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

Just as Uchiha Gin had said, he didn't take Fugaku and the other two to their usual training ground. Instead, he went straight through the entire village and arrived at the Nanka River at the southernmost tip of the village.
"How nostalgic!"

Looking at the gently flowing stream in front of him, the familiar riverbank, and his classic spot where he'd been beaten up, Gin Uchiha sighed with nostalgia.
This place, and the Valley of the End downstream, are popular spots for taking photos and witnessing many famous scenes.
"Uncle, start your cultivation now!"

But Fugaku was unfamiliar with the lesser-known tourist spots before him; he only wanted to learn how to play Chidori as soon as possible.

It was almost dinnertime, and it was getting dark soon, leaving the two of them with very little time.
"Now you know you're in a hurry?"

Turning to look at the two eager little ones, Uchiha Gin raised an eyebrow.
"Mmmmmmm!"

The two immediately nodded vigorously, their faces filled with eagerness.
"Being in a hurry is the right thing to do."

With a smile, Gin Uchiha slowly opened his arms.

"Come on, all of you, let me see what stage you've reached in your cultivation."

Fugaku and Nawaki exchanged a glance and tacitly assumed their classic starting stances.
One is a simple, unpretentious gesture of raising a hand and stomping a foot; the other is a powerful, nonchalant gesture of raising one hand. These two completely different styles create a striking contrast.
"A cough!"

"Host detected to be in combat; Heart Steel Chest begins to accumulate."

The notification sound ringing in their minds was the best proof of the two children's high morale.

"Very good, very energetic!"

Facing the two charging towards him, Uchiha Gin revealed a rare seriousness. His outstretched arms hung naturally at his sides, and a chilling glint flashed in his dead fish eyes. His entire body emanated a terrifying pressure as deep as an abyss.
"!!!"

The two sprinting men froze on the spot, cold sweat pouring down their faces.

Only at this moment did Nawaki and the other belatedly realize that this seemingly unreliable elder was actually a powerful figure from the Warring States period, a survivor of its brutal struggles.
"You dead leg, get moving!"

After being startled for a few seconds by the slight amount of killing intent deliberately released by Uchiha Gin, it was surprisingly the thick-skinned Nawaki who was the first to overcome his fear.

"Get the kidneys and liver!"

As he ran, a pale blue chakra ball condensed in his palm, and the strong wind generated by its spinning motion caused ripples to spread across the nearby stream.

So strong!

Fugaku, who was still reeling from Uchiha Gin's murderous aura, was astonished when he saw the powerful Rasengan humming in Nawaki's palm. His mouth dropped open in surprise.
Uchiha Gin frowned almost imperceptibly. After several days, Nawaki's understanding of the Rasengan was still insufficient. Although he could control the orderly rotation of a large amount of chakra, he still couldn't compress it to a satisfactory degree.
Even though this unfinished Rasengan is much more exaggerated in terms of its power than the complete version,
"Too flamboyant, not subtle enough."

After a brief evaluation of Rope Tree's flashy Rasengan, Uchiha Gin raised one hand, and a simple, unadorned Rasengan instantly materialized.
"Swish swish~"

Compared to the imposing chakra ball in Nawaki's hand, this azure ball appeared quite simple.
In the blink of an eye, Nawaki had already reached him, and Uchiha Gin immediately raised his Rasengan.
"boom!"

The moment the two Rasengans made contact, Nawaki's expression changed drastically. His prized Rasengan was so utterly vulnerable before Uchiha Gin's Rasengan, being completely devoured in a single exchange.
The considerable commotion seemed like a joke.
"boom!"

However, before he could even show a pained expression, Uchiha Gin's Rasengan had already slammed into his face, the sharp wind from it stinging his skin.
The next second, he felt a dizzying sensation, and when he regained consciousness, he was lying in the shallow stream.
"I'm not dead?"

Touching his perfectly intact face in confusion, Nawaki jumped out of the water in surprise.

"Grandpa, I'm not some kind of demon."

