Read 20 advanced chapters here (with update rate of 5 chapters/day):
Patreon.com/rashta/shop
Buy once and read it for a lifetime.
(No monthly membership)
------
Sunlight filtered through the lush branches, casting dappled shadows on the ground. The distant chirping of cicadas and birds blended with the gentle, salty sea breeze, creating a serene atmosphere.
In the distance, a man and woman leaned closely together.
The older man's left hand supported the girl's back, while his right hand reached towards her belt.
The girl showed no signs of resistance.
Her beautiful eyes sparkled with a subtle warmth as she leaned submissively against the man, allowing him to do as he wished.
The air between them was filled with an unmistakable sense of intimacy.
This was the scene witnessed by Hanamichi Uzumaki.
"You beast, what are you trying to do?!"
Hanamichi's rage was like a volcano on the verge of eruption, molten anger surging within him, causing his entire body to tremble slightly.
Startled by the sudden outburst, the couple looked up to see a red-haired man with a striking yet muscular build. Uchiha Gin, upon seeing the man, had only one thought running through his head:
"Broad-shouldered, yet delicate in appearance."
Only after hearing the man's words did Uchiha Gin realize that his current actions were rather improper.
Meanwhile, the young girl in his arms, Mito Uzumaki, blushed deeply. Steam seemed to puff from the top of her head before she rolled her eyes and fainted.
Quickly catching the unconscious Mito, Uchiha Gin accidentally tore her already damaged clothing, ripping it further.
With a series of tearing sounds, her attire fell apart, leaving only a few scraps of fabric hanging from her body. The exposed pale skin shimmered in the sunlight like smooth white jade.
Feeling the soft warmth beneath his hands, Uchiha Gin was momentarily silent.
After a brief pause, he raised his head, eyes clear and calm.
"If I told you this was all a misunderstanding, you wouldn't believe me, right?"
Hearing such a feeble attempt at an excuse, Hanamichi Uzumaki cracked his knuckles ominously. His fists clenched so tightly that they popped, and bright red chakra surged from his body like a raging fire. His eyes glinted with a murderous intensity.
Uchiha Gin, sensing the growing pressure, realized the situation had turned dire. Even though he wasn't the most perceptive person, he could tell that the man's strength was on par with, if not greater than, Uchiha Fūka's.
"The only way to cleanse Mito's shame is with your blood."
Hanamichi took a step toward Uchiha Gin, his expression grim.
Panicked, Uchiha Gin shook the unconscious Mito, hoping she'd wake up and explain the situation.
When that didn't work, he resorted to a more direct approach, delivering a light knock to the middle of her twin buns.
"Wake up! You need to explain, or your brother is going to kill me!"
The sudden strike jolted Mito awake.
Dazed, she looked at the worried face of Uchiha Gin beside her. Just as she was about to say something, she spotted the approaching Hanamichi out of the corner of her eye.
Fear filled her gaze, and without a second thought, she pulled Uchiha Gin's head down and whispered urgently in his ear:
"Pretend to hold me hostage! Don't let Brother take me back!"
Her soft breath tickled Uchiha Gin's ear, nearly causing him to sneeze.
The delicate fragrance surrounding her made him momentarily flustered, but he quickly regained his composure, reminding himself of her young age.
"Amitabha, Amitabha. I'm not a lolicon. I'm not a lolicon."
Needing to save his own life, Uchiha Gin wrapped one arm around Mito's neck while pulling a sharp kunai from his belt with the other.
Adopting a sinister expression, he pressed the blade against the girl and said darkly:
"Heh heh heh, you wouldn't want this little one to get hurt, would you?"
Seeing the "true colors" of Uchiha Gin revealed, Hanamichi froze in place, struggling to control his rage.
"Despicable Uchiha! What do you want in exchange for my sister's release?" His fists tightened, and his nails dug into his palms.
Hanamichi Uzumaki, the eldest son of Ashina Uzumaki, had inherited the full potential of the Uzumaki clan.
Proficient in all areas of combat, illusion, and sealing techniques, he was hailed as the clan's most talented genius in a century. In his teens, he already possessed power on par with the clan elders.
Recently, the Uzumaki clan's little princess, Mito, had gone missing, prompting Hanamichi to lead a search party in pursuit of her.
"What should I say?"
Uchiha Gin, hiding behind Mito, whispered nervously.
Feeling the warmth of a man so close to her, Mito felt dizzy.
However, knowing how urgent the situation was, she gritted her teeth and whispered to the man behind her:
"Aren't you supposed to be a professional kidnapper? Do you really need me to teach you?"
"When did I ever say I was a kidnapper?!" Uchiha Gin was starting to realize that Mito had completely misunderstood the situation.
