Chapter 213, Obito, the Smart

Chapter 213, Obito, the Smart

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The next day.

The Ultimate Finals of the Mahjong God Cup had begun. This time, the true Mahjong God would be decided.

Although Konoha had taken up most of the slots, with three out of the four finalists from Konoha, and there were rumors of shady dealings behind the scenes, that didn't dampen the excitement.

He heard that bets were already being placed outside.

Of course—

Because of the astonishing blue giant from yesterday, a lot of people were betting on Obito to win. The odds weren't particularly high, but most people were just watching for fun anyway.

Soon enough—

The Mahjong God Cup began.

The four finalists entered the arena.

Obito walked in with a stomachache. He had to win without using ninjutsu. Is this even still mahjong?!

Who plays mahjong without ninjutsu?

Those who didn't use ninjutsu would have died long ago!

Asshole!

Even the usually low-key Director Nono and Uzumaki Kana from the Land of Rain could manipulate chakra threads and use various ninjutsu.

And the Hyuga Clan…

Even more ridiculous!

They could see the tiles!

You'd either have to keep shuffling the tiles, use genjutsu, or straight-up cheat…

One careless move and you'd be doomed!

"When I become Hokage one day, I will make sure to expose this shady business across the entire ninja world and publicly condemn it!" Obito silently cursed to himself.

Then, as the host finished speaking, everyone sat down.

The moment he sat down—

For some reason…

The atmosphere felt a little awkward.

Obito glanced at his opponents—

Across from him… Director Nono. To his left… the red-haired girl. And to his right… that bastard's secretary, also from the Hyuga Clan—Hyuga Suzune.

Three women?

Three women!

Obito narrowed his eyes as memories of the past few years flashed through his mind—the oppression, the deception, the endless advertisements… His whole body seemed to be surrounded by a dark aura.

[Women will only affect the speed of my ninjutsu, but…]

…

Soon enough—

Under the crowd's watchful eyes—

The first Konoha Mahjong God Cup Ultimate Finals officially began.

Click, click, click~ The familiar sound of mahjong tiles clacking together rang out. But surprisingly, the fan-favorite, Konoha's dark horse—Uchiha Obito—did not immediately summon the blue giant from last night to dominate the game and secure the Mahjong God title.

The scene before them was unexpectedly… calm.

Everyone exchanged confused looks, completely unsure of what was going on.

Where's the ninjutsu?

Where's the taijutsu?

Where are the secret techniques?

Where's the terrifying giant?

Nothing!

How are they supposed to play mahjong like this?!

Is this even mahjong anymore?!

How boring!

The crowd frowned in confusion, but Yuto… he nodded in satisfaction. It seemed Obito had actually listened to his [suggestions] from last night.

Otherwise… the banner ad hanging in the center of the venue would have been rolled out again.

As for the match itself—

Isn't this just a regular mahjong tournament?

This was what a proper mahjong tournament should be!

Those deadly matches from the past few days—what kind of mahjong was that?!

That was just a rip-off!

This final round—

Let it end peacefully and bring the Mahjong God Cup to a perfect conclusion!

Only—

Yuto glanced at the match in confusion and murmured to himself, "Why does it feel like… they're chatting?"

…

"Suzune-senpai."

"Hmm~" Suzune looked at Uchiha Obito with a strange expression.

To this day, she still remembered that day… After not returning to the Uchiha clan for years, Yuto had suddenly come back and even tried to adopt a ridiculously arrogant clan member as his godson.

At the time—

She was completely stunned.

I have no idea what Yuto wants to do~

Until now…

Uchiha Obito had become the spokesperson for the Yuto Group~

Although Obito's reputation in the ninja world was… well, a little bad, surprisingly… the advertisements were very effective.

But now…

This guy was her strongest opponent.

Even though she didn't really care about winning or losing, since it had come to this point, she couldn't help but feel a little competitive—especially against Kana and Nono.

That's why last night in [Nin-Nin], they had specifically set up a secret chat group. The plan was to take down this terrifying guy first!

However—

Something unexpected happened.

He didn't seem to have any intention of using ninjutsu?

What was he trying to do?

Especially since he started off by calling her senpai and addressing everyone so politely.

