She Seemed to Pluck at His Heartstrings

For once, he'd actually managed to make some progress.

During an experiment using Hashirama Cells that had been passed down through who knew how many generations, he discovered that one of the lab mice had survived for a full five hours.

And when he continued experimenting with that batch of cells, the other mice and rabbits also lived several hours longer than those in the other samples. It was clear that this batch of Hashirama Cells had become considerably less aggressive.

He was overjoyed, thinking he'd finally caught a glimpse of victory.

But it was only an isolated case. No matter what angle Qiuyang pursued afterward, he made not the slightest bit of progress.

In the end, his patience was nearly worn thin. He couldn't help wondering whether he should capture living people for research, like Snake Auntie.

No, no. He had once been a model young man of the new era. He absolutely couldn't trample on human life in such a cruel and inhumane way.

Plan rejected!

But that meant his research was once again stuck at the clinical trial stage. He still couldn't bring himself to inject the cells into his own body.

By then, five whole months had passed since Jiraiya left Konoha.

At a loss, Qiuyang put away the batch of Hashirama Cells that had kept the mice alive for five hours and decided to go out and clear his head.

After returning to Konoha and resting for a few days, he went to ask the Fifth Hokage what missions she had for him.

Tsunade had assumed that since the guy had been away from the village so long, he'd gone out to train with Jiraiya. She hadn't expected him to suddenly return. Only after Qiuyang explained did she realize he hadn't gone along at all.

After giving it some thought, she handed Qiuyang the documents for the Uchiha Clan's ancestral property, which she had promised to return to him.

Qiuyang hadn't been thinking about that, but when he opened the documents and casually glanced through them, his eyes widened and he began reading in earnest.

Besides a vast fortune, they included shops and other clan properties throughout the Land of Fire.

He'd never imagined that the Uchiha Clan had been so wealthy.

"Ahem... thank you very much, Lord Hokage, for returning my clan's property. I promise I'll do my part to help the village prosper."

Hmm... his first order of business would be to sell off the properties in Konoha. Otherwise, when Pain came around asking, "How many floors can one bag of rice carry?" wouldn't it all go down the drain?

"As long as you're thinking of the village. There's a B-Rank Mission available right now, so get ready. Oh, and you'll be carrying it out alongside a ninja from another village."

Qiuyang's thoughts were entirely occupied with how to manage the Uchiha fortune. After taking the mission scroll, he made up an excuse and slipped away, never noticing the thoughtful glimmer in Tsunade's eyes as she sat behind the Hokage's desk.

By the time he arrived at the mission rendezvous point on the third day, Qiuyang was back to full strength. The fatigue he'd accumulated over the past few months had already been washed away by the happiness of taking stock of his assets over the last few days.

He'd take this mission as a contribution to the village. The little money he'd get from it no longer interested him.

The person carrying out the mission alongside him was a slender young woman wearing a fox-patterned mask.

At first sight, Qiuyang was utterly stunned.

What a perfect figure, with golden-ratio proportions! Her stunning curves were enough to set any man's imagination racing.

He didn't even need to see what she looked like under the mask to know she had to be beautiful.

If Teacher Jiraiya saw her, he'd probably already be leaning over with a lecherous grin, asking her name.

Noticing Qiuyang's gaze roaming over her body, Fox glared at him several times and threatened, "Keep staring, and I'll gouge those eyes out."

Well, she was a feisty one. But her voice was so lovely that even her threats sounded like teasing.

"Hello, I'm Uchiha Qiuyang of the Konoha Ninja Village. I'll be accompanying you on this mission."

As he spoke, he held out his hand to shake hers, secretly anticipating what her little hand would feel like.

Unfortunately, she only snorted and walked off without taking his hand.

Qiuyang didn't press her. He'd taken the mission just to clear his head, but the young lady's arrival gave him a lot more to look forward to.

Their mission was to protect a large merchant caravan and escort it to the border of the Land of Wind.

Nothing happened on the first day of travel. The journey was exceptionally peaceful. After the caravan settled in for the night, Qiuyang volunteered to prepare food for the young lady.

