An Unexpected Encounter with Ino

The people in the classroom watched Chen's departing back and sighed one after another, "That's a genius from a great clan!"

"Genius? So-called geniuses are all forced out by themselves. Can a simple word like 'genius' erase my efforts?" Chen listened to the murmurs behind him, thinking disdainfully.

The difference between so-called geniuses from great clans and ordinary civilians is that the former receive guidance from their clan elders from a young age, while the latter do not. So those with clans start much earlier than those without.

It's like two people racing on the same starting line—one runs first, while the other is still preening at the start. By the time they figure out the situation, they can't catch up and can only watch the former's back.

Of course, if the former is content with the status quo and doesn't strive for improvement, the latter can surpass them through effort.

So, there are no born geniuses, only hardworking geniuses.

Chen ignored the discussions behind him and walked straight home.

"I'm back!" Chen returned home and found only Mikoto Uchiha there; Uchiha Itachi and Fugaku Uchiha were not home.

"Oh, it's Chen! Huh? Didn't Sasuke come back with you?" Although Chen and Sasuke looked exactly alike, as their mother, Mikoto Uchiha could instantly tell who was Sasuke and who was Chen.

"Yeah, he's behind me. He'll be back soon." Chen replied to Mikoto Uchiha, his tone and expression not as cold as usual. Every time Chen was alone with Mikoto Uchiha, seeing the doting look in her eyes, he couldn't harden his heart enough to put on a cold facade.

To say Chen had no feelings for this family would be a lie. After all, Mikoto carried him for ten months and gave birth to him. In these six years, from babbling to stumbling steps, Mikoto had always been by his side.

Even after he learned about the world and his identity and deliberately acted aloof, Mikoto still smiled, cared for him, and doted on him, letting him enjoy that long-lost maternal love.

Even a dog raised for six years would develop deep feelings for its master, let alone a person with flesh, blood, and a soul.

But the Uchiha's fate was already sealed, even if he knew the outcome. With Chen's weak strength, what could he do? What could he change? Could he run to Fugaku Uchiha and tell him not to launch the coup, or else the clan would be wiped out? Even if Fugaku believed him with a one-in-a-thousand chance, what about the Elder Council? Such an important matter wasn't decided by the clan head alone. If Chen really did that, he'd probably be arrested as a traitor. Even if he wasn't killed out of respect for the clan head, he'd definitely be imprisoned.

The result would still be the same—there was no way to stop the Uchiha Coup. In the Original Story, even the Third Hokage and Itachi tried their best to prevent it but failed, ultimately forcing Itachi to carry out the clan's annihilation. Since even the Third and Itachi couldn't succeed, Chen wasn't naive enough to think his strength and status surpassed Uchiha Itachi and the Third Hokage.

So, the Uchiha clan's destruction was inevitable. Chen couldn't change anything. All he could do was improve his strength as much as possible, giving himself more chances to survive that major event. After all, there was no such character as him in the Original Story—who knew if it would change the plot.

Precisely because he couldn't change the tragedy of the clan's annihilation, Chen deliberately tried to distance himself from this family. In his previous life, Chen's parents both died in a car accident. Chen really didn't want to experience that heart-wrenching feeling of watching his parents die before his eyes again, so he kept telling himself not to develop too many feelings for this family.

Because Chen deliberately acted cold, the family mistakenly thought he had autism or depression, so they unconsciously cared more about Chen than Sasuke. This was also why Sasuke resented Chen, leading to a bad relationship between the twin brothers.

"I'm back." At that moment, Sasuke also returned home.

"Sasuke's back! How was your first day of school?" Mikoto asked Sasuke with a smile.

Sasuke glanced at Chen with a complicated look and said to Mikoto, "School wasn't great today. Didn't learn anything. Oh, Mom, where's Itachi-niisan? Isn't he back yet?"

"That's right, I heard Itachi went on a mission today. He probably won't be back until tomorrow." Mikoto patted Sasuke's head and said with a smile. "Oh, another mission. Why so many missions?" Sasuke said discontentedly. "Hehe, there's no helping it. Your brother is a ninja. Sasuke will become a ninja too someday." Mikoto comforted Sasuke.

"Alright, you two go play for now. Mom's going to cook." Mikoto said to Chen and Sasuke, then got up and went to the kitchen.

"It's still early before dinner. I'll go for a walk. I haven't really explored Konoha since I grew up." Chen thought to himself that he hadn't properly toured Konoha, so he'd take this time to look around.

