Big Brother and Sister-in-law

At this moment, Dohka and the others behind Toru approached him respectfully and bowed. "Thank you for stepping in to help, Big Brother."

Toru waved his hand, indifferent to their gratitude.

In truth, Toru had only intervened out of curiosity—a curiosity regarding his opponents from the Hyuga clan.

While the Gentle Fist and Byakugan were somewhat interesting to Toru, the strength of those individuals was hardly worth mentioning.

However, Toru noticed that the group's attitude toward him seemed far more sincere this time. Leaving aside the simple-minded Tekka, who was already moved to tears, even the shrewd Dohka treated Toru with genuine respect, and the other lackeys looked as though they were ready to follow his lead in everything.

There was no harm in taking these subordinates under his wing, so Toru accepted them calmly.

"Alright, if there's nothing else, I'll be going," Toru said.

Dohka asked, "Big Brother, would you be interested in grabbing a meal with us? My treat."

Toru gently scratched his nose and politely declined Dohka's offer. "No, I'm eating with someone else tonight."

With that, Toru waved his hand and left, leaving Uchiha Dohka and the others to exchange confused glances.

After a long while, Dohka slammed his fist into his palm, a look of sudden realization dawning on him as he said, "To be having dinner with Big Brother, that relationship must be something special. We need to go find out more so we can get on his good side."

Tekka and the others agreed, clearly reaching a consensus that they needed to cling tightly to Toru's coattails.

At the Yuhi residence, Kurenai had finished setting the table. It was laden with delicious food that didn't look homemade; it appeared to be takeout from a restaurant, exquisitely presented and clearly expensive.

As the only daughter of Konoha Jonin Yuhi Shinku, Kurenai had quite a bit of savings.

Kurenai sat alone at the table, idly fiddling with her fair, pretty fingers out of boredom.

Just then, the doorbell rang.

Kurenai stood up happily, but she immediately realized such a reaction was far too unreserved. She patted her cheeks twice to force herself to calm down before walking to the door and opening it.

It was indeed Uchiha Toru standing outside.

Seeing Kurenai, Toru stepped inside and asked offhandedly, "Is your uncle not home?"

Kurenai explained, "My dad went out on a mission and might not be back in Konoha for the whole month, so he left me some money for our food expenses this month."

Kurenai explained in great detail, and Toru simply nodded calmly.

As ninjas, the time spent away on missions was generally longer than the time spent idling at home, especially for a Jonin like Yuhi Shinku.

Toru changed his shoes and looked at Kurenai, mentioning, "Your face seems a bit red." He then headed to the bathroom; after the fight earlier, his hands were a bit dirty, and Toru's germaphobia didn't allow him to eat in such a state, barring exceptional circumstances.

Kurenai stood rooted to the spot, silently touching her slightly burning cheeks, feeling annoyed with herself. Why does this happen every time I'm alone with him?

After washing his hands, Toru returned to the dining table and inspected the spread. "Is this bought from outside?" Since coming to Konoha, Toru had never eaten out.

Usually, he bought groceries and cooked for himself in the Uchiha compound.

After all, having lost both parents, it only added insult to injury for an already struggling household.

Kurenai finally snapped out of it and walked over to answer, "Yes, I got it from that new barbecue place. It's called BBQ Q."

"Don't you like barbecue? Oh, and here's some white sugar." Kurenai said as she walked into the kitchen and brought out a small dish of granulated sugar.

Toru smiled and took the sugar. "Thank you, you're very thoughtful."

The two sat together and began to eat. The barbecue joint had provided a simple wooden grill, and the charcoal inside was burning bright.

Toru used tongs to place the meat slices on the grill one by one, waiting quietly for them to cook. The sizzling sound of the fat rendering was a wonderful sight Toru hadn't seen in a long time.

While waiting for the meat to cook, Kurenai asked about what happened earlier. "You said you had something to do after school; what was it?"

Toru didn't evade the question and answered truthfully, "I went to get into a fight."

Such a nonchalant statement shocked Kurenai.

Connecting school with fighting easily brought to mind instances of violence.

Kurenai hurriedly pulled back Toru's clothes, wanting to see if he was injured.

To her surprise, there wasn't a single mark on Toru's body; his skin was fair and smooth.

Kurenai quickly realized her action was intrusive. She hurriedly let go, lowered her head, and murmured in a voice barely louder than a mosquito's, "I'm sorry."

Toru smiled slightly, unbothered. "Those opponents weren't enough to hurt me."

With that, seeing the meat was cooked, he placed two slices on Kurenai's plate. "Eat."

Toru himself kept the white sugar by his side, using his chopsticks to dip the meat slices into it before eating, a look of intoxication on his face.

Having his two greatest joys in life combined was enough to make even the usually steady Toru lose his composure.

Seeing this, Kurenai shifted her focus to the barbecue and buried her head in her meal.

Whether it was the heat of the grill or something else, Kurenai's cute little face remained flushed until Toru left her home.

Another day passed.

The next day, Toru arrived at school as usual, but along the way, he heard a lot of gossip about himself.

"Is that Uchiha Toru? He really is handsome."

"Hey, don't let his fair skin and delicate looks fool you; he's the school bully now."

"Really? What happened?"

"I heard he took some Uchiha guys yesterday and beat up a group from the Hyuga clan. Among those beaten were even some upperclassmen about to graduate."

"That's impressive, but won't the Hyuga clan come after him for that?"

"Hah, I heard the Hyuga clan sent people to the Uchiha compound to demand an explanation, only to be kicked straight out. Look at how the Uchiha are protecting him—can't you tell how formidable he is?"

"Wow, that's truly badass."

Under the weight of such rumors, Toru's image in the students' minds grew strangely larger, turning him into someone not to be trifled with.

Toru didn't pay much attention to it, treating it like children playing games.

When he arrived in class, he had expected his reputation to be poor and for the little fan-girls to calm down.

But he hadn't anticipated that young girls at this age were actually into this sort of thing. Toru was annoyed beyond measure and had to put on a cold face to scare the surrounding girls away so he could attend class normally.

During a break, Yuhi Kurenai dragged Anko off to the restroom.

When they returned, Kurenai changed her usual demeanor and said to Toru, embarrassed and angry, "Go out and deal with those people of yours. Tell them to stop talking nonsense."

Toru was a bit confused, but looking at Kurenai's reaction and the playful expression on Mitarashi Anko's face, it wasn't hard to guess that they must have heard something outside.

Toru walked out of the classroom and saw Uchiha Dohka and his group.

Dohka approached with a beaming smile and gave a thumbs-up. "Big Brother, Sister-in-law is really pretty."

Toru instantly understood why Kurenai had reacted that way, so he slapped Dohka on the head, causing him to shrink his neck in fear.

"Don't call her that anymore. We're just friends."

Dohka finally realized that his attempt to curry favor had backfired. He hurriedly apologized, saying it was his mistake.

Seeing that Dohka had gotten the message, Toru turned to leave, but as if remembering something, he turned back and said, "Also, there have been a lot of rumors lately. Keep it under control; I don't like hearing these things."

Dohka nodded repeatedly, and Toru returned to his seat in the classroom.

"I've told them. They won't say things like that anymore."

Kurenai just hummed softly, unsure if she was pleased or not.

In any case, after Toru's reminder, it was unclear what methods Dohka and the others used, but the rumors about Toru and Kurenai in school did indeed diminish, or at the very least, they stopped reaching Toru's ears.