The girl leaned forward, and a faint, pleasant fragrance inadvertently drifted into the young man’s nose.
“Guess what I’m holding~”
She raised one index finger in front of herself while lightly shaking the hand hidden behind her back.
A few soft noises came from whatever she was holding.
With a playful smile, she asked, “Can you guess?”
Shiranui Rei pretended to ponder for a moment.
Then, in a hesitant and uncertain tone, he asked, “A marriage application?”
“W-What!?”
This time, it was the girl’s turn to panic.
A blush spread across her gentle features, and her playfulness was quickly replaced by embarrassment.
“Rei-kun isn’t old enough yet, ah, no, what I mean is…”
Was age really the only thing she was concerned about?
The corner of Shiranui Rei’s mouth twitched.
He decided not to tease the girl any further when she looked as though steam was about to come out of her ears, and invited her into the living room.
“Rei-kun, you can’t tease your big sister like that, you know.”
The girl sat down on the soft sofa, close beside Shiranui Rei.
Her slender, fair finger lightly poked his cheek as she issued a “stern” warning.
“Got it.”
Shiranui Rei yawned and answered perfunctorily.
Uchiha Mikoto was a prodigiously talented young kunoichi of the Uchiha clan, now at the age when a girl was blossoming into a beautiful young woman.
One of them was a student of Jiraiya, one of the Legendary Sannin, while the other was a shinobi of the Uchiha clan.
Under normal circumstances, the two should have had nothing to do with each other.
But fate was a funny thing.
During the Second Shinobi World War, Uchiha Mikoto’s squad had been almost completely wiped out on the battlefield in the Land of Rain.
It was at that moment that Shiranui Rei, who had just finished a battle and was transferring to another battlefield, happened to pass by.
He had fought his way through the enemy lines, picked up the desperate Uchiha Mikoto, slung her over his shoulder, and escaped.
Thinking back to that time, Shiranui Rei’s eyes unconsciously swept over Uchiha Mikoto.
Back then, when he had carried her away from the battlefield, she had been light as a feather, with barely any curves to speak of.
Now, however, her figure had already begun to develop into graceful curves.
His gaze then shifted to the wooden box Uchiha Mikoto had placed on the coffee table.
A shinobi’s keen sense of smell allowed him to detect the faintly sweet aroma escaping from inside.
“These are the sweets you made yourself, aren’t they, Mikoto-san? You really didn’t have to go to all this trouble.”
Shiranui Rei carefully straightened the wooden box, showing how seriously he took the gift.
“I’ve been learning how to make things like these at home lately. After all, I can’t have my head filled with nothing but war and missions all the time~”
Uchiha Mikoto smiled indifferently, her eyes curving into gentle crescents as she looked at the young man before her.
If a shinobi immersed themselves completely in killing for too long, the experience would inevitably leave psychological scars.
That was why many shinobi found other ways to relieve their stress between missions.
Some liked to go to gambling dens and risk everything on a single throw.
Others preferred to drink freely at taverns.
And naturally, there were also those who enjoyed arranging flowers at home or making desserts.
“Thank you, Mikoto-san.”
Shiranui Rei sincerely expressed his gratitude.
“Mm.”
When faced with his genuine thanks, Uchiha Mikoto suddenly found herself unsure of how to respond naturally.
In the end, she simply pretended to casually avert her gaze.
The little ear hidden beneath her hair had turned faintly red.
She stood up, her beautiful eyes surveying the not-so-large living room.
As a jonin, Shiranui Rei’s income placed him among the more affluent residents of Konoha.
He generally had little need to worry about material matters.
However, since he lived alone, there was no need for him to spend too much money on a spacious residence.
“Rei-kun, you’re a boy living alone. Your home really is quite messy.”
Uchiha Mikoto suddenly furrowed her brows slightly, saying something that caught Shiranui Rei off guard.
Those eyes that could see through everything on the battlefield now took in every corner of the living room.
Then they shifted toward the bedroom, whose door stood open.
Perhaps it was just his imagination.
But Shiranui Rei noticed that when Mikoto looked toward his bedroom, her breathing seemed to quicken for the briefest moment.