Now… Suzune and the others couldn't just attack him. They could only play mahjong normally.

[Fine, playing like this is okay too.]

"Ten thousand!"

"Pong!"

"White dragon!"

"Three of bamboo."

"Five of bamboo."

When it was Obito's turn, a strange and dark glint flashed in his eyes. He casually played a tile and said with a grin, "Suzune-senpai, when are you and that bastard… cough, cough… Brother Yuto getting married? Everyone in the village says you two are living together. Even Minato-sensei said you're probably going to get married soon."

After he finished speaking—

Suzune's face turned slightly red. Embarrassed, she softly replied, "N-no… no, not yet!"

"Really? But you two are so close." Obito narrowed his eyes and sighed regretfully. "I always see you two walking around together at night!"

"N-not… all the time!"

"When you two get married, I'll definitely give you a big gift."

After that—

Kana's small hand trembled slightly, and she seemed to draw her tile with a bit more force.

"Three of bamboo!"

"Pong!" Obito immediately claimed it, then smiled apologetically at Kana, the girl from the Land of Rain who was also suspiciously close to that bastard. "Sorry, Kana-sama." His smile was full of Konoha-style politeness. "By the way, the other day I saw you and Brother Yuto walking around with a red-haired little girl. A lot of people said you looked like a family!"

After he finished speaking—

This time, Kana's face flushed slightly as well. She smiled warmly and replied softly, "Yuto-sama was just taking me and Honoka out for a walk."

That day—

It was her, Yuto, Konan, and Honoka.

But…

She didn't mention Konan.

"Three of circles!" Suzune was momentarily stunned, her eyes narrowing. She placed her tile down with a little more force than usual and said casually, "That time? Wasn't that right after I returned to the Hyuga clan?"

"Yes, Suzune."

"Seriously, Sister Kana, why didn't you tell me? If you had, I wouldn't have gone back to the clan." The emphasis on "Sister" was clear!

"Well, Yuto-sama suddenly wanted to go out."

"Ah, if you had told me, I could've taken Sister Kana somewhere else for a walk~"

"Thank you. Actually, Yuto-sama already took us to a lot of places that day."

"Really? Back when I was studying with Yuto, he used to secretly take me to all sorts of fun places too!"

"Is that so? Back then, Yuto-sama saved me. Under his protection, I got to see a lot of places in the ninja world."

"…"

The atmosphere was starting to feel a little… off.

Nono, sitting in the middle, began to tremble slightly.

Um…

Play mahjong?

Excuse me… can we finish the game first?

Even though no ninjutsu was being used, this atmosphere… made her hands shake while drawing tiles.

She sighed inwardly, lifted her gaze toward Yuto's direction, then frowned as she looked at the opposite side… Obito, who was chatting with the girls on either side of him.

Her mouth twitched.

He's doing this on purpose!

Helplessly shaking her head, Nono said, "Three of circles."

"Four of circles!" Obito, noticing that the two girls were no longer paying attention to him, nodded in satisfaction.

Women will only affect the speed of my ninjutsu!

Don't underestimate him, Uchiha Obito!

Then, looking at Nono sitting across from him, he smiled and said, "I heard Brother Yuto secretly snuck into the orphanage to find the Director last time!"

"…" What the hell is this guy trying to do?

Nono's eyelids twitched. She adjusted her glasses and nodded calmly. "Yes. Thanks to Yuto for taking care of us all these years! He often comes by to secretly donate money to the orphanage."

"Did the Director adopt a child named Yakushi Kabuto?"

"That's right. He's a very well-behaved child."

"Uh… ahem. Did Brother Yuto say he wanted to make him his own son?"

"Y-yes…" Nono felt the gazes from both sides, her hands trembling slightly, and she nodded embarrassedly.

However—

Her downcast eyes flickered subtly.

This Uchiha brat…

[He's actually trying to stir up trouble?]

…

Meanwhile—

"Yuto, what's wrong?"

"Nothing… I just suddenly feel a little cold."

Yuto pulled his jacket tighter around himself and shivered uncontrollably as he glanced toward the oddly tense atmosphere in the match.

For some reason…

It was getting colder and colder.

Will the temperature drop this spring?

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