Chapter 41: First of all, I didn't provoke anyone

The mystery of the massacre at the clan grounds six years ago had always been a dark cloud hanging over the heart of Uchiha Gin.

He had finally managed to try and get some useful clues from the suspicious Kaguya clan, but he had ended up using too much force and killing the other party.

With his mind full of worries, he had no heart for work, so he drew the mark from his left hand based on memory.

Staring at the strange symbol in his hand, he couldn't figure out where this thing had appeared in the original story, no matter how hard he racked his brain.

Three shuriken circled a red dot, looking like the crest of some family; he would just have to ask Uchiha Madara's father, Uchiha Tajima, about it next time he ran into him.

Without realizing it, he had reached the end of his shift; Uchiha Gin followed a strict policy of never working overtime and walked out of the dungeon right on time.

Seeing the sun gradually setting in the west, Uchiha Gin went to do some shopping first, walking into a relatively large general store, where he asked the clerk first,

"Do you have black hair dye? The kind that lasts a while."

The clerk recognized the visitor as the legendary Uchiha Gin and, trembling, took a bottle of black hair dye from the shelf and handed it to him.

Having received the goods, Uchiha Gin reached into his pocket, but after digging for a long time, he found nothing, and a look of slight embarrassment could not help but appear on his face.

"Lord Gin, consider this bottle of hair dye a gift; please take it."

Sensing that the other party seemed to be short on cash, the clerk spoke tactfully.

"No, how could I short you on this little bit of money? Just a moment."

Closing his eyes to search through his system, he opened them again and pulled a gleaming, large gold brick out of his bag; the moment he brought it out, the golden light it emitted almost blinded the clerk's titanium-alloy eyes.

Swallowing hard, the clerk took the large gold brick, which weighed nearly ten pounds, and couldn't help but pinch his own face.

The pain from his cheek told him this wasn't a dream; in all his years at the shop, he had never seen a gold brick of such weight.

While the gold brick was good, its quality made things difficult for him.

"Lord Gin, forgive our small shop; we truly cannot provide change for something so valuable."

That was correct; the value of the gold brick was immeasurably high; ten pounds of gold could almost buy their entire storefront.

Looking at the gold brick pushed back by the clerk, Uchiha Gin also felt a bit embarrassed; he had his principles—he would never accept freebies he shouldn't, but he would never pass up a chance to get something for free if he could.

Just as he was in a dilemma, a spiky-haired youth pushed the door open and walked in, shouting,

"Boss, do you have any powerful Water Style shuriken manuals!"

Before anyone present could react, the spiky-haired youth saw Uchiha Gin and shouted in shock,

"Gin, you bastard, when did you get back!"

As he spoke, his eyes were drawn to the gleaming gold brick in his hand.

"Holy crap, did you strike it rich?"

Uchiha Gin looked at the brash, spiky-haired youth before him with black lines on his forehead; this guy had none of the "looking down on everything" demeanor he would have in the future.

"You should call me cousin, Madara; you need to show some respect to your elders."

"╭(╯^╰)╮, you're just a loser who lost to me."

The spiky-haired youth named Madara hummed with a chuunibyou attitude.

"If you're a bit more obedient, it wouldn't be impossible to cut a piece off for you."

Uchiha Gin looked calmly at Uchiha Madara, whose nose was stuck up in the air, and gestured at the gold brick in his hand.

"Cousin, you are my own cousin!"

Uchiha Madara, willing to bow for five pecks of rice, immediately kowtowed.

Even the "Ghost of the Uchiha" of later generations still had to bow down under my tyrannical power, Uchiha Gin thought, feeling a sense of satisfaction as he watched Uchiha Madara succumb to money.

Worth it!

It was a pity there were no handheld cameras in this era; if he could capture this scene, ten thousand White Zetsu might be throwing rubber bands at his windows every night in the future.

"Get up, buy whatever you want, cousin will pay the bill."

Uchiha Gin waved his hand grandly, letting him shop freely.

Hearing this, Uchiha Madara's eyes lit up immediately; he packed up everything his father usually wouldn't let him buy, and in no time, he had a huge bundle.

Watching Madara carrying a bundle bigger than himself, Uchiha Gin rubbed his chin, suddenly hit with a sense of déjà vu.

