When the simple alarm clock in Kiyoshi's tent reached seven in the evening, footsteps sounded.
"Are they here?"
Before seeing the person, Kiyoshi already knew who it was through his perception.
"It's Ginka-san. There shouldn't be any grievances between us, right?" Kiyoshi pulled open the curtain, feigning confusion.
Ginka bit her lower lip, Kiyoshi's gaze made her feel as if she had thorns in her back, wishing she could find a hole to crawl into.
But thinking of Nobuhiko, she took a few deep breaths nonetheless.
On her delicate and beautiful face, she forced out a hint of a smile.
"Ki… Kiyoshi … kun."
It seemed that using a respectful address for Kiyoshi was difficult for Ginka to utter. She stammered for a long time before finally getting the words out.
"Ginka-san can actually use respectful terms? I thought you were always condescending to everyone." Kiyoshi listened to Ginka's words and smiled.
His smile was somewhat piercing, and Ginka buried her head deeply.
To ask for a favor from someone she once looked down upon was indeed very difficult for Ginka.
If she hadn't said those discriminatory words against the Uchiha and offended Kiyoshi back then, perhaps things wouldn't have come to this point now. She felt a tinge of regret.
"Kiyoshi-kun, you're joking. Can I come in first?"
Ginka was only wearing a thin outer garment, and the cold wind blew, outlining some of her curves.
She tightened her body, afraid of being seen by her clansmen in front of the Uchiha tent.
It wouldn't be good if rumors about her spread. She just wanted to get inside quickly.
"That wouldn't be appropriate. I'm afraid people might spread rumors and gossip." Kiyoshi said earnestly, as if expressing fear that Ginka would implicate him.
"…"
Ginka almost couldn't maintain her composure. The blue veins that appeared when using the Byakugan almost involuntarily surfaced around her pristine white eyes.
She, a young woman, hadn't even mentioned being afraid of gossip, yet Kiyoshi was saying such things.
Was he despising her?
Ginka's stiff face softened after a moment, replaced by an even more ingratiating smile.
"Kiyoshi-kun, actually, I've come to ask for an important favor."
"What is it?" Kiyoshi smiled faintly, not quite smiling.
He already knew what Ginka wanted to ask him to do. But he simply wouldn't expose it.
Such a condescending noblewoman, always treating people with arrogance, insolence, disdain, and teasing, was, to put it bluntly, a female brat.
No, she should be a "female big brat."
Kiyoshi made a suitable adjustment.
It wasn't useless for female members of the Hyuga Clan to practice Gentle Fist from a young age. It promoted physical development, and beneath their thick robes lay hidden, ample bosoms.
Hinata was the best illustration of this.
What it meant to look slender in clothes and have flesh when undressed was nothing more than this.
"I would like to ask you, Kiyoshi-kun, to help look after Nobuhiko's life when you accompany the troops on missions." Ginka pleaded.
Today's unexpected interference had changed the timing of the operation.
It was estimated that troops would be dispatched tomorrow to attack Kirigakure, ensuring that Nobuhiko's bloodline was not leaked.
As for his own life or death?
Ginka believed that few people would care. Rather, some might even wish for Nobuhiko to die, for if he died, all problems would cease.
"Save Nobuhiko, huh…"
Kiyoshi pulled the curtain wide, stepping aside.
Ginka breathed a sigh of relief, looked left and right, and finding no one looking their way, she confidently walked into Kiyoshi's tent.
"The environment is simple, so this will have to do."
Inside the tent, there was only a bed, a small table beside the bed, and a teapot.
Ginka stood for a while, and finally had no choice but to sit on Kiyoshi's bed.
She felt somewhat tormented inside. She was a germaphobe.
Kiyoshi observed this very well.
"You want to ask for a favor, yet you don't even have the most basic courtesy?" Kiyoshi's tone grew colder.
Ginka waved her hands repeatedly, saying she didn't.
She looked at the teapot on the table, stood up on her own initiative, poured a cup of tea from the teapot, and eagerly handed it to Kiyoshi.
"It's cold."
Kiyoshi took a sip, then unceremoniously placed the teacup on the table.
"I… I…"
Ginka wanted to say there was no heating equipment here.
Kiyoshi asked, "What's wrong?"
"I'll be right back."
Ginka took the kettle and went to the public tap outside to get a kettle of hot water.
She returned and brewed another pot of tea for Kiyoshi with the hot water.
"That's better this time."
Kiyoshi drank it all in one gulp.
Seeing Ginka looking as if she had suffered a great humiliation, desperately trying to control her expression, he couldn't help but laugh out loud.
It seemed that Ginka usually tormented Natsu like this, and now the tables had turned.
"What, feeling tired?"
Kiyoshi glanced at the panting Ginka.
"I… I can give you money. Didn't we settle our grievances before?"
Ginka reacted, realizing that Kiyoshi was deliberately trying to make things difficult for her.
Her face was not looking good, held up only by a surge of inner strength.
She fumbled around on her body for a moment, then took out a Sealing Scroll and handed it to Kiyoshi.
"There's seven hundred thousand in here. I think that's more than enough to hire you for an S-rank mission, isn't it?"
The Hyuga Clan was a large clan after all, with numerous industries under its belt, and Ginka also received dividends.
The amount that ordinary Ninja had to fight tooth and nail, performing A-rank or even S-rank missions to save, she received monthly as dividends, accumulating a considerable sum over a year.
"As expected of the Main Family, so generous with their spending."
Kiyoshi didn't even look at the Sealing Scroll. He directly pulled open the curtain, and made a gesture for her to leave.
"If there's no sincerity, please leave."
"!"
Ginka froze.
Seven hundred thousand couldn't even buy Kiyoshi's help once?
Did he consider money as dirt?
"Kiyoshi-kun… Kiyoshi-kun, I… I'm not tired at all, please continue to give me orders!" Ginka hastily spoke.
She grabbed Kiyoshi's sleeve, her tone tinged with a pleading meaning.
"Hehe."
Kiyoshi's face showed a few more hints of a smile.
The reason he did this was to suppress her.
To correct the arrogant Ginka, he had to constantly suppress her, making her believe she was a lowly person.
Only then, in the end, could she inherit the Hyuga Clan's excellent virtues of supporting her husband, raising children, and being a virtuous wife and good mother.
Speaking of which, this was actually a good thing.
Natsu was working for him now, so it was normal for him to stick up for his subordinate.