Land of Iron, Takeo Castle, Forging Blades Workshop headquarters.
Inside a luxuriously decorated, resplendent hall, two figures appeared before the Ninja Cat Tetsusuke amidst a scattering of white smoke.
Shin'yu calmly surveyed the surroundings, slightly taken aback. He was surrounded by people; almost all the core members of the Forging Blades Workshop were present. It seemed this trouble was not small.
After not seeing them for a few years, everyone's appearance had changed quite a bit.
Niwa Maya looked older, his face weathered, with fine wrinkles at the corners of his eyes. Even his back was slightly hunched, but his deep eyes seemed even more shrewd.
His eldest disciple, Ryunosuke, with his thick eyebrows and bright bald head, was very conspicuous in the crowd. He had grown a beard, making him look more rugged, but also exuding a faint sense of composure.
Niwa Yukino was still dressed in white, her enchanting figure curvaceous and exquisite. This time, she wasn't wearing a veil, her makeup was delicate, and she was devastatingly beautiful. The faint, seductive crimson outlining her eyes accentuated her mature feminine charm.
Sugawara Shoko, on the other hand, hadn't changed much. She still had a loli face that didn't match her figure at all, and her linen short shirt, which seemed about to burst, trembled as she walked.
The others… skip!
"Who is it this time?" Shin'yu asked, pressing his hand on his sword, his brows lowered.
"Um... this..." Niwa Maya coughed a few times, leaning forward on his cane. "Young Lord, since that incident four years ago, no one has dared to cause trouble for the Merchant Guild again."
Ryunosuke chimed in with a smile, "Yes, yes, they have all succumbed to your unparalleled divine might, Young Lord, and dare not act rashly. Moreover, the Shogunate is also strongly supporting us..."
Shin'yu frowned slightly and turned back to question, "If nothing's wrong, then why summon me?"
"They made me do it, meow. I'm just following orders, meow." Tetsusuke waved his paw, curled up his tail, and licked his dried fish.
"Actually, we wanted to formally thank you, Young Lord, for your years of assistance."
Yukino moved lightly, coming before Shin'yu, and said softly, "Shin'yu-kun, everyone wants to thank you properly."
"This..."
Only then did Shin'yu realize that the hall was decorated extremely grandly tonight. The golden marble tiles were luxurious and imposing, complementing the vermilion carpet perfectly. The wall textures were clearly visible, and the curved dome was painted silver and gold, inlaid with crystal clear chandeliers that emitted a soft light.
Not far away, a feast hundreds of times richer than at the base was laid out on a round table, with a hot pot simmering in the middle, its bubbling heat sending spicy aromas to every corner of the hall.
"Oh dear, if only I had brought Lord Madara," Shin'yu clicked his tongue.
"Shin'yu-kun, come on," Yukino suddenly stepped forward, her eyes shimmering.
Shin'yu took a slight step back. Yukino was too close, and the faint fragrance was a little unsettling.
"Hmph."
A Blaze War Fan blocked the two of them, its wide surface directly separating Shin'yu and Yukino.
"You woman, don't you have any sense of personal space?" Light raised her chin, her beautiful eyes flashing with dangerous energy. "If you want to talk, just talk. Why are you getting so close?"
Shin'yu instantly sensed that someone was in a bad mood right now, but despite that, she didn't recklessly unleash her Chakra, because she knew the other party was an ordinary woman with no strength to truss a chicken.
"This little sister is..." Yukino blinked.
"My name is Uchiha Hikari."
"So, it's Little Light." Yukino nodded with a smile, intentionally or unintentionally puffing out her proud chest.
"Like me, she is also a disciple of Lord Madara." Shin'yu carefully pushed aside the Blaze War Fan, casting a tentative glance at Light. "Although we've already eaten, since they've kindly prepared dinner, it wouldn't be good to refuse their kindness, so... shall we just have a little?"
"It doesn't matter." Uchiha Hikari slightly turned her fair wrist, deftly put away the Blaze War Fan, and reinserted it behind her.
Everyone took their seats, and as the table turned, a slightly awkward dinner began.
The seating arrangement was quite interesting, as there was only one main seat, which was originally prepared for Shin'yu. Logically, the two sides of the main seat should have been the family head, Niwa Maya, and his eldest disciple, Ryunosuke.
But after Shin'yu sat down, Uchiha Hikari directly and boldly sat on Shin'yu's left.
Niwa Maya was a little embarrassed and moved to the right with his cane, but a figure in white lightly landed, his daughter whom he had always doted on, sat on Shin'yu's right to accompany him.
This half-centenarian chamber of commerce president (a person with disabilities) had to continue to move, eventually sitting directly across from Shin'yu.
After a few simple greetings, everyone began to feast, the atmosphere was lively, the hot pot was boiling, no one knew how everyone else was eating, but Shin'yu felt like he was sitting on pins and needles.
On the left, Yukino leaned her head slightly and asked in a gentle voice, "How old is your sister this year?"
