Chapter 7

"You let Shika read this?!"

"Forget everything written there! Immediately!"

It's not hard to guess who those words belonged to.

"Well, yeah, what's the big deal?" I feigned bewilderment.

"At least now it's clear where Shikaku got such ideas from," chuckled the clan head, picking up and examining the discarded book, much to the chagrin of the women.

"Saya-chan, where were you looking when raising the child?" Aunt sighed heavily as she sank onto the couch, giving up trying to shake me.

"All right, let's go to the Yamanaka's urgently and have them weed out these absurd ideas from your head!" Ma proclaimed with a maniacal gleam in her eyes, attempting to drag me along.

Considering the size difference, it was a comical sight, especially when she almost succeeded. With a sigh, I untangled Ma's hands from my shirt, swiftly immobilizing her and seating her next to me, firmly secured. It was still amusing, but it was starting to get a little tiresome.

"Calm down, Ka-chan, no need for any Yamanakas, and besides, you should be glad I didn't turn into a second Jiraiya, with all those attempts to rope me in at the academy."

"The boy's got a point, so stop freaking out," Uncle chimed in, throwing nervous glances at the women, "you should worry more about why such things are lying around in the clan library where children can find them."

"Who leaves such biographies freely accessible anyway?" asked Saya, as angry as a demon, giving up her futile attempts to break free from my grasp.

"Well, judging by the fact that Tō-san made a clean getaway, he's somehow responsible," Shenetsu shrugged, relieved to shift the blame.

"When I get my hands on him, I'll wring that old bastard's neck!" Setsura cracked her knuckles menacingly.

"That can wait, let's get back to the more pressing issue," sighed Nara, "as troublesome as it may be, you can't avoid marriage, Ryo, so I'd like to hear your thoughts on the matter."

Suspiciously eyeing the frozen Saya, I loosened my grip and scratched my chin thoughtfully. Honestly, I hadn't even considered this question yet, although I did acknowledge the high probability of an arranged marriage.

"So, I understand that a potential candidate for my wife will come from the clan?"

"Undoubtedly, no one intends to give you away for just any alliance," scoffed Setsura, "they want too much!"

"Which clans are trying to push their candidates?" I continued to clarify the situation, ignoring Ma's suspicious glance.

Yeah, as if I didn't know about the pile of junk mail that ends up in our mailbox.

"Hyuga, Uchiha, Inuzuka, several merchant clans in the village, and even our allies have hinted at their desire to intermarry through you," Uncle listed. "But the first two can be dismissed, as they want you in their clan and certainly don't intend to relinquish control over their dojutsu."

"Which way are you leaning?"

"Of course, towards Yamanaka and Akamichi, or at worst, we should pick someone from our own clan to avoid being pestered too much about it," Shenetsu shook his head.

"In general, if it's not the Akamichi, I don't really care," I stated plainly, "my main requirements are no marriage until eighteen, a good figure, and a docile character in the girl, the rest you can figure out yourselves. Of course, if there are several candidates, the final decision is mine."

"Understood, I'll take your wishes into account, and as soon as a decision is made, you'll be the first to know."

"Deal."

As soon as this important matter was settled, the clan head and his wife hurried to leave, eager to get out of reach of Saya's piercing gaze, which clearly didn't like any of this.

"You shouldn't have agreed," Ma sighed after a long silence, "I married your father for love, despite a similar situation."

I've got more interesting stuff on patreon (up to 60 chapter)

patreon.com/Chill76