A lazy voice rang out from the shore. Looking at Uchiha Gin sitting on a large rock, eyes closed in rest, Nawaki's face immediately showed a belated look of bitterness.

As expected, I'm still quite a distance from truly mastering the Rasengan.

Forget about passing my aunt's test, I doubt I could even defeat that arrogant guy, Fugaku.
"However, your performance was quite commendable; at least you woke up relatively quickly."

"what?"

Only then did Nawaki notice that Fugaku, who had been with him just moments before, was now lying in the stream, his body charred black except for the whites of his eyes, with wisps of smoke rising from his mouth and nose, carrying a faint aroma of roasted meat.

"Fugaku!?"

Nawaki rushed over, scrambling to his feet, and pulled the charcoal-black Fugaku out of the water, shaking him vigorously and calling out to him.

"Wake up, I am Rope Tree!"

"Ugh, white. Pfft~"

Amidst the violent shaking, Fugaku, who had been subjected to Chidori electric therapy by Uchiha Gin, slowly awoke. After his pupils focused, he slowly exhaled a smoke ring from his mouth.
"Idiot Rope Tree. I'm still alive?"

Fugaku, sporting an afro, blinked in confusion.
"Or are you dead too?"

He clearly remembered charging at his great-uncle with the Thousand Birds sword, only to have his face splattered with plasma from the other man's hand, after which his memory was completely cut off.
"Damn it! You're dead, but I'm not!"

To his surprise, the first thing Fugaku did after all that effort to wake up was to curse him and say he was going to die.
"Pfft!"

Nawaki was so angry his nose almost twisted. He threw Fugaku, who was still paralyzed, back into the water and kicked him in the butt a few times to vent his anger.
"Ugh! Help! ~ glug glug glug~"

"Stop acting. How could anyone drown in such shallow water?"

The stream here was extremely shallow; even lying down, the water didn't reach the nose. Rope Tree, with his back turned, curled his lip in disdain.

"Lemon ice!"

He wouldn't die if he were face up, but the problem is that Fugaku is currently submerged face down in the water.

"Ah! You're serious, aren't you?"

By the time Nawaki discovered it, Fugaku was already floating on the water.
Startled, he quickly dragged his rival, whose stomach was swollen like a balloon, ashore and, recalling the first aid he had learned in school, began performing CPR on Fugaku.
However, after all their efforts, they had little effect. Seeing that Fugaku's chest was heaving more and more slowly, Nawaki gritted his teeth, as if he had made up his mind.
"This was originally intended for Misaka, but now it's going to benefit you, you arrogant brat."

"These two little guys seem to get along quite well."

Sitting on a large rock by the shore, Uchiha Gin slowly opened his eyes, looking at Nawaki, who was pouting and slowly approaching Fugaku. His face was full of complex emotions.
Mikoto, you've ultimately given your heart to the wrong person.
If you were to ask him why he didn't step in to save her, wasn't Fugaku Uchiha Gin's good nephew?

If they're not going to die, why save them?
Besides, he had more important things to do.

Ignoring external distractions, Uchiha Gin stroked his chin thoughtfully, his brows furrowed deeply.
He encountered a strange prop.

Just now,

After consuming this batch of steel, the Heart Steel Treasure Chest was ready to be cleared. Thinking that the rewards for being caught off guard by a losing streak wouldn't be great, Uchiha Gin casually opened the Heart Steel Orb that had dropped.

As expected, there was nothing but plain, unadorned gold bricks.
Just as he was about to leave the system space, something that stood out conspicuously among the piles of gold bricks caught his attention.

It was a training dummy that you could see anywhere in the training ground, the only difference being that it had a green hat that was incredibly mocking, making you want to punch it at first glance.
Driven by curiosity, Uchiha Gin clicked on the dummy's information.

Training Dummy: An indestructible target; using it for training will yield unexpected and amazing results. (Upgradeable)

Gone?

That's it?

Looking at this new tool, Uchiha Gin fell into deep thought.
For some reason, he had a bad feeling that this thing wearing a bright green Teemo hat was going to mess with him.

"Anything produced by the system must be of high quality."

