Your trust made my eyes burn

Tender green leaves sprouted from the Thousand-leaf Daylilies scattered throughout the courtyard.

Gentle sunlight shone over the courtyard.

Yanbai sat on the narrow veranda, precisely controlling his chakra as he began making little handicrafts, clothes, and decorations.

"Boo-hoo-hoo... hic..."

Cherry Ink, the fat mouse, sat on the narrow veranda in Yanbai's courtyard, sobbing out complaints while clutching a biscuit and furiously gnawing away.

Beside Cherry Ink was another group of clever little mice, much smaller than it was. They huddled cautiously together, nibbling little biscuits.

Once Cherry Ink finished its "boo-hoo-hoo," Yanbai even handed it a handkerchief.

The little mouse squeaked twice, took the handkerchief, and blew its nose with a surprisingly convincing air.

Yanbai looked helpless. "Oh, Tajima found out I'd been there, so he burned down all your homes? I'm sorry. I dragged you into this."

"Squeak, squeak, squeak-hic-"

Cherry Ink waved its little paws, its face filled with indignation.

It had even dug itself a home outside the Uchiha Clan's Clan Grounds. It would have revenge! Absolutely! Just you wait, Uchiha Tajima! It would be back!

"Oh? You dug a villa outside his Clan Grounds too? It's still dangerous, right? Then stay back here with your family for now. As long as I'm alive, I can support you for the rest of your life."

Yanbai opened another box of wafer biscuits and pushed it in front of the fat mouse.

"Hic-"

Little Cherry Ink had turned its grief and anger into an appetite, but it was already stuffed. It pushed the box over to its wife and children for them to eat.

Even with Cherry Ink back, Yanbai could still send birds to observe the Uchiha Clan.

Surely Uchiha Tajima couldn't set the entire mountain on fire?

Yanbai struggled to imagine the Uchiha Clan sitting in a barren wasteland, completely bare, with nothing but dead trees and bones. That would look downright sinister.

To Yanbai, Uchiha Tajima's extermination of insects and mice was really just venting his anger.

Uchiha Tajima arranged new quarters for Izuna and Madara, then tightened security.

Tajima also neurotically instructed everyone in the Uchiha Clan to kill any flies and mosquitoes they saw, and to show no mercy to mice or cockroaches either.

Everyone in the Uchiha Clan simply thought their Clan Leader had suddenly developed a fixation on cleanliness and paid it little mind.

Poor little Cherry Ink and its family could no longer scam free food and drink from the Uchiha Clan.

Originally, Yanbai hadn't intended to watch the Uchiha Clan every day.

Since Tajima was being so vicious, Yanbai decided to send birds to watch their clan every single day.

Yanbai planned to first compile a genealogy for the Uchiha Clan, then map their Clan Grounds and write the names of the residents beside each corresponding house.

Once everything was recorded, Yanbai would have the many birds he was friendly with monitor the Uchiha Clan.

If some couple played a little bedroom poker, record it; how many rounds they played each day, record that too.

Whatever trouble some family's brat got into, record it.

If some family's child started dating too young and sneaked off for a rendezvous, record it.

How many extra meat dishes some family ate, record it.

How many baths they took each day and where they bathed, record it.

How many times they used the toilet each day and where they went, record it.

Who hired them and whatever ridiculous drama went on in their employers' households, record it.

Yanbai would record every last trivial detail of life inside the Uchiha Clan's Clan Grounds.

Then he would make a copy and send a bird to airdrop it to Uchiha Tajima on a regular monthly schedule.

Yanbai wanted to tell Tajima: I'm damn well watching you, and it won't matter how many household pests and mice you kill! I want to see you itching to hit me but unable to do a thing.

And that settled that, quite happily.

At the thought, Yanbai revealed a benevolent smile.

Just then, Tobirama Senju came to see Yanbai after finishing his lessons early yet again.

Seeing Yanbai smile made every hair on Tobirama Senju's body stand on end.

Ever since he had "made peace" with Yanbai, Tobirama Senju's world had changed.

