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

The turmoil in the Land of Waterfall came and went quickly, only staying on the ninja world's trending list for two days before fading into obscurity. Like a pebble thrown into water, it stirred up ripples but eventually returned to calm.

Konoha

"Big cousin, did something happy happen to you?"

Madara Uchiha, who had arranged to have ramen with Gin Uchiha for lunch, couldn't help but ask his cousin, who had a strange smile on his face, what he was asking.

These past few days, he could always see a strange smile on Uchiha Gin's salty face. At first, he didn't feel anything was wrong, but after smiling for several days in a row, Uchiha Madara felt a chill down his spine and physical discomfort.

"Haha, is it really that obvious?"

Still basking in the joy of having single-handedly brought about the birth of the Tailed Beasts, Uchiha Gin, upon hearing his cousin's question, subconsciously touched the corner of his mouth that he couldn't suppress.

"Um... to be honest, it was a pretty disgusting laugh."

Madara Uchiha didn't hold back either, after all, he loved to tell the truth.

"I didn't bring any money, this meal is on you."

It was one thing for him to whisper behind my back before, but now he dares to openly attack me. He's finally grown too big for his britches!

"I'm already living paycheck to paycheck, how dare you exploit me?"

Touching his empty wallet, Madara Uchiha couldn't help but mutter to himself that he was now essentially paying to work, but his wallet was spinning backwards, and the more he worked, the poorer he became.

"You're a ninja, for goodness' sake. Why don't you take on some missions to earn some extra money?"

Uchiha Gin was well aware of Madara Uchiha's current financial situation. Ever since his cousin became a Hokage candidate, he had dumped all the clan's affairs on Izuna.

The Uchiha clan has always been known for its integrity and fairness. As long as you don't participate in clan affairs, you cannot enjoy the profits from the clan's business, which caused Madara Uchiha's plan to become a parasite to fail.

Furthermore, being busy with work, he had no interest in carrying out missions to earn rewards. All of these factors, along with some uncontrollable reason, led to Uchiha Madara gradually becoming a poor household in Konoha, living a life of frugality.

"How can that be! What is my status now? You want me to go on missions?"

"What's my status? A temporary worker who's paid to work."

Seeing Madara Uchiha's arrogant expression, Gin Uchiha rolled his eyes and mercilessly pierced through him.

"Cough cough cough"

Upon hearing this, Madara Uchiha's expression stiffened. He coughed a few times to cover his embarrassment, then lowered his head and began to fight over the ramen he hadn't finished eating on the table.

Uchiha Gin shook his head with a sigh, lamenting that his younger cousin probably wouldn't be able to take off his long robe.

"Here, I know you're embarrassed to take money from the family, so take this and use it first. Don't lose face in front of that white-haired guy."

In the end, Uchiha Gin couldn't bring himself to watch his younger cousin suffer. He took out the thank-you money that Hyuga Tenyo had given him earlier from his bag, pulled out a wad of it, and stuffed it into Uchiha Madara's hand.

"Big Cousin"

Touching the substantial banknotes in his hand, Madara Uchiha raised his head with a complex expression, feeling a warm glow in his heart.

As expected, my older cousin loves me the most! I'll definitely take good care of him when he gets old!

"Alright, take it now, and remember not to lend it to Hashirama again."

That's right, the culprit behind Madara Uchiha's current poverty is none other than Hashirama Senju, who appears honest and kind on weekdays but actually becomes a gambling addict in Konoha after get off work.

As long as Hashirama Senju speaks up, Madara Uchiha would pull out two copper coins and lend them to him, even if he had to turn his underwear upside down.

"Absolutely not!"

Unless that hot mom from Harbin kneels down and begs me~

"That's good, let's go after we finish eating~"

Seeing Madara Uchiha's confident assurance, Gin Uchiha felt relieved.

Walking down the streets of Konoha, Madara Uchiha looked at Gin Uchiha, who was traveling with him, with a puzzled expression.

"Big cousin, isn't this the way home?"

"I just need to go to the Hokage Building to take care of some things."