"Wait, what?"
Seeing Uchiha Gin dare to get so close to his beloved sister's neck, Hanamichi's heart ached.
He wanted nothing more than to tear the man apart.
Just as the situation reached a stalemate, the sound of fighting broke out from the forest.
Moments later, several figures appeared before Uchiha Gin, looking rather worse for wear.
It was none other than Uchiha Fūka and his team. Covered in dirt, they looked as if they had been through a tough battle. Uchiha Ryōichi, in particular, had his arm bent at an odd angle, his face pale as he continued to throw shuriken with his other hand.
Seeing Uchiha Gin, Fūka shouted from a distance:
"Gin, take the kid and run! The Uzumaki are after him!"
Kid? Uchiha Gin looked at the unconscious Senju between his feet and then at the temporarily allied Mito beside him.
A headache quickly set in—there was no way to explain his way out of this.
Hearing Fūka's words, Hanamichi's eyes widened in fury.
"And you still claim this is a misunderstanding?! You despicable Uchiha!"
"Isn't there a peaceful way to resolve this?" Uchiha Gin asked Mito, already considering his options.
"Just run!" Mito urged him.
Easier said than done.
The Uzumaki clan members were formidable, and the strongest, Hanamichi, hadn't even made a move yet. Fūka and his team were already struggling. Uchiha Gin doubted he could escape unscathed.
"Maybe you could explain to your brother that this is all a misunderstanding? Then we could make peace, wouldn't that be nice?"
"No! If you don't run now, I'll tell my brother you harassed me!" Mito pouted, threatening him.
"How can such cruel words come from such an adorable face?"
With that, Uchiha Gin realized there was no simple way out. Simply handing Mito over wouldn't solve anything.
The Senju kid's presence ensured that the Uzumaki would discover the situation. Hanamichi, as one of the clan's higher-ups, likely recognized him. As a loyal ally to the Senju, the Uzumaki wouldn't stand by and do nothing, and Gin couldn't let the boy leave until his mission was complete.
Uchiha Fūka, having temporarily disengaged from his fight, flashed in front of Uchiha Gin. Noticing Mito tied up in Gin's arms, Fūka paused but had no time for questions.
"Where's the Senju kid?"
Gin gestured toward the unconscious child.
"I'll cover you. Take him and get out of here."
Without further thought, Fūka gave the order.
Why did the weakest one have to escape first?
Gin wondered, but he didn't have time to question the reasoning. Fūka had already tossed the Senju onto Gin's back.
Now, Gin was carrying one person in front and another behind, looking like a makeshift babysitter.
After securing the situation, Fūka cast a long look at Gin before jumping back into the fray to buy more time.
Watching Fūka leave, Uchiha Gin felt a wave of emotion.
Despite Fūka's usual cold demeanor, he had chosen to cover Gin's retreat in this dangerous moment. Without hesitating further, Gin turned and fled westward.
"Kin, your child has grown so much," Fūka mused silently as he watched Gin retreat. "Though he's still too weak, nothing like you."
"Don't think you can run!"
Seeing his sister and her captor escaping, Hanamichi became desperate.
With a mighty push of his feet, he launched himself toward the fleeing Uchiha. But before he could reach them, a pair of cold Sharingan eyes met his, three tomoe slowly spinning, emitting an eerie glow.
"If you want to pass, you'll have to get through me first."
At some point, Fūka had dispatched two of his men and now stood in Hanamichi's path.
"Then prepare to die!"
The explosive power of Uzumaki Hanamichi was astonishing; his punch felt like it carried the force of ten thousand pounds, and the wind pressure stung Uchiha Fūka's face.
"You've already looked me in the eye."
"?"
[Demonic Illusion: Shackling Stakes Technique], one of the Uchiha clan's signature genjutsu, often used by Uchiha Itachi to show off later on.
Using the Sharingan, the technique drags the opponent into a genjutsu space, where large iron stakes generated by the Sharingan impale the target, immobilizing them.
Caught off guard, Uzumaki Hanamichi fell into the trap. In an instant, he found himself in a sea of blood, impaled and unable to move by several massive iron stakes.
In the real world, Uchiha Fūka, slightly drained, covered his eyes as the sharp pain was too intense. He deactivated his Sharingan.
"As I expected, using this against such a powerful opponent is still a bit much."
Seeing Uzumaki Hanamichi trapped in the genjutsu, Uchiha Fūka turned to help Uchiha Ryōichi and the others, who were ganging up on a long-haired member of the Uzumaki clan. The weaker Uzumaki clan members had already been defeated and were lying on the ground.
Just then, Uzumaki Hanamichi's voice reached Uchiha Fūka's ears:
"That was close. Almost fell for it."
