"Yeah, I think we should all play together. That way, no one loses out!"
"I don't want to!"
Before Aoba could respond, Tenten directly opposed, puffing her cheeks angrily like a little bun.
Looking at Tenten's unwavering stance, Aoba felt a headache coming on.
Who said children don't feel jealousy? Who said children don't know how to calculate gains and losses?
He looked at the money in both of his hands. On one side were several Exploding Talismans shoved over by Tenten, and on the other side was the pocket money Ino had painstakingly earned through learning flower arrangement.
In the end, he gritted his teeth and withdrew this ten-pull summon.
In the past, he made money in a proper way, through honest transactions, so he couldn't just for a bit of money hurt the hearts of three little girls.
If he really chose Tenten for this bit of money, Ino and Sakura would definitely be sad. But if he took the money and still accompanied Ino and Sakura, that would be unfair to Tenten.
He had to be fair. If he couldn't keep things balanced, what if one of them left?
Although this was somewhat scummy, since he had already transmigrated and had cheats, he obviously wanted them all. This was his only pursuit. [T/N: That's mah boy, right there]
Aoba took the initiative to hold both Tenten and Ino's hands and returned the money to them.
"Aoba…"
The two of them panicked when they saw Aoba return their money.
They knew, though they didn't understand the reason, that Aoba actually really liked money. Now that he didn't even want money, was he planning to drive them away?
Aoba ignored their anxious expressions and spoke seriously.
"Since this is my home, who plays and what we play is up to me!"
"Any objections?"
"No objections!", Before Tenten and Ino could react, Sakura had already answered first.
The others looked at Sakura in surprise.
Especially Uzuki Yugao, whose gaze toward Sakura now carried even deeper wariness.
She hadn't expected that this seemingly introverted little girl was actually the highest-ranked among the three.
"As long as I can play with Aoba, anything is fine…", Sakura, under everyone's gaze, mumbled shyly.
Seeing this, Aoba smiled. Although Sakura usually had low presence, she was definitely the one who made him feel most at ease.
Not only was she understanding and often helped him out of tricky situations, but she also never put him in the kind of dilemmas that Tenten and Ino did.
'What a heavenly little girlfriend! Completely different from the unruly image in the original story.'
Aoba walked up to Sakura and patted her soft pink hair, "Sakura understands me best."
"Hehe, as long as Aoba is happy," Sakura, being patted, showed a shy expression, but deep inside, her other personality was already giggling like a fangirl.
'Such a high-ranking player!', As a bystander, Uzuki Yugao saw through everything the most. Watching Sakura snuggle against Aoba's hand like an obedient puppy, she couldn't help but feel a bit relieved.
Luckily, she had encountered this today; otherwise, she might not have realized if someone had stolen a march on her.
Tenten and Ino, already anxious, became even more flustered upon seeing this scene. They hurried to Aoba's side and grabbed his hands again.
"We want to play together too!"
Seeing their anxious expressions, Aoba couldn't help but smirk.
They say triangles are stable, and now, with Tenten, Ino, and Sakura, a perfect triangular relationship had formed.
But Aoba didn't realize that this triangle was about to become a quadrilateral.
However, his smirk quickly faded as he adopted a serious expression, "You're not arguing anymore?"
"No more arguing," Tenten and Ino shook their heads like rattles.
Since Aoba had even refused money, they had no choice.
Seeing this, Aoba's expression finally relaxed, "That's more like it. We're all friends; there's no point in fighting. Besides, more people make it livelier, and we can play more games."
"Mm-hmm!", The three girls nodded in agreement.
"In that case, today we'll start with storytelling, then build a snowman. If there's still time, I'll help Tenten practice shuriken throwing. How's that?"
"Okay!", A chorus of synchronized voices answered.
Aoba secretly breathed a sigh of relief. In the future, he had to avoid letting all three of them meet together. They were still young now, so he could fool them, but once they grew up and understood things, it would be harder to manage.
However, girls in the ninja world were somewhat love-brained. If they really fell for someone, it could be for a lifetime.
The cuckolds collapsed on the spot.
Aoba led the three girls into the house. It was still quite cold outside in this winter weather.
"You really have a full schedule planned. I didn't expect you to be a time management master, Aoba," Just as Aoba thought everything was settled, Uzuki Yugao, who had been watching silently, spoke with a hint of grievance.
He immediately noticed the hidden message in her eyes. She was blaming him for forgetting about her.
He quickly ran to her side, held her hand, and led her to a seat.
"Yugao-nee, I recently came up with a really interesting story."
Seeing his tactful behavior, Uzuki Yugao let it go and sat beside the three girls, all perking their ears to listen.
"Today, I'll tell you a story called 'Senju Roméo and Uchiha Juliet.' Long before Konoha was founded, the Senju and Uchiha clans were bitter enemies."
"Senju Roméo and Uchiha Juliet met by a river, unaware of each other's identities at first…"
Aoba narrated vividly. Tenten, Ino, Sakura, and Yugao all listened quietly, completely forgetting their earlier quarrels.
"In the end, for the sake of the village, Roméo had no choice but to personally kill Juliet. However, not long after, Roméo also passed away from grief."
"Their deaths marked the end of their lives, but in terms of morality, they achieved victory, finally bringing peace between the two feuding clans and jointly protecting Konoha."
As he finished speaking, Aoba let out a long sigh. Telling stories was exhausting.
"*Sniff* *sniff*…"
Just as he planned to rest his eyes, he suddenly heard sobbing.
When he looked over, he saw that everyone's expressions had turned sorrowful.
The sobbing had come from Sakura, while Tenten, Ino, and Uzuki Yugao all had reddened eyes.
Clearly, they were deeply moved.
He was dumbfounded. No one had ever cried when he told stories before.
But then he remembered, he usually told fairy tales and had never told something like this before.
Still, this story was just a gender-swapped version of a certain famous tragedy, 'Could they really be shipping them already?' [T/N: He is talking about Hashirama and Madara]
"You guys…"
Just as Aoba was about to comfort them—
"Aoba, the Senju and Uchiha clans are too cruel. They actually… mmph mmph!"
Straightforward Ino was about to curse Konoha's two most prestigious clans but was promptly silenced by Aoba covering her mouth.
'That is a dangerous topic!'
"Mm mm?", Ino widened her eyes in confusion as she looked at him.
"Now that the story is over, shall we build a snowman?", Aoba suggested.
"It's all your fault for telling such a sad story. Who still feels like building a snowman now?", Tenten muttered gloomily, not wanting to show weakness.
The other two were the same, except for Ino, whose face had turned completely red as she seemed to have forgotten about the story.
"Then… ah!", Aoba suddenly felt something soft and wet lick his palm.
Startled, he withdrew his hand immediately, looking at his palm in disbelief before shifting his gaze to the now red-faced Ino.
His shocked cry attracted the others' attention.
"Aoba, what's wrong?", Uzuki Yugao, eyes still red, asked with concern.
Aoba quickly hid his right hand behind his back, looking awkward.
"I was just wondering… if we're not building a snowman, what should we do next?"
"…"
The group fell silent.
After a while, Sakura, having composed herself, spoke, "Then tell us another story, but this time make it a fun one. Cheer us up!"
"Yeah, another story!"
"It better be fun! Otherwise… we'll continue tomorrow!"
Looking at the three suddenly energetic girls and a steaming blond one, Aoba sighed and lowered his voice.
"Listen closely. What I'm about to tell you isn't just a story… but a great secret."
"A great secret?"
The four girls were immediately drawn in.
"Yes, a secret about the Third Hokage and his beloved friend, Danzo."
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