CH_155

Tōji's mission couldn't be completed the way Konoha had envisioned.

Or rather, his mission had effectively failed and been terminated. The Land of Water and the Land of Seas were clearly no longer suitable for Tōji to operate in.

If he went straight back to the Land of Fire, even by boat it would take days—Tōji wasn't stupid enough to swim all the way back.

Besides, he still had something "stored" with Tenchi—he couldn't just leave it there.

As long as his life wasn't in danger, Tōji didn't want to catch Orochimaru's attention.

As for Tenchi… well, that depended on the situation. That piece of trash wouldn't be missed if killed. The key was not leaving behind any information that shouldn't be known.

Right now, if Tōji wanted to reach Kikai Island in the Land of Seas, he'd just need to swim roughly north, slightly east.

But that was way too conspicuous. After all, the Land of Seas had Kiri-nin stationed there, and Tōji's spy identity had already been exposed to Kirigakure.

If he had no good plan and just recklessly entered the Land of Seas, Tōji would be courting death.

For now, Tōji found a reef not too far from the Land of Seas. It was only in waters near archipelagos like this that you could find small rocks to rest on.

After swimming for over a dozen hours—especially with that life-or-death sprint at the start—Tōji desperately needed proper rest.

He first caught a sea fish and dug out a lighter from the tool pouch. That was a pleasant surprise.

But there was no firewood, so he couldn't grill the fish. Tōji made do with his kunai to prepare sashimi…

You had to eat well to rest well!

But Tōji only ate until half-full before lying down to rest. He fell into a light sleep and didn't wake until noon the next day—woken by the sun, since there was no shade or cover on the tiny reef. The conditions were terrible.

With nowhere else to go, Tōji immediately began preparing to scout the situation in the Land of Seas the moment he woke up. He wanted to slip into the underground Konoha lab on Kikai Island after dark to find Tenchi.

But Tōji discovered he couldn't get anywhere near Kikai Island anymore—though there might not be many Kiri-nin stationed there, there were clearly more watchtowers now…

Tōji was confident that if he approached Kikai Island or any other island in the Land of Seas, he'd quickly become a tasty meal for some aquatic creature in those waters.

With no other options, Tōji didn't bother taking the risk. He really did swim back to the Land of Fire in defeat…

『Making it back from the Land of Water to the Land of Fire alive is already lucky. It's not shameful…』 Rough as it was, compared to people like Kenji and Frog, Tōji was clearly one of the lucky ones.

This time, Tōji honestly swam for a full four and a half days before reaching the coastline of the Land of Fire. Whenever he spotted a boat in the distance, he didn't dare approach—let alone hitch a ride.

Just eating raw fish alone had made Tōji sick to his stomach!

As Tōji put it—his affection for seafood had been completely used up for the rest of his life!

Though he was back in the Land of Fire, Tōji couldn't guarantee he wouldn't run into enemies here in these times, so he still had to stick to hidden paths.

Either find Konoha's people first, or find a nearby town or village…

However, it was Konoha's border patrol shinobi who found Tōji first. After some questioning, a squad of shinobi sealed Tōji's chakra and sent him to a Konoha base established on the Land of Fire's border.

After half a day of waiting, the Konoha border shinobi finally confirmed that Tōji was indeed one of theirs, and only then gave him some freedom—no longer confined to the "reception room."

At the same time, there was another spy who'd just returned—Akame Iwao, who'd been embedded on the Land of Water's border until now.

When Tōji met that scruffy-looking guy who appeared to be about twenty, one of Iwao's eyes seemed to have been recently blinded.

『This useless dog—he's lucky to have made it back alive from the Land of Water.』 Tōji thought to himself…

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Alright everyone, I've relaunched my . Here's the link—cheapest tier gets you 30 chapters early. Fingers crossed someone backs me this time.

https://www..com/Doz1/posts/ch-156-160-169403064?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=postshare_creator&utm_content=join_link