Konoha: The thirty-year-old Uchiha is not motivated.

"I'm back~"

Mikoto, skipping and hopping, burst through the door first, her chubby little face still showing the excitement of starting school for the first time.

"Mikoto, slow down, be careful not to fall."

Following behind her, Fugaku wore a doting smile, his gaze fixed solely on the lively figure before him, never wavering.

Suddenly, a familiar voice pulled him back to reality.

"Hello, is this the security team? I've spotted a prospective pedophile. Come quick."

Fugaku looked up in the direction of the sound and saw Uchiha Gin, looking at him with the eyes of a suspect, in the courtyard not far away.

"Uncle?"

Beside him, Uchiha Roza, holding a teacup, wore a look that was both funny and exasperated.

Mikoto also spotted Uchiha Gin who had come to visit. She immediately rushed forward and dove into his arms, her big, dark eyes blinking adorably.

"Hello, Grandpa Yin."

After giving Mikoto's head a good pat, Uchiha Gin grinned and pulled a small snack from his bag, handing it to her.

After receiving the candy she wanted, a beaming Mikoto turned around and sat on Uchiha Gin's lap. She quickly unwrapped it and began to enjoy the candy.

"It's everyone's favorite apple scent, oh my god!"

Looking at the tiny Mikoto, Uchiha Gin glared at his scheming nephew.
This kid is even worse than his father; he actually laid his hands on such a cute child.

"Mikoto, is going to school interesting?"

Gin Uchiha helped Mikoto remove her small backpack from her shoulder and asked with interest,

"Well"

Upon hearing the question, Mikoto spat out her lollipop, touched her chin with one hand, and frowned in thought for a full second like a little adult, before suddenly switching to a broad smile.
"Going to school... is so much fun!"

"Oh?"

Looking up at Uchiha Gin's curious and handsome face, Mikoto couldn't wait to recount everything she had seen and heard that day, like spilling beans.
"Grandpa Gin, do you know, my deskmate is a little boy who can eat as much as the Akimichi clan, but he says he's not named Akimichi. There are twin brothers sitting in the back row. The older brother is very fierce and strict with the younger brother, but he softens up as soon as the younger brother cries."

Uchiha Gin listened with great interest, but when Mikoto mentioned that the older of the twins had instantly killed the boy who had eaten a lot, and was then easily subdued by Fugaku who suddenly appeared, his expression became playful.
Turning to look at his proud nephew, he praised him in a sarcastic tone.

"To be able to subdue a classmate who's four years old with a mere wave of his hand, Young Master Fugaku is truly amazing!"

"He was the one who first disrespected the bloodline of our Uchiha clan and even prepared to attack Mikoto. I had no choice but to intervene."

Fugaku, his face slightly flushed, frowned and began to make excuses for his bullying of the weak.
"I'm not afraid of that fierce-looking older brother. If he dares to lay a hand on me, I'll teach him a lesson."

At this moment, Mikoto, sitting on Uchiha Gin's lap, raised her little fist with a resentful expression, looking like she was very powerful.

"That's right, Mikoto is the best!"

Uchiha Gin reached out to soothe the angry young female beast on his lap, a strange look appearing in his eyes.
Twin brothers with white eyes?

What a coincidence!
"Next time, I will definitely help my deskmate, Rope Tree, get revenge."

Alright, another one.

Lady Tao Hua spoils her child too much. How can she let Rope Tree eat braised pork knuckle with soy sauce every meal?
Children are currently in a crucial stage of growth and development, and it's important to ensure a balanced diet with a mix of meat and vegetables.
To ensure the healthy growth of the Rope Tree, Uchiha Gin decided to visit it tonight and share all his years of accumulated health and wellness knowledge.

"Fugaku, come here."

Since the people involved in this conflict were all acquaintances, Uchiha Gin couldn't very well help the wicked. He gestured for his nephew to come forward and listen to the summons.

"Uncle, what are your orders?"

"Do you think you were very successful at filling the cup at school today?"

"So-so, third in Konoha~"

As for the top two, they also share the surname Uchiha.

When asked about his performance today, Fugaku Uchiha humbly gave himself a score of 99, afraid that giving him any more would make him arrogant.

"Humph~"

"What's wrong, Uncle? Did I do something wrong?"

Seeing Uchiha Gin's suddenly cold expression, the smug Fugaku suddenly panicked.
"You don't understand the real meaning of 'putting on a show' at all."

What is the true meaning of serving cups?
"As a successful cup player, I, your great-uncle, will now teach you the way of cup style."

Before Fugaku could even show a look of bewilderment, Uchiha Gin magically produced a small blackboard from behind his back, put on his long-sealed gold-rimmed glasses, and began his lesson with a serious expression.
"The 'Cup Stand' is a forbidden technique that only a few people know, while most people don't. In the eyes of those who don't know it, knowing this forbidden technique is called 'pretentious.'"

Seeing his nephew's somewhat confused expression, Uchiha Gin patted the blackboard and continued his explanation.