Thousands of miles away on an island, Kushina Uzumaki, who had been grounded by her father, was staring blankly at the bead in her hand that had returned to its original color when she suddenly felt her nose itch.

"Achoo~"

Was someone thinking of her?

In the end, Uchiha Gin and Madara's spending only amounted to breaking off a corner of the gold brick; Uchiha Madara, carrying the huge bundle, walked along the road and curiously asked his cousin, whom he hadn't seen in a long time,

"Cousin, what kind of business did you go into to earn such a big gold brick?"

Ever since Uchiha Madara had defeated Uchiha Gin, who was ten years his senior, in front of everyone when he was ten years old,

his cousin had begun to intentionally avoid meeting him; even when they met at their father's place, he would just give a hasty greeting and run off.

"I just went on a rather dangerous mission, and this gold brick was something I happened to obtain during the process."

"That's great, I want to go out on missions too."

Hearing that Uchiha Gin had actually gone out on a mission, Uchiha Madara, who had never been out on one, said with envy.

It was true; after that tragedy six years ago, Uchiha Tajima had been extremely protective of his two remaining sons.

He was basically inseparable from him, which resulted in Madara never having gone out on missions and having no friends.

"By the way, I heard you... are in a relationship?"

Staring at the somewhat dejected Uchiha Madara, Uchiha Gin, trying to change the subject, asked with a teasing look.

"What? What relationship? Who did you hear that from?"

Uchiha Madara, who had never cared for matters between men and women, had a look of utter confusion.

"I heard it from Izuna; you were secretly going on a date with someone by the small river."

Without the slightest burden, he decisively sold out his good younger brother.

"Uh... I'm leaving! Damn Izuna, I'm going to go deal with him right now."

Backstabbed by his own dearest brother, Uchiha Madara said angrily, and after a simple farewell, he headed straight in the direction of home.

Tsk tsk tsk, Izuna might have kicked an iron plate today.

Holding the hair dye and carrying the corner-missing gold brick in his arms, Uchiha Gin also strolled slowly toward his secluded little hut.

The moment he pushed open his front door, Uchiha Gin felt something hard pressed against his waist.

Startled, he looked down and met the bewildered gaze of Senju Itama; the other party was holding a small kitchen knife—it seemed there were no weapons in the house, and he had actually gone to the kitchen to find one.

He patted his little head and handed him the hair dye.

"Good vigilance, but don't use a kitchen knife next time; it's quite comical."

Senju Itama's little face turned red at being told this.

Seeing that the other party had already put on the clothes he wore when he was a child, Uchiha Gin looked him up and down.

"Not bad, you have one-tenth of the good looks I had as a child."

Senju Itama's face turned from red to black upon hearing this.

Having read the instructions, Uchiha Gin knew the hair dye required washing one's hair before use, so he immediately arranged for Senju Itama to take a bath first.

Hearing that he could take a bath, Senju Itama was happy at first, but then he saw Uchiha Gin also starting to take off his clothes, which really gave him a fright.

"What are you doing?!"

Uchiha Gin had a face full of question marks when asked.

"What else? Taking a bath; I haven't bathed since I got back, so we might as well wash together; it saves trouble."

Uchiha Gin said nonchalantly while taking off his clothes.

"Slap!" Senju Itama slammed the door shut and ran out himself, only saying once he was outside,

"You go wash first, I'll go help you boil the water."

The bathroom in Uchiha Gin's house was the old-fashioned Japanese barrel-bath style, where the barrel was placed over a fire to slowly heat up; one could only enter when the water temperature was right, and the fire below had to be watched constantly to prevent it from being too strong or too weak, which would affect the bathing experience.

"Strange little brat, and a bit shy too."

Shaking his head, Uchiha Gin didn't pay it any mind; at his current age, he was more than old enough to be Senju Itama's father.

In the Warring States period, it was very common to get married and have children at thirteen or fourteen; it was actually more strange that he was twenty-four and had no offspring.

He took off his clothes and entered the bathroom; the area under the wooden tub was connected to the outside, and the water in the tub was bubbling, so it seemed the temperature was not low.

He poked his head out of the window and saw Senju Itama, with a puffed-up little face, working hard to stoke the fire outside, throwing large armfuls of firewood in while shouting,

"Burn! Burn! Burn this dead pervert to death!"

"???"

First of all, I didn't provoke anyone.

(End of chapter)