Chapter Seven: An Encounter with Ino

Everyone in the classroom watched Chen walk away and sighed one after another. "So this is the genius of a great clan!"

"Genius? So-called geniuses all force themselves to become that way. Can a simple word like 'genius' erase all my hard work?" Chen heard the discussion behind him and thought disdainfully.

The difference between a genius from a great clan and an ordinary commoner was that the former received guidance from the elders of his clan from a young age, while the latter did not. That was why those with clans behind them got off to a much earlier start than those without one.

It was like two people racing from the same starting line. One started running first, while the other was still posing at the starting line. By the time he understood what was happening, he could no longer catch up and could only watch the former's back from behind.

Of course, if the former was satisfied with the status quo and stopped striving to improve, the latter could surpass him through hard work.

Therefore, there were no naturally born geniuses, only geniuses forged through hard work.

Chen ignored the discussion behind him and headed straight home.

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

"Chen is back! Huh? Didn't Sasuke come back with you?" Although Chen and Sasuke looked exactly alike, Mikoto Uchiha, as their mother, could recognize at a glance which one was Sasuke and which one 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. Whenever Chen was alone with Mikoto Uchiha, seeing the affection in her eyes made it impossible for him to keep pretending to be cold and heartless.

It would be a lie to say that Chen had no feelings for this family. After all, Mikoto had carried him for ten months before giving birth to him. Over the past six years, from the time he first learned to babble until he learned to walk, Mikoto had always stayed by his side.

Even after he learned the truth about the world and his identity and deliberately put on an indifferent front, Mikoto had continued smiling and showing concern for him, spoiling him and allowing him to enjoy that long-lost maternal love.

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

However, the fate of the Uchiha had long since been decided. Even though he already knew the outcome, what could Chen do with his weak strength? What could he change? Should he run to Fugaku Uchiha and tell him not to launch the coup, or the clan would be wiped out? Even if there were a one-in-a-thousand chance that Fugaku Uchiha believed him, what about the Uchiha Elder Council? Such an important matter certainly could not be decided by the clan leader alone. If Chen really did that, he would probably be arrested as a traitor. Even if he was spared because of his relationship with the clan leader, he would definitely be imprisoned.

The result would still be the same. There was absolutely no possibility of stopping the Uchiha Coup. In the Original Story, even the Third Hokage and Itachi had done everything they could to stop it and still failed. In the end, Itachi had been forced to carry out the clan extermination. If even the Third Hokage and Itachi had failed, Chen was certainly not naïve enough to believe that his strength and status had already surpassed those of Uchiha Itachi and the Third Hokage.

Therefore, the extermination of the Uchiha was already destined. Chen was powerless to change anything. All he could do was improve his strength as much as possible and give himself a few more chances to survive that major event. After all, he had not existed in the Original Story. Who knew whether his presence would change the plot?

Precisely because he could not change the tragedy of the clan's extermination, Chen deliberately tried to distance himself from this family. In his previous life, Chen's parents had died together in a car accident. He truly did not want to experience that heart-wrenching feeling of watching his parents die before his eyes again, so he kept warning himself not to develop too many feelings for this family.

Because Chen deliberately acted cold, the family mistakenly thought he had autism, depression, or something similar. As a result, they unconsciously cared about Chen a little more than they did about Sasuke. This was also what caused Sasuke's dissatisfaction with Chen and led to the twins having such a poor relationship.

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

"Sasuke is 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 very good today. I didn't learn anything. By the way, Mom, where's Itachi-niisan? Hasn't he come back yet?"

"That's right. I heard Itachi went on a mission today. He probably won't be back until tomorrow." Mikoto stroked Sasuke's head and spoke to him with a smile. "Oh, he went on another mission. Why does he have so many missions?" Sasuke complained. "He can't help it. His older brother is a shinobi. Sasuke will become a shinobi too in the future." Mikoto comforted him.

"All right, you two go play by yourselves for now. Mom is going to cook." Mikoto spoke to Chen and Sasuke, then got up and went to the kitchen to prepare dinner.

