Is Pride More Important Than Feelings?

Everyone knew Kurenai Yuhi's beauty; she was truly the flower of the Konoha jonin circle, fair and plump.

Who wouldn't love that mummy-style uniform temptation?

The mere thought of needing to unwrap the white cloth strips circle by circle during unboxing was extremely exciting.

Most crucially, her strength was quite respectable, and she was now twenty-two years old, right in her prime. If he could have children with her, it would at least start at the SSS-grade progeny level!

"One child a year, one SSS-grade a year..."

Xia Yu was so excited he was practically flying.

Originally he had planned to wait until later to make his move on these high-quality female ninjas, but who could have imagined she would actually deliver herself to his doorstep.

There was no reason to refuse such a thing; he would take her down sooner rather than later, the faster the better.

Xia Yu strode toward the group of women, preparing to take the initiative to find Kurenai Yuhi.

"Kurenai Yuhi!!"

Before he could speak, a very masculine voice called out the name "Kurenai Yuhi" from afar, carrying intense anger in the sound.

It was her childhood sweetheart, Asuma Sarutobi.

The originally bustling crowd instantly fell pin-drop silent, and all the women watching the spectacle uniformly locked their gazes onto this pair of "young lovers."

"Kurenai, I didn't think you would actually come here! You've disappointed me!" Asuma walked up in front of Kurenai, waved his large hand, grabbed her fair and tender wrist, and prepared to forcibly drag her away.

"Asuma! Let go of me!" Kurenai struggled desperately, tearing her voice as she shouted, "Didn't you already dump me? What right do you still have to interfere in my business!"

"You were, after all, my girlfriend known to everyone, and now you're coming to the stud's place to interview for a concubine position-isn't this throwing away my, Asuma Sarutobi's, face? I won't care if you marry someone else, but if you want to marry Uchiha Xia Yu, absolutely not! I said so!"

Kurenai fell into utter despair, her teeth biting hard against her red lips, and she forcefully wrenched herself free from Asuma's hand: "So even until now you're still just worrying about your own face issue. Asuma, I really misjudged you!"

Kurenai had not come here to interview from her heart; she had only wanted to rile Asuma up. When she saw Asuma arrive, she was happy from the bottom of her heart, only... Asuma's words made her very sad.

This morning, after the incident between Danzo and Xia Yu concluded, Asuma was extremely displeased with the look and attitude Kurenai gave Xia Yu.

In short, he was jealous, the very sour kind of jealous.

Because of this, the two of them had a huge argument, an explosive one at that.

"In front of so many ninja colleagues, you looked at Xia Yu with that kind of expression-where do you expect me to put my face!"

"Asuma, you really misunderstood me, I truly didn't mean it that way..."

"My face today really has been completely thrown away by you!"

"Asuma, I..."

No matter how Kurenai tried to explain, Asuma stubbornly insisted that Kurenai had "mentally cheated"!

As the Hokage's son, coupled with the nurturing of the village's generations of chauvinistic environment, a man's face issue was very important to Asuma.

The argument continued.

In his agitation, Asuma even said such words to Kurenai: "Get lost, I don't want you anymore, go find that stud Uchiha Xia Yu then! With my identity and status as the Hokage's son, will I ever worry about women? There are plenty of high-quality women reaching out for me! I don't need one from a clan whose decline is already ancient history like you!"

Actually, these were harsh words spoken without thinking. Deep down Asuma still loved Kurenai very much, but the jealousy had gone to his head, and he simply couldn't hold it back.

Hearing this, Kurenai's defense crumbled.

This was an era where the strong were revered; taking a few extra glances when encountering someone with formidable strength was entirely normal, and her conscience was clear. Since Asuma didn't believe her, she didn't want to offer any extra explanations. She forcibly held back the tears at the corners of her eyes and turned to leave.

Asuma did not chase after her.

He felt Kurenai would definitely turn back.

