Chapter 30: First Off, I Didn’t Provoke Anyone

The mystery of the Uchiha clan grounds massacre six years ago lingered like a shadow over Uchiha Gin's mind.

He'd hoped to pry useful clues from the suspicious Kaguya clansman, but his heavy hand killed Josuke before he could talk.

Distracted by these thoughts, he had no heart for work. Using the original owner's memories, he sketched the strange mark from his left hand.

Staring at the odd symbol—three boomerang-like shapes circling a red dot, resembling a clan crest—he racked his brain but found no match in the manga.

Unable to solve it, he decided to ask Uchiha Tajima next time.

As the workday ended, Uchiha Gin, staunchly anti-overtime, left the dungeon on the dot.

Seeing the setting sun, he headed to a large general store. "Got any black hair dye? Something long-lasting," he asked the clerk.

Recognizing the infamous Uchiha Gin, the clerk shakily handed him a bottle of black dye.

Uchiha Gin reached for his pocket but came up empty, his face flushing with embarrassment.

"Lord Gin, consider this dye a gift. Please, take it," the clerk said tactfully, sensing his predicament.

"No way, I can't stiff you like that. Hold on," Uchiha Gin insisted. Closing his eyes, he rummaged through his system inventory. Opening them, he pulled out a massive, gleaming gold brick, its radiance nearly blinding the clerk.

Gulping, the clerk took the ten-pound brick, pinching his cheek to confirm it wasn't a dream. In all his years, he'd never seen such a huge gold piece.

Valuable as it was, it posed a problem. "Lord Gin, our small shop can't break something this valuable," he said. Ten pounds of gold could buy the entire store.

Uchiha Gin, sheepish, held firm to his principles: never freeload what shouldn't be free, but seize any chance to freeload guilt-free.

As he hesitated, a spiky-haired teen burst in, shouting, "Boss, got any strong water… shuriken manuals?"

Before anyone could react, the teen spotted Uchiha Gin and yelled, "Gin, when'd you get back?!"

His eyes locked onto the gold brick. "Whoa, you hit the jackpot?"

Uchiha Gin sighed at the brash boy, who lacked the haughty air of his future self. "Call me cousin, Madara. Respect your elders."

"Hmph, defeated foe," the teen, Uchiha Madara, scoffed with teenage arrogance.

"Behave, and I might cut you a piece," Uchiha Gin teased, gesturing at the gold brick.

"Big bro, you're my real bro!" Madara bowed dramatically, folding for the promise of gold.

Even the future "Asura of the Ninja World" bows to my might, Uchiha Gin thought smugly. Worth it.

If only he had a camera—snapping this could haunt Madara's future, with White Zetsu pelting his windows nightly.

"Get up. Want something? Cousin's buying," Uchiha Gin said grandly, waving him to shop.

Madara's eyes lit up. He grabbed everything his father usually forbade, soon lugging a sack bigger than himself.

Watching Madara haul the oversized load, Uchiha Gin felt a strange déjà vu.

Miles away, on an island, Uzumaki Mito, confined by her father, stared at a bead reverting to its original color. Suddenly, she sneezed. Who's thinking of me?

In the end, Uchiha Gin and Madara's purchases only chipped a corner off the gold brick. As Madara trudged with his giant sack, he asked, "Cousin, what job got you that gold brick?"

Since defeating the then-twenty-year-old Uchiha Gin at ten, Madara had noticed his cousin avoiding him, offering only brief greetings before fleeing, even at Tajima's.

"Did a risky mission. Got the brick by chance," Uchiha Gin said.

"Cool! I wanna do missions too," Madara said enviously, never having left for one.

After the massacre six years ago, Tajima kept his surviving sons close, limiting Madara's missions and friendships.

"By the way, heard you're in love?" Uchiha Gin teased, noting Madara's low mood and changing the subject.

"What? Love? Who said that?" Madara looked baffled, uninterested in romance.

"Izuna. Said you're sneaking to the river for dates," Uchiha Gin said, throwing his brother under the bus.

"Ugh, I'm outta here! Damn Izuna, I'm gonna get him!" Betrayed by his closest kin, Madara stormed off toward home after a quick goodbye.

Izuna's in for it today, Uchiha Gin smirked.

Holding the dye and chipped gold brick, he strolled to his secluded shack.

Opening the door, he felt something hard against his waist. Looking down, he met Senju Itama's panicked eyes, clutching a kitchen knife—the only weapon he could find.

Patting his head, Uchiha Gin handed him the dye. "Good vigilance, but ditch the knife. Looks silly."

Itama's face reddened.

Noticing Itama in his old childhood clothes, Uchiha Gin eyed him. "Not bad. You've got maybe a tenth of my childhood charm."

Itama's face darkened.

Reading the dye's instructions, Uchiha Gin saw it required clean hair. He sent Itama to bathe.

Itama brightened at the prospect, then paled as Uchiha Gin started undressing, startling him. "What're you doing?!"

Uchiha Gin blinked. "What else? Bathing. Haven't washed since I got back. Let's save time together."

As he stripped, Itama slammed the door and fled outside, shouting, "You go first! I'll heat the water!"

Uchiha Gin's bath was an old-style wooden tub, heated over a fire kept steady to maintain temperature.

"Weird kid. So shy," Uchiha Gin muttered, unbothered. At his age, he could be Itama's father.

In the Warring States, marrying and having kids at thirteen was common. At twenty-four, his childlessness was the oddity.

Undressed, he entered the bathroom. The tub, connected to an outdoor fire, bubbled warmly.

Peering out the window, he saw Itama, cheeks puffed, stoking the fire vigorously, tossing in wood and muttering, "Burn! Burn! Burn this creep!"

???

First off, I didn't provoke anyone.

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