Bargaining at Four Years Old

Uchiha Itachi's mind simply froze.

Watching Jin Uchiha laughing and joking with Ayame and her father, he felt as though the scene before him couldn't possibly be real.

How was something like this even possible?

He might have been young.

But his father was the Clan Head. How could he not know where the Uchiha stood in the village?

The Uchiha's reputation was rotten through and through.

Apart from the police force, hardly anyone in the clan ever left the clan grounds, let alone socialized with the other villagers.

But this Jin fellow?

How had he gotten so close to people in the village?

The sight shattered everything Itachi thought he knew.

As young as he was, Itachi naturally couldn't make sense of it.

"Uncle Teuchi, four bowls of Deluxe Soy-Braised Bone Ramen."

Minato Namikaze stepped inside with his three students and promptly sat down beside Jin and Itachi.

He wore a smile, radiating an easy warmth that made anyone who saw him take a liking to him.

Once the four of them sat down, the table became downright cramped.

"Oh, Minato's here!" Uncle Teuchi greeted him cheerfully. "Sure, coming right up."

Ayame spotted them and quickly stood to welcome the customers.

But when her gaze landed on Jin Uchiha, her brow still gave an involuntary twitch.

"Jin, can't you see we've got customers?"

"Hurry up and finish eating, then come help!"

Jin Uchiha looked utterly resigned.

Still, he quickly wolfed down his meal, got up, and slipped into the kitchen to get to work.

Uncle Teuchi handled the ramen, Ayame served the customers, and Jin Uchiha prepared the toppings.

And that wasn't all.

He also grabbed a big pile of garlic and dumped it in front of Itachi with a smack.

"Itachi, peel the garlic!"

The corners of Itachi's