[Ding! Uchiha Clan member +1. This clan member's overall potential rating is B. Reward: the host's current chakra amount is doubled.] [Ding! Uchiha Clan member +1. This clan member's overall potential rating is A. Special reward: Fire Release: Searing Migraine.] [Ding! Uchiha Clan member +1. This clan member's overall potential rating is B. Reward: the host's current chakra amount is doubled.] [Ding! Uchiha Clan member +1...]
The system notifications rang out without end.
While Xia Yu and Sasuke were on their way to the izakaya, the Uchiha Clan gained another four newborns!
The harvest season continued.
Like the harvest season, Xia Yu's current chakra reserves seemed endless. They had doubled more times than he could count, and each doubling built on the growing total. Although they still fell short of a tailed beast's chakra, they comfortably exceeded the combined chakra of all the village's Jonin and Chunin.
Before long, they arrived at the izakaya.
"Xia Yu, order whatever you want to eat."
"Mm, let's start with fifty skewers of grilled kidneys."
"Uh... I really don't understand why you adults like eating things like grilled kidneys. My dad used to order nothing else whenever he came here..."
Sasuke had tried a skewer or two of grilled kidneys before, but he truly couldn't stomach the taste.
So he really couldn't understand why Xia Yu and his father loved eating them. Adults certainly had peculiar tastes.
"Boss, one bowl of tomato and egg noodles, with tomatoes but no eggs!"
Sasuke liked sweet-and-sour flavors.
"Xia Yu, your tastes are a lot like my father's. You know what? He also liked kidney sashimi. My mom made it for him herself. She used up a whole tube of wasabi, and combined with that smell, it made me throw up!"
"Heh, Sasuke, have you ever considered that your father didn't actually want to eat it, but your mother forced him to? Without all those kidney dishes laying the groundwork, you might never have been born..."
"Huh? Why?"
"You'll understand when you're older. Come on, eat. Their appetizers are pretty good. Work up an appetite first."
"Xia Yu, aren't you going to have a drink?"
"No, I've got something important to do tonight! Let's make this quick. Sasuke, what are you planning to do afterward? I might not have time to keep you company..."
"That's fine. I'll go train at the Clan Compound's training ground on my own. I go there every night!"
"Keep at it. I'm rooting for you."
"Yeah! I definitely will. Carrying on the family line is your job, and revenge is mine! That's what we agreed on. You've already accomplished so much, so of course I won't let you down!"
Once all the food arrived, the two stopped talking and began wolfing it down.
Just then, a familiar woman's slurred voice suddenly came from two tables over:
"Boss! Where's the sake? Bring me some more!"
That voice-could it be Kurenai Yuhi?
Xia Yu immediately stood and lifted his head to look. In the corner, Kurenai Yuhi was alone, leaning against her chair as though she might topple over. Her eyes were half closed and her face was flushed red as she kept shaking an empty sake bottle, loudly urging the owner to bring more.
How much had she drunk to end up like that?
Xia Yu put down the kidney skewer in his hand and said, "Sasuke, head back on your own once you've finished eating. I'll return to the Clan Compound a little later."
"Hm?" Sasuke froze. "Xia Yu, you...?"
Following Xia Yu's gaze, Sasuke also noticed the thoroughly drunken Kurenai Yuhi.
"Oh... I get it..."
Sasuke narrowed his eyes to slits and gave him a mischievous grin. "Xia Yu, you just said you had something important to do tonight. What, now that you've spotted a nice woman, you don't want to go home? Need me to help you win her over?"
Xia Yu shook his head. "Not for now. She's already the mother of my child..."
"Huh?" Sasuke's jaw dropped. "Xia Yu, I didn't know you had someone outside the clan too! I recognize her. Her name's Kurenai Yuhi, and she's a really powerful female Jonin in the village. Why don't you marry her? The Uchiha Clan would be even stronger with her joining us!"
Xia Yu sighed. "That's exactly what I'm planning to do now."
With that, Xia Yu gently ruffled Sasuke's hair and walked over to Kurenai Yuhi.
"Boss, where's the sake? Hurry up and bring it!"
"Here you go..."
Xia Yu held two small bottles of clear sake. He placed one in front of Kurenai Yuhi and kept the other in his hand, then sat directly across from her without waiting for her approval or objection.
"X-Xia Yu? What are you doing here?"
Kurenai Yuhi's unfocused eyes sharpened slightly. She hadn't expected Xia Yu to appear here.
Xia Yu answered, "I came to have dinner with Sasuke and happened to see you. Maybe it's fate."
"Heh..." Kurenai Yuhi gave a laugh and said nothing more, picking up the bottle in front of her and bringing it straight to her lips.
Her usual gentle, ladylike demeanor was nowhere to be seen.
"Glug... glug..."
"Huh?"
"What kind of sake is this? Why is it different from the one before? It doesn't taste like anything!"
The sake in her mouth tasted much like water.
It was indeed water. Xia Yu had switched it beforehand.
"Kurenai, you might be drunk. This is clearly sake, but you should still drink less. You're pregnant now. Drinking too much isn't good for your health, or the baby..."
"Hmph, so what if it isn't? I don't even know who the baby's father is! My lifelong chastity was ruined today. No one will marry me now. Is it so wrong to have a little drink to escape?"
Breathing out a strong smell of alcohol, Kurenai Yuhi leaned forward slightly and slapped her fair, delicate hand onto Xia Yu's arm.
"Come on... X-Xia Yu... hic... have a drink with me. I don't want to do anything right now. I just want someone to talk to. I just want to get drunk..."
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