The two chatted idly all the way until they reached the entrance of the mission hall. Uchiha Gin waved goodbye to his younger cousin, but before he could turn around, he suddenly heard a surprised voice behind him.

"Master! I've finally met you again!"

Master?

Uchiha Gin frowned. Apart from the little strategist, he had never taken on any disciples. Even the future F6 were just his students.

Turning his head in confusion, Uchiha Gin finally saw who was the guy who had been randomly claiming someone as his master. He rolled his eyes and said,

"I never said I was going to take you as my apprentice, you lecherous brat!"

"I'm not a pervert, my name is Maruboshi Kosuke, Master!"

"If you're not a pervert, why would you take on that kind of mission?"

Upon being teased by Uchiha Gin, Maruboshi Kosuke immediately blushed, then waved his hands repeatedly.

"That was just a moment of curiosity; I've already changed my ways!"

Upon hearing this, Uchiha Gin looked the ten-year-old boy up and down, noticing that his clothes were somewhat disheveled and there were several bloodstains on his cheeks, as if he had just been in a battle. He then asked,

"What's wrong with you?"

"Hehe, just finished a mission to wipe out some mountain bandits."

Uchiha Gin then suddenly realized what was going on, and the way he looked at the kid subtly changed.

"What? Are there any naked female bandits among the mountain bandits?"

"Master, could you please not bring this up again?"

Upon hearing that Uchiha Gin was taking the opportunity to make fun of him again, Maruboshi Kosuke covered his face in embarrassment, as if his embarrassing past had been exposed.

"Don't call me Master. Let's get to know each other formally. My name is Uchiha Gin, and I'm a philanthropist."

"My master is actually an Uchiha! I had no idea!"

Maruboshi Kosuke, who finally learned Uchiha Gin's real name, was shocked. He applied his usual stereotypes about the Uchiha clan to Uchiha Gin and found that none of them matched.

"I told you not to call me master, just call me Gintoki~"

"receive!"

"Tell me, how did you escape from the cycle of lust?"

After getting acquainted, Uchiha Gin, with his hands behind his head, looked at Maruboshi Kosuke, who was covered in injuries, with some curiosity. He was curious to know how this kid had come to his senses.

"Oh, I'm so miserable~"

Indeed, after witnessing the tragic fate of Hyuga Tenyou, Maruhoshi Kosuke was left with an indelible shadow on his young mind, especially the old aunt Akimichi who resembled Hoshino, who repeatedly woke him from nightmares.

So he swore that he would never be interested in peeping again, and would never take on any missions as a female bath guard.

Tsk~ Tianyao's brother didn't take the blame for nothing. He successfully brought a good Konoha man who had gone astray back on the right track. It's a great deed!

"Excuse me, Gintoki, I have to go turn in my mission. I'll treat you to dinner when I get my reward!"

Maruhoshi Kosuke glanced at the time, quickly apologized to Uchiha Gin, and ran towards the mission hall.

Watching the boy's hurried figure, Uchiha Gin scratched his head with some regret. If he hadn't just finished eating with his cousin, he would definitely have given this kid a good beating.

"See you again someday~"

Without waiting for Maruboshi Kosuke, Uchiha Gin turned and walked into the Hokage Building next door.

After greeting the guards, Uchiha Gin easily made his way to the Hokage's office.

"Bang Bang Bang~"

"Come in!"

Upon entering, the two people in the office simultaneously looked up. Seeing that it was Uchiha Gin, and then Hashirama Senju sitting on the Hokage's throne, their furrowed brows relaxed slightly, and they stood up with smiles.

"Brother Yin, you've finally arrived!"

"You messaged me so early in the morning, what's up?"

Uchiha Gin walked familiarly to the tea table in the Hokage's office, rummaged through the hidden sugar, and happily made himself a cup of sweet tea.

"We called you here to ask about the Tailed Beasts."

With a twitching expression, Tobirama Senju, seeing Gin Uchiha wasting tea leaves so recklessly, felt a pang of heartache and spoke up.

"Tailed Beasts? What happened to the Tailed Beasts?"

Taking a sip of the sweet tea, Uchiha Gin asked a question he already knew the answer to.

