Chapter 142: Fisheries Enforcement
"Name."
"Ichikishimahime."
"Gender."
"Female."
"Home address."
"The Sacred Land—Ryūchi Cave."
"Family members."
Bang!
"That's going too far!"
Seeing Ichikishimahime stand up and glare at him with her enormous eyes, Asuka stopped writing. After thinking for a moment, he continued filling out the form.
"Personality."
"I'm very honest. I say whatever comes to mind."
"Age."
"Don't ask."
???
Two dark lines appeared on Asuka's forehead. He tilted his head and looked at Ichikishimahime, who was floating in the air, then sneered.
"You call that 'extremely honest'?"
Ichikishimahime rolled her eyes at Asuka and confidently retorted, "I already told you. I say whatever comes to mind. I never bother thinking about things like age."
That actually makes perfect sense.
A headache began to throb behind Asuka's temples. He rubbed them and asked another question.
"Preferences."
???
After a brief silence, Ichikishimahime floated in front of Asuka and looked him up and down for a while. Her expression suddenly became serious.
"Are you conducting a household census?"
Asuka tapped the desk with his pen.
"As my future battle partner, I should at least know your basic information, right? My first partner, Fatty, even told me about his grandfather when he signed a contract with me."
Are there really summoning beasts this innocent?
Hearing this, Ichikishimahime gave up maintaining her floating ability and began drifting aimlessly around the room—up, down, left, and right.
She needed to think.
Crash!
Asuka's eyebrow twitched when the light bulb shattered.
Clatter!
His expression darkened when he heard plates falling in the kitchen.
Thud!
Ichikishimahime bumped into a cabinet, rubbed her head, then lowered her gaze to the blank sheet of paper on the desk.
"I'll do it myself."
She floated over to Asuka's desk, picked up a pen, and began selectively filling in the blank form.
"Bust, waist, hips?"
"I don't want to think about that."
"Height?"
"I don't want to think about that either."
"Weight?"
"I don't even dare think about that."
"Strength."
"Below Sage level."
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
Seeing Ichikishimahime busy filling out the form, Asuka stood up, grabbed a broom, swept the broken plates in the kitchen into a box, and then walked outside.
Although he had never seen her transformed form, as one of Ryūchi Cave's high-ranking members and a trusted subordinate of the powerful White Snake Sage, she possessed an extraordinarily powerful amount of senjutsu chakra.
Once she returned to her true form, she probably wouldn't be much smaller than Manda, right?
Manda seemed taller than the toads. The toads seemed shorter than Shukaku, while Shukaku seemed roughly comparable in size to the Nine-Tails.
In the future, whenever I encounter a toad or a Tailed Beast, I'll be able to summon her.
Before Asuka could think any further, the corner of his eye caught sight of a round, red figure approaching.
Kushina.
Looking at her increasingly prominent pregnant belly, Kushina's expression became complicated once again.
At present, the Medical Department knew absolutely nothing about her condition. Her pregnancy examinations were being handled by the ANBU.
As the highly respected captain of Konoha's medical corps and the person in charge of the wartime Medical Department, he hadn't even touched the belly of the Fourth Hokage's wife.
Being captain of the Medical Corps is completely meaningless.
As though sensing something, Kushina raised her head and looked ahead suspiciously.
"Hm?"
When she saw Asuka standing some distance away and staring at her with a complicated expression, Kushina's face immediately darkened.
What kind of expression is that?
Pity. Unease. Emotion. Melancholy. Regret. Contempt…
It almost looked as though the child inside her had something to do with him.
Muttering to herself, Kushina walked up to Asuka and calmly said,
"Asuka."
"Lady Kushina."
Asuka politely greeted her as well.
Then his gaze fell upon her belly.
And he couldn't look away.
Seeing how much her belly had grown, his eyebrows gradually knitted together into a shape resembling the character 川.
Kushina had become pregnant while he was on the battlefield, so he had no way of calculating exactly when she had conceived.
But looking at that belly…
She must be close to her due date.
As Asuka's gaze drifted closer and closer toward her stomach, Kushina's eyelid twitched.
She genuinely couldn't understand why he was so interested in her belly.
More importantly, she couldn't sense any hostility from him.
He genuinely seemed to care about her belly.
What a weirdo.
Kushina took a small step backward and looked at Asuka, who was still staring intently at her stomach.
"Asuka, aren't you being a little rude?"
Asuka suddenly came back to his senses.
He scratched his head apologetically.
"Ah. Sorry."
My medical ninjutsu is still too weak.
I've stared at it for this long and still haven't figured anything out.
