The candlelight inside the wooden house was dim.
The atmosphere turned awkward.
The Uchiha desperately wanted to explain that they weren't close with the guy lying on the floor.
Tamayo, however, felt great and kept rambling.
Kazuki drank his tea calmly, completely unbothered.
He glanced at Mikoto and noticed she was staring straight at the infant wrapped in swaddling clothes in Sanli's arms.
"This lord really knows how to joke," Jaeger said with an awkward laugh, breaking the silence.
Izumi's eyes lit up. She suddenly stood and walked over to Sanli, excitement written all over her face.
"Can I hold the baby?"
Sanli looked at her husband.
Jaeger smiled and nodded.
Only then did Sanli carefully place the baby into the arms of the pretty girl with a tear mole.
Izumi took the infant, smiling brightly. Her eyes gleamed as she gently rocked the baby, doing her best to soothe the adorable little thing that was crying its lungs out.
Izumi's parents had been ordinary Uchiha civilians who died during the Nine-Tails disaster.
Ever since then, she had loved children.
She believed newborns carried the purest souls in the world—something that made her feel especially close to them.
"Waaah—!"
But the baby clearly didn't agree.
No matter how Izumi tried, the crying only grew louder.
Izumi's brows knit as she panicked, completely at a loss.
The baby… didn't seem to like her.
The scene felt strangely familiar, and a sense of frustration rose inside her. Instinctively, she looked toward Kazuki.
Kazuki's expression was calm.
He didn't care about the crying at all.
Izumi immediately found herself stuck—unable to step down without losing face.
"I'll do it."
Mikoto took the infant from Izumi's arms.
Izumi didn't resist—she was more than happy to accept the graceful exit.
Everyone looked toward Mikoto.
The clan leader's wife—beautiful and striking—moved under the pull of maternal instinct. She began checking the infant, massaging different parts of his body with practiced, patient care.
Sure enough, the crying eased.
The Uchiha couldn't help thinking—
Compared to Izumi's clumsy rocking, Mikoto held the baby naturally, as if she had been meant to be a gentle, nurturing mother.
Izumi pouted, feeling wronged.
A moment later—
The baby was still crying.
Mikoto found it strange.
Sanli's brows furrowed as well, worry showing between them—as if she feared something bad might be happening.
Izumi, on the other hand, wore a subtle, almost smug little smile.
Mikoto pressed her lips together.
Holding the infant, she returned to her seat, intending to use the special trick she once used to lull baby Sasuke to sleep.
But the moment she sat back down—
The wooden house fell suddenly silent.
As if the baby's crying had only been everyone's imagination.
All eyes turned to Mikoto.
People sighed inwardly.
As expected of the clan leader's wife.
Mikoto's expression shifted. She looked down at the baby, her rosy lips parting slightly as her brows drew tight.
Kazuki was watching the infant in the swaddle.
At the same time, the baby seemed to sense that gaze and opened tiny bean-sized eyes, sticking out his tongue.
Big eyes stared at small eyes.
"Mmm—"
The baby suddenly squinted, then grinned.
He giggled and waved his chubby little hands, practically performing a face-changing act for everyone in the room.
This child was asking Kazuki to hold him.
"What is going on…?"
The Uchiha looked at each other in confusion.
Mikoto froze for a moment, her brows lifting as her gaze shimmered with disbelief.
She couldn't understand it.
Her tried-and-true soothing methods couldn't compare to a single look from Kazuki?
She was the mother of two children.
And she could tell the baby wasn't hungry, wasn't sick, and wasn't frightened.
He was simply being fussy.
"This…"
Jaeger and Sanli didn't understand either.
But somehow, instinctively, they could feel it—
Compared to the tear-mole girl and the refined noblewoman…
Their child seemed far more willing to cling to Kazuki.
Izumi's lips parted as she remembered something. She murmured,
"My grandmother used to say… babies instinctively feel closer to people who are gentle, kind, and pure of heart…"
The moment those words landed—
Every Uchiha in the room wore a strange expression.
If she said Captain Kazuki used to be gentle and kind, that was true.
But if she said his heart was pure…
Even putting aside the whole "trading lives for lives" matter—
Since they were the ones who benefited from it—
Some of the Uchiha couldn't help thinking:
Someone who covets a widow… can his heart really be pure?
Mikoto frowned slightly and held the swaddled baby out toward Kazuki.
Kazuki paused.
He hesitated for a brief moment, then reached out and took the infant.
This was his second lifetime—
And his first time ever holding a baby.