"Wedges we asked you to plant before, will they help us track down the location of the Tailed Beasts?"

Tobirama Senju didn't beat around the bush and went straight to the point: he wanted to use the Karma planted by Hikaru Uchiha on the tailed beasts to retrieve the Seven-Tails that had disappeared in the Land of Waterfall.

"cannot."

Uchiha Gin answered directly, without the slightest hesitation.

"Tsk! What's the point of planting wedges then!"

Unexpectedly, Uchiha Gin answered so quickly, and the answer wasn't what he wanted. Tobirama Senju immediately stood up in anger.

"Heh~ The ninja world is so vast, the range of our Uchiha clan's sensing knuckles is limited. Unless the tailed beasts are nearby, forget about it."

Uchiha Gin was telling the truth; the Karma seal that Uchiha Hikaru planted on the tailed beast could only be sensed from a certain distance.

"This is troublesome."

Upon hearing this answer, Tobirama Senju calmed down. As a master of ninjutsu, he could naturally tell whether what Gin Uchiha said was true or false. He then frowned and murmured to himself.

"Whose tailed beast escaped?"

Pretending to know nothing, Uchiha Gin asked curiously.

"It's the Seven-Tails. A rogue ninja from Takigakure took the Seven-Tails away."

Hashirama Senju, who had dealt with Takigakure before, explained with a slightly somber expression.

"Takigakure?"

Since the act had to be convincing, seeing Uchiha Gin's bewildered expression, Senju Hashirama immediately recounted the whole story.

"Phew~ It is indeed too dangerous. A crazed rogue ninja who controls a tailed beast is equivalent to a desperate thug wielding 6000 billion explosive tags. I can't even imagine what horrific things he might do."

After hearing the story of the Seven-Tails, Uchiha Gin said with a solemn expression,

"That's what we think too!"

While it's strange to specify the number of detonating tags to 6000 billion, this isn't the time to delve into such unimportant details.

"So what do you want to do now?"

The wedge planted is not useful for the time being, and Uchiha Gin is eager to know what the Senju brothers will do next.

"Tobirama, what do you think?"

Hashirama Senju, who wasn't good at coming up with solutions, could only turn to his thoughtful younger brother for help.

"It seems there really is no other way."

After frowning and pondering for a moment, Tobirama Senju raised his head and looked at Gin Uchiha, who was sipping his sweet tea.

"What do you want to do!"

Feeling himself being stared at, Uchiha Gin put down his teacup and looked at Senju Tobirama with a questioning gaze.

That white-haired guy definitely wasn't hiding anything good.

"I want to issue a mission in the name of the village, ordering the Uchiha clan to search for the Seven-Tails."

The only option now is for the Uchiha clan to go out and search for the Seven-Tails, narrowing down the search area as much as possible, and using the Karma seal to find and bring back the missing Seven-Tails.

ha?

Uchiha Gin was extremely tempted by the mission, but upon seeing the piercing gaze of Senju Tobirama, he immediately spoke up.

"Are many people aware of this information?"

"not much."

As Tobirama Senju spoke, he held up five fingers.

"Only five people know? That's good, that's good~"

"They are the five major powers."

"Snapped!"

Uchiha Gin slammed his hand on the table, his eyes flashing with danger as he looked at Senju Tobirama.

"What's the point of even trying to grab one? Other places probably already left!"

"Indeed, according to intelligence, several other countries have already sent personnel to Taki no Kuni."

As he perused the intelligence report in his hand, Hashirama Senju spoke up in response.

"This is going to be difficult."

"It's a bit late to set off now, but your Uchiha clan comes with its own radar, so your search speed will definitely far surpass that of the ninjas from other countries."

"What you said, white-haired one, makes some sense, but do you really think the ninja sent to find the Tailed Beasts would be some weakling like Weak Kun?"

"With a peace agreement in place, they won't act easily."

Sensing that Uchiha Gin was worried about conflict with ninjas from other countries, Senju Hashirama quickly spoke up to support the peace agreement he had initiated.

"Heh, conflicts that occur during the mission are not covered by the peace agreement you signed."

