[Triggered Quest: As a Scholar, You Encounter a Wounded Fox Spirit.]
[Quest: On your way to the imperial exams, you come across an injured fox spirit. Please take good care of it.]
[Reward: The Fox Spirit's Gratitude.]
The system's voice made Kaito freeze in his tracks, his face darkening instantly as his mind raced.
Oh, great…
First, it was supposed to be a cultivation world, and now you're throwing Liaozhai at me?
The fox's gratitude…
Why the hell couldn't you pick someone else?!
And besides—I'm not a scholar! I'm six! Where the hell am I supposed to go for imperial exams in the Shinobi World?!
Sasuke, walking behind him, noticed Kaito had stopped and was about to ask what was wrong—but then his eyes widened in shock when he saw Kaito's head.
"Kaito?!"
"Why is your head smoking?!"
Sasuke was genuinely worried—he swore he'd never seen anything like this before.
"I'm fine!"
"Let's go home! Now!"
Kaito's peripheral vision caught Naruto stumbling toward them in the distance, and suddenly, images of fox spirits from various dramas flashed through his mind.
The two figures overlapped, making six-year-old Kaito's face scrunch up in disgust, his entire body radiating rejection.
This damn quest… I'm not doing it!
That whole fox's gratitude thing…
He wanted nothing to do with it!
Grabbing Sasuke's hand, Kaito abruptly quickened his pace, swiftly retreating from the scene.
They moved so fast that Naruto, struggling behind them, couldn't keep up, watching helplessly as their figures grew smaller in the distance.
Naruto strained to lift the heavy bucket, staring at the fish inside, his nose stinging.
Gritting his teeth, he set the bucket and fishing rod down, raising his hands to shout after the vanishing figures—not caring if they heard him or not.
"Hey!!""Big brother, Mr. Stuck-up! Thanks for the fish!"
"I'll definitely repay you!"
"I, Naruto Uzumaki, always keep my ninja promises!"
Sasuke and Kaito eventually heard it. The brothers' reactions were so synchronized they nearly tripped in place, only avoiding a fall by supporting each other.
"Damn it!"
"That brat... Kaito, you shouldn't have given him anything!"
Sasuke wasn't just angry about being given a nickname - he was furious that Kaito had unilaterally decided to gift their things to that blond brat.
Because...
He was the one who bought that fishing gear!!
Moreover, Sasuke was extremely dissatisfied with how the kid addressed them. If only that guy had just called him "Mr. Stuck-up" without adding "big brother" for Kaito...
He wouldn't have been this upset.
"Right!"
"I regret it too! Why don't you go ask for it back!"
Kaito rolled his eyes, staring at the system notification that popped up. He'd already lost all energy and options.
[Ding—]
[Congratulations host on completing the mission.]
[Reward: Fox's Gratitude.]
[Fox's Gratitude: Night Encounter with Fox Spirit storyline unlocked.]
At this moment, Kaito desperately wanted to say a few words to his system...
Bro, I'm begging you.
Couldn't you have given me this reward in a different world?!
Even if the fox spirit was someone else, he might have just gritted his teeth and accepted this damn reward.
Kaito's words immediately provoked strong dissatisfaction from Sasuke.
"Why should I? You're the one who gave it away! Why should I be the one to ask for it back now??"
As Sasuke spoke, he kept glancing backward before finally turning away with a cold snort, pretending not to care.
"Forget it."
"I don't care."
Though Sasuke's expression showed disdain, Kaito could tell the boy mostly felt sympathy.
He just wasn't good at expressing such emotions.
Noticing Sasuke still looking in Naruto's direction, Kaito suddenly burst out laughing.
"Tsundere brat."
"I! AM! NOT!"
Sasuke's voice suddenly rose several octaves, still adhering to the principle that volume could mask guilt.
That blond brat might have been arrogant in his speech, but his words had actually been telling them where to find more fish upstream.
Somehow...
Sasuke had never seen such an idiot before.
The kid's malnutrition and tattered clothes reminded him of many orphans in the village.
Their situations were similar.
Even in such terrible circumstances, he'd still thought to tell them where the fish were.
Stupid!
As the brothers walked home, Sasuke suddenly sighed to Kaito, as if struck by some thought.
"Kaito, you know... I wish we could grow up faster."
"Then Father wouldn't have to work so hard."
"And when we're older, we can learn lots of Ninjutsu and become really, really strong."
"Remember Father's three-tomoe Sharingan that day?"
"Maybe we can have that kind of power too."
Sasuke turned into a chatterbox along the way, enthusiastically describing powerful clan Ninjutsu, genjutsu, and the wonders of the Sharingan.
While expressing his admiration, he didn't forget to tell Kaito how great it would be if he could use Dog Clone too.
Kaito listened attentively the whole way, never interrupting Sasuke's dreams of the future.
But as they neared home, Kaito put his hands in his pockets, looked up at the sun for a few seconds, then said with slight melancholy to his naive yet foolish younger brother:"Sasuke, sometimes growing up isn't necessarily a good thing."
"You'll have countless worries and experience numerous setbacks."
At the end of his words, Kaito even wanted to tell Sasuke that strength doesn't depend on age.
But considering how discouraging that might sound to the boy, he kept it to himself.
"Tch, Kaito, you're talking just like Father and Nii-san now."
"How boring."
Young Sasuke couldn't possibly understand Kaito's words. To him, time passed unbearably slowly—so slow that even six years of childhood felt tedious.
By the time the brothers returned home, dusk had fallen. The system kept prompting him about some follow-up mission at the fox spirit's house.
Kaito scoffed at the idea. His head was already pounding enough—first thinking the system had bugged out and transported him to a xianxia world was absurd enough.
But after that Liaozhai mission just now...
He suddenly realized this wasn't a buggy system—it was more like a system running on pure bugs.
Absolutely ridiculous.
As for the follow-up mission...
Forget whether this fox repaying kindness mission was decent or not. Just the idea of him, the Uchiha clan head's son, sneaking out alone at night to find the Nine-Tails jinchūriki was practically suicidal.
No matter what, Kaito had no intention of continuing this Liaozhai series of missions.
Whatever...
Since the system could trigger missions, it meant he still had opportunities.
After Kaito and Sasuke returned home, time seemed to fast-forward. Before he knew it, a week had passed.
Itachi seemed to have received another mission, but Kaito still remembered to perform his routine divination before his brother left.
After that, he didn't see him again.
As for his foolish little brother Sasuke...
After learning he couldn't master the Dog Clone technique, the stubborn boy refused to accept this harsh reality. For several days straight, he kept running off to the Inuzuka clan's kennels.
As for Kaito himself...
He'd scoured the entire Konoha—from the Inuzuka kennels to the Nara clan's pharmacy, even the Akimichi barbecue joint—but triggered no new missions.
On this day, as Kaito went to fetch Sasuke from the kennels as usual, the system's familiar chime unexpectedly rang in his mind when passing by a flower shop.
[Ding—]
...