Konoha: The thirty-year-old Uchiha lacks motivation.

Chapter 993 Why? It's all because you're weak.

Konoha, so cool!

"The wind is a bit noisy today."

As a dazzling golden light vanished in an instant, Uchiha Gin, who appeared outside the gates of Konoha, flicked the slightly dirty corner of his clothes with his finger, his face full of emotion.

I wonder if Nono and the others have claimed their share of the bounty.

Today, the veteran member of the Water Gate team, the young black man Dekai, was on duty outside the gate again. With a sullen face and a strong sense of discipline, he listlessly raised his hand after checking a traveling merchant and said, "Next."

"Yo~ Sasipuri."

"Don't try to get close to me. I've always been fair... uh?!"

Upon hearing the familiar, languid voice, Dekai frowned slightly. As he spoke, he looked up at the speaker, his dark face instantly turning pale. "You...you...you're not..."

"What am I?"

Uchiha Gin looked at the pale-faced Dekai with suspicion, then looked down repeatedly to check if his zipper was closed.

"Didn't you sacrifice yourself?"

Faced with Uchiha Gin's relentless advance, Dekai cautiously retreated a few steps, simultaneously drawing the weapon hanging at his waist, and asked in utter astonishment, "Huh?"

Upon hearing this, Uchiha Gin froze on the spot, his forehead covered in black lines. "You die, but I won't die, okay?"

Who is spreading rumors and persecuting a lonely old man like myself? I'll find them and give them a good spanking.

"Do I look like a dead person to you?"

Suppressing his anger, Uchiha Gin poked his handsome face with his finger and asked helplessly, "Impossible. When Nono came back with your ashes, she was crying her eyes out. If you weren't dead, how could she have fainted crying in the street?"

Dekai shook his head vigorously and uttered a message that made Uchiha Gin's brain shut down: "Me?"

Ashes?

Uchiha Gin blinked, looking completely bewildered. "No matter who you are, you're not getting through this door today."

Worried that the Uchiha Gin before him might be an enemy in disguise, the highly responsible Dekai righteously and firmly stopped him at the door. He then turned to the two genin who were working part-time that day and instructed them, "Kouko Tetsu, Kamizuki Izumo, you two go and report this to Minato immediately!"

"yes!"

The two Konoha gatekeepers, who had just graduated, exchanged a glance and then took off running towards the village.

"It's actually that girl, Nono..."

Upon learning that the person who slandered him was none other than Nono, whom he regarded as his goddaughter, Uchiha Gin exclaimed that he had met the wrong person and that his father and son were kind and filial.

Sa!

After a few minutes of stalemate at the gate, Minato descended in a golden light and saw a certain curly-haired man squatting outside the gate, shaking his head and sighing. His tense expression instantly relaxed.

As expected, with Senior Silver's strength, how could he have died in a godforsaken place like the Land of Wind?

"Watergate!"

Seeing that Minato wasn't late, Dekai immediately went to greet him. "Dekai, you continue with your work. Leave the rest to me."

Minato glanced at the temporarily halted entry team, smiled and nodded to his former teammates, then turned to Gin Uchiha and said, "Gin-senpai."

"Minato, where are my ashes?"

Looking up at Minato, whose face showed lingering fear, Uchiha Gin's lips curled down slightly as he reached out to ask for it.

"There must be some misunderstanding here. Senior Yin, come back to the village with me first, and I'll explain it to you slowly."

Knowing that the whole thing was a misunderstanding caused by Nonou, Minato scratched his head awkwardly and turned to lead Uchiha Gin into the employee passage.

Along the way, he seemed to have opened a floodgate of information, recounting all the relevant details, "Your team completed this mission perfectly..."

"Sunagakure is now a key target of Konoha's surveillance."

'

"Traveling merchants from the Land of Winds are prohibited from entering..."

'

"Jonin Nono said you sacrificed yourself in your battle against the Third Kazekage..."

"Wait! Without any evidence, how dare she make such a claim?"

The earlier events were relatively normal, but upon hearing that he had been pecked to death by that weak Third Kazekage, Uchiha Gin immediately stopped in his tracks, looking at the smirking Minato with a face full of resentment.

"But the iron sand she brought back did indeed contain traces of your chakra, Senior Gin."

So you're mistaking iron filings for ashes?

Once he figured out the reason, Uchiha Gin couldn't help but roll his eyes. He had specifically told Nono not to worry about him and that he would return to the village in a while. How could he suddenly be seen at the scene with a shovelful of iron sand and claiming it as his own ashes?

