For the Future of the Clan

"Madam."

"Hmm?"

"I want to."

"Want what?"

"You."

Nara Yoshino froze for a moment. Looking at Asuka's serious expression, she seemed to understand something. After hesitating for a while, she refused.

"No. If Shikaku finds out about this, we'll get beaten."

"If you don't say anything and I don't say anything, he won't know."

"There are no walls that don't leak."

"Please, just satisfy me."

Asuka pressed his palms together, looking earnestly at the Clan Head's Wife of the Nara Clan.

"No."

Seeing her shake her head and refuse again, Asuka took a step back. A resolute look appeared on his face, as though he had made some crucial decision. Gritting his teeth, he said,

"Three times. Just three times."

"Three times?"

Nara Yoshino propped her chin on one hand and secretly examined Asuka's strong body. She shook her head with a sigh, then held up five fingers and bargained.

"Three times is a little too few. Five times.

If you agree, I'll do it."

"Fine."

After thinking it over for a moment, Asuka nodded, accepting her demand.

"Here!"

Nara Yoshino took a large bundle from behind the counter and handed it to Asuka. Patting the bundle in his hands, she looked at him curiously.

The Nara Clan had raised deer for Konoha for generations. Deer antlers were precious medicinal ingredients, and their accomplishments in medicine were unmatched. Most of Konoha's medicinal herbs and medicines were supplied by them.

Whether ordinary people or ninja, anyone wanting to buy medicinal herbs or medicine generally came to them.

When she had arrived at the shop entrance today, she had seen Uchiha Asuka fiercely haggling with the clerk. Then she had pushed the clerk aside and personally discussed the price of the medicine with him.

"Asuka-kun, what do you need these basic medicinal herbs for? Does someone in your Uchiha Clan want to become a Medical Ninja again?"

"No!"

Asuka slung the medicinal herbs over his back and curled his lip.

"This morning, I took in an apprentice who wants to study medicine. She just graduated from the Ninja Academy, and her pockets are emptier than yours, Madam."

"Wow!"

Yoshino's mouth fell open slightly as she stared at Asuka in exaggerated surprise. Then she gave him a thumbs-up and praised him.

"Asuka-kun, you really know how to talk."

"Since you think I'm so good with words, how about three medical examinations?"

"No, five times was our agreement. Besides, you got these medicinal herbs at twenty percent of the original price. How is that any different from giving them away for free?"

"Heh."

Asuka's mouth twitched. If it had not been for Konoha's gang of unscrupulous merchants, when had he ever haggled while buying things?

When he had wanted to defect, he had sold everything he could and used all his savings to trade Cat Granny for some weapons. Then, after deciding not to defect and asking Cat Granny to buy those weapons back, that old hag had casually swung her Dragon Slayer Blade once, and his assets had instantly shrunk by a third.

By the time he redeemed everything he had sold one by one, those profiteers had turned his ordinary kitchen knife into the Wind Lightning Sword and his whetstone into the Earth Disaster Stone, raising the prices on the spot. If not for the restraints of being a ninja... "Asuka-kun, how is your investigation going?"

Yoshino's voice pulled Asuka from his memories. He pointed at the calendar hanging on the wall behind him and said helplessly,

"Madam, it has only been one day."

"Is that so? I thought it had been a long time already. So it has only been one day. Then you need to work harder."

"Got it."

With that, Asuka waved his hand and left the Nara Clan's pharmacy.

When he had taken the medicinal herbs earlier, he had secretly checked on her. He now had a rough estimate of Shikamaru's birth date.

September. Given how quickly children matured in Naruto, around February next year, he could probably become Shikamaru's friend with a single lollipop.

No.

Thinking of the one-year-aged Tsunade Shizune had mentioned, Asuka moved the timeline up a bit.

With Shikamaru's genius brain, he might recognize people a month after birth, read at two months, and make friends at three months.

Night.

Nara Clan Grounds.

Dressed in black, Asuka easily avoided the patrolling ninja and made his way to Nara Ryoko's room.

"Who is it?"

As soon as she spoke, Ryoko saw Asuka remove his mask. She immediately rose to her feet, grabbed his arm, and said urgently,

"You finally came."

"No rush."

After calming her down, Asuka looked at her anxious expression and continued.

"The last time I came, the Nara clansmen patrolling outside spotted me. Then your Clan Head's Wife suspected that there was something between you and me."

"Oh."

Ryoko's face showed sudden understanding. She had wondered why Yoshino had come to her house last time and indirectly asked whether she had a man.

This was too damn much. Her husband had only just died, and they were already suspecting her of finding another man.

She had been so angry then that she had driven the Clan Head's Wife out with a broom.

So that was the root of the problem.

Her narrow eyes examined Asuka. Then, as if making up her mind, she said seriously,

"As long as you cure my son, rumors or the real thing, I don't care."

