Chapter 108: A Sweet Encounter
Inside the Uchiha clan compound.
After receiving countless words of thanks and escaping from the Medical Department, Asuka was now lying comfortably on a reclining chair, lazily chewing on an unlit cigarette.
He enjoyed the gentle breeze, closed his eyes, and slowly exhaled carbon dioxide into the air.
No wars.
No missions.
A peaceful life.
He rested his feet on the leg of the reclining chair when he suddenly heard hurried footsteps behind him.
"Hey, Asuka!"
Ryoichi shouted.
"Shh!"
Asuka raised a finger to his lips, then leaned back into the chair.
"This is a rare, peaceful afternoon. Let me enjoy the breeze and sunlight."
Snap!
Ryoichi snatched the unlit cigarette from Asuka's mouth. Veins bulged on his forehead as he pointed upward.
"Second floor. Second floor."
Asuka opened his eyes and glanced toward the second floor.
There, he saw Uchiha Madara standing blankly beside the window, his expression extremely complicated. Every so often, the old man would let out a sigh.
"My medical ninjutsu isn't bad. Look how energetic that old man is now."
Hearing this, Ryoichi's mood instantly worsened.
"He hasn't eaten anything for an entire day. It looks like he's deliberately trying to starve himself to death."
"He's going to starve himself to death?"
Looking at Madara's unusually rosy complexion and remembering that the old man had been standing by the window for so long without showing the slightest sign of fatigue, Asuka shrugged.
"Let's wait and see."
"If he still refuses to eat after a few days, I have other ways."
Sigh.
Ryoichi sighed and turned around, running back into the house.
After hearing his footsteps gradually fade away, Asuka called out to the system in his mind and began checking his rewards.
The reward for deepening the Sharingan awakening process had already been issued.
As for the remaining rewards...
Mother's Feast: A feast personally prepared by the host's mother that can strengthen the atmosphere within a family. No matter how many conflicts exist beneath the dinner table, while enjoying this meal, the atmosphere will become exceptionally harmonious.
Note: The harmonious period automatically disappears after the meal ends.
Uchiha Madara definitely wouldn't starve to death.
At worst, he would simply be invited to the feast.
His mother had prepared an extravagant dinner.
He hadn't eaten yet.
Then Asuka's gaze fell upon another reward.
Sweet Encounter (Not Sakura Haruno Version):
[Sakura Haruno: Very beautiful.]
[Not Sakura Haruno: Extremely beautiful.]
[Sakura Haruno: Doesn't feel buoyant while bathing.]
[Not Sakura Haruno: Must press her body down firmly while bathing to prevent others from gossiping about her.]
[Sakura Haruno: Powerful, capable of giving birth to one child.]
[Not Sakura Haruno: Even more powerful, capable of giving birth to two children.]
[...]
After reading the description, a scene immediately appeared in Asuka's mind.
Someone more beautiful than Sakura Haruno, with a better personality, who had to completely submerge herself in water while bathing to avoid the strange gazes of other women.
Didn't that sound a little like Hinata Hyūga?
Didn't she have two children?
Thinking of Hinata Hyūga as an adult, Asuka stared blankly at the reward scroll in his hand.
As far as he knew, the current head of the Hyūga clan, Hiashi Hyūga, didn't even have a daughter yet.
So it shouldn't be Hinata.
Hmm!
Curious.
Very curious.
Extremely curious.
Snap!
Unable to suppress his curiosity any longer, Asuka tore the scroll in his hand in half.
Then he quietly lay back on the reclining chair and waited for the encounter to happen.
He simply wanted to see what kind of person the system would arrange for him to meet.
Someone who floated in the water while bathing.
And someone extremely beautiful.
Could it be his Anbu captain?
One minute passed.
Nothing happened except for Madara occasionally sighing from the second floor.
Five minutes passed.
Everything remained quiet.
There was still no sign of an encounter.
Fifteen minutes passed.
He had already eaten two portions of fried chicken, yet nothing had happened.
Half an hour later.
"Do I have to go out for a walk?"
In fact, among the people he had encountered in his previous life, very few were the sort of people he could meet simply by lying around at home.
With that thought, Asuka stood up, stretched his limbs, and walked outside.
"Hahahahaha~!"
He hadn't gone far from his house when a loud burst of laughter came from the street corner ahead.
???
It looked somewhat familiar.
That voice sounded so familiar.
Hearing that hearty laughter, Asuka's feet suddenly froze in place, and a thoughtful expression appeared on his face.
Had I heard this voice somewhere before?
As memories continued flooding into his mind, his expression gradually became uglier.
Clap! Clap!
Hearing footsteps approaching from around the corner, a cold glint flashed through Asuka's eyes.
A foot suddenly appeared around the corner.
Seeing the sandals and familiar red-painted toenails, Asuka's expression became even worse.
Next came a pair of dark-blue three-quarter-length pants.
[...]
When the tea-green haori with black trim and golden hair finally appeared, Asuka didn't hesitate for even a moment.
He turned around and walked down another path.
Damn it.
Tsunade.
Tsunade must have merely happened to come to the Uchiha compound.
It should have absolutely nothing to do with the scroll he had just torn apart.
After reassuring himself, Asuka unconsciously quickened his pace.
Tap!
The sound of a shoe landing came from ahead.
Asuka's footsteps abruptly stopped, and the ugly expression on his face vanished without a trace.
Looking at the well-built, fair-skinned woman in front of him, he slowly took a step backward to create some distance and sized her up from head to toe.
In fact, she really did float while bathing.
She really was more beautiful than Sakura Haruno.