"I did have a conflict with the Third Kazekage, and the chakra aura I feel was probably left from that time."

Uchiha Gin nodded and explained to Minato why his chakra was present in the Magnet Release.

"Are you alright? Were you recovering from...injuries while you were missing?"

Upon hearing this, Minato immediately showed genuine concern. His azure eyes looked Uchiha Gin up and down, and his voice became a little hesitant. He didn't look injured at all.

"I only went there to collect folk songs for a while."

A field trip?

"Wait, you're not going to the women's bathhouse too...?"

Upon hearing this familiar-sounding word, the first image that popped into Minato's mind was that of his teacher's lecherous face. He almost instinctively asked the question aloud, because Jiraiya always used the excuse of gathering information to spy on people, which made him develop a certain prejudice against this word.

"Don't think that just because you're in a leadership position you can slander me at will. My works are all legitimate academic publications."

"Phew...you should have said so earlier, you made me misunderstand...hmm?"

Just as Minato was about to awkwardly scratch his head, his face stiffened upon hearing this. No, how can someone who writes erotic novels be so self-righteous?

"If Fugaku-senpai knew you had returned safely, he would be very happy."

Seeing that he was almost so embarrassed that his toes were digging into the concrete, while Uchiha Gin still looked nonchalant and carefree, Minato had no choice but to laugh and change the subject, "Then you must remember to tell him not to be too happy about anything."

"Uh... Senior Yin, what do you mean?"

"I've come back to say goodbye."

Looking at Minato's puzzled face, Uchiha Gin, who was about to run away to celebrate Qixi Festival with his family, nodded with a heavy expression. My dear kidney, you must hold on. What follows is a long and arduous battle!

"Nani, you're leaving too?"

Minato, realizing what was happening, looked at Uchiha Gin with a complicated expression. First there was Hatake Sakumo who was forced to leave, then Tsunade who suddenly left the village, and now even the Uchiha elders who had just returned were leaving Konoha.

The village is indeed still too treacherous.

Thinking of this, a bitter smile involuntarily appeared on Minato's lips.

Honestly, he really wanted to use his own light to dispel the immense darkness lurking deep within the village, but with his current limited experience, he probably wouldn't be able to shake those towering trees and their extensive roots that stretched out and were deeply embedded in the ground.

Unless he puts on a spectacular solo performance that will shock the ninja world, he will not be qualified to sit on the table and will not have the opportunity to realize his grand ambitions.

"I never belonged here."

Turning his head, Gin Uchiha patted Minato's shoulder gently and said something profoundly true: "The future of Konoha belongs to you young people. Don't let some old bastards who are good for nothing keep occupying their positions without doing anything. Aren't they afraid of falling into a sea of ​​dung one day?"

"Senior Yin, what you're saying..."

"I may be a rough man, but my words may be crude, yet the truth is sound."

"That's true, but your words are too crude."

'

After finishing their conversation, Minato, with a strange expression, left first. His purpose in coming here was simply to verify Uchiha Gin's identity. Now that he had gotten the answer he wanted, he could finally sign his name in the evaluation column of the infiltration mission in Sunagakure.

Ta-ta-ta-ta...

Minato had only been gone a few minutes when a short figure squeezed out from the bustling crowd on the street. Seeing Uchiha Gin wandering alone, his large red eyes lit up. "Papa...Gin-senpai! I knew you'd be alright!"

"Oh, it's Xiao Hong! You've grown taller in just a few days."

Hearing the girl's excited shouts, Uchiha Gin smiled and ruffled her curly hair. "How's it going? Did you get your reward for the mission?"

"The money's almost all spent~"

Feeling the warmth from the large hand above her head, the girl, Kurenai Yuhi, nodded with a look of enjoyment, her voice adorably innocent.

"It's a pity that Nonou-senpai is out on a mission again, otherwise she would be overjoyed to see you're still alive!"

So, in the end, will they live or die?

Upon hearing that Nono had gone abroad again, Uchiha Gin frowned almost imperceptibly. According to the timeline, Nono was supposed to be going to an enemy country as a Root priestess to carry out a spy mission, and would only return after the outbreak of the Third Shinobi World War and after finding a child with amnesia.

Hopefully, the equipment left for her will come in handy.

"Damn it, that curly-haired bastard dared to touch my red head!"

Among the several figures following Kurenai, a black-haired boy who looked like a hooligan gritted his teeth as he glared at Uchiha Gin, who had angrily taken Kurenai's head. His fists clenched so tightly they cracked. "Judging from Kurenai's expression, he really is the real deal."

