Naruto: They Have Systems - Chapter 9

As a result, Kushina Uzumaki now felt as though everyone in the class disliked her.

She had never felt much sense of belonging to begin with, and this only made it worse. Beating up those brats had been her way of venting, too.

But she had never expected Uchiha Yin, who had always been so lukewarm toward her, to call her cute.

Warmth flowed through Kushina's heart.

For an instant, Kushina felt as though she had found somewhere she belonged. At least not everyone hates me. Someone thinks I'm cute, right?

It wasn't enough to make her fall for Uchiha Yin on the spot, but most of her gloom and resentment toward the system faded.

At least she didn't dislike the boy the system wanted her to pursue.

Kushina even labeled Uchiha Yin a good guy. Then another thought struck her. Wait!

If Uchiha Yin really thinks I'm cute, why did he reject me just now? Was he messing with me?

Does he have a reason? Or does he only think I'm cute when I'm being feisty? Whatever your reason, even if that's the only side of me you like, rejecting me in front of the whole class is unforgivable. Hmph!

Kushina gave a disgruntled snort and turned away, though her bright red face betrayed her feelings.

In truth, the words had slipped naturally out of Uchiha Yin's mouth.

He had rejected Kushina's confession only to avoid provoking the Konoha High Command, whom he was in no position to deal with yet.

Kushina had been chosen as the next Nine-Tails Jinchuriki. If he had accepted her confession, he would certainly have alarmed the people who had been watching her.

Even setting aside the scheming Danzo, the more moderate Hiruzen Sarutobi might have found Uchiha Yin's involvement hard to tolerate.

Uchiha Yin was not Minato Namikaze. Minato was a civilian with a clean background, and Jiraiya might already have noticed him and be considering taking him as a student.

If Minato and Kushina got together, Hiruzen Sarutobi certainly wouldn't object.

But Uchiha Yin belonged to the Uchiha Clan. Under the Second Hokage's policies, the clan had been isolated from the other ninja clans. Though it was called Konoha's second-largest ninja clan—the Senju Clan was first—it had been pushed to the outermost edge of power.

If someone from the Uchiha Clan wanted to marry a Jinchūriki, Hiruzen Sarutobi would be the first to object.

Unless Uchiha Yin followed Kagami Uchiha's example and joined the Hokage Lineage.

In any case, although Uchiha Yin had rejected Kushina's confession, there was no reason they couldn't be friends.

Kushina's confession had been so sudden that, if Hiruzen Sarutobi had seen it through the Telescope Technique, Uchiha Yin had probably caught his attention despite rejecting her.

The only question was how much attention Hiruzen would pay him.

If he had accepted, he would probably be under close surveillance. Since he had refused, Hiruzen might not watch him, but Uchiha Yin's file would surely land on his desk.

There was no need for Uchiha Yin to start openly shunning Kushina now. That would only make his behavior seem pointed.

Hiruzen Sarutobi might even let his imagination run wild and decide the Uchiha Clan was plotting something.

So, intending to keep interacting with Kushina normally, Uchiha Yin had said what he did.

Otherwise, their relationship would probably have been finished. After all, he had just rejected her rather harshly.

What Uchiha Yin didn't know was that Kushina wouldn't have pushed him away even if he hadn't said it.

Still, it had worked out by accident. If he really had acted differently, Kushina might have harbored a grudge, even with the system task requiring her to become Uchiha Yin's wife.