Before long, he returned with two plump rabbits. Since it was a B-Rank Mission with a difficulty closer to C-Rank, and he was confident in his own strength, Qiuyang used Water Release to clean the rabbits, then used Fire Release to start a fire and roast them.

He didn't give a thought to whether this might expose them. The young lady, munching on her rations nearby, could only frown at him.

Was this guy really Jiraiya's student?

Qiuyang didn't care what she thought. Determined to enjoy a good meal, he sprinkled spices over the sizzling, glistening rabbit meat. Soon, its mouthwatering aroma began to spread.

Even the caravan members cooking something in a pot nearby swallowed hard when they smelled it, curious about what sort of heavenly delicacy the two ninja were eating.

A little while later, the rabbit was cooked. Qiuyang casually picked up a brand-new kunai and expertly cut it open.

Suddenly, he thought of the short sword Naruto had smashed to pieces with a single palm strike while in Tailed Beast Transformation, and couldn't help reminiscing.

"Did you know? I once had a short sword that I really liked using. Unfortunately, a few months ago... I accidentally broke it."

It sounded as though he was making small talk with her, but perhaps he was telling the story to himself, to mourn the loss of his treasured blade.

The young lady still didn't say a word. She continued to nibble at her rations now and then.

Qiuyang couldn't bear to let her keep gnawing on those dry, hard rations. He stood, picked up a carefully prepared roasted rabbit leg, and walked over to the girl leaning against a tree. He offered it to her with a sincere expression.

The roasted meat smelled irresistible. She'd never smelled or tasted anything like it before, and couldn't help swallowing. Reluctant as she was, she still refused.

"Hmph. Don't you know even the most basic rules of being a ninja? Whether it's using Fire Release to burn firewood or the smell of this food, it increases the risk of us being discovered."

A few strands of her beautiful hair hung beside her delicate ear, whose outline appeared and disappeared in the flickering firelight. It was such a pleasing sight that he spoke even more gently.

"With a caravan this big, it's not like we can hide our tracks much anyway. It's better to eat well and fill up first."

Blushing, he pressed the rabbit leg into her hand. To avoid the awkwardness, he turned, grabbed his own portion, and fled to a spot farther away to eat.

So Qiuyang never found out whether she ate it. He only remembered that his heart seemed to be pounding wildly, beyond his control.

The day before the mission was nearly complete, the unexpected finally happened.

Qiuyang was still serving as rear guard that day, following at an unhurried pace and occasionally stopping to admire the graceful figure ahead of him.

With the mission nearly over, he couldn't help feeling a little melancholy. He didn't know whether he'd ever see her again.

He hadn't expected the attackers to go straight for the caravan from the front. By the time Qiuyang arrived, Fox was already fighting two opponents.

Judging by their skills, they were rogue ninja around Chunin level.

Seeing that the young lady could still manage for the moment, Qiuyang first dealt with the five nobodies threatening the caravan leader and trying to seize the goods.

After offering a few words of reassurance, he leaped into a tree and leisurely watched the fight below.

The two rogue ninja had sensed that enemy reinforcements had arrived. They grew anxious, and their attacks on the young lady became increasingly fierce.

They wanted to take her down quickly, then use their advantage in numbers against the other ninja who had come to reinforce her.

Working together, they finally found an opening. One of the rogue ninja swung his sword toward the young lady's face.

A cracking sound rang out. The rogue ninja was overjoyed, thinking he'd landed the blow.

But when he looked closely, all he saw was a fox mask split in two. There was no one lying there injured—not even a trace of blood.

"Are you all right? Hmm?"

She was so beautiful!

As Qiuyang reassured her, he saw that the young face beneath the mask still wore an expression of terror, as though she were about to be struck. But the expression didn't detract from her lovely features. If anything, it made her seem even more deserving of sympathy.

At the critical moment, he'd used the Flying Thunder God to pull her close by the waist and dodge the deadly strike.

"I'll take care of this quickly."

Qiuyang gently patted her cheek, then flashed away and swiftly took down the two rogue ninja who had shown no regard for a lovely young woman.