Engage Mikoto Quickly

Uchiha Fucheng put away his Mangekyo, smoothed out his collar slightly, and then stood up to respond.

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

He stood up, focused his mind, and activated the Gate of Opening!

Fucheng had already mapped out his plan.

Since Mikoto was now his follower, the actual wedding could wait, but an engagement ceremony to formalize their relationship had to be put on the schedule as soon as possible!

"Delay leads to trouble!"

He couldn't let historical inertia take its toll.

If he let a blind date between Mikoto and Fugaku happen, his act of stealing her away would become a complete joke.

He couldn't keep calling a fourteen-year-old girl to his home indefinitely.

Even though Uchiha Fucheng was now the Clan Head, it would inevitably invite gossip.

Fucheng thought to himself, I still have that unique special reward in my possession, and it can only be used after Mikoto and I have officially confirmed our relationship.

Otherwise, if there were any unexpected anomalies during the process, and Mikoto wasn't under my direct supervision to complete the reward fusion, I might expose my most important trump card to others.

Mikoto's mother had not expected the Clan Head to be so straightforward.

Almost as soon as they met, he had candidly expressed his desire to marry Mikoto.

That night, at Mikoto's home, Uchiha Meiling had a heart-to-heart talk with her daughter.

Looking at her daughter's expression, Meiling asked softly, "The new Clan Head proposed to me today; he wants to finalize your marriage in the near future."

Mikoto looked up in surprise.

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

Mikoto looked at her mother in astonishment. "Lord Fucheng saved me several times on the battlefield and has taken very, very good care of me, but this sudden proposal is just too fast."

Uchiha Meiling looked at her daughter with a smile and asked with concern, "What about you? How do you feel about Lord Fucheng? Do you like him too?"

Mikoto froze for a moment, wanting to shake her head in a coy manner, but quickly lowered her head in shyness, nodding to acknowledge her feelings.

"I... I like Lord Fucheng very much."

Under her mother's gaze, Mikoto said uncertainly, "I don't know how to describe it. When Lord Fucheng saved me on the battlefield, I had that feeling of my heart beating so hard I couldn't catch my breath."

"Although I don't know if that counts as liking him, if the person I'm marrying is Lord Fucheng, I feel very happy."

Meiling stroked her daughter's hair dotingly. "If that isn't liking him, then what is? Your heart is pounding so hard, someone else is going to hear it soon."

Mikoto lowered her head and said softly, "Lord Fucheng is tall, handsome, and incredibly powerful. He is also the Uchiha Clan Head. I am just a fourteen-year-old Chunin; isn't it a bit too early to consider marriage?"

Meiling covered her mouth and chuckled.

"Silly girl, it's not like you're getting married immediately. The Clan Head is only sixteen himself. When he proposed today, he said he wanted to hold the engagement ceremony first to confirm your relationship. That way, there won't be any rumors when you see each other daily."

"Besides, from what Mom understands, many daughters of the elders have their eyes on Lord Fucheng. I suspect he's just tired of being pestered by those elders."

"He wants to use this engagement to tell everyone else to back off, so as to reduce the excessive attention from other women."

Mikoto nodded, half-understanding.

Although she was already a Chunin, she wasn't like her mother, who was a merchant.

Lacking social experience, she truly believed that Lord Fucheng was only doing this to fend off the daughters of the other elders.

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

"As long as you approve of the Clan Head, Mom is at ease."

Looking at Mikoto's tomboyish appearance, she was still dressed in her ninja gear.

Meiling reminded her specifically, "Mikoto, Mom and I moved back to the Uchiha clan and changed our surname back to Uchiha precisely to prevent others from bullying us."

"I just thought, why don't you change your name back to Uchiha as well? That way, it will be more in line with the rules of the Uchiha Clan Head marrying within the clan during the engagement ceremony."

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

"Since you're back in the village for rest, you should wear pretty dresses when you aren't on missions."

"Spend more time with Lord Fucheng these days and see what you need for the engagement. I'll prepare everything for you in advance."

A rare, shy blush appeared on Mikoto's chubby, youthful face.

"Change it to Uchiha Mikoto." Mikoto felt a bit dazed.

