"Mm-hmm."
Uchiha Ao nodded.
"You, you..."
Qingyi Lang pointed at him, unable to get a complete sentence out for a long while.
"Th-this..."
No, brother, I hoped things would go well for you, but you're doing so well that it's making me feel terrible.
"You don't need to be happy for me."
Ao understood completely. He patted him on the shoulder with a beaming smile and said, "Once I become Clan Head, I'll promote you... Hmm, promote you to Chief Gatekeeper. Double the pay."
Gongzhu watched, completely lost, but when he saw his uncle's flushed, weather-beaten face, he could tell that he was genuinely happy for Uncle Cang.
What an amazing bond!
I want to make a best friend like that someday, too!
It was as if that one sentence had cleared Qingyi Lang's throat. He growled:
"Go to hell! Isn't Chief Gatekeeper still just a gatekeeper?"
As he spoke, he waved a hand. "Get lost, get lost, get lost! I want some peace and quiet!"
"Sayonara!"
With a cheeky grin, Uchiha Ao bid farewell to his friend, who looked like a Red Hot Shrimp, then headed straight for the Clan Head's home.
He'd been planning to visit the Clan Head anyway, and Qingyi Lang's home was right along the way. Besides, he'd spent some time outside the village carrying out a mission, and his nerves had been a little taut. So he'd figured he might as well have a drink with his buddy and relieve some stress.
After risking his life to complete the mission, it was about time he went to the Clan Head and collected on the promise to let him join the Police Force.
Of course, there was also the mission reward in silver taels. Otherwise, he couldn't even afford to eat.
Before long, he arrived at the Clan Head's home and knocked on the door.
Knock, knock, knock...
He knocked for a long time, but no one answered.
"Huh, he's not home?"
Ao scratched his head and looked around at the sprawling Japanese-style estate, which covered nearly a thousand square meters. There weren't any clan members on the street nearby, either, or he could've asked them.
"That's unusual. He hardly ever goes out."
He looked up at the sky. The sun was already high.
"Forget it. Since he's not home, I'll take care of the second thing first."
After passing two alleys, Uchiha Ao strolled down the main road through the clan compound, his hands leisurely clasped behind his head.
There were more clan members here, including plenty of familiar faces.
"Hey, Granny Kikyo! You're setting up your stall early today."
"Haha, thanks for the rice balls... What? You say I don't have to pay because I'm so handsome? I couldn't possibly accept that."
"All right, all right. I won't refuse your kindness, then."
A short distance away, Ao was eating rice balls one after another. Behind him stood several middle-aged men in casual clothes, all wearing odd expressions.
"I heard that kid went to the front lines on a reconnaissance mission a while ago. How'd he get back so quickly..."
"Yeah. Things are so tense at the front. Don't tell me he deserted."
"You never know. I heard the Clan Head will be back tonight. We can ask him then. Our Uchiha Clan can't have any deserters..."
Just then, a bearded man voiced an objection.
"Don't be so hard on Ao. If you get lucky on a reconnaissance mission, your chances of survival are pretty good. And... have you noticed how handsome Ao's gotten since he stopped walking around with a gloomy face?
Yeah, he's my type."
At that, the others glanced at the man's white socks and shuddered in unison.
Damn, how did our Uchiha Clan end up with such a fine specimen?!
Back! Back! Back!
Ao didn't hear the conversation behind him. Even if he had, he probably wouldn't have cared.
After all, one New Year, he'd returned to the village with greasy hair and wearing the same heavy coat he'd worn the year before.
If he wasn't afraid of the gossip from the Intelligence Department at the village gates, why would he care about a little criticism?
After swallowing a few rice balls, Uchiha Ao headed straight for the Fitness Equipment Store... beside the Ninja Tool Shop.
Sorry, he was still broke. He wasn't qualified to go to the Ninja Tool Shop and pick out anything he wanted.
