"Alright, Shisui, please let me treat your wounds."
Ling directly took a few steps forward, pulled Shisui's sleeve, and entered the house.
Shisui sat on the tatami, watching Ling rummaging through cabinets for medicine, finding her somewhat adorably contradictory at that moment.
"Found it! Ha! It was really well hidden." Ling found ointment and bandages from a cabinet.
She hopped over to Shisui, squatted down, and rolled up his sleeve.
"Oh dear! It's badly injured, it's all my fault, does it hurt a lot?"
Ling carefully applied the ointment to the bruised area of Shisui's arm, acting extremely careful and gentle.
Shisui's face was a bit flushed as he stared absently at Ling's cool profile, a strand of hair falling from behind her ear, framing her cheek, making her look even softer.
While Ling concentrated on bandaging Shisui's wound, she also paid attention to his expression, as her goal had not yet been achieved.
"Done! Look, isn't this bow cute?"
Ling proudly wrinkled her cute little nose, her tone childish and adorable, completely devoid of her usual coolness.
Shisui was somewhat at a loss, a boy with a bow was truly a bit of a shy macho man.
"Alright, dinner's ready. Although a Shadow Clone made it, it's still my cooking. Come and try it."
The Shadow Clone served all the dishes, then, unable to bear Ling's exploitation any longer, gave them both a Byakugan and dispelled itself.
"Hmm, it smells good, Ling is very impressive." Although Shisui was smiling, he felt sad that Ling, at such a young age, already possessed such cooking skills, clearly having to take care of herself since childhood.
"Quick, try it. This is sweet and sour pork ribs, this is pan-fried hairtail, and this is sukiyaki."
Ling, in high spirits, introduced the dishes to Shisui, using communal chopsticks to place some of each dish onto his plate.
"Ling is so thoughtful, is she taking care of me because my hands are inconvenient? Is this what friends are?" Shisui ate the delicious food, his mind couldn't help but wander, but this self-inflicted delusion was precisely the most dangerous kind.
"How is it? Is it delicious?" Ling looked up, revealing a brilliant smile that made Shisui momentarily stunned.
"Ling's smile is beautiful. I must protect such a smile, protect my friend Ling." Shisui secretly vowed in his heart. At that moment, he placed Ling in his heart.
At this moment, Ling's smile became even more genuine, because she had received a prompt from the Golden Finger, indicating that she had acquired a stable emotion provider.
She had gained another drawing opportunity, so how could Ling not be happy? This was Ling's favorite part.
"Hmph, little Shisui, captured!" Ling was quite pleased, like a green tea girl who successfully hooked a rich guy.
"Mere Shisui, wasn't he easily dealt with by one meal? So, dinner = Ninjutsu?" Ling was incredibly smug, thinking that perhaps she didn't need to sell her looks to achieve the desired number of stable emotion providers.
"Wow, I'm so full, as expected of my cooking. Wahaha!"
Ling hugged her extremely flat stomach, looking completely stuffed, lying on the tatami, not wanting to move at all, like a salted fish who had lost her dreams.
"Thank you for the meal, Ling. Your dishes were delicious." Shisui clasped his hands together, thanking Ling very formally.
"Uh, haha, well, it's not *that* amazing, just a little bit worse than a restaurant chef." Ling had an expression that screamed, "I'm not proud, praise me, praise me!"
Shisui found it somewhat amusing. He had seen the cool Ling, the gentle Ling, and now he saw the interesting Ling, finding her personality incredibly adorable.
"Ling, do you practice the Konoha Steel Fist style?" Shisui accidentally brushed his arm wound and immediately felt a sharp pain, prompting him to ask curiously.
"Ah, no, it's just ordinary basic Taijutsu. I guess I'm just a little bit strong." Ling waved her hand, saying rather awkwardly.
Shisui's mouth twitched, feeling some complaints that he had to voice. You call that "a little bit strong"? It's not like you have to punch Jiraiya-sensei half to death like Princess Tsunade for it to count as strong, right?
This seemingly frail and quiet girl possessed strength far beyond ordinary people. Even though Shisui had tempered his body with secret medicines for years, he was only slightly superior to his peers.
"How impressive. Ling, you haven't even entered the Ninja Academy yet, and you're already so strong. You must have put in a lot of unknown effort." Shisui felt a little pity for this optimistic girl. Although he had lost his parents at a young age, he still had elders from his clan who cared for him.
However, this girl, despite having a father, grew up resiliently by herself because her father was often away on missions and rarely came home. Not long ago, she even lost her only remaining relative.
The direct activation of her Sharingan was enough to show the sadness and pain in the girl's heart.
"By the way, Ling, the Ninja Academy starts next month. Are you going to enroll?"
Shisui remembered the Ninja Academy and decided to remind Ling, fearing she might forget. He also wanted to be in the same class as Ling.
"Mm, I remember. The Ninja Academy has many little kids, so I can make many friends."
What Ling was actually thinking was whether she could find some easily fooled children to quickly reach ten stable emotion providers, and then have another draw. Wouldn't that be great?
"Yes, making friends and forming bonds, that is the fire will." Shisui thought Ling also wanted to get along well with everyone, which would gradually change the current situation of the Uchiha Clan.
As dusk fell, Shisui bid farewell to Ling. They agreed to train together the next day at the same training ground.
At night, Ling did not give up on training, practicing hand signs and Chakra control with her Shadow Clone.
The next day, Ling changed into neutral training clothes and arrived at the training ground, where she saw Shisui had already arrived early, practicing Kunai throwing.
Ling still split into two Shadow Clones, letting them practice Taijutsu hand signs and Chakra control by walking on water.
She herself went into the forest, preparing to try out the new Ninjutsu she had learned.
"Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!" Ling quickly formed hand signs, her internal Chakra surged and converted into fire nature, then she shaped it, her chest expanding, and she forcefully exhaled a large fireball with a diameter of three to four meters.
The Great Fireball flew out with an unstoppable momentum, charging straight ahead, along the way, trees were snapped in half and fell to both sides.
Wherever the fireball passed, the ground was overturned, forming a deep gully, and the soil within the gully was scorched black, indicating the extreme temperature of the fireball.
After flying for over ten meters, the fireball's speed gradually slowed, and with a loud bang, the Great Fireball exploded violently, the intense flames and powerful impact instantly spreading out.
Trees within a six to seven-meter radius were all destroyed, their broken branches and leaves scattering everywhere.
After the explosion, a hemispherical crater was left behind, still filled with smoke and sparks, a scene of utter devastation.