Bonds

"Wow. Thanks for the hard work, Kurenai." Jin could not help praising her, and his appetite surged as he looked at the table full of delicious food.

"I'm digging in!" Jin picked up a piece of salmon first and stuffed it into his mouth. "Wow, it's so fresh!"

In the next short ten minutes, more than half the food on the table was gone. Kurenai even refilled Jin's rice five times.

Kurenai could not help asking curiously, "Brother Jin, why do you look like you haven't eaten in days?"

"Burp~ Mainly because your cooking is too good, Kurenai." Jin slumped in his chair, utterly satisfied. It was definitely not because Kushina had said that if he could not finish reading the theory, he would only get to eat a tiny bit each day.

"Whoever marries you in the future is definitely going to be blessed." Jin gave Kurenai a thumbs-up, and Kurenai's face instantly turned even redder than her name. "Oh, Brother Jin, stop teasing me."

"Hahahahaha." Jin was in an excellent mood. He got up from the chair and said, "I'll clean up. You go play for a while."

"No, no, Brother Jin, I'll do it." Seeing this, Kurenai also stood up. In the end, Jin still could not beat Kurenai to it and could only let her wash the dishes. It made him feel oddly embarrassed.

After the meal, Kurenai brought out another plate of fruit and placed it on the table. "Brother Jin, have some fruit."

"Mm, thanks, Kurenai." After his food coma passed, Jin got up from the sofa, and his hand could not help rubbing Kurenai's little head. "Since that's the case, Kurenai, do you have any wish or anything you want?"

"Hmm..." Kurenai only thought for one second before saying, "I want to learn ninjutsu."

"I remember the Ninja Academy teaches basic ninjutsu." Jin was thinking, but Kurenai pouted and said, "I've already learned everything they teach at school. Brother Jin, teach me basic genjutsu. Dad is busy every day and doesn't have much time."

"Genjutsu..." Jin had just been about to nod when he realized that he did not really know much himself... He could only brush it off. "Sure. I'll teach you when I'm free someday."

"Really, Brother Jin!" Kurenai looked at Jin with her round, bright eyes. "Great! Thank you, Brother Jin!"

"Heh... It's nothing, no big deal." Jin scratched his head awkwardly.

Seeing that it was getting late, Kurenai made Jin's bed for him, then went to her own room to rest. Jin could not help sighing that he really did have a good life. Wherever he casually ended up, someone would be there to wait on him... except for a certain redhead.

Deep in the night, Jin, tossing and turning and unable to sleep, secretly slipped onto the roof to watch the stars. Only, Kurenai's expectant eyes flashed through his mind from time to time, followed by scenes of Kushina forcing him to study.

"Is this what bonds are?" A cool breeze blew past, and Jin murmured. He knew very well that it was not that he could not learn, he was just too lazy to study seriously...

Early the next morning, the front door of Yuhi Kurenai's house was knocked on, which greatly annoyed Jin, who had been burning the midnight oil last night.

Kurenai, however, had already woken up long ago and had even made breakfast. Hearing someone knock, she put on her shoes and ran to open the door.

"Kurenai, morning!" Asuma poked his head in from outside the gate and looked at Kurenai with a grin.

Before Kurenai could answer, Asuma heard Jin's voice first. "Kurenai, who is it this early?"

Asuma, who had originally been smiling, instantly froze, while Kurenai turned to look at the sleepy-eyed Jin and explained, "Brother Jin, you're awake? It's Asuma."

"Oh, it's old horse, huh. This kid sure has energy this early in the morning." Jin stretched, yawned, and went back inside.

"Kurenai, why is that evil Uchiha in your house!" Asuma said sadly.

Kurenai crossed her arms and said unhappily, "Brother Jin just came to wait for Dad. He's not an evil Uchiha, either."

Hearing Kurenai defend his greatest enemy, Asuma grew even more heartbroken. However, Kurenai's next sentence made him beam again. "I just made breakfast. Want some?"

"Ah, that wouldn't be right... Hehe, Kurenai, then I won't stand on ceremony." Asuma happily entered the small courtyard.

Only, the moment he entered the living room, his entire person went emo again and again and again... His greatest enemy was sitting at the dining table eating the breakfast Kurenai had "carefully" prepared for him.

When Jin saw Asuma arrive, his mouth was stuffed full of food, so he could only raise the hand holding the bread and signal to Comrade Old Horse.

"A provocation! It's definitely a provocation!" Asuma glared viciously at Jin.

"Brother Jin, is it good?" Kurenai ignored Asuma, who was standing there in a daze. This guy was thick-skinned as always anyway.

"Mm-hm! Good!" Jin answered indistinctly. It was so good he wanted to cry... Following Minato meant no meals, following Kushina meant no breakfast. Only Mikoto was different, but Mikoto was still in the war zone, waiting to come back...

Seeing that the breakfast on the table was about to be eaten clean, Asuma immediately ran over to the table and started fighting Jin for the food.

Seeing this, Jin could only silently think... Kids these days really did have pretty good appetites, huh...

After breakfast, Kurenai said that she and Asuma would go to school together and would not trouble Jin to take her. Jin had no objection to this and only told her to be careful.

When Asuma left, he looked at Jin with the gaze of a victor, as if saying: See? Kurenai's final choice is me! Hahahahaha, Uchiha Jin! You lost!

But Jin automatically ignored him...

For the next half month, Jin studied genjutsu. He was either at Kushina's place or here at Yuhi Kurenai's. During this period, Shinku came back a few times and was quite surprised to see this kid here.

He tested him in passing and discovered that this kid had actually mastered all the basic genjutsu.

Shinku immediately said there was no need to learn other genjutsu. After all, the Sharingan's genjutsu were all top-tier existences, so there was no need to waste time.

Even Kushina was very curious about what had gotten into this kid lately. Why did it seem as if he had suddenly become a different person? Before, he could not read one page in a whole day, so why was he studying every day now?

And on this day, Minato returned.

Seeing that the sky was getting late, Jin was strolling over to the Ninja Academy to pick Kurenai up from school when Minato suddenly appeared beside him.

"Brother Minato? You're back. I haven't seen you in half a month. What kind of mission took you so long?" Jin asked curiously.

Minato said calmly, "Jin, we need to go to the war zone together."

"Huh? No way... There isn't another war, is there?" Jin said with a look of disbelief. After all, if he remembered correctly, it should still be quite a while before the Third Shinobi World War broke out...

"It's not war." Minato explained, "Senior Sakumo directly asked the Hokage for you and me by name to go to the war zone together."

"Is it urgent?" Jin asked.

"Very urgent. I even had to interrupt my mission," Minato said. Seeing this, Jin nodded as well. "All right, then. I'll go tell Kurenai I can't take her home today."

As he spoke, Jin was about to use Flying Thunder God and flash away, but Minato stopped him. "Wait."

Then Minato tossed him a flak jacket and forehead protector. "If you're heading out on a mission, you should dress a little more formally."

"Mm... fine." Jin nodded helplessly.

Ninja Academy

In a rare sight, Jin wore a green flak jacket and a forehead protector as he stood on a utility pole not far away.

Seeing the students get out of school, Jin disappeared from the utility pole.