"However, there are different levels of skill in 'pouring cups' (a metaphor for arranging something to impress someone).

"Being able to barely unleash this forbidden technique when you've just learned it can be called showing off. Showing off your skills by pretending to be more powerful than beginners after you've become proficient can also be called showing off."

Which level do you think you've reached?

At this point, Uchiha Gin paused, adjusted his glasses, and posed a probing question to his nephew.

After struggling to process Uchiha Gin's explanation, Fugaku frowned and pondered for a moment before replying somewhat uncertainly.

"Am I just a beginner?"

"You're overthinking it; you have nothing to hold in a cup."

“Bullying the weak is utterly despicable. Your self-righteous behavior only inspires fear and disgust.”

Uchiha Gin ruthlessly criticized Fugaku's bullying behavior, saying that attacking the weak is a trampling on the word "class".

These words deeply shocked Fugaku. After a brief silence, he seemed to have been enlightened, and his eyes shone with a strange light.
He leaped up, unleashing a unique technique inherited from the First Hokage—the Tiger Landing Strike—and sat down perfectly in front of Uchiha Gin.

"Big Brother... no, Third Brother, please teach me how to properly fill a cup."

"To know one's mistakes and be able to correct them is of utmost importance."

Seeing his nephew suddenly realize his mistake, Uchiha Gin nodded in satisfaction.

"Since you are so sincere, I will reveal to you the highest level of 'pretending to be something you're not,' and I hope you can gain some insight from it."

"I can never repay San San's kindness."

Fugaku Uchiha bowed deeply.
"Get up, the ground is cold."

Uchiha Gin raised his hand and wrote a large "cup" on the blackboard. The powerful strokes exuded an aura of cup-like grandeur that was hard to look at directly.
Fugaku swallowed hard, his mouth watering with excitement and anticipation, waiting to hear about the ultimate, legendary realm.

"The two levels of cup-making I just mentioned are only the basics. Above them, there is a legendary realm of cup-making, called the unity of man and cup."

“That’s right. The true king of cups is never defined by worldly cup standards. They are beings who personally write their own cup standards. They don’t need to pretend; a free and unrestrained aura naturally emanates from them. Just standing there, they are a unique cup character.” “Is this what it means to be one with the cup?”

As expected of a legendary realm, even though Fugaku Uchiha racked his brains, he could not comprehend even a fraction of it. He could only swallow these words whole and engrave them into his mind, spending the rest of his life exploring this great path of the cup.

"Grandpa, what exactly are Grandpa Yin and the others discussing?"

On the other side, Mikoto, who had long since slipped off Uchiha Gin's legs, looked at Uchiha Ryuzashi, who had arrived, with a puzzled expression, his eyes still rolling back in his head.

"Mikoto, quickly cover your ears, these are all useless filth."

Having spent decades with Uchiha Gin and suffered countless losses as a result, Uchiha Ryuzashi had long since seen through this unconventional, eccentric, curly-haired man.
Nine and a half out of every ten sentences Uchiha Gin says are unreliable; the remaining half is his name.

"A single conversation with San San is worth more than ten years of reading. No, a century of reading the Will of Fire."

"Can you please stop trying to piggyback on that kind of cheap, low-quality literature?"

Will of Fire?
Even if you give it to a dog, it won't look at it.

"Brother Yin, have you had enough fun? It's time to get down to business."

Seeing that Uchiha Gin was about to continue his charade, Uchiha Ryōza, worried about the future of the Uchiha clan, quickly interrupted him.
"Tsk~"

Still seemingly unsatisfied, Uchiha Gin pursed his lips, raised his hand to remove his limited-edition Gin San San outfit, and continued to mutter under his breath.
"I'm already this old, can't you just spoil me a little..."

Seeing Uchiha Gin sulking, Uchiha Ryōzashi had no choice but to talk to Fugaku himself.
"Young Master Fugaku, I have something to tell you."

Fugaku, still absorbed in the Dao of the Cup, quickly looked up upon hearing this. Seeing Uchiha Ryōshi's serious expression, his heart began to pound.
Could it be that he should stop bothering Mikoto?
With a heavy heart, Fugaku spoke cautiously.
"Elder Lü, please speak."

"Although Uchiha Setsuna has no disloyalty to the clan, his inflated ambition is obvious. If he is not restrained, he may bring annihilation to the Uchiha clan of Konoha."

Even after stepping down as the Grand Elder, Uchiha Ryōzachi remained worried about the clan; he knew Setsuna very well what kind of person she was.
Even when they lacked authority, they dared to bypass the Grand Elder in charge and collude with the Third Hokage to incite hot-blooded clansmen to rush to the front lines to defend the clan's honor.

Now that he has become an incredibly powerful elder in charge, Uchiha Setsuna can't sleep unless he stirs up some big news.

“Elder Shaka? He offered to be my mentor this morning, but I declined.”

Fugaku actually had a fairly good impression of Uchiha Shana. He could tell from the constant stream of eggs being brought into the clan every day that Shana was definitely a man of action.

