After Shintaro patiently waited for Kurenai to stabilize her mood, he whispered, "I'm okay. Let's go in and talk."
Kurenai nodded and let him go.
Shintaro went to the bathroom to wash his hands, while Kurenai took the opportunity to calm her emotions and wipe away the tears from the corners of her eyes. Then, they both sat down at the dining table.
"I was called by the people from the Anbu Training Department. Their leader liked my talent and wanted to recruit me, but I refused. Then I was taken to the lab by Orochimaru to perform surgery on others. I was so busy that I just got out."
Shintaro briefly explained his experience after lunch today.
Only then did Kurenai finally feel relieved and said, "So that's what happened. I was worried for nothing..."
Shintaro smiled, looked at the big bowl on the table, and changed the topic, "Today is udon, I'm starving. Let me see if your cooking skills have improved."
He picked up chopsticks and prepared to taste.
But Kurenai reached out to take the noodles and said, "It's cold. I'll heat it up for you."
Shintaro gently held her wrist and softly said, "It doesn't matter, as long as you made it, it's fine even if it's cold."
Kurenai was momentarily stunned, then blushed and withdrew her hand.
"Really... Where did you learn these words..."
She turned away, not daring to look at him, and began to accuse him, "It's all your fault. You knew you had to go to the research institute to be busy, but you didn't greet me beforehand."
Shintaro slurped the udon, looked up, swallowed the noodles heartily, and then said, "You can't blame me for this. If you want to blame someone, blame Orochimaru. He's the one who took me to the research institute without explaining the duration of the operation first."
"Hmph, how could I dare blame Lord Orochimaru? He's a Sannin and I must not offend him."
Shintaro raised his eyebrows and said, "So you dare offend me? My future achievements might not be below the level of a Sannin."
"Why wouldn't I dare? After all, you're just a guy who comes to my house every day to eat and drink."
Shintaro shook his head and chuckled, then continued eating the noodles with his head down.
"By the way, it's been a long time since we did a mission together, right?" Shintaro looked up and asked casually.
"Sixty-seven days..." Kurenai unconsciously stated the time accurately between now and the end of the last mission they did together.
It went without saying what this meant.
So both Kurenai and Shintaro were silent for a while.
"That's right. I shouldn't be too busy during this period, let's go on a mission together tomorrow without calling those two."
Shintaro broke the silence and suggested, referring to Shikaku and Asuma.
Kurenai's beautiful ruby-like eyes began to wander, clearly touched, but after thinking for a moment, she hesitated, "You don't have to accommodate me..."
"I'm not accommodating you." Shintaro explained with a smile, "I've been tired during this period, and I just want to find a more relaxing mission. After the mission is over, I can go on vacation directly."
Kurenai immediately became happy.
Shintaro quietly continued to eat the noodles with his head down.
Seeing him still enjoying the completely cold udon, Kurenai took the initiative and said, "There's still beef at home. I'll take out the electric oven and grill some meat for you. You can't just eat this cold at night."
Shintaro nodded slightly, and Kurenai went to work in the kitchen.
This time, Shintaro looked up with a smile on his lips.
"Sure enough, if you want to improve your living standards, you have to learn to please women. What Shikaku-sensei said is true."
In this way, he, who successfully pleased Kurenai, enjoyed his favorite barbecued meat dipped in sugar at home after eating the udon.
He finally left Yuhi's house feeling satisfied.
Returning to the Uchiha Clan station, he arrived in front of his house.
A pitch-black crow was standing on the courtyard wall, hidden under the night sky.
"What a coincidence, it's you again."
Shintaro recognized the crow he had seen before, and at that time he had used the crow to experiment with the newly developed shadow spell.
[Blue]
With the blue light in his hand, the crow was sucked into his hand and couldn't escape no matter how hard it flapped its wings.
Shintaro extended his finger and gently stroked the top of the crow's head, and the crow immediately calmed down.
"You and I are still destined, so become my summon creature."
After saying this, he raised Blue and let the crow fly.
The crow flew out, circled Shintaro's head a few times, and then landed on his shoulder.
"Caw Caw."
The crow's voice was harsh and hoarse.
The crow cawed loudly on his shoulder a few times and then flew away, deliberately silent, as if waiting for Shintaro to follow.
Shintaro then followed without thinking.
Crows symbolize wisdom and courage in Japan in his past life and even in the Land of Fire in this life.
Moreover, Shintaro had studied the habits of crows while hunting in his previous life. The wisdom of crows sometimes surpasses human imagination.
Therefore, he naturally believed that the behavior of the crow in front of him had its own meaning.
The crow led him to an unnamed cliff on the edge of Konoha late at night, with dense forest behind it and a rushing river in front of it.
Shintaro crossed the river and reached the base of the cliff, and was immediately surrounded by a large group of crows.
The crows cawed and flew around Shintaro's head, forming a black cloud.
The crow Shintaro first discovered flew down and guided him to a cave under the cliff.
Shintaro walked into the cave and found a large scroll inside.
He half-knelt on the ground and spread the scroll on the ground.
There were names written in blood lined up from right to left, all Uchiha clan names.
At the top of the scroll was a line of faint words, "Yatagarasu Summoning Contract Scroll."
Shintaro saw that the last name written on the scroll was Uchiha Kagami.
He remembered Fugaku's previous introduction that Uchiha Kagami was a close subordinate of the Second Hokage.
There was a line of words below Uchiha Kagami's name, written in the same handwriting.
"Change the fate of the Uchiha."
It seemed this line of words was improvised by Kagami after writing his name in blood.
Such a sentence had no beginning or end, making it unclear what its specific meaning was.
It was not known whether Kagami was motivating himself to change the fate of the Uchiha, or warning future generations to change the fate of the Uchiha.
Shintaro bit his finger and wrote the name Uchiha Shintaro on the scroll with blood.
And he wrote two words below the name.
He stored the scroll and returned it to its place, letting it stay here and wait for the next person.
He stood up and felt the blood connection between himself and the group of crows outside the cave.
"This is a summoning contract..."
Shintaro walked out of the cave, and the crows flew to the ground in an instant and lined up in front of him.
At first, a crow took the initiative to fly to him, and he extended his hand to let it land.
The crow's claws gripped his right arm, and Shintaro held it in front of him.
"I'll give you a name."
"Let's call you Hikaru."
Shintaro casually made up a name.
Hikaru then cawed twice as if in agreement.
Shintaro extended his arm forward.
"I'm going to sleep."
"I'm not a nocturnal animal like you."
"Goodbye."
As Shintaro left, the crows on the ground began to flutter and fly, dispersing and disappearing into the dense forest.