Chapter 171: Daughter, Have Fun With Him!
"Makoto-kun, what a coincidence."
Yamanaka Inoichi maintained his politeness and elegance, but Akiyama Makoto could clearly see the corner of his eye twitching. He was clearly furious.
"You have a great sense of humor, Uncle."
His calm reply was enough to make Inoichi's smile disappear.
"Humor? Am I humorous? This is the first time anyone has ever complimented me on my sense of humor."
As if he couldn't hear the sarcasm in his voice, Makoto continued, "Uncle is standing at my front door, saying it's a coincidence to run into me while I'm at home. Isn't that a sense of humor?"
Inoichi's expression stiffened. Only then did he realize he had spoken rashly. He immediately calmed himself, not letting his daughter's out-of-line behavior anger him.
"You've misunderstood, Makoto-kun. I was just marveling that I could skip the step of knocking."
"I see. Then I take back what I said."
He made a welcoming gesture. "I wonder what brings you to me so early, Uncle?"
Seeing him so polite, Inoichi calmed down another three-tenths. He wondered if he had been too emotional and had misunderstood his daughter and Makoto. Was it possible that they were just planning to go to the movies or something? If it was something of that level, he could still accept it.
So he smiled again. "I just got back from a mission and saw my daughter come here so early. I was curious and followed her over."
"In a few days, she'll be trying to take on C-rank missions, so I wanted to go over our family's secret techniques with her again. If you two don't have anything important, I was planning on taking her home."
If he had let it go now, Inoichi would have pretended today never happened and would have even felt a little apologetic. But he had no intention of ruining the atmosphere between him and Ino. As for her father, he just needed to give him a little something.
"Ah, I'm sorry, Uncle. Ino and I have something more important to do."
Inoichi was taken aback, as if he couldn't quite believe his words. But in the end, he asked calmly, "Then can you tell me what you two plan to do that is even more important than her practicing her family's ninjutsu?"
"Makoto-kun, you must understand that for a ninja, strength is the foundation. If you don't have enough strength, everything else is just a fleeting illusion that you can't grasp."
"Thank you for your advice, Uncle. But I feel this is a very important matter for both of us, something that will affect our entire lives."
"And today is a day we cannot miss. I hope you will not disturb us."
The expression on Inoichi's face gradually lost its control, and a fierce look appeared in his eyes. He didn't care if he really didn't understand what he was saying or was deliberately provoking him. Today, he had to take Ino away. He swore it on the name of the Yamanaka clan!
"Then can you tell me what is so important to you?"
This was his last word. If his answer wasn't satisfactory, he was going to make a move.
"I'm sorry, I can't say."
The moment his words fell, Inoichi's fist flew toward his face.
But the blow was blocked, not by him, but by a flower that flew down from the air. Using flowers as shuriken was a little trick of the Yamanaka clan, though it was more for show than for actual combat.
With such a heated argument happening, there was no way Ino could have missed it. She had thought he could handle it, but now it seemed he had gotten angry and lost his head. She had no choice but to step out and mediate their relationship.
"Dad, why are you so angry?!"
Ino pretended to be cute, shaking her father's hand. Seeing that he was unmoved, she came to Makoto's side. With her back to her father, she looked at him and mouthed silently, "I'll come back secretly after Dad has cooled down."
She was about to go back and continue to appease her father, but he grabbed her hand.
"Ino, this is for you."
He looked apologetic. "I was originally going to give you a surprise at the end of our date, but I can only give it to you now."
She looked at the scroll in her hand with a puzzled expression, and then saw the words "Secret Technique: Dual Heart Method" written on it. She curiously opened it and looked at the contents.
After just a few lines of the introduction, her beautiful eyes went wide, and her heart was beating so fast it almost stopped. This ninjutsu was practically tailor-made for the Yamanaka clan!
No one knew better than the Yamanaka themselves how great the flaws in their secret techniques were. If not for having the Nara and Akimichi clans as teammates, they couldn't even participate in frontal battles. Of course, even without being able to fight head-on, they could still do intelligence gathering and communication work behind the scenes, also contributing their strength to the village. But they couldn't always have someone from another clan protecting them. They had to have the combat power to deal with unexpected situations on their own.
This problem had plagued the Yamanaka since the Warring States period, and now, the fundamental solution to this problem was in her hands.
She quickly closed the scroll and looked at him with excitement in her eyes. "Where did you get this? It must be very valuable, right?"
"It's just a little trick I researched myself. A gift for you. Don't you want it?"
"No! I want it! I really want it! I want it so much!"
Ino jumped up in excitement, wrapped her arms around his neck, and hung on him.
He also wrapped his arms around her waist. With their intimacy and excitement, who knew what they would do next?
Inoichi's face was as black as the bottom of a pot. He moved to strike again.
But this time, Ino triumphantly threw the scroll to him. "See for yourself, old man! A gift from my boyfriend!"
"If you dare to touch him, I won't give this to you! I'll use it all by myself!"
Inoichi caught the scroll. Although his heart was full of disbelief, he still chose to trust his daughter's words and opened it.
Less than a second later, he was completely engrossed. He didn't get excited immediately like her, but patiently observed the ninjutsu principles behind it. When he had understood a part of the sealing formula's structure, the excited light in his eyes finally began to shine. This technique was not only well-conceived, but it also had a complete implementation and training method. It didn't look like a newly created technique at all, but more like some kind of clan secret.
So where did he get something like this?
Inoichi bit the tip of his tongue. That wasn't his concern. Even if he had stolen it from the Senju clan's treasury, so what? This was a good thing his daughter had earned!
But he looked at his daughter, and a trace of hesitation rose in his heart. Taking this scroll meant he was acknowledging what she had just said. He would become her boyfriend. But this guy liked several people at the same time!
Inoichi was torn. He didn't want to sell his daughter's happiness for the sake of the clan's interests.
However, a casual remark from Makoto made him have a sudden realization. This wasn't a choice. He could have both!
"Let's practice this technique together later. You can use me as your practice partner."
"Ah—...is that really okay?" Unlike the simulated Ino, the real Ino still remembered the rule that her clan's secret techniques could not be easily used on her partners.
But he just stroked her cheek. "Silly. Do we need to have any barriers between us? Just don't laugh at me when you see some of the things in my memory."
Ino let out a puff of laughter. "No way! I'll definitely laugh at you so hard! But—only when it's just the two of us."
Inoichi, listening to his daughter say such sappy words, surprisingly didn't feel angry at all. He even felt a faint sense of gratification. Even his own wife wouldn't allow him to use the clan's secret techniques on her, because even a husband and wife needed their private space. But this rule didn't apply here... even if it only didn't apply for now, he wanted his daughter to enjoy this pure trust and intimacy for a little longer.
"Uncle, do you see any errors in this secret technique?"
Makoto spoke to him again, his tone the same as before. But the expression on Inoichi's face had become much more colorful. In the end, all these emotions turned into an awkward laugh. "Haha, it's a good thing. I'll take this back and study it."
"As for you and Ino—have a little fun. Remember to come home for dinner when it gets dark."
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