"It's still early before dinner. I might as well go out for a walk. I've grown this old and still haven't properly explored Konoha." Chen realized that he had never really looked around Konoha and decided to take a stroll while he had the time.

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

"Hm?" Chen found it strange. Sasuke usually never paid any attention to him, so why was he stopping him today? Although he was puzzled, Chen still answered, "Nowhere. I'm just going out for a walk."

"Then I'm coming too." Sasuke got up and followed him.

What's with this guy today? He not only started talking to me on his own, but he also wants to go out with me? Chen looked at Sasuke and thought in confusion.

The main reason was that Chen had given Sasuke too great a shock that day. Chen, who normally disliked talking or playing with him at home, actually possessed such powerful strength. This had completely surpassed Sasuke's understanding of Chen. Sasuke often trained with Itachi, yet he had never seen Chen train before. He was extremely curious about how Chen had obtained such powerful strength, so he planned to follow Chen and see what he usually did.

"Oh, suit yourself." Although Chen found it strange, he did not show it. He was only going out for a walk anyway. If Sasuke wanted to come along, then Chen would let him.

The brothers then left together.

The two walked along the Konoha Streets without saying a word. After a while, Sasuke could not hold back any longer and asked Chen, "Do you usually just walk around like this when you go out?"

"Hm? Do you have a problem with that?" Chen replied coldly.

"Damn it, then how could you possibly have such powerful strength?"

"Oh! You mean that?" Chen said, suddenly realizing what was going on. He finally understood why Sasuke had been acting strangely. "Of course I trained for it myself." Chen had no intention of hiding it from Sasuke, because he knew Sasuke would never tell anyone else. "What? You trained by yourself? How is that possible?" Sasuke said in shock. "I clearly train with Itachi-niisan, yet I'm not nearly as strong as you. How could you have trained yourself to that level?"

"That's your business." Chen ignored Sasuke and continued walking on his own.

"Damn it, damn it! I won't lose to you!" Sasuke did not follow him. Instead, he ran back home, presumably to train.

"Tch! What a brat. It's better that he left." Chen paid no attention to Sasuke's departure and continued wandering around by himself.

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

Chen, who had been walking along the street, suddenly heard someone calling his name. He looked toward the source of the voice in confusion and saw a little blonde-haired girl in an apron standing at the entrance of a flower shop, holding a watering can and waving at him.

"Huh? Isn't that Ino? Now I remember. Her family runs a flower shop." The little girl Chen was looking at was Yamanaka Ino.

Chen walked over and pretended not to recognize her. Smiling, he asked Ino, "Hello. May I ask who you are?"

"I'm Ino, Yamanaka Ino. We're in Teacher Iruka's class together!" Ino explained to Chen.

"Oh, you're Ino. Hello! This is your family's flower shop?" Chen asked Ino with a smile, acting completely differently from how he had in the classroom.

"Yes, my mother runs this flower shop. I came over to help after school," Ino replied.

"Hehe, do you like flowers, Ino?"

"Mhm, I love them!" Ino answered happily.

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

"Are you buying a flower, Chen-kun? This is a rose. They're usually given to a lover or someone you like. If you want it, I'll give it to you." Ino spoke to Chen shyly.

"Hehe, you want to give it to me, Ino? This is a rose, you know, something you give to a lover or someone you like. Could it be that you like me, Ino?" Chen teased her.

"Huh? I... I..." Ino had not expected Chen to be so direct and was so flustered that she could not get the words out.

"Hehe, I'm only teasing you. How much is it? I'll buy it." Chen spoke to Ino.

"Oh, this rose is ten silver taels." Ino told Chen the price, and a hint of disappointment could be heard in her voice.

"Here. The money." Chen took out ten silver taels and handed them to Ino.

"Now this flower belongs to me." As he spoke, Chen handed the flower to Ino. "Here. It's for you."

Ino instinctively accepted it. "For me?"

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

"No, no, I like it. I really like it." Ino hurriedly replied to Chen.

"Hehe, good. I'm glad you like it. I'll be going now." Chen spoke to Ino.

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

"See you tomorrow!" After Chen finished speaking, he turned around and left.

Ino gazed at Chen's back, then shyly cupped her face with both hands.

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