"I know. I've met your father before," Uchiha Gen said with a smile, ruffling Kurenai's hair.
"Mm. I'm going to change, then. Help yourself to a drink from the fridge!"
They said that women dressed to please the people they loved. By the time Kurenai Yuhi came back out, an hour had passed! With nothing else to do, Uchiha Gen took a bottle of tea from the fridge, drank as he pleased, and looked around at the room.
Judging by the furnishings, the room had clearly been decorated by a woman. Kurenai's father was away from home most of the time, so it was obvious she'd arranged everything herself!
If Kurenai weren't still so young, Uchiha Gen would have taken her home right then. But getting past her father, Yuhi Shinku, wouldn't be easy!
They could put off the question of marriage for now. After all, he hadn't even brought Pakura over yet! He hoped the two of them would get along. Still, even if they didn't, it wouldn't matter. What man ever had to worry about being without a wife?
This wasn't his previous life. The marriage laws couldn't reach this world, where strength ruled everything! Back in his old life, Kurenai would still have been a minor. For what he was doing, he'd probably have been locked up in prison and forced to pick up the soap!
But the Ninja World didn't seem to care about that sort of thing. Most people seemed to start dating at this age, spend a few years together, then get married. The actual age people married at wasn't much different from his previous life!
But the rules around marriage were baffling. There weren't any real rules at all! Gen had even made a point of asking the clan elders about it. In principle, there was no set limit on the number of wives a daimyo or noble could take. But since their marriages were mostly political alliances, and their wives were no pushovers, their husbands generally didn't dare go too wild!
As for commoners, they were lucky if they could find a wife at all. How could they afford to support more than one? Most ninja also practiced monogamy. One key factor was the quality of their descendants. After all, this world originally hadn't had a supernatural energy called chakra. Back then, everyone fought with swords, and perhaps only the animals of the Three Great Sage Regions had mastered the extraordinary power of Natural Energy!
That meant ordinary people needed the right ancestors to gain chakra. This was a world where bloodlines ruled: the closer your ancestors were to the Otsutsuki, the stronger your aptitude as a ninja. People didn't know the truth about the Otsutsuki, but that didn't stop them from learning from history! When two ninja married, their children had better potential than those born to a ninja and a commoner!
Some children born to commoners didn't even have the aptitude to become ninja. Naturally, everyone wanted a kunoichi for a wife! The problem was that there weren't enough kunoichi to support polygamy. Besides, kunoichi weren't necessarily weaker than male ninja, so their status rose considerably. If they were strong enough, they could even become shadows in a society dominated by men!
So the clan elders' advice was that either monogamy or polygamy was fine. It all depended on what you wanted. If you wanted your descendants to have better potential, find a kunoichi and stick to one wife. If you wanted to leave your descendants to make their own way, and leave their aptitude to fate, then marry common women!
Of course, if you had enough personal charm to convince a kunoichi to accept being one of several wives, you could combine both approaches and marry them all! But kunoichi were highly sought after these days, and they had no shortage of suitors. That was basically impossible!
"Gen, how does this look?" Kurenai Yuhi asked, wearing a white, short-sleeved dress with mesh lining. The inner layer looked a little like Mitaraishi Anko's outfit in the original, while the outer layer had the same style Kurenai wore in the original!
"It looks great. Just don't wear anything too revealing! Only I get to appreciate what's underneath," Uchiha Gen said, gazing openly at the beautiful girl in front of him!
Even after enduring seventy-two hours of intensive tutoring under Tsukuyomi, Kurenai couldn't help blushing when she suddenly heard such a suggestive remark!
"Gen, do you prefer me to dress more modestly in public? I understand!" Kurenai quietly made a note of it!
"Let's go. It's still early, so we can go shopping! We worked up a sweat earlier, so how about we go to the baths afterward? One of them was handing out discount coupons, and I saved a few. We can use them today! I heard they even have private mixed baths! Afterward, we can go to Ippon-yaki and have some sake. Their snacks are absolutely delicious!" Kurenai tugged Gen along, already planning their day!
The baths? Right!!! He'd almost forgotten about that old pervert, Hiruzen Sarutobi! Whenever he had nothing better to do, that bastard would use a crystal ball with the Telescope Technique to spy on the women's bathhouse in Konoha!
That was something Uchiha Gen simply couldn't accept. Who didn't have women in their family? What would Hiruzen Sarutobi think if Biwako Sarutobi went streaking through the streets?
It was understandable for a man to be lecherous, but a sleazy, despicable creep like Hiruzen Sarutobi deserved to die! No, he had to nip this in the bud!
"Kurenai, don't go to the baths anymore. Don't go to any bathhouse in Konoha, understand?" Uchiha Gen said sternly!
"Huh? Why? I finally decided to use the discount coupons I'd been saving for ages!" Kurenai Yuhi said, looking disappointed and hurt!
"Because once, when I went to the Hokage's office, I saw the Hokage using a crystal ball and the Telescope Technique to spy on the women's bathhouse!"
"What? Spying on the women's bathhouse? I never would've guessed Lord Hokage was that sort of person! But thinking about his teacher Jiraiya, it's not that surprising! Poor Kushina. She ended up with such a pervert. No, I have to tell Kushina about his disgusting behavior!" Kurenai Yuhi exclaimed, utterly shocked!
"Uh, Kurenai, you misunderstood. I didn't mean Minato. I meant the Lord Third, that shameless old man, Hiruzen Sarutobi!" Seeing how badly Kurenai had misunderstood him, Uchiha Gen hurried to explain! He couldn't go around saying things like that! If Namikaze Minato found out the rumor had come from him, he'd probably come looking for a fight using the Flying Thunder God!
Not that Gen was afraid of him, but it would be a hassle! There was no need to deliberately let him misunderstand and make himself the bad guy if he could clear things up!
Thump, thump, thump~
Kurenai Yuhi backed away several steps, her worldview shattered and her features twisted in disbelief. "How is that possible? How could the Lord Third do something like that!"
She thought back to the Lord Third's kind expression as he taught everyone about the Will of Fire. She'd never imagined he was actually a lecherous old pervert!
At that moment, the righteous and noble image the Lord Third had built up over the years crumbled completely!
"I was shocked too. It was that crystal ball he always kept on his desk. The old pervert used the excuse of checking on the people of Konoha to spy on them," Uchiha Gen added. His woman absolutely couldn't become a brainless devotee of Konoha or something like the Will of Fire! He had to set her straight as soon as possible!
Before you continue