CH_148

After several twists and turns, Tōji finally arrived at Lanxi Town.

『Seven days on the road—totally reasonable!』 Tōji found a rundown house right by the sea in Lanxi Town and decided to claim it for himself.

Anyway, this kind of house was usually unoccupied, so there was nothing to worry about.

Tōji wasn't going to overthink it. Frog had only given him a few words of information, so he just went with the flow—

casually patching up the broken house, casually building a chicken coop for his chicks, casually clearing a small vegetable patch, casually taking Sweet Potato out to sea to catch fish.

But this time, Tōji didn't go sell fish.

After all, he was new here—he didn't want to make too many moves right away.

The money he'd saved up in the Land of Seas was enough to buy vegetables and fruit for a good while, so he wasn't in any hurry.

Instead, he could catch fewer fish and spend more time secretly training at night.

You didn't think Tōji had left the Umibōzu behind, did you?

He brought them! Hidden in a compartment on his little wooden boat.

All of Tōji's current training used the special mud cultivated from the Umibōzu as material, trying to form the prototype of his own new jutsu.

Mainly because Tōji never undid the 【Chakra Suppression Seal】 on himself, his chakra reserves were so low he could only do small-scale research.

Otherwise, he might have already successfully developed one or two D-rank original "Mud" jutsu.

But training while most of his chakra was sealed also had a huge benefit.

Tōji's chakra control was now noticeably better than before. And it was clear that his effective chakra conversion rate was on track to surpass most people's!

These "normal" days passed for a while, and Lanxi Town gradually took on the chill of autumn—though it was actually early November. Autumn arrived even later here than in Konoha.

Late one night, Tōji returned home as usual—and noticed something off!

The few loose pebbles he'd deliberately placed by his front door had been pressed flat into the ground…

『Who's been in this house?』 Every time Tōji came home, he checked the several spots he'd set up as a "visitor log" for "guests."

This was the first time it had actually been useful.

Tōji carefully checked around the house—nothing.

Then he cautiously went inside…

"…" Tōji was speechless. Under one leg of his broken table was a piece of paper folded several times!

『Has Konoha really become this convoluted?!』 Tōji really couldn't imagine that people in the Naruto world also believed in hiding things in plain sight.

Tōji pulled the paper—which in his eyes might as well have been a classified document slapped across his face—out from under the table leg and unfolded it…

"…" Tōji was speechless again.

Written on it was a single line: "Uncle will be back in half a year!"

What the hell!

The spies in this world were completely different from what Tōji had imagined!

Complaints aside, Tōji still understood the message—

Nothing would happen for half a year. Just focus on coasting!

Based on Tōji's further guess, it probably just meant there wouldn't be any new developments for half a year.

His transfer was most likely because some Konoha spies within the Land of Water had been "eliminated." And this half year was the period when the Konoha spies planned to "go deep"—giving "Inoshishi" time to become a familiar face.

『Looks like I'm safe for now… But the moment they use me, it'll probably be for something big—the kind of intel you have to deliver even if it kills you…』 Combining his past-life knowledge of Naruto with his current understanding of Konoha's spies, Tōji could piece it together easily enough.

After burning that ridiculous piece of paper, Tōji felt much more relaxed.

『Next up is a life even more secluded than in the Land of Seas—for about half a year, apparently…』 Tōji was already making new plans.

This time, he intended to grow even his own vegetables and fruit, further reducing contact with the locals of the Land of Water… After all, he didn't need to gather intelligence himself at all.