Tsunade probably knew when Kushina would give birth, but she likely didn't want anyone from the Uchiha clan knowing.
After a moment of silence, Kushina gently stroked her belly before looking into Asuka's eyes.
"Asuka, why are you so concerned about my stomach?"
Asuka glanced at her belly again, then shook his head.
"It's nothing serious. It's just that seeing Lady Kushina approaching childbirth suddenly made me feel like the weight on my shoulders has become much heavier."
???
Kushina stared at him blankly.
But when she looked into his eyes, she began questioning everything again.
Because Uchiha Asuka's serious expression was impossibly sincere.
It genuinely looked as though the birth of her child would somehow add a tremendous burden to his shoulders.
What does my child have to do with you?
Kushina recalled the period when she and Minato had been intimate, the timing of her pregnancy, and Asuka's whereabouts during that period.
She quietly relaxed and shook her head.
"Asuka, I don't really understand what you're talking about."
Sigh.
Asuka sighed as well, wondering how he could tell her about the Nine-Tails incident.
Telling her directly was impossible.
He definitely wouldn't be able to get away with it.
His relationship with this couple wasn't close enough for him to risk his own safety for them.
After thinking for a moment, his gaze once again fell upon Kushina's abdomen.
He hesitated.
"Lady Kushina, and that previous delivery accident involving Lady Mikoto—"
Asuka's mouth twitched.
He swallowed the rest of the sentence.
He could help Mikoto through a crisis.
But if the same situation happened to Kushina, Konoha would never allow someone from the Uchiha clan to deliver the Fourth Hokage's wife, even if she were dying from complications during childbirth.
Seeing him stop halfway through his sentence, Kushina frowned and began thinking.
Mikoto's delivery accident?
Unable to give birth halfway through?
Her face darkened.
Anger instantly erupted inside her.
This bastard is cursing me.
Kushina stared at Asuka for a long while, suspicion flickering in her eyes.
He wasn't hostile.
It wasn't a curse.
An awkward atmosphere suddenly filled the air.
After a while, just as Kushina was preparing to end the uncomfortable conversation, she looked up at Asuka.
He was scratching his head hesitantly, his gaze repeatedly drifting toward her belly, as though he were struggling with some difficult decision.
Hm?
Then a bolt of realization suddenly struck her.
She remembered something Danzo had once said about married women.
That old bastard Danzo had claimed that Uchiha Asuka liked noblewomen. He had even set his sights on Orochimaru's wife and apparently acted on it, enraging Orochimaru so badly that he tried to assassinate Asuka in the middle of the night.
And now, apart from herself, the most prestigious woman in Konoha was Biwako Sarutobi.
But Biwako Sarutobi was fifty-five this year.
Kushina was only twenty-four.
She believed that any normal man faced with those two choices would obviously choose the younger woman.
Although Asuka had once shown extreme disdain and indifference toward plump women, that had been a long time ago.
Combining his recent remarks about Mikoto with the way he kept staring at her belly…
Likes noblewomen.
Only likes the bellies of noblewomen.
Those two things didn't seem contradictory anymore.
Kushina took a deep breath, stepped backward, and stared into Asuka's eyes.
She tentatively asked,
"You've been staring at me for so long. Are you worried that I might have a difficult delivery and want to deliver the baby yourself?"
Yes.
He had indeed considered that possibility.
But now that he had awakened the Mangekyō Sharingan, he only wanted to cut open Kushina's stomach, wait for Obito to arrive, let him see Kushina's body split in half, and make him question his entire life.
Forget it.
When a Jinchūriki gave birth, how could Konoha's leadership possibly allow an Uchiha anywhere near the Nine-Tails?
I must be crazy.
Once his internal struggle settled down, Asuka's expression suddenly became serious.
He refused.
"As captain of the Medical Corps, I'm very familiar with the many excellent female medical-nin in Konoha. They have far more experience in this field than I do, not less."
"Childbirth should be left to them."
"If the captain of the Medical Corps insists on handling everything personally, the Medical Corps will never fulfill Lady Tsunade's dream."
???
Seeing Asuka suddenly seem like an entirely different person, Kushina froze.
She instinctively asked,
"You don't want to deliver my baby?"
Asuka shook his head without hesitation.
"There are many people in Konoha more qualified than me. It's better to leave it to them. Besides, I'm not an obstetrician. I don't know much about this field."
At that moment, Kushina suddenly felt that Asuka was the very embodiment of gentlemanly conduct.
Even his eyes seemed to sparkle with an alluring black light.
He's such a gentleman.