Suddenly, the system, which had been silent for a long time, spoke up, as if it had sensed Uchiha Gin's dilemma and specially came out to give him a heart-saving pill.

Uchiha Gin's expression stiffened upon hearing this; it would have been better if the system hadn't said anything.
This is even more suspicious!

"Bang bang~"

After kicking the dummy a couple of times, Uchiha Gin found that it was indeed quite sturdy, just as described.
"Am I overthinking it?"

After waiting for a long time without triggering the so-called miraculous effect, Uchiha Gin blinked in confusion, his serious expression gradually fading.

It's just an item I got from a low-level treasure chest.
After figuring it out, he calmed down and prepared to leave the system space, but as soon as he turned around, he suddenly stopped.
Of course, it wasn't because of the belated miraculous effect; he was simply a little worried and wanted to try the tool on someone else.
"Well, we happen to have two lab rats here~" Uchiha Gin nodded with a smile, mentioning the training dummies that were the subject of much ridicule.
In reality, Uchiha Gin slowly opened his eyes, a miniature training dummy appearing in his hand.

"Let's go~"

Looking up at the two little ones who were sticking things together, he raised one hand and unleashed a burst of pure life energy, which landed precisely in the body of Fugaku, whose face was contorted in pain.

"Smack smack~"

"No no no!"

Nourished by life energy, Fugaku quickly regained consciousness. Sensing something was amiss, he abruptly opened his eyes, only to be struck dumb by what he saw; his entire body turned to ashes.

"Smack~ Huh? You're awake! Using CPR definitely worked!"

Upon noticing Fugaku's awakening, Nawaki, his face beaming with delight, pursed his lips, looking as if he wanted more.

"You idiot, what have you done? Ugh! Ugh! Ugh!"

Fugaku kicked away his savior and plunged into the icy stream, attempting to cleanse his defiled body and soul.
"Waaaaah, my first kiss!"

After a long while, Fugaku rose from the water, his empty eyes staring blankly at the azure sky, his heart filled with despair for the rest of his life.

"It's as if no one is any different."

Rope Tree, who had just rinsed his mouth, raised his head with a resentful expression.

"Do you think I wanted to? It was only to save your dog's life."

"Who caused my drowning?"

"Uh, anyway, it wasn't me."

Seeing Nawaki's evasive demeanor, Fugaku's eyes gradually turned a faint crimson. Under the intense stimulation of losing his first kiss, his two-tomoe Sharingan underwent an evolution.
"As long as... as long as you are erased, no one will know about this."

Fugaku Uchiha, three tomoe, done!
After advancing to the next level, his chilling eye power erupted instantly. Sensing the oppressive force rushing towards him, Rope Tree's expression tightened, and he immediately assumed a fighting stance.

At the same time, his small hand reached for the backpack at his waist, where his trump card for survival was hidden.

"Is this how you Uchiha people treat your saviors?"

"You stole my first kiss that I gave to Misaka, what kind of benefactor are you?!"

Fugaku's emotions were still escalating; the tomoe in his eyes spun rapidly under the stimulation of these emotions, almost sticking together.
"Don't fight~ Don't fight~ What are all the good things about Misaka? Whoever answers correctly will get some of Misaka's private photos~"

Just as the tense atmosphere between the two was about to reach its peak, Uchiha Gin descended from the sky, stopping a bloody incident while also interrupting his nephew's advancement.
"Give it to me!" *2
The tense atmosphere dissipated instantly. Fugaku slowly closed his bloodshot eyes, a belated wave of dizziness nearly causing him to collapse to his knees.
"Phew, I thought I was going to die!"

Having escaped unscathed, Nawaki immediately breathed a sigh of relief and quietly stuffed the kunai engraved with the Flying Thunder God mark back into his backpack.

"Uncle, why were you doing OMO over there just now?"

Fugaku, head bowed in dejection, asked the belatedly arriving Uchiha Gin,
"Why should adults interfere in children's affairs?"

Uchiha Gin shrugged, indicating that he was an open-minded parent who never interfered in the private lives of his juniors.
"And you seem to be really enjoying it."