"Chen, where are you going?" Sasuke asked Chen, who was about to leave.

"Huh?" Chen found it strange. Sasuke usually didn't bother with him, so why was he calling out to him today? Though curious, Chen still answered, "Nowhere special, just going for a walk."

"Then I'm coming too." Sasuke said and got up to follow.

"Huh? What's up with this guy today? Not only is he talking to me first, but he also wants to come with me?" Chen looked at Sasuke, puzzled.

Actually, it was mainly because Chen had shocked Sasuke too much today. The Chen who usually didn't talk much at home and didn't play with him actually had such strong strength. This completely exceeded Sasuke's understanding of Chen. He often trained with Itachi but had never seen Chen train, so he was very curious about how Chen got so strong. So today, he planned to follow Chen and see what he usually did.

"Oh, suit yourself." Although Chen was curious, he didn't show it. He was just going for a walk anyway; if Sasuke wanted to follow, let him.

So the brothers went out together.

They walked along the Konoha Streets without saying a word. After a while, Sasuke couldn't hold it in anymore and asked Chen, "Is this all you do when you go out—just walk around?" "Huh? Got a problem with that?" Chen said coldly to Sasuke. "Damn it, then how is it possible you have such strong strength?" "Oh, you mean that?" Chen said with sudden realization. He finally understood Sasuke's unusual behavior. "I trained myself, of course." Chen didn't plan to hide it from Sasuke, because he knew Sasuke would never tell anyone. "What? Trained yourself? How is that possible?" Sasuke said in shock. "I train with Itachi-niisan and I'm not that strong. How could you train yourself to that level?" "That's your problem." Chen didn't bother with Sasuke anymore and kept walking on his own.

"Damn it, damn it, I won't lose to you." Sasuke didn't follow but ran back home, probably to train.

"Tch, little brat. Better off without him." Chen ignored Sasuke's departure and continued his walk.

"Huh? Is that... Chen-kun?" On the Konoha Streets, a little girl's voice came from a flower shop. "It really is Chen-kun! Hey, Chen-kun! Chen-kun!" The girl called out to Chen on the street.

Chen, who was walking, suddenly heard someone calling him. He looked toward the voice in confusion. He saw a little girl with an apron and a watering can in her hand, standing at the entrance of a flower shop, waving at him.

"Huh? Isn't that Ino? Oh right, her family runs a flower shop." Chen looked at the little girl—it was Yamanaka Ino.

Chen walked over, pretending not to recognize her, and asked with a smile, "Hello, and you are?"

"I'm Ino, Yamanaka Ino! We're in the same class with Teacher Iruka!" Ino explained to Chen.

"Oh, it's Ino. Hello! Is this your family's flower shop?" Chen asked Ino with a smile, completely different from his demeanor in the Classroom.

"Yeah, it's my mom's flower shop. I came to help after school." Ino replied.

"Hehe, Ino really likes flowers, huh?"

"Mm-hmm, I love them!" Ino answered happily.

Chen picked up a Rose and asked Ino, "How much is this flower?"

"Is Chen-kun buying flowers? This is a Rose. It's usually given to a lover or someone you like. If Chen-kun wants it, I'll give it to you." Ino said a bit shyly to Chen.

"Hehe, Ino wants to give it to me? But this is a Rose, used for giving to lovers or people you like. Does that mean Ino likes me?" Chen teased Ino.

"Huh? This... this..." Ino didn't expect Chen to be so direct, and she was too startled to speak.

"Hehe, I'm just kidding. How much is it? I'll buy it." Chen said to Ino.

"Oh, this Rose is ten taels each." Ino told Chen the price, and there was a hint of disappointment in her voice.

"Here! Here's the money." Chen took out ten taels and handed it to Ino.

"Then, this flower is mine now." Chen said as he handed the flower to Ino. "Here! For you."

Ino took it instinctively. "For me?"

"That's right, for you. Don't you like it? Then forget it." Chen reached out as if to take it back.

"No, no, no. I like it. I really like it." Ino quickly said to Chen.

"Heh, glad you like it. I'll be off then." Chen said to Ino.

"Mm. See you tomorrow, Chen-kun."

"See you tomorrow!" Chen turned and left after saying this.

Ino watched Chen's back view, then shyly cupped her face in both hands.

"Chen-kun actually gave me a rose. Heehee."