But…
His earlier behavior—staring at her belly for such a long time—still left her filled with questions.
What kind of gentleman stares at another woman's belly for that long?
Then Kushina remembered Tsunade's assessment of him before she left.
A strange flutter rose in her heart.
She stepped forward and asked quietly,
"Asuka, I heard that your medical ninjutsu has already surpassed Lady Tsunade's?"
Hearing this, Asuka answered modestly,
"More or less. We're about evenly matched."
Kushina narrowed her eyes.
Remembering Asuka's earlier behavior, she pointed at her belly and pleaded,
"Can you examine me now?"
Oh, really?
Asuka's eyes lit up.
Even his gaze toward the red-haired, curvaceous woman became much gentler.
Once he knew Kushina's delivery date, he could impersonate someone else and intercept Obito on that day.
Plenty of old immigrants have done things like that, haven't they?
Then he rested his chin on one hand, pretended to think for a moment, and nodded.
"I can."
Hearing this, Kushina placed both hands at the hem of her clothes and slowly lifted her top.
As Asuka's eyes grew brighter, an almost uncontrollable smile appeared on his face, and his fingers began flexing in anticipation.
Kushina's eyes gradually narrowed into slits.
Exactly.
Just as Lady Tsunade described: the evil Uchiha Asuka.
"Phew."
When Asuka saw her slightly protruding belly, he couldn't help letting out a soft sigh.
Then he noticed that Kushina was lifting her clothes more and more slowly.
He couldn't help encouraging her.
"A little higher."
Kushina stopped immediately.
She poked her belly with a finger and said expressionlessly,
"Asuka. That's enough."
She was extremely conservative.
Seeing that she had only lifted her clothes slightly, Asuka pursed his lips and reached out his hand.
Naruto…
Thinking that his first contact with Naruto would actually happen in such a strange way, Asuka's eyes filled with excitement.
Child of destiny, let me see when you'll be born…
Asuka reached out without hesitation.
The moment his fingers touched her skin, relief and excitement appeared on his face.
"You bastard. Does touching my belly really make you this excited?"
The next instant, Kushina clenched her fist and punched him with lightning speed.
Her fist, infused with chakra, carried a violent gust of wind as it slammed directly into Asuka's chest.
"Pervert!"
A black figure shot into the sky like a cannonball.
Back on the ground, Uzumaki Kushina straightened her clothes, raised her right hand to shade her eyes, and looked up at the tiny black dot in the sky.
She snorted disdainfully.
"I was just curious why you weren't acting according to the rumors. I nearly fell for it."
As expected of Lady Tsunade.
The evil Uchiha clan really is obsessed with women's bellies.
Half a day later.
Ichikishimahime placed the completed form on the desk.
Then she turned toward Asuka, who was wrapping bandages around himself in front of a mirror.
She tilted her head.
"Did you get beaten up?"
"I was ambushed."
Asuka sucked in a breath.
Looking at the man in the mirror with his chest once again wrapped in bandages, he gritted his teeth.
Hearing this, curiosity appeared on Ichikishimahime's face.
She knew exactly how strong this man was.
Even when she had attacked him from stealth, she hadn't succeeded.
So how had he managed to get ambushed?
"How did you get ambushed?"
Remembering how he had fallen into the trap, Asuka's cheeks immediately flushed.
He answered bitterly,
"I was too focused on touching a woman's belly, and someone punched me in the chest."
Touching another woman's belly?
Ichikishimahime instinctively labeled Asuka a pervert.
After all, what respectable person would touch a woman's belly?
"Tsk."
She floated over to the mirror, glanced at Asuka's abdominal muscles, and asked,
"Was that woman's skin elastic?"
Asuka turned toward Ichikishimahime in confusion.
"Is 'elastic' the only word in your dictionary for describing the human body?"
Ichikishimahime floated behind Asuka and asked for guidance.
"Then what should I say?"
Asuka casually extended a hand and gave her several suggestions.
"Plump, tender, juicy, sweet, crisp, smooth, delicious."
"Got it."
She looked at Asuka again.
"What words should I use to describe that woman?"
Asuka took a deep breath and answered expressionlessly,
"I didn't feel anything at all. My fingernail merely touched her belly, and then I was sent flying."
PS: This chapter was updated late.
It took me four hours to write this chapter.
Ah, I revised this chapter too many times, and as a result, all the comments disappeared.
Dear readers, if you notice any problems with this chapter, please point them out. I spent the entire morning researching and revising it.
Don't worry, I haven't enabled any blacklist or mute function. Feel free to speak your mind.
Almost nobody said anything, and that made me really nervous.