Ryosuke walked out of the ramen shop.
The street was lined with a crowd of onlookers.
Standing in the middle of the street was a bearded guy with a cigarette in his mouth, gazing affectionately at the woman across from him.
"Kurenai, be my girlfriend."
The young woman with long hair and a center part looked incredibly awkward.
Even though she and Sarutobi Asuma were childhood friends, she never really liked him much.
And the way he looked now was just too sloppy—cigarette stinking up the place, scruffy beard, and confessing right in public.
Shouldn't a confession happen somewhere private?
This was just insincere.
Plus, he had a bad reputation—a total delinquent, immature, like a kid.
She felt uncomfortable just being around him, let alone dating him.
She said coldly, "I refuse."
Sarutobi Asuma was shocked.
"Why, Kurenai? Aren't we childhood friends?"
Kurenai said, exasperated, "We just grew up together. Who says childhood friends have to be lovers?"
That's a huge difference.
Asuma got anxious. Kurenai was actually rejecting him. Soon he'd be heading to the Land of Fire's capital as one of the Twelve Guardian Ninja, so he wanted to lock things in before he left—Kurenai was super popular now.
He narrowed his eyes and threatened,
"If you don't agree today, I'll follow you until you do."
Kurenai looked disgusted.
"You're so annoying."
Who chases girls like this?
Was this really the same Sarutobi Asuma she knew? He was basically just a clingy mess.
Asuma got even more frustrated—how was it this hard to get the girl, when they were childhood friends?
He didn't have much time left in Konoha.
He walked up and grabbed her hand.
"If you don't agree today, I'm not letting go."
Kurenai's face turned furious—how could he pull this stunt in public? No way she could be happy with a guy who acted like this.
The crowd watched in silence. If he weren't the Third Hokage's son, they would have stepped in by now. This was straight-up harassment.
Just then, a voice cut through.
"If you keep harassing this woman, I'll arrest you."
It was Uchiha Ryosuke.
He hadn't expected Asuma to be so reckless, but as a member of the Police Force, he had to stop it.
The villagers turned to look—it was a member of the Uchiha Police. The Uchiha didn't have the best reputation, but they hoped he'd stop this.
Asuma let go of Kurenai's hand and looked over.
A young man with spiky hair and a high-collared cloak—an Uchiha.
He sneered,
"Uchiha, are you really going to ruin my business?"
To him, this was a private matter, and everyone else was just in the way. As long as he pressured Kurenai, she'd give in eventually.
He tried to intimidate the Uchiha.
Ryosuke looked at him seriously.
"As a member of the Uchiha Police, how could I ignore you harassing women in public?"
Asuma burst out laughing.
"Uchiha Police? After the Nine-Tails incident, you guys are a joke. Besides, you don't have the authority to mess with me."
"My dad is the Third Hokage. You dare get involved? I'll beat you up."
The villagers looked disgusted. Asuma's bad reputation was already famous—never paying for food or barbecue.
They feared the Hokage's power, so they stayed quiet.
Now he was harassing a woman in public. They were angry.
Kurenai looked completely disappointed. He was just abusing his dad's status to act out.
So immature.
She wondered how she never noticed what a jerk Asuma was before.
Ryosuke shrugged.
"Even if you're the Hokage's son, even if the Third Hokage himself was here, you can't harass women on the street."
The villagers were satisfied. This Uchiha really said what needed to be said.
Asuma's behavior had annoyed them for ages.
It's one thing to confess, but to get physical in public? Not okay, no matter who your dad is.
Now that someone had spoken up, they joined in:
"Asuma, how can you harass women in public as the Hokage's son?"
"And threatening to attack a cop? That's insane!"
Asuma saw everyone turning on him and his face darkened.
He glared furiously at Ryosuke. This was all his fault.
Without hesitation, he drew two chakra blades from his waist and pumped chakra into them, making the blades glow blue.
The crowd went silent, and some people stepped back.
Those weapons looked really dangerous.
In a ninja village, everyone was used to seeing kunai and shuriken, but only big clans could afford gear like this.
Kurenai's face changed when she saw Asuma's blades.
She'd seen him demonstrate them before—they were sharp enough to cut through iron, and with chakra, they could easily slice through trees or smash rocks.
How could he use such a weapon on a fellow villager?
Way out of line.
She couldn't help but scold him.
"How can you do this? You're out of control."
Asuma was even angrier—why was even Kurenai on his case? Clearly, this Uchiha was the problem.
"Kurenai, this guy started it. Once I handle him, I'll finish my confession."
Kurenai was speechless.
Is this really the time for a confession? There's no way she'd ever say yes after this. The guy was just hopeless.
Ryosuke was getting a headache. He'd only tried to stop public harassment, and now the guy was about to go full-on ninja.
Those blades could easily chop his arm off.
He channeled chakra to his eyes—two tomoe appeared, turning his eyes red.
He stayed on guard.
"What do you think you're doing? Attacking people in public?"
"Is this what the Hokage's son was taught?"
Mentioning the Hokage just made Asuma angrier—he never got along with his dad, and this guy thought he could use the Hokage to threaten him?
Asuma decided—maybe he wouldn't kill the guy, but he could definitely take an arm. His dad would clean up the mess, and the Uchiha's reputation was already in the gutter anyway.