Chapter 5 You are a heartless person.
After your thirteenth birthday, undercurrents began to stir within the Uchiha clan. You keenly sensed these subtle changes and the damp atmosphere before the storm. Sasuke was probably the only one in the entire family who was still kept in the dark.
He thought everything was normal, and went to school happily every day, working hard to get good grades, unaware that his family was in trouble, and with an irreconcilable problem.
You seem to be in the eye of a typhoon, appearing calm on the surface, always observing everything from the perspective of an outsider.
As for whether you've ever thought about helping the Uchiha, well, they were willing to take you in back then to repay a favor to your parents, so now nobody owes anyone anything.
You have a clear understanding of your own identity, so you don't think of yourself as an Uchiha just because you've lived in the Uchiha clan for a few years. It's valuable to have self-awareness.
On the other hand, even though you don't know when the storm will arrive, you still go to work as usual every day. After all, your job is not complicated, and you can take the opportunity to slack off and remotely control your business empire.
Previously, you bought a jewelry brand that was on the verge of bankruptcy and even chose Nanako, a newly debuted female artist, to be its spokesperson.
With your overwhelming promotion and advertising, the photos of that popular singer for the jewelry quickly appeared in newsstands, bookstores, and even convenience stores. During that time, even people in Konoha were discussing that jewelry photo set.
Seeing such a spectacular scene, you know that your advertising has worked; this brand can be said to have been brought back to life.
After checking the sales figures of this jewelry brand's new collection, you glanced at the orphanage you established last year. This orphanage, located in Kirigakure in the Land of Water, took in many war orphans. The area was plagued by war for many years, and your orphanage quickly absorbed many orphans.
Don't be fooled by how smoothly things seem now. In the beginning, you needed the approval of the local water management bureau to build the orphanage. The bureau was stubborn and kept questioning your motives as an outsider to establish an orphanage in the area. You submitted your application several times, and it was rejected every time.
Finally, you got angry and, as a major taxpayer in the Land of Water, wrote a letter to the Daimyo of the Land of Water. As a result, the procedures that had been stalled for a long time were given the green light at the behest of the Daimyo. Not to mention an orphanage, even if you wanted to build a military factory there, the Mizukage probably wouldn't object.
In short, that's how the orphanage was established. You not only took in war orphans, but also other stray cats and dogs, truly realizing the goal of every child in the orphanage having a cat or a dog.
Running an orphanage is definitely different from opening a shop, especially since you have to take care of so many children. Fortunately, you are wealthy and have hired a lot of employees, many of whom are retired ninjas, who can teach the orphans some self-defense skills.
You didn't do this entirely out of kindness, after all, you're not the kind of person who's indiscriminately kind; you had other motives.
Those children with fighting talent will be recruited into your mercenary team, while those without talent will work in your factory when they grow up. You have a clear plan for the future of those orphans.
Although working in a factory and tightening screws might seem like a dead-end job to people in your world, in such chaotic times, having a stable job to support yourself is already a very fortunate thing.
Not only you, but even the children living in the orphanage think so. When they are six or seven years old, they will undergo corresponding physical fitness and talent tests. Bai accidentally exposed his bloodline limit during that talent test. He looked at the ice shards gathering around him, his expression stiff, and painful memories of the past surged into his mind again.
He'll be exposed by accident, he'll be driven away, he'll be hated, what should he do... will he be forced to wander again? He finally found a place that would accept him.
The young child, breathing trembling, looked helplessly at the employee in charge of the test, unable to utter a complete sentence, "I...uh, I..."
But the employee simply noted down his information and then said, "Next."
He was not disliked, not ostracized, and... when the other children heard that his abilities could be of use to the orphanage's owner, they looked at him with envy.
For the first time in his life, Bai suddenly realized that his abilities did not necessarily mean misfortune; at least there were people who were looking forward to his growth.
That's why they trained so hard, day after day, without ever slacking off. The owner who founded the orphanage was very mysterious; it seemed that no one had ever seen that person. Even the orphanage director only received letters written by your own hand, nothing more.
Children have such rich curiosity and imagination. Bai pieced together your appearance from the small clues he collected and drew your portrait with crayons.
“Gro—you also think that's what that person looks like, right?” He held the grayish, long-haired rabbit in his arms. It was his pet, which had almost become someone else's meal. Fortunately, he took in the injured rabbit in time, and the orphanage staff had no objection to him taking in a rabbit as a pet.
