One innocent gesture… and a mother's imagination detonates like a paper bomb.
"Girlfriend? You mean Itachi already has a girlfriend now?"
Even though Uchiha Mikoto had mentally prepared herself, Ayato's words still hit her like a surprise attack.
"Of course," Ayato replied calmly, as if stating a simple fact.
"And how would you know that?" Mikoto eyed him suspiciously.
"This is an Odd Jobs Shop, after all." Ayato slid a wooden placard toward her. "Feel free to read our rules."
The board resembled a menu, neatly listing the shop's services and guidelines.
"…Anything can be consulted here?" Mikoto murmured doubtfully as she scanned the text.
"Absolutely. Honest business. Fair for young and old alike."
As usual, Ayato poured her a cup of tea and placed it gently in front of her.
"…This aroma…" Mikoto suddenly paused.
She had smelled this fragrance before.
Wasn't this the finest tea imported from the Land of Tea?
And within Konoha, only one person was known to keep a private stock of it.
The Third Hokage.
"This is payment," Ayato said with a faintly mysterious smile.
"Payment…" Mikoto glanced again at the final line on the board:
Payment may be given at will.
So… had the Third Hokage visited this shop and left tea as compensation?
Her curiosity deepened.
"Is there something you'd like to ask, Madam?" Ayato asked lightly.
He clearly noticed her misunderstanding — and chose not to correct it.
"Well…" Mikoto hesitated for a moment, then her eyes lit up with resolve. "I'd like to know who Itachi's girlfriend is."
"Itachi's girlfriend, hm?" Ayato tilted his head slightly. "Actually… she's from the Uchiha clan as well."
"She's Uchiha?" Mikoto leaned forward immediately.
For a long time, she'd worried that her son simply wasn't interested in girls at all. And now he had secretly found himself a girlfriend?
"Yes. Uchiha Hazuki. Does that name sound familiar?"
"Hazuki… Ah! Wasn't she the chunin who returned to the village last year after living outside for a long time?" Mikoto recalled. Hazuki had married outside the clan and only recently moved back.
"That's right," Ayato said calmly. "And Itachi's girlfriend is Hazuki's daughter — Uchiha Izumi."
Mikoto stared at him in stunned silence.
If Ayato only knew Izumi because his shop was near the dango stand, that would make sense.
But Hazuki's background was something even Mikoto herself had needed a moment to recall — yet Ayato spoke as if he had memorized the clan registry.
"If you don't believe me," Ayato added, glancing at the clock, "they should be arriving around now. This is usually when they go for tri-color dango."
He walked to the entrance and casually left the door slightly ajar. Mikoto's face was recognizable enough — better to keep some distance.
Mikoto dragged a chair closer to the doorway and peeked toward the dango shop next door.
Sure enough—
Right on schedule, two small figures appeared.
Itachi and Izumi arrived together, just as they always did.
Mikoto watched as Itachi calmly ordered dango for both of them. The look in his eyes when he spoke to Izumi was something she rarely ever saw on her son's face.
…So that's how it was.
Children really did grow up before you realized it.
And he'd even hidden this from his own mother.
A faint sting of bitterness surfaced in Mikoto's heart.
"Hm?"
While eating with Izumi, Itachi suddenly felt a strange sense of being watched — a prickling sensation crawling across his skin.
His brows knit slightly.
Was someone locking onto him?
"What's wrong, Itachi?" Izumi asked softly, noticing his expression.
She instinctively reached out and rubbed the tightly furrowed space between his brows.
"You shouldn't frown so much," she said gently. "You'll grow old faster."
Warmth spread where her fingers touched him.
Itachi couldn't help but smile.
Only after realizing how intimate the gesture was did Izumi hurriedly withdraw her hand. A faint blush spread across both of their faces.
They had only recently confirmed their feelings — this level of closeness was still… dangerously stimulating.
"She touched him! She really touched him! Hehehe!"
Mikoto's eyes sparkled with wild delight.
There was no trace of awkwardness or restraint — she was already mentally drafting ten different ways to tease her eldest son later.
So he could make expressions like that after all!
All this time, he'd been wearing a poker face in front of family!
Her mood flipped instantly.
Five years.
She had raised him for five whole years!
Do you know how hard those five years were on me?!
Mikoto clenched her fists.
A dangerous, invisible aura began brewing in her mind.
Killing intent!
Itachi abruptly stiffened.
That sensation hadn't been imagination — someone nearby was emitting genuine hostility!
"Is something wrong?" Izumi asked worriedly. He hadn't even touched his dango yet.
"It's nothing," Itachi replied casually, masking his reaction. "Just sat too long. Stretching a bit."
He didn't want Izumi to worry.
But inwardly, his senses sharpened.
Where was it coming from?
He pretended to eat while subtly extending his perception outward.
Then his expression shifted.
When his awareness swept across the Odd Jobs Shop—
…There was nothing.
Nothing at all.
His perception was repelled entirely, as if an invisible wall blocked him from sensing anything inside.
A barrier?
He had visited that shop before. He'd always felt that Ayato carried many secrets.
But this…
This was something else entirely.
And for the first time, a faint chill crept into Itachi's heart.
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