Similarly, Kurenai felt the same way; she believed Asuma would definitely chase after her, apologize for what he had just said, and that would be the end of it.

Unfortunately, the one did not chase, and the other did not return.

Seeing Kurenai not turn back, Asuma watched her stubbornly turn and leave instead.

Soft-hearted Kurenai stopped at the intersection, secretly pausing to turn her head sideways, wanting to see if Asuma had chased after her or not.

Only to discover that he had already left, walking off in another direction.

At that moment, Kurenai's heart died along with it...

Just like most modern couples, they "drifted apart" like this.

Solely because of "stubbornness"...

Putting on a tough exterior while hurting inside, ultimately leaving a marriage of fate unsettled and both of them fulfilling other predestined opportunistic grabbers.

At the entrance of the Uchiha Clan Compound, Asuma Sarutobi and Kurenai Yuhi were still locked in a tug-of-war.

The onlookers watching the spectacle didn't even dare to breathe heavily; not a single one dared to step forward to dissuade them.

"Asuma! Let go of me right now! Go be with your precious face!"

"Kurenai, you don't even care about your boyfriend's face-what kind of good woman are you! Hurry up and get out of here! Stop making a disgraceful spectacle of yourself!"

"Stop right there! Asuma, let go of her!"

Uchiha Xia Yu had arrived on the scene!

His face was written full of anger, adding a hint of cold sternness to his captivatingly handsome looks.

"Wow! Xia Yu!!"

Seeing Xia Yu, the surrounding women instantly seemed pumped with adrenaline, their pretty eyes turning uniformly into pink heart shapes: "Xia Yu, I want to bear your children! Over here, over here, look at me!"

Xia Yu waved his hand: "Exercise a little restraint, everyone. This is the Uchiha Clan Compound, let me chase this man who doesn't belong here away first."

As he spoke, he fixed his gaze on Asuma Sarutobi.

In the original story, the young Asuma had a huge temper and was super stubborn, frequently locking horns even with his father Hiruzen Sarutobi. Today Xia Yu finally got to witness it in person.

"Asuma, women are meant to be cherished, not yelled at. Didn't you see that Kurenai is already crying?"

"Xia! Yu!"

Seeing Xia Yu appear, Asuma's eyes sparked with fire.

He felt that the current development of things between him and Kurenai into this state was entirely caused by this culprit Xia Yu.

"Xia Yu, how dare you seduce my woman! Tell me, did you cast a genjutsu on Kurenai? That's why she's so infatuated with you, a humanoid breeding machine who only knows how to propagate!"

"Hey, hey, hey! Speak with some evidence, will you?"

"Evidence? You've married so many wives, and your past romantic debts are too numerous to even count! Can it still be considered wronging you to say you're a breeding machine?"

"Who's talking about that? I own the title of breeding machine, and I actually even like it quite a bit~ This is the greatest recognition of a man's ability and strength, and it also gives me even greater resolve for the plan to revitalize the Uchiha. Asuma, what I don't accept is the claim that I seduced Kurenai-when on earth did I seduce her? And talking about casting a genjutsu, you really have quite the imagination..."

This was the truth; from start to finish, Xia Yu hadn't actually seduced Kurenai at all. He had been so busy lately, where would he even find the time to seduce anyone.

Hearing this, Asuma looked at him with utmost disdain and sneered, "Hmph, as a man, you actually take pride in obtaining the title of [breeding machine]-you really bring shame to all of us men..."

"Why is it shameful?" Xia Yu asked in complete puzzlement: "My principle is that a man should own up to what he ought to, and there's nothing shameful about that. But what he shouldn't own up to, he absolutely cannot admit to, or else he'll live a very hypocritical life, just like your fath... sigh, never mind, you'll understand in the future..."

"Xia Yu, are you lecturing me on how to do things? How old are you! Don't think that just because you've awakened the Mangekyo you can do whatever you want. Today, I'm going to properly teach you a lesson!"