Uchiha Gin is absolutely right. The peace agreement signed at the Five Kage Summit only stipulated that countries should not engage in war, but it did not include conflicts that occurred during missions within the scope of war.

After all, missions have a commissioning party. If the mission involves assassinating someone, and that person happens to have hired ninjas from another country as bodyguards, then a conflict will inevitably arise between the two. Such a conflict arising from a mission certainly cannot be used as an excuse for war.

"Phew~ Even so, we can't let a rogue ninja possess a tailed beast."

Having figured out the stakes, Tobirama Senju felt the matter had become more complicated, but the thought of the tailed beasts being in the hands of rogue ninjas kept him from escaping his sense of crisis.

"How about I take some men to check the situation first? Just in case the intelligence is wrong and the Seven-Tails actually took advantage of the rogue ninja's chaos to sneak out and have some fun."

Seeing that he couldn't avoid it, Uchiha Gin had no choice but to nod in agreement.

How many people are you planning to bring?

The Senju brothers were well aware of Uchiha Gin's strength. Due to the "side effects" of the Yin Seal, this curly-haired man was at most an elite Jonin. Against a Tailed Beast, he might have a fighting chance due to the restraint of his eye techniques, but it was hard to say how he would fare against ninjas from other countries.

"With so many people around, and our mission being clandestine, I'll just take two people with me."

Several figures flashed through Uchiha Gin's mind. He first ruled out his two cousins. His older cousin had a bad temper, and if they encountered foreign ninjas, he might suddenly fly into a Gundam, causing unnecessary trouble. His younger cousin was busy with government affairs and chasing girls, so he couldn't spare the time. As for people without the Mangekyou Sharingan, he didn't even consider them.

So, only Uchiha Hikaru and Uchiha Guri can be taken out.

"Are you bringing Mada and Izuna?"

Upon hearing Uchiha Gin mention two people, Senju Hashirama immediately asked anxiously, indicating that he was well aware of Uchiha Madara's temperament and worried that the other party might cause trouble outside.

"No, my cousins ​​are all quite busy, so I won't bother them. I'll take Xiaoguang and Xiaozhili with me."

"Can."

Tobirama Senju still had information on the two women. He was quite at ease with these two Mangekyou Sharingan users; the only one he needed to worry about was Uchiha Gin, that curly-haired guy.

"I'll go tell them first that I'll come here tomorrow to pick up my task."

"etc!"

Just as Uchiha Gin turned to leave, Senju Tobirama, his expression slightly somber, spoke up.

"What's wrong now?"

That white-haired guy has so many problems, why don't you go by yourself!

"Take this kunai. If there is any danger, activate the incantation on it."

Tobirama Senju rummaged behind his back for a moment and finally pulled out a plain kunai, but in the handhold, a spell was crookedly written.

"Oh?"

Catching the kunai thrown at him, Uchiha Gin raised an eyebrow. Sensing the familiar energy emanating from the kunai, he looked at Senju Tobirama with some surprise.

"Don't overthink it. I'm just afraid you'll be captured, taken back, have your limbs cut off, and be turned into a ruthless breeding machine."

"Can't you wish me well for once?"

After hearing Tobirama Senju's lame excuse, Gin Uchiha rolled his eyes, but still put the kunai into his bag.

"Get ready quickly, we're leaving tomorrow!"

After finishing his business, Tobirama Senju immediately dismissed the guest, leaving Hashirama Senju scratching his head awkwardly and offering apologetic smiles to Gin Uchiha.

"Tobirama has always been outspoken, so please don't mind him, Gin-san."

"It's okay, thank you!"

Uchiha Gin smiled and shook his head, then turned his gaze to Senju Tobirama, who had his arms crossed, waved to him, and left the Hokage's office.

"This curly hair must not have any problems."

Once Uchiha Gin's footsteps faded into the corridor, Senju Tobirama's cold eyes gradually softened, revealing a rare hint of worry as he spoke with ease.

"Tobirama, don't worry, Gin-nii will be alright~"

Seeing his younger brother's worried expression, Hashirama Senju stepped forward and patted him on the shoulder reassuringly. He wasn't worried about Gin Uchiha's mission at all.