"Just say no."

Fugaku is currently weak and his mind is not yet stable. Uchiha Ryūza is worried that Setsuna might take advantage of this opportunity to seize power and manipulate the situation.

"Why are you in such a hurry to refuse, kid?"

Uchiha Gin, standing to the side, had a different opinion. Hearing that Fugaku had rejected Setsuna's offer, he shook his head with some regret.

"what?"

"Aren't you all interested in Uchiha Setsuna's suddenly abundant pockets?"

Because Uchiha Setsuna's secrecy was so thorough, even now, Uchiha Gin still doesn't know the source of his funds for running for Grand Elder.

Unable to get a piece of the pie, Uchiha Gin felt as if his heart was being scratched by a cat.

"I haven't found the answer to this question either, but I discovered some interesting things during the investigation."

Uchiha Roza also put in the effort to investigate the matter. Although he didn't find anything, it wasn't a complete failure either.
"Interesting thing?"

This is what Uchiha Gin likes the most.

"It is said that during his time in the security force, Uchiha Setsuna had close correspondence with a mysterious woman. Unfortunately, he was extremely good at counter-surveillance and would burn the letters on the spot after reading them, leaving no trace."

"Didn't you say that Setsuna suffered severe emotional trauma in his early years and developed severe PTSD, and that he has had no feelings for women since then?"

Recalling the gossip he'd gleaned from their casual conversations, Uchiha Gin blinked in confusion.

"That's why I said it was interesting. Unfortunately, this matter is of no help to our investigation; it's just gossip."

Uchiha Lucha shrugged helplessly.

"However, I do have a suspicion: could there be a high-ranking member of Konoha standing behind Setsuna?"

Setsuna's sudden intervention at the expedition mobilization meeting seemed like a premeditated act, forcing Uchiha Roza to suspect the ultimate beneficiaries of the meeting—the Konoha leadership.

"What you said isn't entirely unreasonable."

Uchiha Gin stroked his chin, nodded thoughtfully, and said, "Even setting aside the expenses incurred in the early stages of Setsuna's election campaign, the daily cost of buying eggs alone is something that most families can't afford."
If calculated based on a daily loss of 100 million taels, even someone with a little money would inevitably go bankrupt after several thousand years.

Could it really be the F6 guys behind this?
Meanwhile, inside a secluded villa in Konoha,
Uchiha Setsuna, the newly appointed elder who should have been a powerful figure within the clan, sat silently on the edge of the bed, smoking. His eyes held no trace of his previous ambition, only an endless emptiness.

"call"

He exhaled a long, stale breath mixed with nicotine, then fixed his gaze on Akimichi Matsuko lying behind him, his eyes filled with complex emotions.

Repairing tanks is a highly skilled job; only he could do it. Anyone else would be completely incapable.
"Lord Setsuna, you look so cool when you're thinking~"

Akimichi Matsuko, with her demure, feminine demeanor, looked at Uchiha Setsuna, who was deep in thought, with eyes filled with infatuation.

"Woman, did I give you permission to speak?"

Glancing coldly at the obsequious Akimichi Matsuko, Uchiha Setsuna, who believed in making money even while lying down, said with a hint of displeasure,
"I'm sorry, Lord Setsuna."

A frightened Akimichi Matsuko shook her head frantically. Hesitantly, she quickly opened the bedside table and took out a thick wad of large-denomination banknotes.
"Please accept this as compensation for my rudeness."

"It won't happen again."

Uchiha Setsuna accepted the deserved tip with a blank expression, his heart filled with a sigh.

These days, even earning the money for an egg isn't easy.

This kind of life is not a long-term solution. Once his abnormal relationship with Akimichi Matsuko is exposed, he will not only lose the status he has worked so hard to achieve, but he will also never be able to hold his head high in Konoha again.
One must be strong to forge iron; only when one's own pockets are full can one avoid overdrawing one's pitiful kidneys.

make money.

And it has to be big money.

His primary task upon assuming the position of Grand Elder was to lead the tribe to a life free from worries about food and clothing, so that they would no longer have to fight over a single tray of eggs.
But he knew absolutely nothing about doing business, however
Do you know what supplies are in short supply lately?

Akimichi Matsuko's family business is so large, she must have some connections.
"Why has Lord Esha suddenly become interested in this?"

The cautious Songzi was taken aback by what she heard, her eyes narrowed into slits, filled with confusion.

In her mind, Uchiha Setsuna should be a man who was devoted to his career and whose life goal was to bring peace to the ninja world.

"Are you teaching me what to do?"

"So manly, I love him!"

Matsuko Akimichi, her eyes filled with infatuation at Uchiha Setsuna's cold glare, hurriedly replied,

"I recall that due to the recent war, imports and exports of various countries have been affected, indirectly causing the prices of high-end ingredients such as live pigs to skyrocket. The price of a single large, fat pig has now reached nearly one million taels." (End of Chapter)