“Gintoki said such a long string of words in one breath.”
The woman clearly could not really understand, but she still used gentle fingers to touch Gintoki’s forehead and wipe away the sweat seeping out.
His mom was a little airheaded.
Of course, a normal child could not grow into this state in just a few months.
That basically went beyond physical limits.
But she would naturally think it was normal.
Because Gintoki was a genius.
So Gintoki would also naturally inherit the Zenin Clan’s Cursed Technique.
He would definitely help Zenin Ogi obtain the position of Clan Head.
Both Zenin Ogi and the woman held this clear awareness.
It was as if the Schrodinger’s cat box that could only be opened when Gintoki turned 6 years old did not hold an unknown answer, but a fixed fact, a brilliant achievement.
Gintoki was the incarnation of that achievement.
Gintoki had no drive for that achievement.
He had something more worth caring about.
“Curly… Where the hell did this damn curly-hair gene come from! It’s already over, right! I couldn’t even inherit the straight-hair gene, so what damn Cursed Technique am I supposed to inherit! My life has already gone dark now. I already need to press the reset button. Don’t give up until straight hair gets pulled out!”
Like he had been struck by lightning on a clear day, Gintoki screamed and covered the pitiful yet fluffy silver curls on top of his head.
Zenin Nobuaki chased after him, using his blade to cut down the obstacles.
“Don’t compare meaningless curly hair with a precious Cursed Technique, brat!”
“Who cares about you! For Gin-san, straight hair is the truly important thing. Don’t underestimate my persistence!”
Gin-san dodged the blade, his scalp chilling nonstop.
“You shaved my hair just now, didn’t you? You’re starting to push your luck, ossan! Gin-san’s Cosmo hasn’t even exploded yet, and you’re already exploiting me nonstop?”
“Who are you calling ossan! Let’s start from zero and fix that wrong way of thinking of yours, Zenin Gintoki!”
“Don’t call me by that name that sounds like it has a big background but is obviously just pieced together by combining unrelated production teams! Call me Sakata Gintoki, Sakata!”
“You want to betray the Zenin Clan?! You damn brat!”
“Aaaaah!”
Sakata Gintoki, now renamed Zenin Gintoki, though that kind of thing had never happened, was clearly the protagonist who had been packed up and sold off by the Gintama production team.
He had just finished training, wiped his dusty face clean, and gone home to eat.
This was society, right?
Or maybe the market.
Like how an anime with no popularity would be pushed from a hot broadcast slot to a late-night slot, an outdated protagonist who had already been marked with a comma would also be sent next door on a business trip.
But he was not even going to play Gojo Satoru.
He was playing a bit part in the Zenin Clan instead.
That was definitely unlucky, right!
It was like Class 3-Z Ginpachi-sensei had already aired in 2025, so they hurried to ride the popularity next door, and Gin-san tragically became one of the sacrifices.
Isn’t there only a few months left?
Don’t dream that Gin-san can become deeply rooted in people’s hearts and turn into a classic work in such a short time!
The author probably can’t even afford cup noodles with this.
As for the Cursed Technique.
Gintoki pushed open the sliding door, and the woman sitting properly inside made him see a canary in that instant.
Wrapped in gorgeous cloth, bound by an exquisite cage, raised on delicious meals.
Reserved and beautiful, his mother.
The woman reached out.
Her soft fingertips held an embroidered handkerchief.
“You’re tired, right, Gintoki? You were amazing again today. You’re my pride.”
She lovingly wiped Gintoki’s forehead, just like when he had just been born.
“Before I knew it, you’d already grown so big. Children really grow fast. You can already jump, run, and talk.”
“No, no, no… Normally, kids don’t do that. Your kid really is weird no matter how you look at him. When this happens, you should take him to the hospital. You should have a little self-awareness, Okaa-san.”
“Gintoki isn’t weird. He’s the cutest child in the world.”
No good.
They totally could not communicate.
Didn’t this make the very normal Gin-san look out of place in this totally abnormal family!
The woman smiled gently and held the child’s hand with her warm hand.
“You’re already very hungry, right? Okaa-san prepared something you like. Red bean rice balls and pudding. Children still can’t eat strawberry parfait, so that’s a no.”
Actually, red bean rice balls and pudding probably were not okay either!
But since she was giving them to him, it was fine.
Not having common sense had its good points too.
Gintoki felt like he had not eaten dessert in a whole lifetime.
His mouth was so bland he was about to lose his sense of taste.
Gintoki happily enjoyed the food.
This was all compensation for the mental damage of suffering through training!
Now was the time to make up for the share he had not finished eating even in his last life!
“As long as Gintoki is a good boy, Dad might come see you too.”
“No, no, forget that ossan. It’s not like I have a thing for old men. I’m not interested in an ossan’s stinky body odor.” Gintoki chewed the sweet rice ball vaguely.
He was not really a baby, after all.
His childish heart would not sprout longing and yearning for fatherly love.
From the moment Gintoki became conscious, his young heart had already started giving off the stink of a rag wiped with milk.
Besides, that man’s eyes did not have Gintoki in them, and they did not have the woman either.
He was only looking at the position of Clan Head of the Zenin Clan.
The Zenin Clan respected ability while also stressing inheritance and tradition.
At present, there were only 2 strong candidates.
One was the elder brother, Zenin Naobito, praised as the fastest sorcerer but lacking any firm hold on tradition, which meant he was just a drunkard with awful drinking manners.
The other was the younger brother, Zenin Ogi, serious and old-fashioned but lacking the overwhelming strength Naobito had, which meant he was a weak, stubborn old fossil.
Both had their pros and cons, so they were stuck in a deadlock, and neither could get close to the Clan Head’s seat.
So the decisive gap was left to their children.
The lunch break came to an end.
Gintoki squatted by the road and watched ants.
The person beside him rambled on about the Zenin Clan’s recent major events.
After finishing, Zenin Nobuaki kicked Gintoki, who was clearly running away from life.
“Don’t give up thinking, brat!”
“I don’t get it! It’s too long, I don’t get it!”
Gintoki hurriedly covered his ears, trying to shut out the troublesome family, life, and fate along with the sound.
“What the hell? The bigger a family is, the more tangled its roots get. It’s like ivy. Before you know it, it crawls all over the whole mountain. Unless you blow up the mountain, it’ll never end! Way too troublesome, right? Every time the generation changes, you have to do it all over again. Who can stand that! Explain it in 20 characters or less!”
“As long as you inherit Ogi-sama’s Cursed Technique, won’t everything be fine?”
Zenin Ogi’s Cursed Technique, Blazing Courage, could attach scorching fire-attribute Cursed Energy to weapons, and that Cursed Energy could even freely form shapes.
It was an extremely aggressive and destructive Cursed Technique.
“Isn’t that basically saying it outright! It’s about time you faced reality, ossan. This isn’t something you can fix just by trying harder. It’s just like Gin-san’s curly-hair genes. The more you don’t want it, the more you can’t shake it off! The heavens are just some rotten old man who can’t stand seeing people do well. They only shove things you don’t want at you and have no good intentions at all.”
“Where the hell did you learn to become like this! You’ve been just like your dad since you were little. Forget inheriting the Clan Head position, you’re basically a useless person already!”
“The first one whose character broke down is you, ossan! You’re OOC! You’re totally not that kind of character! And inheriting the Clan Head position…”
Happy reading!