The Uchiha Hikari that Uchiha Gin was going to bring was a woman who could instantly kill a wood clone with half of her own strength in one blow.

The cold drink shop at the entrance of the village

"Ding-a-ling~"

"Welcome, Mr. Light Silver?"

As Uchiha Gin lifted the curtain, the purple-haired girl who was busy at the bar looked up. She had only said half of "Welcome" when the words caught in her throat, and a blush involuntarily rose on her face, which was quickly covered up by her cool expression.

"Little Zhili, I've missed you so much~"

"Mr. Yin, you have used up your quota for this month."

"Tsk, don't be so heartless, little administrator. Rules are rules, but people are flexible!"

Thinking he could freeload off his good disciple, Uchiha Gin pouted and sat down in front of her, his elbows propping up his face, his eyes full of pleading.

"Phew~ Don't look at me like that, this is all for your health."

Looking at the pitiful, fleece-like Uchiha Gin, Uchiha Rinpoche, who was almost tempted to soften his stance, took a deep breath, threw his pity aside, and resolutely shook his head in refusal.

"The management remains as strict as ever."

Knowing it was pointless, Uchiha Gin smacked his lips, pointed at the beverage machine behind the girl, and said...

"Then give me a glass of lemonade, I have something to discuss with you."

"Oh?"

Unexpectedly, Uchiha Gin had other things to do. Uchiha Gin turned around and took a glass of lemon water that he had prepared in advance. He paused while mixing the honey syrup.

"You can only have one drink, and don't tell Hikaru-senpai."

As she spoke, to Gin's delighted surprise, the girl scooped out three large spoonfuls and put them into the lemon water, then handed it over.

"Little Zhili is the cutest in the world~"

The resulting bright yellow lemonade filled Uchiha Gin with delight, and he showered it with lavish praise.

"Ton ton ton~"

"Phew~ I'm alive again!"

After downing the overly sweet lemonade in one gulp, Uchiha Gin felt every pore on his body groan with pleasure.

"Mr. Yin, what's the matter?"

The girl, tilting her head, looked at Uchiha Gin, who was thoroughly enjoying himself, and a charming smile slightly appeared on her cool lips.

"The organization has a mission for you!"

"I'm willing to do anything Mr. Gin wants me to do~"

That night, in Uchiha Gin's room, an epic duel was taking place; the loser would pay a price more precious than life itself.

Uchiha Gin struggled to sit up; the sheets beneath him were already soaked. Leaning against the headboard, he adjusted himself into a comfortable position and reached out to stroke the defeated Uchiha Hikaru beside him.

"Xiao Guang."

"Oh, I called you the wrong name. They changed people the third time."

Uchiha Gin felt a sharp pain in the bird's nest, which startled him so much that he quickly changed his words.

"Little Dark!"

"Tell us, you must want something from us, otherwise you wouldn't have asked us to be your delivery riders."

Uchiha An, having released Uchiha Ginichi, lifted his head from under the covers, his eyes filled with a strong sense of mockery.

"Here's the thing, I have a mission to go out on, and I'd like to take you with me."

"Can you fight?"

"Probably~"

If they encounter search teams from other countries, and these are not acquaintances, conflict is likely to occur.

Of course, even acquaintances can be unreliable.

"That's fine. I'm itching to get out of staying in the village all this time."

It had been a long time since she had sparred with Tsukihime Otsutsuki, and Hikari Uchiha had not found a suitable opponent in the village. Facing familiar people, she was hesitant to play freely, and the restlessness she had been suppressing made her eager to try this mission.

"Phew~ Time to sleep, I have to get up early tomorrow!"

Hearing the girl's decisive answer, Uchiha Gin immediately felt that his hard work had not been in vain. He breathed a sigh of relief, pulled up the covers, and was about to fall asleep. After several hours of tossing and turning, even the strongest kidneys would be worn out.

However, a small, pale hand appeared in the darkness, stopping him from covering himself with the blanket. The girl, whose demeanor was completely different from before, wore a faint shyness on her face, but her eyes revealed an undisguised longing.

"Ah Yin, it's my turn now." (End of Chapter)