CH_136

And so, Tōji began his self-sufficient life as an orphan.

Everything was orderly.

He'd also taken a break from ninjutsu training, focusing only on "strength training."

In just half a month, Tōji's skin had darkened a shade. No choice—out in the blazing sun every day to fish!

The biggest gain in these two weeks was figuring out where in the waters south of Jirō Island he could catch the most plump fish.

Second was building a better chicken coop, buying two more chicks each week. That way, he'd never run out of chicken meat—and wouldn't have to eat grilled fish, steamed fish, boiled fish, sashimi… every single day.

Give it a little more time, and he'd even have eggs whenever he wanted!

That was pretty satisfying.

His vegetable patch, though, wasn't doing so well. No helping it—Tōji only knew how to plant seeds, not much about proper cultivation. It was more like gambling on the weather.

So Tōji still had to make a trip to Mother Island every other day to sell fish and buy vegetables. That "trade" was his main form of contact with the other residents of the Land of Seas.

But that day, on Mother Island's "commercial street," Tōji heard some news—the Konoha forces were pulling out!

That also meant Kirigakure's troops stationed in the Land of Waves would be withdrawn—and possibly all Kiri-nin on the surface would be recalled to the Land of Water.

Tōji knew the first real test was coming. First and foremost, he'd have to avoid being exposed during what was likely to be a Kiri "friendly visit" to the Land of Seas, probably sooner rather than later.

Thinking about that, Tōji was grateful for Minato's—whatever it was called—"chakra seal." Without it, even if he actively suppressed his chakra fluctuations, any skilled shinobi would see through him.

Three days after hearing about the Konoha withdrawal, Tōji no longer saw a single Konoha shinobi.

By the fifth day, a few dozen Kiri-nin had arrived.

At first, there were even Kiri jōnin. They swept through the four main islands of the Land of Seas. But before long, most of them left just as abruptly.

Only about a dozen Kiri-nin stayed behind, and they didn't seem particularly strong—just chūnin and genin.

They mostly operated on Mother Island. At least on Jirō Island, Tōji had only spotted one three-man Kiri squad stationed there. As for Tarō Island and Kikai Island, Tōji had never visited—he didn't want to stir up trouble.

『There shouldn't be any White Zetsu in the Land of Seas…』 Tōji guessed.

At this point, the number of White Zetsu available wasn't that abundant. They couldn't even keep a tight watch over the Land of Water—just Kirigakure itself was under close surveillance.

Let alone a tiny place right outside the Land of Water's doorstep.

Even the permanent squad sent to Jirō Island was just one chūnin and two genin…

Tōji felt it wasn't too bad.

And it was only after Kirigakure regained control of the Land of Seas that his spy career truly began. Everything before that had just been warm-up.

After that, Tōji's life hardly changed at all—he was just a normal "fourteen-year-old" fisherman.

The real Inoshishi had been fourteen, but Tōji, having trained for years, had grown faster than the average civilian kid. After the sun had darkened his skin over the past month or so, it was hard to tell if he was eleven or fourteen.

Under these circumstances, Tōji gradually started taking small risks… After finishing his fishing in the evening, instead of heading straight home, he'd row his boat further out to a large reef—and under cover of darkness, resume his daily ninjutsu training.

Of course, his training was very different from before—he didn't undo the seal, and used only trace amounts of chakra to perform "miniature versions" of various jutsu.

As Tōji put it, he was just going for familiarity. Since he wouldn't be learning any new jutsu for a while, he might as well focus on minimizing or eliminating hand seals entirely!