"I care."

With that, Asuka followed her out of the room and down to the first floor.

He did not want Danzo to know that he was deliberately approaching a Root member, much less earn a reputation for seducing a Widow in the middle of the night. More importantly, this Widow had a son and was not particularly pretty.

Honestly, not everyone could be like Cao Cao and treat another man's son as his own.

Only someone with vision could accomplish great things. He felt that, in this life, his own vision might only ever be enough to make him a village chief.

Asuka looked at the moonlight streaming through the window into the room and thought of Kaguya Otsutsuki, who lived on the moon. She had sons too, but one had died and another had perished. The only one still alive was helping Uchiha Madara with something important. He wondered whether Uchiha Fugaku marrying a Hyuga woman would cause their descendants to display ancestral regression?

Having found a blind spot, Asuka decided to bring it up at the next clan meeting. After today's treatment ended, to prevent their shadows from appearing in the window again, the two of them sat directly against the wall.

"Actually, this isn't difficult. You can just come clean to Yoshino."

Ryoko gazed at the moon outside the window, and a rare trace of ease appeared on her face. She had just discovered that her son's condition had truly improved. After roughly seven or eight treatments, he should be able to move around like a normal person.

Thinking of that, she looked gratefully at Asuka and said in a relaxed tone,

"Yoshino is very reasonable. Once she learns that you came to treat her nephew, she definitely won't say anything."

"Now you call her sister-in-law? Just now, you were cursing and spreading rumors about her.

Besides, this mainly concerns that lord of yours."

Asuka rolled his eyes at Ryoko.

If Danzo were an idiot, he would not have needed to worry so much.

The key was that the old man was merely evil, not stupid. He had plenty of wicked schemes.

If he noticed that there might be something between Ryoko and him, he would inevitably follow the trail and thoroughly clean out Root.

"Then what should we do?"

Hearing that, Asuka stood up and patted the dust off his pants.

"Actually, I think a marriage alliance between the Uchiha Clan and the Nara Clan would be pretty good. After all, the Uchiha clansmen not using their brains is a hard flaw."

"So?"

She looked at Asuka blankly. She could not understand what he was talking about.

Could this guy really be planning to marry her?

It was not that she could not accept it, nor that she was unwilling, but... it was too sudden. At that moment, Asuka turned toward the clan grounds. His gaze seemed to pierce through every obstacle as he stared directly at a certain house and said,

"For the bright future of the clan, the Clan Head should make a little sacrifice."

Nara Ryoko blinked. Then the confusion on her face was replaced by terror. She clamped both hands over her mouth and stared at him in disbelief.

This guy was planning to kill the Clan Head? To settle this little matter between them through that?

That was really unnecessary, wasn't it?

"Don't overthink it."

Looking down at the terrified expression on her face, Asuka stretched and said irritably,

"I'm planning to pin this matter on the Clan Head. I never said there could only be one marriage candidate.

I, of the Uchiha Divorce Faction, am voluntarily helping the Clan Head find a lovely woman. Damn it, I'm such a thoughtful clansman that he couldn't find another one even with a lantern.

When Danzo asks why your son's illness has improved, just say it was my sincerity in proposing on the Clan Head's behalf. Outwardly, you'll seem resigned to your fate, while secretly remaining a chaste and virtuous woman who never intends to remarry for the rest of her life. Wouldn't that work?

A perfect solution."

Hearing this, Nara Ryoko quietly breathed a sigh of relief. She had really thought the Uchiha Clan Head was about to die. So that was it.

Following his plan, it did not seem too bad.

She could also tell others that this Uchiha clansman had pestered her, wanting her to marry Fugaku, but that she had remained ambiguous for her son's sake. Once her son was cured, she could turn hostile and deny everything.

Hmm. But... Nara Ryoko looked at Asuka worriedly and asked hesitantly,

"Y-you... won't your Clan Head beat you to death?"

Beat me to death?

Asuka raised an eyebrow, pointed at his own nose, then pointed toward the clan grounds and said calmly,

"Unless he really goes blind opening his Susanoo, it's hard to say who would beat whom.

Besides, there are so many radicals in the clan, and he has never said anything about them. Why should he beat me?

At the last clan meeting, one radical even wanted to beat to death those Konoha Elders who were unfriendly toward the Uchiha."

Heh. Heh. Nara Ryoko looked at Asuka speechlessly. She had known that there were many mentally unstable people in the Uchiha Clan, but she had not expected them to be this extreme. They even wanted to beat Konoha Elders to death. By comparison, the man in front of her seemed like one of the rare normal people in the Uchiha Clan.

The moment she remembered that this man had been sent by Nara Yoshino to investigate her, her face darkened. She turned again toward the center of the clan grounds and cursed loudly.

"Damn you, Nara Yoshino. You actually sent someone to investigate me."