Turning around, Uchiha Fūka looked in disbelief at the man who had regained consciousness. That genjutsu was something he had prepared carefully, and just one glance had consumed most of his ocular power.
"Luckily, my father prepared a sealing technique for me to block one mental attack."
As he spoke, Uzumaki Hanamichi revealed a talisman on his chest covered with symbols resembling tadpoles, which were now gradually fading.
Thinking back to the sealing technique his father had placed on him before setting out, Uzumaki Hanamichi felt a wave of relief.
"Tch, what a hassle."
Recalling the Uzumaki clan's specialty in sealing techniques, Uchiha Fūka reluctantly reactivated his Sharingan, and the second round between the two began.
Meanwhile, Uchiha Gin, who had been running, suddenly stopped. Under Uzumaki Mito's confused gaze, he put down the two people he was carrying and checked his ninja tool bag.
"What are you doing?" the girl asked, tugging on Uchiha Gin's sleeve.
"You're free now. If I don't make it back, help me deliver this kid to the Senju clan," Uchiha Gin said as he looked down at Uzumaki Mito.
"Are you going back to die? My brother is really strong, and you wouldn't survive even one punch," the girl said hurriedly, trying to stop him from going to his death.
"I want to live too. I still want to live to see Konoha," Uchiha Gin sighed.
He thought of the proud Uchiha Ryōichi, the cold but warm-hearted Uchiha Tsuruhiko, the honest and simple Uchiha Tarō, and Uchiha Fūka, who seemed to show him special care.
Although he had only been in this world for a few days, the bonds he had formed with them were deep.
"I guess I still can't bring myself to abandon them."
His eyes grew determined as he brushed off Uzumaki Mito's hand and stood up to leave.
"Wait!" Uzumaki Mito hesitated, struggling with her words.
"What, are you afraid I'll beat your brother?" Uchiha Gin teased when he saw her hesitation.
"Not at all. You couldn't possibly defeat my brother. Aside from my father, no one in our clan can beat him head-on," Uzumaki Mito said nervously.
After a moment of indecision, the girl pulled a small black pearl from her pouch and handed it to Uchiha Gin.
Curious, Uchiha Gin inspected the object closely and saw it was a pearl, with dark patterns swirling on its surface.
"Be careful with this. My father gave it to me for protection. It contains a sealing technique that, when activated with chakra, can temporarily trap my brother. You should use that chance to escape," Uzumaki Mito explained.
"Aren't you afraid that after I trap him, I'll kill him?" Uchiha Gin asked, testing her as he held the pearl.
"You won't," the girl said seriously, her big, trusting eyes full of sincerity.
"And why are you so sure I won't?" Uchiha Gin asked, puzzled by her strange trust.
"I have a natural gift. I can sense the good and evil in people around me," the girl explained. "From the moment I first saw you, I never felt any malice from you."
"You're a good person," she concluded.
"Uh..." Uchiha Gin, bewildered by being given a "good guy" card, accepted the pearl and patted the girl's bun.
"That's a handy ability. Thanks."
The powers of the Ōtsutsuki descendants were truly varied and strange.
No wonder the girl trusted him so much; it turned out she had an ability similar to Naruto's Kurama mode that could sense good and evil.
After thanking her, Uchiha Gin ran back to the battlefield.
"System, is there any way for me to survive this situation?" Feeling the overwhelming power gap, Uchiha Gin couldn't help but ask the system.
After a brief silence:
"The system has not fully activated and cannot provide assistance."
"Useless system! What's the point of having you!" Uchiha Gin's frustration grew.
He had initially thought that once the system was activated, he'd be able to soar to new heights and live a life of stepping on Kaguya and punching aliens.
But he hadn't expected this incomplete, second-hand system to come with a self-destruct mechanism, and the rewards were like squeezing toothpaste.
If he'd known, he wouldn't have activated this system.
With his knowledge of the plot, he could've easily survived until Konoha's founding, then slipped away during the Uchiha clan's honeymoon phase with the village and lived out his days peacefully in a remote country.
"This system is a scam."
Uchiha Gin grumbled angrily.
"Ding! Detected the host's strong dissatisfaction. A challenge mission has been issued: 'Save the Uchihas'."
"Rescue the Uchiha Fūka squad from danger. Complete the mission for 50 points and 4 random orbs. If any target dies, the mission fails."
"???" Seeing the mission suddenly appear in his mind, Uchiha Gin began to suspect something.
"Does this system only respond when I curse at it? Does that mean I can..."
"Detected the host's ill intentions. The mission difficulty has increased. You must defeat Uzumaki Hanamichi to proceed."
"Thank you very much!"