He pushed open the door, and a wave of heat washed over him.
Ao felt as if he'd stepped straight out of the mildly warm outdoors and into a sauna.
The first thing he saw was a muscular middle-aged man, bare-chested and wearing tight, short shorts. He was doing dumbbell curls with a dumbbell nearly half the size of his body.
He looked so relaxed that it seemed as if this was just his warm-up. The heat came from the sweat steaming off the musclebound man and his heavy breathing.
"Damn."
Ao stared, mouth agape. This muscleman could probably match Ao's Thunder Breathing state through sheer physical strength alone.
Bling!
The Shop Door Bell jingled as the door opened. The muscular shop owner abruptly raised his head, flashed a dazzling grin, and greeted him enthusiastically:
"Hey, young man! Looking to buy some workout equipment?"
If you say, "Let your youth burn!" next, I'm going to think you're Youth Bro in a past life... Ao snarked to himself, though he managed a smile.
"Yeah, I want some Extra Large Equipment, preferably..."
As he spoke, he looked at the dumbbell in the shop owner's hand. "Some workout equipment even bigger than that."
Before coming, he'd roughly calculated that to make progress in Lightning Release Armor before his chakra ran out, he'd need to lift heavy and do some high-difficulty exercises.
Otherwise, without feedback from gaining insight, his own talent alone wouldn't be enough to combine Thunder Breathing and Lightning Release Armor.
"Oh?!"
The Shop Owner suddenly put down the dumbbell and ran over, looking excited. "Are you a Taijutsu Ninja too, young man?!"
Seeing the huge body charging toward him like a little mountain, Uchiha Ao had seen plenty in his time, but he still instinctively took a step back.
If that body landed on him and he didn't have time to activate Thunder Breathing, he'd be crippled at best.
There was no helping it. Ninjas were the sort who hit hard but couldn't take a hit—Glass Cannons...
That was why he placed so much importance on advancing and integrating Lightning Release Armor!
He was going to max out his defense and become the Toughest Man in the Shinobi World!
The Shop Owner evidently noticed Ao's wariness and quickly stopped, scratching his head. "Sorry about that. It's just my first time meeting another Taijutsu Ninja from the same clan, so I got excited."
Ao understood. He'd searched through the entire history of the Uchiha Clan and never found a single clansman who'd abandoned their perfectly good Kekkei Genkai to study Taijutsu.
He hadn't expected to run into someone as odd as himself today.
Once the Shop Owner settled into his professional mode, he gave Ao a once-over and assessed him. "Young man, from the look of you, you've got some Ninjutsu that can boost your physical strength, right?"
"Something like that," Ao replied with a nod.
"Just as I thought."
A gleam flashed in the Shop Owner's eyes, and he grew even more enthusiastic as he led Ao to the counter. "Hmm... no wonder you're looking for weights like the ones I use. In that case, I recommend this detachable model. That way, you can use lighter weights for basic strength training when you haven't activated your Ninjutsu, and..."
Before long, the Shop Owner had helped him pick out seven or eight pieces of nearly perfect workout equipment. If he used the proper form, he could work almost every muscle in his body.
The price, though...
Ao felt the nearly empty wallet in his pocket. He'd chosen the Fitness Equipment Store because he'd assumed it would be cheaper than the Ninja Tool Shop.
But with this much equipment... judging by the weight, even at the price of Pig Iron, it'd cost tens of thousands of silver taels.
At that thought, he quickly interrupted the Shop Owner, who was still going on and on. "Bro, the stuff you recommended really is great.
"It's just that I'm afraid I didn't bring enough money today. Why don't you hold on to it for me? I'll come back another day—no, tomorrow. I should have my mission reward by then, so I ought to be able to buy it."
"Hm?"
The Shop Owner stared for a moment, then flashed a bright grin and waved his hand. "So that's why you seemed a bit distracted...
"I never planned to charge you for this equipment. It's all yours!"
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