Chapter 68: Minato Namikaze Arrives at the Shop, Discussing Uchiha Jin

Uchiha Itachi's mind went completely blank.

Watching Uchiha Jin and his daughter Ayame play and laugh, he even felt a sense of unreality.

How could this be possible?

Though he was young,

as the clan leader's son, he naturally understood the Uchiha's situation in the village.

The Uchiha's reputation in the village was terrible!

Almost all Uchiha clan members, except for those on the Police Force, rarely left the clan grounds, let alone interacted with others in the village.

But Jin?

Why could he get along so friendly with the villagers?

This scene

challenged his understanding too much.

The young Itachi, of course, found it hard to comprehend.

"Uncle Teuchi, four orders of deluxe pork bone ramen."

Just then,

Minato Namikaze entered with his three students, sitting directly beside Jin and Itachi.

His face beamed with a smile, looking so sunny that anyone seeing him would instantly feel fond of him.

With their arrival, the whole table became extremely crowded.

"Yo, it's Minato!" Uncle Teuchi said cheerfully, "Alright, coming right up."

Seeing this, Ayame quickly stood up to greet the guests.

However,

when she saw Uchiha Jin, her eyebrows couldn't help but twitch.

"Jin, don't Itachi see we have customers?"

"Finish eating quickly and come help!"

Uchiha Jin looked helpless.

But he quickly finished his meal, stood up, and ran to the back kitchen to help.

Uncle Teuchi handled the ramen, Ayame took care of the guests, and Uchiha Jin prepared the side dishes.

Even

he didn't forget to take out a huge pile of garlic and toss it right beside Itachi.

"Itachi, peel the garlic!"

Itachi's mouth twitched.

But he didn't say much, quickly finished eating, and started helping.

Minato Namikaze and his three disciples looked slightly stunned upon seeing this.

Yes.

Two Uchiha helping out in Uncle Teuchi's shop felt wrong in every way.

Especially Itachi!

Since Kushina and Mikoto were good friends, Minato naturally knew Itachi.

Seeing this scene, he couldn't help but ask, "Itachi, who is that..."

"My master," Itachi whispered, "His name is Uchiha Jin, the only one in our clan who has awakened the Mangekyo Sharingan."

"Dad told me to become his disciple today, so now my master has brought me here."

"I don't know anything else."

Minato Namikaze looked slightly enlightened.

As a core member of the Hokage faction, he knew more about this powerful figure emerging from the Uchiha than most people.

Fugaku, as the clan leader, letting his son become Jin's disciple was understandable.

What he didn't expect was that Jin would be so familiar with the Teuchi family.

Is this really an Uchiha?

He never expected

that besides his own student Obito, there was another Uchiha willing to communicate with the village.

"Sensei Minato, Uchiha Jin is in my class," Uchiha Obito said, "But I'm not close to him either. I only know he used to be very ordinary and was even a student in Class B. I never expected him to awaken the Mangekyo."

"But I will never be worse than him. I will definitely awaken the Mangekyo in the future!"

Obito wore a proud expression.

Even while saying this, he seemed somewhat gritting his teeth.

Yes.

Though he was a dead-last, he was the dead-last of Class A.

What about Uchiha Jin?

This dead-last from Class B suddenly awakened the Mangekyo and even became an Uchiha genius.

How could he bear that?

Hatake Kakashi, hearing this, couldn't help but speak up, "I ate here before and met this Uchiha. I heard he often ate here seven or eight years ago."

Nohara Rin joined the discussion.

"I actually know a bit about Lord Jin."

"I have many friends in Class B; back in school, he was quite famous."

"However, it wasn't because he was a genius. On the contrary, like Obito, he was a dead last in his class."

"What truly made him famous was that the entire Uchiha clan ostracized him."

"He was very lonely!"

"If Obito was merely looked down upon by the clan, he at least had us as friends, but Jin was directly bullied within the Uchiha."

"Many people have seen it; on several occasions, Uchiha clan members went to pick fights with him!"

"..."

Everyone fell silent.

No one expected Uchiha Jin's childhood to have been that miserable.

Even young Itachi wore a look of shock.

He clearly hadn't expected such a thing to happen within the Uchiha clan.

Before, he couldn't understand it.

Why, as an Uchiha, had he never even heard of Jin within the clan?

Even now that Uchiha Jin had awakened his Mangekyo Sharingan and become a true top genius of the clan, it seemed no clan members were discussing it.

For the Uchiha, who valued honor above life, this was simply unimaginable.

Now, he understood.

After suffering so much humiliation in his childhood, it would be strange if Jin felt any affection for the Uchiha.

Seeing Uchiha Jin grow powerful, the other clan members must have felt particularly complex emotions.

For a moment.

He seemed to understand his teacher a little better.

Just then, Ayame walked over.

Girls, after all.

They are naturally very gossipy.

Seeing everyone talking about Jin, and with her not too busy at the moment, she immediately joined in.

"Itachi still don't understand Jin."

"Although I don't know the reason, after Jin's parents died when he was young, their pension was embezzled, and the clan didn't care if he lived or died, acting as if they would let him fend for himself."

"It was seven or eight years ago, something Itachi can hardly imagine."

"At that time, Jin was just over four years old. To survive, he came directly to my father to negotiate, saying he planned to eat at our house every day and hoped my father could give him a discount."

"After he explained his situation—parents dead and the clan ignoring him—my father immediately felt soft-hearted."

"Itachi know, our shop doesn't do business in the morning."

"Since then, Jin not only ate lunch and dinner at our house every day, but my father even let him join us for breakfast."

"As for the meal money, Jin's parents had left him some."

"Considering Jin's pride, my father accepted the money if he paid, but even if he didn't, my father wouldn't ask for it."

"So, Lord Jin is actually like a half-son to my father."

"Also, Lord Jin actually used to help out at our shop too, but back then, since he had to attend school, he could only come to help with the preparations before opening, so of course Itachi never saw him."

"..."

Ayame's small mouth chattered on.

She was naturally an optimistic and cheerful person, and Jin's past had no taboos.

Considering Jin's childhood and knowing he had almost no friends.

Ayame, who completely treated Uchiha Jin like a younger brother, couldn't help but want to help this 'younger brother'.

Plus, she knew Minato Namikaze was a very decent person.

So, after pondering for a moment.

She suddenly spoke up: "So, do Itachi understand?"

"Jin's life before was quite tragic; it only got a little better after he recently became a ninja."

"It is precisely because of his childhood experiences that he is quite introverted; for so many years, he has basically had no friends."

"Brother Minato, I know Itachi are a good person."

"So, if possible, I hope Itachi can help guide him."

"Even just making friends with him would be good!"