl, having walked a few steps away, stopped and tilted her head in a 45-degree angle, saying with wandering eyes,

"Mr. Human Trafficker, we will meet again, right!"

"Definitely."

Knowing the girl's future destiny, Uchiha Gin nodded without hesitation.

"Oh."

Hearing this, the girl turned her head, the corners of her mouth curling up while her back was turned, and she walked toward the direction of home with a jaunty step.

Watching Mito Uzumaki's receding back, Uchiha Gin turned around and returned to the cave, kicking the unlucky little brother Itama Senju, who was lying on the ground with his eyes closed and fainted.

"Stop playing dead, little brother, it's time for us to go too."

Exposed, Itama Senju opened his eyes helplessly, his gaze filled with pleading.

"As long as you guarantee not to talk any more nonsense on the road ahead, I'll take the sock out."

Uchiha Gin, understanding the other's meaning, said.

The brat nodded repeatedly, tears almost spilling out from his anxiety.

After taking the stinky sock out of his mouth, Itama Senju greedily breathed in the fresh air, then, as if remembering something terrifying, began to curl up and retch violently.

Only after the brat had vomited until he had almost no bile left did Uchiha Gin pick him up and start heading toward the battlefield to rendezvous with Uchiha Ryoichi and the others.

He moved with great speed along the way, a completely different person from when he was panting with exhaustion while carrying the brat at the beginning.

"The bloodline of the Uzumaki clan is truly practical; they are worthy of being the clan that inherited the Sage Body in the original story."

Feeling the explosive power and the vast chakra contained within his body, Uchiha Gin sighed in his heart.

"Ding! Host has successfully saved the Uchiha Fenghuo squad from a desperate situation, gaining 50 points and 4 random magic orbs."

The sudden notification sound made Uchiha Gin, who hadn't arrived yet, pause his steps. He hadn't arrived yet, so how was the mission completed?

Without delay, he rushed toward the battlefield as if his feet were powered by the wind.

By the time Uchiha Gin arrived carrying Itama Senju, only the members of the Uchiha squad remained at the scene.

Uchiha Fenghuo was on guard nearby, Uchiha Tsuru was bandaging Uchiha Ryoichi's injured arm, and Uchiha Taro, who had no serious external injuries, was sitting in meditation to recover chakra.

"Uchiha Gin! You're still alive?"

Uchiha Ryoichi, who had learned from Uchiha Fenghuo that Uchiha Gin had chosen to hold back Hanado Uzumaki, couldn't help but activate his Sharingan to scan the other party when he saw him appear before them completely unscathed.

"Just lucky."

Uchiha Gin replied. Now he was also curious about how the battle ended; there were no Uzumaki clan corpses at the scene.

"Where are the people from the Uzumaki clan?"

"That long-haired Uzumaki seemed to have sensed something during the battle and suddenly erupted with a strange ability," Uchiha Taro explained, opening his eyes.

"What kind of strange ability?" He was a bit curious.

"He suddenly went berserk, and many chains made of chakra emerged from his body. They were very troublesome, but the other party didn't seem to want to fight, taking the opportunity to scoop up those injured Uzumaki and flee."

Uchiha Fenghuo walked over and continued to explain.

"Gin, how did you escape?"

Uchiha Fenghuo, who had clashed head-on with Hanado Uzumaki, knew very well that with Uchiha Gin's strength, he would have been blasted into slag by the other party in a single exchange.

But looking at Uchiha Gin, who was not only unscathed but in excellent condition, he felt more confusion than relief in his heart.

"That Uzumaki wasn't after my life; his main goal was his younger sister. It just so happened that the girl I captured was his sister. I told him that when I first escaped, I hid his sister in a hidden place and cast a genjutsu on her, and if he didn't say the corresponding code, she would die on the spot."

Uchiha Gin calmly recounted the excuse he had thought up on the way.

"And then he let you go?"

"That's right!"

"The Uzumaki clan really is as single-minded as the legends say!"

Uchiha Fenghuo couldn't help but complain, recalling the reputation of the Uzumaki clan.

"Alright, from now on, move at full speed and try to reach the clan grounds by tomorrow!"

Uchiha Fenghuo waved his hand and ordered.

(End of chapter)