She felt that this engagement was truly sudden.

It left her feeling both bewildered and pleasantly surprised.

Speaking of Mikoto, both her appearance and her personality were exactly to Fucheng's taste.

Her name was identical to the "Railgun" from another animation.

Their personalities and temperaments were somewhat similar, possessing both a boy's resilience and straightforwardness, as well as a girl's delicacy and gentleness.

If there was any difference, it might be that Fucheng's own black-haired Mikoto seemed more like the quintessential virtuous wife and loving mother.

After finishing the arrangements for his succession within the clan, Uchiha Fucheng specifically set aside time to go on dates with Mikoto for a few days.

Relationships, after all, always require careful cultivation.

Otherwise, this would truly become the legendary arranged marriage of a bloodline clan.

The current Konoha was not yet comparable to the era of the Konoha 12, and the streets were not nearly as bustling.

Whether in terms of town scale or commercial volume, it did not appear particularly lively.

Fucheng walked along with Mikoto, who was dressed in a skirt, strolling and browsing as they went.

The three-colored dango of Konoha had already appeared by this time, and Mikoto seemed to quite enjoy them, eating several skewers in a row.

Fucheng observed the living conditions of the ordinary Konoha villagers.

He felt that the overall purchasing power of Konoha at present was quite decent.

After all, having returned to Konoha all the way from the Land of Wind, he felt that none of the towns in the countries he passed through could compare to the variety of goods available in Konoha.

"Mikoto, what kind of business did your family originally do?"

Fucheng bit into a three-colored dango and asked curiously.

Mikoto pointed to a circular high-rise building in the distance, "My father, Misaka Shenxiao, was originally a noble of the Land of Fire. He mainly dealt in loans, mortgages, pawnbroking, financial trade, and margin businesses for bulk commodities. He once owned many branches throughout the Land of Fire."

"That building with the circular roof ahead is my family's pawnshop, which is currently managed by my mother."

"Later, my father died unexpectedly while conducting trade in the Land of Fire, and many of our family's connections were severed. Many of our businesses in the Land of Fire lost money."

"In the end, it was my mother who brought me back to Konoha to stabilize the business in the Land of Fire. Now, she only handles business within Konoha and the areas surrounding the ninja village."

Fucheng had seen everything, both the light and the dark, back in his hometown.

With just a little thought, he could guess the cause and effect behind the tricks of Mikoto's family business.

With Mikoto's explanation, he finally understood why Uchiha Meiling had changed her name back to Uchiha after marrying out.

To protect the business within the village, only the status and background of the Uchiha clan could allow Mikoto's family to barely maintain some of their assets.

As for the cause of Misaka Shenxiao's death, it was likely not simple either.

A cold sneer appeared on the corner of Fucheng's mouth. He finished the last dango and commented with a confident tone.

"Those relatives of your father in the Land of Fire certainly have a knack for seizing an estate. Are many of your family's businesses in other towns of the Land of Fire currently in the hands of those relatives?"

Mikoto was startled and nodded curiously, asking, "Fucheng-sama, how did you know? Because the business in the Land of Fire lost money, most of our pawnshops and currency exchange shops were bought out by my second uncle."

Fucheng looked at the surprised Mikoto and gently stroked her hair.

"Let's not think about these things anymore. Whatever bullshit nobles of the Land of Fire—in this world, they don't even count as large ants."

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

"Revenge?" Mikoto's expression soured slightly; she was innocent, but she wasn't naive.

From Fucheng's words, she seemed to hear a subtext.

But before she could think it over, Fucheng's broad, warm hand directly took hold of hers.

"Let's go, it's almost noon. What do you want to eat? We'll eat out before heading back."

Fucheng pointed to several restaurants along the street, commenting on them casually.

Mikoto felt a bit shy being held by Fucheng and didn't look closely, randomly pointing at one.

"I'm not very hungry, let's eat at this newly opened ramen shop. I haven't been to this new place yet."

Looking up, a large ramen shop stood before them with two cloth banners hanging as signs.

A very familiar face was at the entrance, handing out coupons to solicit business.

"Oh?"

"Is this? Otsutsuki Ichiraku?"

Fucheng burst into laughter.