"Who's enjoying this?! Ugh!"

Unpleasant memories flooded back, and Fugaku couldn't help but gag a few times. He then turned his head and glared fiercely at Nawaki.
"This matter is known only to heaven, earth, you, me, and my great-uncle. If you dare to leak it out, I'll make sure you never have a moment's peace again!"

"Pah! As if nobody cares to say that."

Rope Tree spat, his expression no better.
"Alright, let's put aside your grudges now. You've rested enough, let's continue our cultivation."

Upon hearing this, the two who had been at odds immediately put aside their differences, stood in a row, and stared intently at Uchiha Gin.

Whether it was your first kiss or not is no longer important; cultivation is the most important thing.

"We're ready!" *2
As they spoke, wind and thunder began to surge in their hands, preparing for the second wave of challenges.
"Bean sack!"

However, just as the two bent down to find an angle to attack, Uchiha Gin, whom they had identified as their target, raised his hand first.

"?"

"Now, let's change players!"

Uchiha Gin slowly raised the miniature training dummy in his hand and, amidst the two men's puzzled gazes, tossed it onto the ground in front of them.
"Bang~"

As a puff of white smoke rose, a mockingly green-hatted training dummy appeared before them.
"Grandpa Yin, this is... Ah! What is this mannequin?"

The outspoken Nawaki, looking at the mannequin that seemed to radiate an aura of irritation, almost blurted out his true feelings.
Fortunately, Fugaku, who was standing nearby, reacted quickly and pinched him, thus successfully changing his mind and avoiding an unnecessary beating.
"Hmph~ This is a training ninja tool that I, your grandpa, have spent many years developing. It's just entered the testing phase. You two are in luck~"

Gin Uchiha glared at Nawaki with a warning look, then nodded seriously, expertly attributing the system's gadgets to his own patent.
"Training ninja tools?"

Isn't this just like the mannequins you see everywhere on the training field?
Wearing a hat has become your exclusive right?

Fugaku and Nawaki exchanged a glance, both seeing deep skepticism on each other's faces.
"Don't you believe me? Go up and try it."

In truth, Uchiha Gin wasn't entirely sure either. If it really didn't work, he'd just say that these users didn't understand the product.

"Ok."

Rope Tree pursed his lips, stepped forward first, looked the training dummy around, and asked hesitantly,

"Grandpa Yin, how do I use this?"

Since it's a high-tech ninja tool, shouldn't there be an instruction manual?

How would Uchiha Gin know? He only had one more piece of useless information than Nawaki and the other two.

"Uh, just imagine it's the person who bullies you, and you'll just take them down!"

He paused for a few seconds, his eyes darting around, and casually made up a comment as a usage guide.

"Then... take the kidneys and liver!"

The buzzing, incomplete Rasengan reappeared; being the "debunker," its power was naturally much greater than before.
Following Uchiha Gin's instructions, Nawaki's gaze sharpened.
Memories of being a human blender at Honey Ice Cream these past few days resurfaced, and a strange hatred welled up in my heart.
The green hat on the mannequin in front of him seemed to transform into a head of fluffy curly hair, and the Rasengan in his hand spun even more vigorously.

"Aaaaaah! Give me back my wages!"

"Boom!"

A violent explosion rang out, accompanied by Nawaki's heartfelt roar.
When the dust settled, Rope Tree, battered and bruised by the gusts of wind, slumped to the ground, while the training dummy, the target of his attack, remained unharmed, still sporting its mocking expression.

"Huhu."

"Are you OK?"

Fugaku looked at Nawaki, who was breathing heavily, and asked with a frown,

"Strange. This feeling..."

However, Rope Tree seemed not to hear, looking down at the "poop" mark on his palm that had completely faded in color, his wide eyes filled with astonishment.
"Did you hit your head or something?"

Yay! Now no one will be competing with me for Misaka!
Rope Tree wasn't angry. Instead, he gently shook his head and said with a strange expression,

"No, I think I understand." (End of Chapter)