The moment those crimson, three-tomoe Sharingan eyes filled her vision, Mrs. Yukinoshita felt her heart skip.
But she steadied her breathing in an instant, her expression betraying nothing as she turned to her daughter.
"Haruno, go have the kitchen prepare dinner."
Haruno blinked twice, then gave a stiff nod. "...Right."
Nishikado studied the poised woman before him with open interest, the corner of his lips lifting. "You're not afraid?"
Meeting that ominous blood-red gaze head-on sent another tremor through her chest.
She wrestled the instinctive fear down, raised her folding fan to briefly cover her mouth, and when it lowered again, a perfectly composed smile had taken its place.
"I carry the Yukinoshita name. I can hardly afford to be rude."
That earned a genuine laugh. It reminded him of Minato's old catchphrase.
Half an hour later, dish after dish arrived at the table. Premium ingredients, every plate arranged with the precision of a gallery piece.
Nishikado's table manners weren't exactly refined, but they weren't barbaric either.
It was the sheer speed and volume that made the three Yukinoshitas set down their chopsticks in unison.
Mr. Yukinoshita had regained consciousness by now, staring at the young man with undisguised terror.
His wife's whispered briefing had introduced him to two words that upended everything he thought he knew: supernatural power.
When every plate had been scraped clean, Nishikado patted his stomach with satisfaction and let out a long, contented belch.
Mrs. Yukinoshita lowered her fan and smiled. "Full?"
"About eighty percent. Just right."
He glanced around the room as casually as if he owned it. "By the way, which room am I sleeping in tonight?"
Haruno and her father froze at the same time.
A free meal wasn't enough? Now he wanted a bed?
But what Mrs. Yukinoshita said next made both of them question their hearing.
"If it wouldn't be beneath you, please take our room. It's the finest in the house. My husband and I will move to the guest quarters."
Mr. Yukinoshita's eyes went wide, his stare screaming have you lost your mind?
The master bedroom? Letting a strange man sleep in their marital bed?
His wife silenced him with a single look, then rose, her tone warm and unhurried. "This way, please."
Watching the graceful figure ahead of him, Nishikado's gaze lingered for a beat.
Two lifetimes in, and he had to admit the woman was stunning. Her face carried the eldest daughter's vivid beauty blended with the youngest's cool elegance, and a mature allure neither girl could come close to matching.
"Here we are."
She stopped before a door and turned with a smile. "The best room in the Yukinoshita estate. If there's anything else you need, don't hesitate to ask."
"Don't mind if I do."
He pushed the door open without ceremony, walked straight to the large bed, and collapsed onto it.
Back in the living room, Mr. Yukinoshita huddled with his daughter, voices low.
The moment his wife returned, he rushed to meet her.
"Ayano, are you planning to wait until he falls asleep and then call the police?"
Haruno jumped in. "Mother, Division One already got burned by him this morning. If we're calling the police, they need to be warned to come prepared."
In their minds, Mrs. Yukinoshita was playing the long game: keep the tiger calm, wait for him to drop his guard, then spring the trap.
She raised an eyebrow. "Why would we call the police?"
Father and daughter went blank.
"This," she said, each word deliberate, "is the Yukinoshita family's chance to break into the upper echelon."
She was nothing if not ambitious. Elevating the family to the level of the Shinomiyas and the Suzukis had been her goal for years.
To ordinary people, the Yukinoshitas were already elite. But in the eyes of true conglomerates, they were barely a footnote. Never mind the Shinomiya dynasty. Even second-tier houses like the Kashiwazakis or the Nakanos outclassed them by a wide margin.
And Japan's class structure was ironclad.
Conventional business warfare, strategic marriages: none of it could crack the foundations of century-old dynasties.
But Nishikado's arrival opened a different door entirely.
If the usual playbook wouldn't work, she'd buy her way past it with something money alone couldn't purchase.
Mr. Yukinoshita was silent for a long time after hearing her out.
He understood the logic. But still...
"Ayano, this... this is too risky." His voice dropped, heavy with worry. "That man killed someone in public. And he hit Yukino..."
Having his wife invite a stranger into their bedroom was humiliation enough for any man.
Mrs. Yukinoshita spared him a single glance.
Just one. And his head bowed on its own.
"If you can't stomach this much risk, how do you expect to challenge the Shinomiyas? The Suzukis?"
Haruno opened her mouth but caught her mother's look and swallowed her words, an uneasy knot forming in her chest.
This really... won't go wrong?
The next morning, early.
Her husband still asleep, Mrs. Yukinoshita slipped out of bed.
She would prepare Nishikado's breakfast herself.
As the Yukinoshita heiress, she'd been raised to never so much as touch a kitchen counter. But her parents had insisted on shaping her into a woman of every accomplishment: calligraphy, music, tea ceremony, flower arrangement, and yes, cooking.
The number of times she'd actually cooked could be counted on one hand. The last had been the banquet celebrating Yukino's first month of life.
Today called for an exception.
This was a gesture of sincerity. The first pledge of allegiance she would present to that young man.
She made her way down the corridor, and as she passed the inner courtyard, her steps faltered.
Through the thin morning mist, a tall figure stood motionless at the center of the garden, eyes half-closed, as though meditating.
She was about to call out when his stance shifted without warning.
Hands locked together. The Shadow Clone seal.
Bang.
White smoke erupted outward, and her eyes flew wide, her lips parting before she could stop them.
One, two, three... six. Six identical Nishikados stood in a perfect ring across the courtyard.
Then all six lunged at the original.
Fists cut the air. Legs whipped like cables.
The clones attacked in flawless coordination, a relentless storm from every angle.
And the real Nishikado fought all six at once, moving so fast his body blurred at the edges.
Block. Dodge. Counter.
Every movement exceeded anything she'd believed a human body capable of.
She stood rooted to the spot, feeling twenty-odd years of certainty about how the world worked crumble to dust.
But once the shock passed, what flooded in was something else entirely.
Joy. Wild, barely containable joy.
This is it.
The chance for the Yukinoshita family to reach the top in a single bound had finally arrived.
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Every 50 Powerstones = 1 Bonus Chapter.