Perfect Timing, He Was Talking About Me

"Cicada, Captain, are you two going?" Sparrow asked the two who had come in one after the other.

Sparrow took off his mask, revealing that refined face. "I'm going. Fangs finally agreed to treat us. We have to go."

Gennosuke declined with a smile. "Forget it. You youngsters go. My cousin's been pestering me lately to teach him ninjutsu, saying something about a guy from the Uchiha Clan stealing his girlfriend."

"Captain, isn't your brother still at the Ninja Academy? He already has a girlfriend at that age?" Sparrow asked curiously.

"I'm not too sure about that either." Gennosuke shrugged. Off to the side, Jin suddenly thought of something when he heard this and asked offhandedly, "Captain, your cousin wouldn't happen to be Sarutobi Asuma, would he?"

"Yeah, that's right. You know him?" Gennosuke looked at Jin curiously, while the others beside him also smelled gossip and crowded over...

"Don't tell me..."

"If your cousin's exact words were 'that naturally evil, annoying Uchiha,' then that person is probably me," Jin said helplessly, spreading his hands.

Fangs slung an arm around Jin and said with a wicked grin, "Didn't see that coming, Crow. So you're actually that much of a beast."

"What are you even talking about? That's just Asuma's side of the story. I didn't do anything, and I'm not interested." Jin snapped irritably, "Are we eating barbecue or not?"

"We are, we are. Look, he's getting anxious." Fangs burst into laughter. "Then everyone gather at the barbecue restaurant at eight!"

There were still two hours until eight. With nothing to do, Jin went to the equipment warehouse and received another set of spare clothes to take home first, in case an emergency mission came up and he had to come back to Anbu to get his gear.

After returning home and putting his things away, Jin had just reached the entrance of the Uchiha Clan Compound when one of the Uchiha guards suddenly called out to him. "Jin, come take a look and see if you know this person. She says she's here to see you."

"Huh? Oh, sure." Jin scratched his head and followed the Uchiha to a small wooden hut nearby. The inside of the hut was pitch-black. As light seeped in through the door, he saw a little girl huddled alone in the corner, trembling.

"Kurenai?" Jin called tentatively. The little girl looked up and saw that it was Jin, then ran over with tears in her eyes. "Brother Jin."

Guard: Holy crap? I'm done for! Family watching from in front of the screen, do you think I'll still see tomorrow's sun?

Kurenai had originally planned to come right after school let out, but she hadn't expected Asuma to cling to her, insisting on performing the ninjutsu he had learned from his cousin—Fire Release: Flint Technique.

After finally shaking off Asuma, she had arrived at the Uchiha Clan Compound, only to be harassed by the guard with his Sharingan activated...

Jin held Kurenai in his arms and comforted her, then turned to look at the guard. "Did she tell you she came to see me?"

The guard looked at Jin's bright Sharingan, and for a moment his tongue tied itself in knots. "Mm... ah... this..."

"Do you know her now?" Jin asked coldly.

"N-no... I know her, I know her. When I hand over my shift, I'll be sure to tell the brothers that from now on, as long as this girl comes, let her straight through," the guard answered, trembling.

After hearing that, Jin left with Kurenai without looking back. The guard's palms were covered in sweat... Although he had also awakened the Sharingan, his was only one tomoe... He already couldn't afford to offend the genius Uchiha Jin, let alone when Jin also had Fugaku behind him.

In all of Uchiha, who didn't know the next clan head would be Fugaku? And Fugaku doted on Jin practically like he was his own younger brother...

"It's all right now. From now on, just come in directly," Jin comforted Kurenai, who was still crying. Kurenai wiped her tears with the back of her hand and replied in a muffled voice, "Brother Jin, why don't you put me down first..."

"Huh? Oh, right, sorry." Only then did Jin realize he had been holding Kurenai the whole time. Mainly, Kurenai was too light, and he had not felt it at all.

"Come on, I'll take you to eat barbecue. Consider it Uchiha apologizing to Kurenai." Jin said half-jokingly.

"Mm..." Kurenai lowered her head and answered softly.

Egawa Barbecue Restaurant

"Crow, over here, over here." Fangs called out to Jin, who had just stepped through the shop door.

"Brother Jin, why don't I go back first... You're having a meal with your friends..." Seeing that there were other people, Kurenai immediately felt a little embarrassed.

Jin patted Kurenai's head and said, "It's fine. You're already here."

And just like that, Kurenai was half-coaxed, half-pushed by Jin to sit down at the table.

Fangs and Cicada were already grilling meat, while Sparrow was off to the side directing them verbally.

Seeing that Jin had even brought a little girl with him, Sparrow immediately began teasing him. "Crow, you bastard, how come you even brought family?"

Cicada looked at Kurenai, then at Jin's face, and suddenly shook his head.

"Fangs is treating anyway. I'm sure Fangs will be happy to." Jin introduced her cheerfully, "This is Yuhi Kurenai, Senior Yuhi Shinku's daughter. These are all my colleagues: Fangs, Sparrow, Cicada. Cicada, what do you mean by shaking your head?"

Kurenai said nervously, "My name is Yuhi Kurenai. It's nice to meet you. Please take care of me."

"If I'm not mistaken, this must be the female lead Captain's cousin was talking about," Cicada said unhurriedly as he picked up a piece of grilled meat. "I finally know why he hates you so much."

"Pfft, hahahaha." Sparrow picked up the thread. "If I had Crow's face, I'd be even more arrogant than him."

Kurenai could not understand what they were talking about the whole time. And why were they calling Jin Crow?

While putting grilled meat into Yuhi Kurenai's bowl, Jin asked curiously, "Sparrow, why do you talk so much? That's nothing like the people of your clan. And Fangs, why aren't you fat?"

"I'll answer for the two of them," Cicada hurriedly cut in. "This guy Sparrow was still pretty reserved when we met on the first day, but on the second day he completely let himself go. In his own words, every clan has a few exceptions."

"As for Fangs, he hasn't trained in the Akimichi Clan's secret techniques, so he isn't fat. But he did inherit the Akimichi Clan's tradition—he can eat an absurd amount..."

After they finished the barbecue and Fangs paid the bill generously, everyone went back to their own homes. Jin was responsible for seeing Kurenai home.

By noon the next day, Jin finally dragged his exhausted body to the Anbu First Squad lounge to change his equipment.

"I thought you'd be late. After all, Lord Hokage specially reminded me ahead of time that you're quite fond of being unpunctual," Gennosuke teased Jin in the lounge.

After changing into his equipment, Jin said weakly, "I'll be late if I get the chance."

"What's wrong? Didn't rest well last night?" Gennosuke asked with concern as he headed to the monitoring room with Jin.

"If I'm not mistaken, the others are probably in the same state as me," Jin sighed.

Hearing Jin say that made Gennosuke even more curious. Just what had his team members done after they were dismissed?

Sure enough, as soon as the two of them arrived at the monitoring room, Gennosuke saw a lifeless scene... except for Fangs.

"Captain, I seriously suspect that Fangs drugged us yesterday." The moment Sparrow saw Gennosuke, he started complaining. "Cicada and I had diarrhea all night, but he's acting like nothing happened. Huh? Crow, your face looks awful. Don't tell me you too?"

"My fault? If you want to blame something, blame your weak constitutions." Fangs spread his hands and shrugged.

"Mm." Jin nodded. Gennosuke said helplessly, "All right, all right. Hurry back and rest."