He looked a little unsure, afraid he might hold the child too tightly and make him uncomfortable.
But Kazuki quickly found the right balance.
He didn't notice Mikoto's eyes softening as she watched him.
"Mmm—"
The baby seemed to sink into a warm quilt, wrapped in security. He lay quietly in Kazuki's arms without moving, closed his eyes—
And fell asleep.
The others watched Kazuki holding the baby, gentle as water—
Then remembered the image of him with a twisted expression, killing Danzō.
It felt…
Like two completely different people.
Mikoto half believed, half doubted Izumi's words.
But that didn't stop her from adding another label to her private assessment of Kazuki:
"Babies like him."
Kazuki's gaze also gradually softened. He held the sleeping infant quietly as the group waited for Nanpū and the others to return.
During that time, Jaeger tried again to persuade Kazuki to stay the night.
Kazuki refused each time.
About an hour later—
Bang.
The door to the wooden house swung open.
"Captain Kazuki, we're ba—"
Nanpū returned with two teammates. He stepped over the threshold, scanned the room, and was struck as if by lightning.
He stood there, dumbfounded.
At the table—
Kazuki was holding a baby.
Mikoto sat beside him.
The scene looked peaceful, relaxed… almost warm.
"W-Wait… what…?"
Nanpū's scalp went numb. He pushed up his glasses, words failing him as he stared at Kazuki and Mikoto.
"I-I only went out for a little while… how… how do you already have a child?!"
The three of them looked terrified that Mikoto might smile sweetly and say:
"Yes. We have a child."
That would be world-shattering.
Kazuki and Mikoto turned toward the doorway at the same time.
Nanpū and the others were holding a rope.
At the other end of it was a middle-aged man wearing nothing but red underwear—his leg hair thicker than the hair on his bald crown.
The man's gaze darted around. His face was bruised and swollen. He shrank behind Nanpū, trembling, too afraid to look anyone in the eye.
Kazuki's expression turned faintly puzzled.
The other Uchiha—including Jaeger—looked as strange as strange could be.
Jaeger seemed to recognize the man.
But with this atmosphere…
Pretending not to know him was clearly the safer choice.
"What happened?" Izumi asked quickly, unable to look at the eye-searing sight for more than a second.
Nanpū snapped out of it and answered,
"This is the most famous doctor in Kikyo Castle. When we found him, he was 'saving people.'"
Immediately, everyone felt this was unreliable.
"What kind of saving people involves taking your pants off?" Izumi said with open disgust.
Nanpū replied bluntly.
"Oh. At the time, he was in the VIP room in the red-light district. There were a lot of women inside too."
"When we found him, he refused to come."
"So we beat him up and asked what he was doing."
"He said he was rescuing these poor women."
Hearing that, Kazuki handed the sleeping infant back to Sanli.
"Go back to the bedroom," he said evenly. "This isn't suitable for children."
Sanli blushed, rolled her eyes at the shameless "doctor" by the door, and hurried back inside.
Mikoto's face reddened instantly. She felt mortified—and sighed inwardly.
How could Nanpū bring someone like this back?
Kazuki walked up to the pathetic-looking doctor, saw through him immediately, and spoke coldly.
"A medical ninja?"
The bald man nodded, weak and deflated.
"I served in the Third Shinobi World War. I was assigned from Konoha Hospital to the border."
Kazuki reached out with his right hand, grabbed the man by his canvas collar, and lifted him like a chicken. He carried him over to the bandage-wrapped "mummy" on the floor and dropped him beside Tamayo.
"Do everything you can," Kazuki said calmly.
"Treat him."
The doctor looked up at Kazuki.
His timid gaze felt as if senbon were piercing his eyes. He didn't dare meet the young man's sharp stare.
"O-Okay, okay… I'll save him."
"But you have to promise—once he's better, you let me go!"
He tested the waters.
He had been "invited" by rogue shinobi before to treat injuries.
But those rogue shinobi had always been polite.
Since becoming a medical ninja, he had never encountered a group as crude and domineering as this one.
"Mhm."
Kazuki didn't waste words.
He tossed the doctor down beside Tamayo and stepped back.
Tamayo weakly opened his eyes, glared at the doctor, and scoffed.
"Big brother, this guy looks like he's suffering from end-stage kidney deficiency. Doesn't seem reliable."
Surprisingly, the doctor had an easygoing personality.
After getting Kazuki's promise, he squatted beside Tamayo and chuckled.
"A healer can't heal himself."
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