He and Glo both love it here.
Bai lowered his head and rubbed the rabbit's fluffy head, whispering, "I wonder when I'll be able to meet that person..." He had been looking forward to it for a long time, and this anticipation would not fade with the passage of time and the increase of age, but would only grow stronger.
You, far away in Konoha, have just finished a day's work. It sounds like you've been very busy and tired, but actually, your job today was just helping to organize the bookshelves, which was very easy.
You even have time to pick Sasuke up from the ninja academy. Although he says things like, "I'm past the age where I need someone to pick me up from school," you can be sure that if you don't pick him up for a long time, he'll anxiously ask why you haven't come to pick him up lately. His awkwardness is just like his brother's, no wonder they're brothers.
He held your hand and talked about what happened at school. You responded occasionally. He said he almost got into a fight with a classmate today. Actually, the classmate didn't mean to fight. It was just that the classmate smiled and said that you would definitely marry his brother Itachi in the future. That sentence was the fuse.
Why does everyone think you're going to marry his brother? Even his mother, Mikoto, is no exception. He even saw her looking through a magazine about wedding dresses last time. When he asked her who was getting married, she just smiled and didn't say anything. Only after he pressed her did she say, "Sasuke, you'll find out later."
What do you mean he'll find out later? Is there anything I can't tell him now? How annoying.
You've been a constant presence in his life since he had his last memory. It's not that he thinks you're unworthy of his brother or anything like that; he just can't quite imagine you two getting married.
He hates this change, as if you'll become closer to his brother.
"Aki, will you marry your brother in the future?" Sasuke asked tentatively.
"What?"
He said something surprising: you hadn't even considered this matter, marriage, especially with Uchiha Itachi. To be honest, you preferred the obedient and well-behaved Sasuke to him. You shook your head and said, "No."
Sasuke chuckled, but soon added, "You don't mean you won't marry my brother, or that you won't marry anyone in the future?"
"Is this important?" you ask back.
"Yes, that's important. I want to know the answer to this question."
"Really..." you said, "Then I can't tell you either, you guess for yourself."
Sasuke's cheeks were puffed up with anger, and he was still sulking at dinner. When he saw that you really ignored him during dinner, he came to your bedroom after dinner and specifically told you that he was going to give you the silent treatment.
You said "Oh" without even looking up, engrossed in reading the magazine. Sasuke reiterated, "I really want to give you the cold shoulder."
You snapped the magazine shut, looked at him, and just when he thought you were going to say something else, you simply said, "Remember to close the door when you leave."
Sasuke angrily grabbed the doorknob, then flung his hand away, and the door was gently closed.
They're quite obedient, you know.
Unlike the boisterous Sasuke, his brother comes to your room with absolute silence. You've just finished washing up and are listening to music when he silently circles around to your side like a black cat.
He went to the Uchiha gathering after dinner today. You don't know much about these kinds of gatherings, but you always feel that they're similar to a group of villagers getting together to chat about trivial things.
Itachi would look so serious about this, which you find quite funny.
"Is there something that makes you happy?" Itachi asked, sitting cross-legged on the rug beside your bed, looking like a black cat in his black suit.
"You're actually quite amusing when you're all frowning."
"You know about the internal divisions within the Uchiha clan... why..."
Why can you still laugh? Didn't you feel any sense of belonging to the Uchiha clan after growing up here?
He wanted to ask that, but when he met your smiling eyes, he knew it wouldn't make much sense. You're a carefree person, and there's no one worth caring about.
Even if the Uchiha clan were truly wiped out, you'd probably just raise an eyebrow, pack your things, and leave without a second thought.
This is unfair, it's so unfair!
He asked with a hint of resentment, "Don't you feel even the slightest bit reluctant?"
With your hands braced against the edge of the bed, you look down at him slightly and say, "If you're looking for advice, I advise you to put away your arrogance."
Am I arrogant?
"Yes, you always think you can find the best solution, and you always like to arrange other people's lives. Don't think I don't know, you even tried to arrange your brother's life. Isn't that arrogance?"
He lowered his eyes, looking so dejected that it was almost endearing. You ruffled his hair and said, "You look much better now."
A note from the author:
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