But...
Wasn't she single?
According to the system's wording, how could she possibly be capable of giving birth to two children?
Besides, he remembered that an encounter could have two explanations: people who knew each other and strangers who met for the first time.
Had the system introduced him to someone they both knew?
Asuka looked at Tsunade standing opposite him, silently adjusted his mentality, and said calmly,
"Lady Tsunade."
Tsunade nodded.
After observing him for a while, a trace of surprise flashed through her eyes.
That evil Uchiha brat had grown considerably.
She was 180 centimeters tall, yet she still had to tilt her head slightly to meet his eyes.
The sharp features of his face had lost the youthful vitality he once possessed.
The brat who used to turn around and run away the moment he saw her could now muster the courage to look directly into her eyes.
"Heh."
"Oh, long time no see."
Looking at the hypocritical old woman before him as she stared at him teasingly, Asuka took several deep breaths, desperately suppressing his urge to fight her.
Because this blind old woman wasn't worth it.
Mm.
Not worth it.
Smelling the faint scent of alcohol coming from her, Asuka took a step back and waved his hand twice to fan the air.
He looked at the drunkard with undisguised disdain, yet his words were filled with concern.
[Lady Tsunade, drink less alcohol. It's bad for your health.]
Seeing his disdainful expression and hearing his concerned tone, veins immediately bulged on Tsunade's forehead.
This Uchiha brat was mocking her.
She remembered their first meeting.
Back then, he had similarly asked whether she needed help and said that he would do everything he could to assist her.
"Heh."
Tsunade took a deep breath, suppressing her urge to punch him.
She calmly said,
[Evil Uchiha brat, I came to see you today for two reasons.]
[First, is the book recently released by this bookstore related to you?]
[Second, I heard that you developed a medical ninjutsu capable of cutting through the body without causing bleeding. Is that true?]
Asuka shook his head without hesitation.
"No. It's unrelated, and it's fake."
Tsunade stared into his eyes and slowly said,
"Mikoto said it herself."
Asuka shook his head and continued,
"Go ask around. My relationship with Uchiha Mikoto is terrible. She talks badly about me behind my back."
As he spoke, he seemed to remember something and added,
"Lady Tsunade, even if I have a criminal record, you can't just suspect everything I do."
"Whew~"
"Whew~"
Seeing how stubbornly he denied everything, Tsunade's breathing became heavier.
So stubborn.
Asuka watched Tsunade repeatedly clench and wave her fists, her eyes filled with hostility.
He reached into his pocket and pulled out a pair of sunglasses, putting them on.
Then he plucked a strand of hair from his head and tossed it into the air.
The black pupils in his eyes instantly transformed into the Three-Tomoe Sharingan.
The three tomoe rapidly spun together, forming a strange pattern.
The Mangekyō Sharingan.
"Ōkuninushi!"
A deep-blue light shield instantly expanded outward from Asuka's body.
When the deep-blue barrier passed through Tsunade's body, the danger instincts she had cultivated throughout her many years as a shinobi immediately detected the beginnings of a crisis.
Danger.
Everywhere.
She looked up, but saw nothing.
The sky was still blue.
Birds were still flying overhead.
Everything remained as peaceful as before.
But at this moment, Tsunade's instincts continued screaming warnings, telling her that this place was extremely dangerous.
Snap!
Asuka snapped his fingers.
Tsunade, who had been standing three or four meters away from him, suddenly disappeared from where she had been standing.
Only a thin strand of hair remained.
?
Tsunade suddenly realized she was standing directly in front of Asuka.
Her mind went completely blank.
Then she saw Asuka bite his thumb and press it against his own nose.
Her gaze slowly moved downward.
When she noticed the faint red stain on her nose, Tsunade's legs went weak.
All the strength instantly left her body.
She took a step backward and collapsed onto the ground.
Blood.
Looking at Tsunade lying on the ground, trembling, Asuka walked forward and wiped the blood from her nose.
Then he planted his hands on his hips, raised his head toward the sky, and declared,
"Lady Tsunade, stop thinking about fighting me all the time from now on. I'm not afraid of you anymore!!"
What shamelessness!
Once the blood had been wiped away, the fear in Tsunade's heart slowly faded.
She gradually stood up and looked at Asuka.
The fear in her eyes was slowly replaced by calmness.
Tsunade walked forward several steps.
When she passed Asuka, her voice still carried a faint tremble.
"Asuka, you know I'm scared."
Seeing Tsunade behaving like such a fragile woman, Asuka couldn't help being stunned.
His actions just now had probably gone a little too far.
Sigh.
He really shouldn't have done that.
Wasn't that just rubbing salt into her wounds?
A faint trace of regret surfaced in Asuka's heart.
After hesitating for a moment, he walked over to Tsunade and spoke apologetically.
"Lady Tsunade, I'm sorry."
Seeing Asuka walk over and bow to apologize, Tsunade forced a faint smile onto her lips.
It was as though she had suddenly remembered something unpleasant, because a pained expression appeared on her face.
"It's fine!"
Then Tsunade stretched out her slender arm toward Asuka's chest, as though she were going to help him stand.
She spoke one word at a time.
"Be careful in your next life!"
Whoosh!
A fist filled with chakra and accompanied by a violent gust of wind instantly slammed into Asuka's chest.
[Go to hell, you evil Uchiha brat!]
A black figure shot into the sky like a cannonball.
On the ground, Tsunade raised one hand to shield her forehead from the sunlight and looked up at the tiny black dot in the sky.
She sneered.
"If an apology were enough, wouldn't all my decades of shinobi training have been for nothing?"