Get Engaged to Mikoto as Soon as Possible

Uchiha Fucheng put away his Mangekyō and straightened his collar a little before getting to his feet.

"Yashiro, please ask Lady Uchiha Meiling to wait for me in the living room."

He rose, gathered his thoughts, and opened the door!

Fucheng had already worked out his plan.

Since Mikoto was now his follower, they could wait a little longer before getting married, but he had to start planning an engagement ceremony to make their relationship official as soon as possible!

"Better sooner than later!"

Otherwise, if the inertia of history took over again—

A setup where Mikoto went on a date with Fugaku and he stole her away would become a complete joke.

He couldn't keep inviting a fourteen-year-old girl over to his house.

Even as head of the Uchiha Clan, people would still gossip about him.

Fucheng thought, I still have that one special reward. I can only use it after Mikoto and I make our relationship official.

If something unusual happened while using it, Mikoto wouldn't be able to complete the reward's fusion under my supervision. My most important trump card could end up exposed to others.

Mikoto's mother hadn't expected the clan head to be so direct.

They had barely met before he'd candidly told her that he wanted to marry Mikoto.

That night, Uchiha Meiling sat down with her daughter for a heart-to-heart.

Watching her daughter's expression, Meiling asked gently, "The new clan head proposed to me today. He wants to settle the marriage with you soon."

Mikoto looked up in surprise.

"Mom, did I hear you right? Lord Fucheng wants to marry me?"

Mikoto stared at her mother, startled. "Lord Fucheng saved me several times on the battlefield and has always taken such good care of me, but proposing so suddenly... Isn't it too soon?"

Uchiha Meiling smiled at her daughter and asked with concern, "What about you? What do you think of Lord Fucheng? Do you like him too?"

Mikoto froze. She started to shake her head, somewhat flustered, but quickly lowered it in embarrassment and nodded to admit that she did.

"I... I really like Lord Fucheng."

Under her mother's gaze, Mikoto spoke uncertainly. "I don't know how to describe it. When Lord Fucheng saved me on the battlefield, my heart was pounding so hard I could barely breathe."

"I don't know if that counts as liking someone, but if I were to marry Lord Fucheng, I'd be very happy."

Meiling affectionately stroked her daughter's hair. "And you still don't think that's love? Your heart's pounding so loudly, someone else might hear it."

Mikoto lowered her head and said softly, "Lord Fucheng is tall, handsome, and incredibly strong. He's also the head of the Uchiha Clan. I'm only a fourteen-year-old Chunin. Isn't it too early for me to think about marriage?"

Meiling covered her mouth with a little laugh.

"Silly girl, no one's asking you to get married right away. The clan head is only sixteen himself. When he proposed today, he said we should hold an engagement ceremony first and make your relationship official. That way, people won't start rumors when you spend time together."

"Besides, from what I've heard, plenty of the elders' daughters have their eyes on Lord Fucheng. He's probably tired of being pestered by the elders."

"He wants to settle things with you to let everyone else know and keep the other women from paying him too much attention."

Mikoto nodded, only half understanding.

She was already a Chunin, but she didn't have the social experience her mother had gained as a businesswoman.

So Mikoto really believed that Lord Fucheng was doing this to fend off the daughters of the other elders.

Seeing her nod, Uchiha Meiling embraced her daughter with relief.

"I'm glad you approve of the clan head. Now I can stop worrying."

Meiling looked at Mikoto's boyish appearance and her shinobi outfit.

"Mikoto, Mom and I moved back to the Uchiha Clan and took back the Uchiha name so no one would bully us. I've been thinking—you should take the Uchiha name again too. That would also fit the clan's tradition of a clan head marrying within the clan."

As she spoke, she tapped Mikoto's Chunin vest.

"You're back in the village to rest for now, so when you're not on a mission, why not wear some pretty dresses?"

"Spend more time with Lord Fucheng these days and see what you'll need for the engagement. I'll get everything ready ahead of time."

A rare blush spread across Mikoto's baby-faced cheeks.

