He ran back to the spot, out of breath.
It was covered in maple leaves, but there was no sign of his notebook.
Yuuga frowned hard and searched the area carefully, and came up with nothing.
His frown got tighter and tighter, and in the end he gave up a little.
How could it be gone?
He could write the opening of the novel again from memory, but it was still the first novel he had written out by hand in a notebook, the beginning of his great novel enterprise, and losing it left a faint bad feeling no matter how he looked at it.
A gust of wind blew through and lifted the loose hair at his forehead.
He muttered, “That doesn’t make sense…
it was right here.
How can I not find it?”
“Is this what you’re looking for?”
A clear, pleasant voice appeared beside his ear, and then a notebook with a blue cover appeared in front of his eyes.
It was the one he had lost.
A black shadow stretched over him from behind and to one side, swallowing his own shadow whole, and now and then the maple leaves on the ground rustled in the wind.
The mood was strange.
What was worse, he hadn’t sensed anyone behind him at all.
Which meant the woman behind him was far beyond him in strength.
Only outright suppression like that made a person that hard to notice.
And Yuuga’s own sense for chakra was better than an ordinary person’s, so whoever was behind him was at least at jonin level.
While he was thinking that, a small, nimble tongue licked lightly at his cheek, and the woman behind him smacked her lips.
Then she snorted out a laugh and said, sounding rather pleased with herself, “Am I really that scary?
Who are you, anyway?
I don’t think I’ve seen you before.
Hey, kid, is this notebook yours?
Come on, you can tell Anko.”
Anko?
Yuuga went still, and the image of a very pretty girl with purple hair came into his head.
Orochimaru’s student, snakelike in her habits just like her teacher, forever sticking out her tongue and licking things.
Which made this a little awkward.
He touched the cheek she had licked, took a step forward, reached out and took the blue notebook back, then turned around, lifted his head and looked Anko Mitarashi up and down.
“Hello, Anko-senpai.
My name is Yuuga.
This notebook is mine.
Thank you.”
Anko folded her arms across her chest and raised an eyebrow, surprised.
“So it really is yours.
Then the stuff inside, you wrote that too?”
“Obviously.” Once he realized she didn’t mean any harm, Yuuga relaxed a lot.
He flipped through the notebook casually, then looked up at her and raised an eyebrow of his own.
“You read what’s in here?”
Hearing that he was the author, Anko nodded excitedly and waved her hands around as she talked.
“I read it, of course I read it, every word.
But what do you mean by it?
Why isn’t it Rika that Kanchi likes?
Sweet Rika’s obviously the heroine.”
Looking at her, excited and a little tangled up about it, Yuuga laughed to himself.
He cleared his throat and put on an air of mystery.
“Ahem.
The secrets of heaven cannot be revealed.
Anko-senpai, once I finish writing it, you’ll know.”
“Then hurry up and write it.
I’m dying to read it,” Anko said, her whole face impatient.
Yuuga smiled and nodded.
“I’ll find the time and finish it as soon as I can.”
With that promise, Anko let out a breath, then rubbed her chin and looked him up and down twice more before something occurred to her.
“Yuuga?
I’ve never heard of anyone in the village called Yuuga.
Are you not from here?”
“No.” He shook his head and met her curious look.
“I’m not a resident of Konoha.
I’m from Tanzaku Quarters.
I came to Konoha with a merchant caravan a while back and I’m planning to live here for a while.”
Tanzaku Quarters was a place where all sorts mixed together.
In Naruto Shippuden, the Fifth Hokage, Tsunade, made her first appearance in Tanzaku Quarters.
And Tanzaku Quarters was where Yuuga had transmigrated to.
The place had plenty of gambling houses and taverns, and when he first arrived in this world Yuuga had built up his travel money by taking quests and gambling.
Because the first place he wanted to go was of course where the main characters were, Konoha.
Once he had earned enough, he joined a caravan and set out for Konoha.
After he arrived and went through a whole series of registrations, he decided to settle there for the time being and figure out the rest later.
So he found a place to rent in the village and stayed.
But Yuuga was an outsider, and an outsider who knew some jutsu at that, so settling in Konoha came with a certain amount of “difficulty.” In his first few days there, for instance, nearly every aspect of his life was under surveillance, and from two different quarters: the ANBU under the Third Hokage, and Danzo’s Root.
If he hadn’t turned on the game quest map view, he would never have noticed.
That was the first time he had used it, and he saw points of light appearing on his map in hidden spots, circling around him without stopping.
In that moment he understood that he was being watched.
It was uncomfortable, but there was nothing he could do.
After a month the situation improved.
People were still watching him, but they came less and less often, which was a good sign.
That had something to do with how he lived: take quests, pay the rent, stay home, make a few friends.
That was his life in Konoha, and none of it did Konoha any harm or cost it anything.
Still, besides the rent every month, there was one other thing that made him miserable.
Outsiders had to pay Konoha a security deposit, and it was not a small sum.
Thinking about it soured his expression.
He hadn’t paid next month’s deposit yet.
Seeing the glum look on his face, Anko asked, curious, “What’s wrong?
Not enjoying Konoha?”