Chapter 45

Crow Feather descended from the sky and landed on Chiga's shoulder.

Chiga felt something poking beneath Crow Feather's claws. When he turned to look, he found that Crow Feather was clutching a Konoha Headband.

"Which unlucky guy did you steal this from?" Chiga gently patted Crow Feather, a trace of affection in his voice.

"Caw!"

Crow Feather shook his head, then let out another cry.

After spending a month with Crow Feather, Chiga had come to understand his cries a little. He asked, "You didn't steal it—you snatched it?"

"Caw!" Seeing that Chiga understood him, Crow Feather gave a smug cry.

"When did you become so capable that you can snatch a Konoha Headband from a ninja?"

Chiga looked at Crow Feather in surprise. Although Crow Feather was much stronger than an ordinary crow, he was still no match for a ninja.

"Caw-caw!"

Crow Feather shook his head again, but this cry was rather complicated, and Chiga couldn't understand it for the moment.

"Could it be that some kid made a ninja headband out of boredom and pretended to be a ninja, and you noticed and snatched it from him?"

"Caw?"

"So that's not it, either."

Watching the exchange between them, the dejected look on Shisui's face from being instantly defeated by Chiga vanished completely. He kept staring at Crow Feather.

Shisui asked, "Little Uncle, is this crow yours?"

"Yeah."

Chiga said to Shisui, "His name is Crow Feather. I met him the last time I went out on a mission."

Shisui moved closer curiously and examined Crow Feather on Chiga's shoulder. His glossy, almost luminous feathers showed that the crow was in excellent condition, while a hint of intelligence shone in his black eyes. He seemed quite clever, too.

Crow Feather was somewhat disdainful of Shisui's approach. He simply turned around and pointed his rear at Shisui.

This gesture didn't disappoint Shisui. Instead, it made him even happier.

"If you like crows, I can bring back a few hundred for you to choose from. Crow Feather won't do, though. He's rather attached to me."

Seeing how much Shisui liked crows, Chiga said with a smile.

"So the extra crows that have appeared around our clan recently are yours, Little Uncle."

Shisui suddenly understood. He had been wondering why so many crows had inexplicably appeared around the Uchiha Clan Grounds recently. So they belonged to Little Uncle.

He had originally planned to look for the crows' nest whenever he had some free time, but it seemed he wouldn't need to anymore.

"Little Uncle, is that really okay?"

Shisui asked. He knew that Chiga had certainly brought back the crows not as pets, but to build up his combat strength through sheer numbers.

He was worried that Chiga was only giving them to him out of affection, despite his reluctance.

"It's fine. They're only a few crows. You'll just have to raise them yourself."

Chiga waved his hand indifferently. Ever since he had arrived in Konoha, there were no large birds nearby, which meant the crows had no natural predators. The flock was doing exceptionally well, and had even developed quite a nightlife.

Chiga felt that a large batch of crows would hatch soon.

"Stupid crow, give me back my headband!"

Chiga had been about to have Crow Feather take him and Shisui to see the flock's nest, but before he could speak, a voice suddenly rang out. It seemed that the creature whose Konoha Headband Crow Feather had snatched had come looking for it.

The childish voice made Chiga think it was some little kid. But when he turned around, he saw a small puppy.

That explained how Crow Feather had managed to snatch the Konoha Headband.

"Damn crow, just wait until I grow up! I'll teach you a lesson!"

The puppy ran to Chiga's feet. Ignoring the fact that Chiga was the crow's owner, it merely barked threats at Crow Feather.

"Caw!"

In the face of the puppy's threat, Crow Feather cried out casually, not taking it seriously at all.

"What?! You're saying I won't grow up? How could that be?"

"Caw!"

"Hmph, my mother said my father is a large dog. I'll definitely grow very big when I grow up!"

"Caw!"

"My mother lied to me? Impossible!"

Watching the crow and dog argue, Chiga crouched down as well and kindly explained to the puppy, "Well, where I'm from, your breed is called a pug. You really won't grow very big!"

"You're the one who won't grow up! Your whole family won't grow up!"

Negative emotions from Summoning Beast Pakkun detected. Emotion Points +80!

Chiga: "..."

This system really didn't discriminate at all. It wouldn't even spare a dog!

The summoning hound named Pakkun had clearly been angered by Chiga. He opened his mouth and lunged to bite Chiga's hand.

But before he could bite down, he suddenly sniffed Chiga, then began barking furiously.

"Woof! Woof! Woof!"

"Chiga, so this is where you are."

Pakkun's barking attracted two figures. They were Minato Namikaze and Kakashi Hatake.

Clearly, the two had come to the Uchiha Clan Grounds specifically to find Chiga.

However, when they arrived at Chiga's house, they discovered that he had already left. That was why Kakashi had summoned Pakkun to search for him.

They hadn't found the person yet, but a crow had already snatched the headband from Pakkun's forehead.

"Oh, it's Senior Minato and Kakashi. So this puppy is your Summoning Beast, Kakashi?"

"Yeah. His name is Pakkun."

Kakashi explained, then emphasized, "He's a tracking hound. He doesn't have much combat ability!"

Chiga rolled his eyes at that. Where did you get such a strong competitive streak?

"Crow Feather, give Pakkun his Konoha Headband back."

Since they were all acquaintances, Chiga couldn't keep letting Crow Feather bully Pakkun. He called out to him.

Unexpectedly, Crow Feather still didn't want to give it back.

"Don't make a fuss. I'll make one for you next time."

"Caw!"

Only after hearing Chiga say that did Crow Feather allow him to take the Konoha Headband away.

Seeing how intelligent Crow Feather was, Shisui's eyes grew even brighter.

Chiga returned the headband from Crow Feather's claws to Kakashi. He also introduced Shisui, Minato, and Kakashi to one another.

Shisui politely said to Minato and Kakashi, "Senior Minato, Senior Kakashi, I'm Uchiha Shisui. It's nice to meet you. Please guide me!"

"Hello, I'm Minato Namikaze, a Konoha jonin. Please guide me."

"Hello, I'm Kakashi Hatake, a Konoha chūnin. Please guide me."

After the three finished greeting one another, Chiga looked at Minato in confusion and asked, "Senior Minato, why did you come looking for me?"

Minato smiled warmly. "I heard your confinement had ended, so I came to check on you."

People don't visit without a reason. Even though Chiga was Kushina's disciple, Minato wouldn't care enough to come looking for him the moment his confinement ended.

So Chiga understood that Minato had come with a purpose.

"Kushina is still under confinement, so you currently don't have a team, right, Chiga?"

Seeing Chiga stare at him without saying anything, Minato could only smile awkwardly and explain why he had come.

Chiga suddenly understood. He scratched his head and said, "Senior Minato, do you want me to join your team? Would that be within the rules?"

Shisui's expression turned unhappy. The curiosity he had initially shown toward Minato and Kakashi now carried a hint of hostility.