CH_141

Cautiously stepping out from the rocks, Tōji used the weak moonlight to judge from the figure's posture that they had no intention of attacking.

『It's real.』 Tōji silently confirmed.

But he didn't plan to get closer. He untied the bamboo tube from his waist, poured out the scroll, and tossed it over.

Smack! The one codenamed Raccoon caught the scroll without any sign of caution.

"Don't be so tense." Raccoon's tone was casual, as if speaking to a passerby. "The scroll is blank. This contact was also a test."

"A test of me?" Tōji didn't fully drop his guard—his chakra was still fluctuating slightly, ready to use Substitution followed by Body Flicker at the first sign of trouble.

"Mainly to test whether Frog can still be trusted. Secondly, to test whether you're capable of carrying out this mission." Raccoon's voice sounded like a man in his early twenties—though of course, that was just how it sounded.

"Is the test over now? Anything else?" Tōji kept a distance of about a dozen paces from Raccoon, each on their own rock.

"From now on, just bring things here and hide them. One more thing—those Kiri-nin aren't all as weak as they look. Be careful." With that, Raccoon vanished using Body Flicker.

『Phew—done.』 Tōji was still quite tense.

This was different from meeting Frog. Frog had appeared suddenly, and when nothing bad happened afterward, Tōji instantly knew she wasn't a problem.

But Raccoon… Tōji had needed to be cautious at first. Now it seemed Raccoon was probably safe.

In those brief few minutes, the lighting was poor and the distance was far, and Tōji's mind was on escape routes—so he hadn't gotten a clear look at the other person. Except for one obvious feature: the guy was bald.

『Everyone's so rigid—they don't even change up the code phrases.』 Tōji wasn't Frog, wasn't a salted fish seller, and definitely wouldn't be doing business out at sea with salted fish…

『Whatever. It's just this once—we won't have to meet again after this. Let it go.』 Tōji climbed into his boat and rowed home.

『I need to get back—forgot to prepare dinner for Sweet Potato…』

He'd left food for his chickens, but since it was Sweet Potato's first day home, he wasn't used to planning ahead for the puppy.

『If Frog finds out, she'll definitely scold me.』 Tōji remembered how much Frog doted on the puppies.

But he also started speculating about Frog's identity…

Frog had probably done the job Tōji was doing now. Maybe she'd been reassigned to a forward position to relay intelligence coming out of the Land of Water.

But no sooner had she been reassigned than Konoha wanted to test Frog's "loyalty" again. What was going on? Was Frog not that trustworthy after all…

『If Frog isn't fully trustworthy, aren't I at risk of being discovered by the Kiri-nin at any moment?』 Tōji thought Konoha's handling of this was really unreliable.

Sure, everyone took risks in this line of work—but when the risk landed on him, he sure didn't want it handled this way…

『Sigh—no helping it. The spy business is hard to grow.』

By the time Tōji got home, it was already the middle of the night. Sweet Potato started barking nonstop the moment he saw Tōji. He didn't look the least bit like a starving puppy…

Tōji gave Sweet Potato some food, and only then did the barking stop.

Then Tōji went to fetch some fresh water, took a shower, washed his clothes, and finally went to sleep.

Aside from knowing he had to keep an extra eye out for the Kiri-nin, and that Frog might not always be trustworthy, there was nothing else to worry about.

The little episode passed…

As if nothing had happened, Tōji returned to his normal routine the next day.

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Sorry, I got held up by something yesterday.