“Well…”
Shiranui Rei was just about to say something when Uchiha Mikoto interrupted him in a tone that brooked no argument.
“Honestly, there’s no helping it. Let Big Sister help you clean everything up~”
“Huh?”
Before Shiranui Rei could react, he watched as Uchiha Mikoto’s slender hand picked up the broom resting in the corner of the living room and prepared to walk into his bedroom.
Even the thickest-skinned person would have felt embarrassed in this situation.
Once he came to his senses, Shiranui Rei hurried over in quick little steps, intending to take the broom from her.
That was when Uchiha Mikoto’s jonin-level reflexes came into play.
The moment Shiranui Rei reached out, Mikoto had already switched the broom from her right hand to her left.
Her right hand accurately caught the hand he had extended.
The two seemed to possess an uncanny understanding of each other.
Their palms were nearly the same size, and because of the angle at which their hands met, their five fingers naturally intertwined.
The sudden sensation—one hand cool, the other warm—left both of them momentarily stunned.
They stood frozen in place.
Several seconds later, Shiranui Rei finally recovered first.
He withdrew his hand and gave a light cough before helplessly saying, “Mikoto-san, shouldn’t I take care of this myself?”
“You rarely get a chance to rest. Let Big Sister clean it up for you.”
Uchiha Mikoto did not dare meet the young man’s eyes again.
She gently pushed him back with her delicate hand, then hurried into the bedroom with the broom, taking three steps in two.
With a soft click, the bedroom door closed behind her.
“I owe someone another favor…”
Looking at the closed door, Shiranui Rei sighed helplessly.
Still, he did not take it too seriously.
After all, they had known each other for three or four years by now, and the number of favors they had done for each other was already impossible to count.
“In that case, I’ll invite Mikoto-san to dinner next time as thanks.”
He made up his mind.
If the young men of the Uchiha clan who secretly admired Mikoto knew what he was thinking, they would probably rush over and punch him twice.
Their clan’s number-one beauty had personally come to his house to clean for him, and he still wanted to invite her to dinner alone?
Was this kid planning to take advantage of her in every possible way?
With nothing else to do in the living room, his gaze once again landed on the Flying Thunder God seal he had just inscribed on the wall.
Of course, he had not actually mastered the Flying Thunder God Technique yet.
Calling this a chakra seal was probably more appropriate.
Every second counted.
That was his shinobi way.
He took a deep breath, calmed his mind once more, and closed his eyes, using his sensory abilities to search for that ethereal, elusive space.
He had expected yet another fruitless attempt.
But then…
What was that?
Wind?
A faint breeze seemed to brush against his exposed neck and arms.
But the doors and windows were clearly closed.
The next second, the gentle breeze transformed into a raging storm.
No.
This wasn’t wind at all!
A powerful sensation of being pulled and torn apart surged through him.
His upright body seemed to twist and blur in an instant, while an intense dizziness assaulted his mind.
I did it!
Just before disappearing from his original position, Shiranui Rei was so excited that he nearly shouted aloud.
In the next instant, he would appear directly in front of the wall where he had inscribed the Flying Thunder God seal.
That was five meters away from his original position.
This meant that the Flying Thunder God Technique had made its triumphant return to the shinobi world, and a new star was about to rise!
Even his good friend Minato shouldn’t have been able to successfully activate Flying Thunder God on his very first day.
Without me, the shinobi world would still be stuck in the dark!, Shiranui Rei, the shinobi world would have been trapped in darkness for eternity!
If you don’t learn space-time ninjutsu, seeing me would be like a frog at the bottom of a well gazing up at the moon!
But if you do learn space-time ninjutsu, seeing me would be like a mayfly gazing upon the heavens!
However, reality seemed to have gone slightly off course.
As the hazy scene before his eyes gradually solidified, what appeared before him was not the familiar wall bearing the Flying Thunder God seal.
Instead, he found himself in a pitch-black, cramped space.
Wait.
Where was this?
A wardrobe?
The delighted expression on Shiranui Rei’s face froze.