The thunderous impact as the palm struck the earth left everyone present momentarily stunned, unable to process what had just happened.
After a few long seconds of silence, Kazushi's booming voice snapped everyone out of their shock.
"Shen Uchiha! Are you trying to turn the sky upside down today, brat!" Then he stormed toward the so-called "accident" scene.
"Not bad at all. Seems like I've still got some artistic flair!" Shen immediately exclaimed proudly after rising from his dramatic "superhero landing" pose, "Could've used a bigger crowd, though!"
At this moment, a massive palm-shaped crater thirty meters in diameter and two meters deep had formed on the Uchiha Commercial Street undergoing renovation. The shockwave created during the impact had also collapsed houses within a hundred-meter radius. This kind of destruction simply wasn't possible without at least one ton of TNT.
Hearing his father's furious shouting—and overwhelming *qi*—Shen instinctively shivered.
"Whoosh"—in a flash, a figure swiftly landed before him.
Looking at his father, whose anger meter was already maxed out, Shen really wanted to sneak away. But recalling that he came specifically to help (*or cause chaos*), he straightened his spine proudly, gazing at Kazushi with obvious arrogance as if urging praise.
"You destroyed the commercial street like this and still expect me to praise you?!" Kazushi's blood pressure soared; it felt like scolding his son might shave off ten or twenty years of his life.
Shen looked at Kazushi with an expression full of *quanyi*—clearly feigning innocence—and those pitiful puppy eyes made Kazushi twitch, his blood pressure rising again.
He pouted and feigned innocence: "Father, renovations are such a hassle. Now that it's already gone, maybe we should just start over from scratch?"
"Trouble? You came here to cause chaos! And what about saving some cash—wasn't that the plan?"
"Cough cough!"
Aiko, who had arrived moments ago, timely interrupted the father-son confrontation upon realizing how the situation was unfolding.
"Mother dear, don't you think this technique worked out wonderfully?" Shen winked at her, silently imploring his mother to handle his enraged father.
Seeing this, Aiko smiled faintly at Kazushi. When she saw he remained unmoved, she spoke soothingly: "Dear, many clan representatives have come today. Why not let it go for now and deal with him later at home?"
Upon hearing this, Kazushi sobered up considerably. If they started a father-son brawl in front of all these important guests, the next day's headlines wouldn't be about the commercial street anymore—they'd be splashing photos of the Uchihas' chaotic family drama. Just imagining it cooled him down instantly.
Seeing that no guests from other clans had yet arrived, Kazushi quickly changed his demeanor to one of pride and slapped Shen's shoulder encouragingly.
Shen's clenched jaw and stiff expression made it clear just how forceful Kazushi's slap really was.
"Well, well—if it isn't the young master of my *esteemed brother* Kazushi? Still the spitting image of a prince, I see!"
This sarcastic tone could belong to none other than Yohen. He arrived first together with representatives from the Senju Clan, followed closely by others, all looking rather entertained by the spectacle.
Kazushi's blood pressure flared up again as soon as he heard Yohen being deliberately sarcastic. "Hmph! That old ghost must be here just to laugh at me."
He smiled as he ruffled the hair of his so-called "well-behaved and adorable" son, saying, "Sigh, where does this kid look handsome? I told him we could just renovate without causing such a big fuss. But he insisted he could handle it all by himself! Look at him now—he's truly out of line!"
Everyone present fell silent.
What big fuss? Who doesn't know the Uchiha are the wealthiest in Konoha? If you can pull off something like this, how can you still be out of line? This is probably all staged by the Uchiha themselves.
Feeling the pressure on his head growing heavier, Shen only wanted to escape as soon as possible. Spotting Nawaki staring at him again from the crowd, Shen immediately got an idea: "Father, aren't you going to introduce me to this uncle?"
"That's Elder Yohen from the Senju Clan. Come greet him," Kazushi introduced politely.
But Shen caught the disdain in Yohen's eyes and quickly scurried behind Kazushi, trembling.
Yohen felt awkward for a moment. With so many people watching a child fearfully hide behind his father, even a fool would know something entertaining was about to happen.
"What's wrong, Shen? Do you have some misunderstanding with this uncle?"
Kazushi immediately knew his son was about to play someone again, but since he disliked Yohen anyway, he decided to go along with it.
Given the green light, Shen instantly put on a pitiful expression: "Father, I read in the paper that men from the Senju Clan are all into other men. I'm scared, especially since the guy who used to confess feelings for me is here too."
Everyone inwardly shouted—so the whole Uchiha family are Oscar-worthy actors? The Senju won't let this slide easily.
"W-what nonsense are you spouting!" Nawaki angrily denied, claiming he'd never met anyone so shamelessly bold.
Shen poured oil on the fire: "Then why did you accept it back then? Look at me—I clearly said I don't like men! And nothing about me was mentioned in the paper, was it?"
Seeing how much his son loved stirring up trouble, Kazushi felt a headache coming on. He worried today wouldn't end smoothly.
Nawaki felt totally wronged—even though he denied everything, nobody seemed to believe him. Stuttering, he muttered, "I did say that… But nobody believed me!"
"All right everyone, enough!" The Third Hokage, as the Village Headman, had to step in. It would be embarrassing if the Uchiha and Senju ended up in a full-scale brawl while he was present.
"Hmph!" x2
Both Shen and Nawaki turned their heads away with arms crossed and snorted in unison.
"Well then, for Hokage Uncle's sake today, Shen Uchiha—you'd better watch out!" Before leaving, Nawaki left a harsh warning.
Shen wasn't about to let him off that easily. Did he really think he could show off in front of the Third and just walk away? Taking a step forward, Shen grabbed the Third's sleeve and, with tears in his eyes, said, "Hokage Uncle, I'm scared. This person threatened me."
The Third Hokage sighed deeply as well. These two young masters were indeed far from being easygoing kids. He was just the village leader, not their parents—he couldn't scold them, nor could he punish them. He had no choice but to instruct both guardians to properly educate these two boys once they returned home.
Nawaki was about to say more when Tsunade knocked him unconscious and carried him off. Before leaving, she glanced at Shen one last time.
His eyelids twitched involuntarily—he hoped he hadn't just become known as the "Konoha Scapegoat."
"That fellow is quite interesting. Is he also a freshman this year?" Hiashi asked his younger sister as they walked out of the Uchiha clan compound with other Hyūga clansmen.
Nayou was truly awestruck today—someone had actually dropped from the sky and slammed the earth with such force that it left a palm-shaped crater on the ground. She was completely lost in her own little world and didn't even hear Hiashi's question.
Seeing his sister look so absent-minded, Hiashi felt incredibly awkward. He waved his hand in front of Nayou again and asked once more.
Seeing the hand waving in front of her, Nayou finally came back to reality. Hearing Hiashi repeat the question, she gently smiled and replied, "Yes, Hiashi-nii. He's that Uchiha freshman who wished to remain anonymous, mentioned in the paper."
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~ Every 50 Powerstones = **4 Bonus Chapters** on the weekend!