Kotetsu and Izumo, who had informed Kurenai Yuhi of the return of the person suspected to be Uchiha Gin, exchanged a glance and nodded in understanding. Since nothing had happened, they decided to go back to their part-time job as gatekeepers; after all, a day's work as a gatekeeper earned more than catching cats and dogs.

There are quite a few level-one tasks.

"Uncle! My dear uncle, I've missed you terribly!"

Just as the temporary father and daughter were rekindling their old feelings, Obito, who was always late, arrived as usual. Upon seeing Uchiha Gin, he rushed over with tears streaming down his face, trying to give his uncle, who had been brought back from the dead, a big hug.

I'm hiding~

With a slight turn of his feet, Uchiha Gin easily dodged Obito, who was snotty-nosed, by sidestepping him, leaving Obito to fall flat on his face.

"Pah! Pah! Pah! Uncle, how could you say that?"

Obito, clutching his bright red nose, felt like a clown. His eyes filled with resentment as he looked at Gin Uchiha, even though he was also worried about his uncle.

"This outfit is brand new, are you going to pay for it if I get it dirty?"

Uchiha Gin glanced at the indignant Obito, lifted his shirt to reveal the tag he hadn't taken off, and saw a long string of zeros on it that made Obito's legs tremble.

"Wow...it's so expensive! Oh well, it's okay~"

Obito felt much more at ease after that. He no longer resented Uchiha Gin, but instead felt a sense of gratitude.

"Huff...huff...Obito-nii-chan, you run too fast."

Unexpectedly, Obito's little follower was also there. However, due to his age, the future famous Shisui of Body Flickering was still just a little boy who traveled with his two pigeon-toed little legs. "Uncle Gin, it's so good that you're alive. Grandpa Fire Core can finally eat the rock candy braised pork knuckle!"

Seeing Uchiha Gin still looking as dashing as ever, Shisui's youthful face immediately broke into an innocent smile.

"The Fire Core Prison has quite a good appetite, huh?"

Uchiha Gin casually picked up Shisui, who also had curly hair, and said with a smile, "Braised pork knuckle with rock sugar is the signature dish of the Fire Core Clan's kitchen. Even your older cousin can't match it."

"Go back and tell him to order another serving of braised pork knuckle with rock sugar tonight."

"receive!"

Upon hearing this, Zhi Shui straightened her face and resolutely accepted this arduous task.

"Okay, that's all for today. If there's a chance next time, I'll treat you to some super high-end desserts."

Just then, Uchiha Gin suddenly caught sight of a White Zetsu waiter peeking out from a dark corner in the distance, and had to cut short their farewell greetings. "Really? Thank you, Papa... Gin-senpai!"

"That sounds delicious, doesn't it!"

"Uncle, next time there's a similar mission, you absolutely have to take me with you!"

After bidding farewell to the energetic children, Uchiha Gin turned and headed towards the shopping street.

A delicious little restaurant.

creak~

"You're back."

Upon seeing Uchiha Gin enter, the white-haired old man, who had been sitting alone in the empty hall drinking, slowly raised his head, his sharp eyes filled with complex emotions. "This time..."

'

Madara Uchiha, who had already learned about Gin Uchiha's deeds from White Zetsu who was lurking with Nagato, had prepared his speech in advance. However, when he met his cousin, he suddenly became speechless. He didn't know whether he should tell this last relative about the Eye of the Moon plan. What if the other party laughed at him for bragging?

"Remember to add three spoonfuls of sugar."

Just as Madara Uchiha was trying to organize his thoughts again, Gin Uchiha, who had pulled out a chair and sat down, gestured to the female version of Pillar Hashira, who was eavesdropping nearby, to have a drink.

"Your eyes are quite nice!"

Looking up at his younger cousin, who seemed hesitant to speak, Uchiha Gin smiled and nodded, his words filled with the encouragement and praise that Uchiha Madara fondly remembered. "Cousin, aren't you going to ask me why I transplanted the Rinnegan to that kid Nagato?"

He had thought that Uchiha Gin would delve deeper into this question, and then he could gradually reveal the reason for his eye's evolution and the subsequent Eye of the Moon plan.

However, to Madara Uchiha's utter surprise, his cousin did not play by the rules at all.

Instead of showing any curiosity, he had a look of heartache that left Madara Uchiha completely bewildered. "You still have the nerve to ask? It's all because you're weak. Sigh~ You've never been good at waist exercises since you were little. I've told your uncle many times to have you do some inch-stop training, but he just wouldn't listen. Look, now look what's happened. You're so old that you can't even support your own mother's eyes."

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