I'm going to become Uchiha Mikoto. For a moment, she felt dazed.

The thought of getting engaged had come so suddenly.

It left her bewildered, but also thrilled and a little hopeful.

When it came to Mikoto, both her looks and her personality were exactly to Fucheng's taste.

Her name was exactly the same as that of the Railgun from another anime.

Her temperament was somewhat similar too. She had a boyish toughness and frankness, along with a girl's sensitivity and gentleness.

The main difference was that Fucheng's own black-haired Mikoto seemed more suited to being a good wife and mother.

After wrapping up the arrangements for his succession within the clan, Uchiha Fucheng made time to take Mikoto on dates for several days.

Feelings needed to be cultivated with care.

Otherwise, this really would become one of those arranged marriages between bloodline clans from the legends.

Konoha wasn't yet what it would be during the era of the Konoha 12. Its streets weren't as bustling.

The town and its businesses both felt rather quiet.

Fucheng walked around with Mikoto, who was dressed in a skirt.

Konoha's three-color dango had already appeared, and Mikoto seemed to like it. She ate several skewers in a row.

Fucheng observed the lives of ordinary Konoha villagers.

He felt that the village's overall spending power was pretty good.

After all, on his way back to Konoha from the Land of Wind, he hadn't seen a single town along the way with a wider variety of goods than Konoha.

"Mikoto, what kind of business did your family used to run?"

Fucheng asked curiously as he chewed on a dango.

Mikoto pointed to a round, multistory building in the distance. "My father, Misaka Shenxiao, was originally a noble of the Land of Fire. His businesses mainly dealt in loans, collateral, pawn services, financial trade, and guarantees for bulk commodities. He used to have a lot of branches throughout the Land of Fire."

"That round-roofed building up ahead is my family's pawnshop. My mother runs it now."

"Later, my father died in an accident while trading in the Land of Fire. We lost many of our connections, and a lot of our businesses there lost money."

"Mom eventually brought me back to Konoha. That helped stabilize the business in the Land of Fire. Now she only does business in Konoha and the areas around the shinobi villages."

Back when he lived in the county seat, Fucheng had seen every kind of shady business there was. Just from hearing about Mikoto's family's affairs, he could guess what had happened.

Now he finally understood why Uchiha Meiling had taken back the Uchiha name after marrying outside the clan.

To protect the family's businesses in the village, only the status and connections of the Uchiha Clan could help Mikoto's family hold on to what property they had left.

As for Misaka Mikoto's father, there was probably more to his death than met the eye.

A cold smile curled across Fucheng's lips. He ate the last dango and remarked confidently, "Sounds like your father's relatives in the Land of Fire knew how to take advantage of a family with no male heirs. Are a lot of your family's businesses in the other towns there now in your relatives' hands?"

Mikoto looked surprised and nodded. "Lord Fucheng, how did you know? After the businesses in the Land of Fire lost money, my second uncle bought most of our pawnshops and money exchange shops."

Fucheng looked at the astonished Mikoto and gently ruffled her hair.

"Let's not think about it anymore. Those damn nobles in the Land of Fire aren't even as significant as a bigger ant in this world."

"Once you become a Jonin, I'll let you take revenge with your own hands."

"Revenge?" Mikoto's expression darkened. She was innocent, not stupid.

She thought she heard something more in Fucheng's words.

But before she could think it through, Fucheng took her hand in his broad palm.

"Come on, it's almost noon. What do you want to eat? Let's grab something outside before we head back."

Fucheng gestured toward several restaurants along the street and casually commented on them.

A little embarrassed as Fucheng led her along, Mikoto didn't look closely and simply picked one.

"I'm not very hungry. Let's have ramen at that newly opened place. I haven't been there before."

When they looked up, two cloth banners stood in front of the large ramen shop.

A very familiar-looking man was handing out coupons at the entrance to attract customers.

"Oh?"

"Is that... Otsutsuki Ichiraku?"

Fucheng burst out laughing.