It hadn't become better. It had become surreal.

Tobirama Senju used to think he understood Yanbai. Now he realized how naive he had been. What he had seen before was only the tip of the iceberg.

Yanbai's elegance, restraint, cuteness, beauty, gentleness... they were all a facade.

The real Yanbai was a demon, mischievous by nature, full of bizarre ideas, and frequently behaving like anything but a decent human being.

Yanbai was nothing like a gentle, elegant young lady. He was a malicious demon who excelled at disguising himself.

When Yanbai smiled at you, you thought he was smiling at you. In reality, he was aiming for your crotch-or imagining something terrifying.

Every time he saw Yanbai behaving outrageously, Tobirama Senju couldn't help lecturing him.

But unlike before...

Instead of readily admitting fault and stubbornly refusing to change, Yanbai now smiled as sweetly as a flower and said, "Tobirama, people only show their demonic side to the person they trust most. I trust you more than anyone, so you're the only person in this world who knows my true face. I really trust you."

Every time he heard that, Tobirama Senju found himself unable to continue his lecture.

For the first time in his life, Tobirama Senju was being guilt-tripped with "trust."

And then Tobirama Senju witnessed plenty of things that made his eyes burn.

Over the past few days, Tobirama Senju had seen plenty of things he had never encountered in his entire life.

That was why his world hadn't become better, but surreal.

Tobirama Senju had never known that the Clan Grounds he had always considered peaceful and tranquil were actually hosting a parade of lunacy every day.

This time, Tobirama Senju saw far more than just Yanbai conning eggs out of birds on the outskirts of the Clan Grounds.

Tobirama Senju had also personally witnessed Yanbai swapping an eagle's eggs for chicken eggs.

When fluffy yellow chicks hatched from those eggs, the male and female eagles stood beside the nest, utterly bewildered, for an entire hour.

Then Yanbai took the eagle eggs he had swapped out to the Senju Clan's chicken coop, specifically instructing the clan members tending it not to take those special eggs, because they were eagle eggs.

He had the two hens, Harusame and Natsumi, take turns incubating them. Only after the eaglets hatched did Yanbai care for them himself.

Once Yanbai raised those eagles...

Ummm...

Tobirama Senju believed pets took after their owners. He no longer dared imagine what those eagles would become once Yanbai raised them into Ninja Hawks.

Now, the hens in the Senju Clan's chicken coop were hatching all sorts of strange birds. They had just about everything.

Those two hens seemed to have asked Yanbai whether their children were deformed because he kept borrowing their babies.

Naturally, Yanbai bluffed his way through every time.

Yanbai's lies sounded just plausible enough, and he had never been caught out. Those two hens firmly believed he would never deceive them.

Tobirama Senju increasingly felt that his former self had been just like those two adorably foolish hens.

However, when Tobirama Senju saw Yanbai personally release those "children" into the wild, he guessed Yanbai's intentions.

Tobirama Senju saw the fat mouse tending a group of mice beside Yanbai, his gaze falling on the conspicuous cherry blossom beside the tail of that wriggling little body.

Tobirama Senju couldn't help asking, "Did something happen over at the Uchiha Clan?"

Why had so many mice come back to "visit their family"?

Yanbai sighed. "Oh, Tajima was being inhuman. He burned down Cherry Ink's home, and quite a few of its children died too. It's so pitiful."

Tobirama Senju gave him a strange look. "It seems they discovered what you were doing. It's too dangerous. Don't go there again."

Who would have thought Yanbai would respond so enthusiastically? "Brother, listen, I'm planning to..."

After hearing the plan Yanbai had devised...

Tobirama Senju remained expressionless, unable to utter a single word.

Tobirama Senju thought, Uchiha Tajima really had the worst luck, getting on your bad side...

Yanbai began his daily brainwashing. "Second Brother, why do you look so frightened? Don't be scared. I would never treat you like that. I'm only showing you my truest self because I trust you more than anyone..."

Tobirama Senju: "..."

Please don't trust me so much. Your trust makes my eyes burn...