Shin'yu almost spat out a mouthful of fruit wine.
"It's very impolite to ask someone's age so abruptly," Uchiha Hikari replied casually, "Didn't your mother teach you that?"
"My mother passed away when I was very young."
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to."
"It's okay, I was being presumptuous." Yukino smiled gently, "I still don't know what is your relationship with the young master?"
This time, Shin'yu directly bit off the iron spoon, chewing it without noticing.
Uchiha Hikari was stunned, and the slice of meat she had just picked up fell back into the bowl.
Yukino squinted her bright eyes, as if she had found an opportunity to counterattack, "Could it be that you are already privately engaged partners?"
"No!"
"Not yet!"
Shin'yu and Uchiha Hikari spoke at the same time, clamoring.
The two looked at each other, both blushing and looking away, pretending that nothing had happened.
"Oh~ so that's how it is."
Yukino pretended to be surprised, covering her small mouth, "The young master is young and promising, heroic and vigorous, and Light-sister is also beautiful and intelligent, I pity her, I thought... alas, I was being presumptuous, I should be punished, I should be punished..."
The banquet ended quickly, because Shin'yu and Uchiha Hikari both felt awkward. Faced with everyone's retention, the two tacitly declined.
Before leaving, Shin'yu went to the back kitchen to select several good dishes, stored them in a Sealing Scroll, and prepared to take them back for old Lord Madara to taste.
Explosions rang out one after another, and colorful fireworks bloomed in the night sky. The two walked side by side on the empty street.
It was as if there were so many things to say, but they didn't know where to start, only silence.
Because of the sentence "Not yet" just now, Uchiha Hikari's pretty face was still flushed, and she obediently carried her hands behind her back, not daring to look at Shin'yu.
She looked down at her dark blue Ninja Boots, again and again, her slender white feet were revealed from the edge of her skirt, inching forward step by step.
"Light," Shin'yu said softly, breaking the silence.
"Yes."
"I want to... give you a gift."
"Okay... huh? A gift?" Light raised her small face, looking a little dazed, "What gift?"
Shin'yu gently took Light's small hand, and a soft, slightly cool sensation immediately transmitted from her palm. The latter stiffened slightly, but did not refuse.
"Come with me."
"Okay."
...
At sunrise, the two arrived at the eastern coast of the Land of Iron.
The crimson sun rose from the distant horizon, dyeing the sky and earth orange. The sea surged, as if a giant sea beast was about to break out of the water. Golden waves rolled, crashing against the cliffs beneath their feet, and the air was cool and moist.
"Did you want to bring me to see the sunrise?" Light glanced at Shin'yu, her fair cheeks instantly flushed red. She gently bit her pink lips, looking extremely shy at this moment.
"No, what I really wanted to show you is..." Shin'yu took a deep breath, holding Light's small hand, and leaped into the sea, "The Underwater Starry Sky!"
Shin'yu was like a cruising submarine, taking Light straight down 200 meters into the sea. He supported an invisible domain with a diameter of ten meters around him, as if he were a monarch, repelling all seawater outside the domain.
Light didn't feel any sea pressure, and not a single drop of seawater touched her clothes. Outside the domain, an ocean current formed naturally, carrying the two of them to dive rapidly.
Shin'yu brought her to a flat sea rock and excitedly pointed to the top of her head, "It's now!"
Light was still immersed in shock at Shin'yu's water control ability. Hearing his words, she belatedly raised her head.
A magnificent, deep blue color rushed towards her, like an endless blue sky. Sunlight filtered through the ripples on the sea surface, illuminating her eyes.
Swarms of countless fish swam in groups overhead, forming one colorful painting after another. The light emitted by countless creatures refracted a beautiful brilliance in the orange-red sunlight, like huge fireworks blooming on the seabed, or like... an endless starry sky.
Now, this beautiful starry sky was reflected in her pupils.
Light turned her gaze slightly, and the sunlight passed through the seawater, casting a mesmerizing glow on Shin'yu's face.
His fair skin was as delicate as jade, his slender eyebrows were slightly raised, like the contours of two distant mountains, his soft cheeks, his gentle eyes, and the youthful smile on the corner of his mouth were even more captivating than the starry sky above.
"Thank you, Shin'yu, I really like it."
Light looked up at Shin'yu, the tenderness in her eyes almost melting him.
"Lord Madara also said you didn't like romance." Shin'yu stared into Light's eyes, as if he could see an even more beautiful starry sky through those bright eyes, "It seems I know you better after all."
"If you dare to tell anyone, you're dead."
She gently wrapped her arms around Shin'yu's neck, stood on tiptoe, and her soft, fresh lips slowly imprinted on his.
In the silence, a deep and melodious whale song echoed in the empty seabed, and countless fish swirled and danced around the two of them.
Light and seawater intertwined, peaceful and deep, time seemed to stand still at this moment, only the dreamlike starlight flickered slightly.
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