Yōkō didn't own a single brick or tile in Konoha. He had no relatives, no home.
After joining the Anbu, he was also responsible for internal chores, so he lived at the Anbu headquarters.
Now that he had a three-day vacation, he couldn't stay at the Anbu. What if a mission came up and the captain saw Yōkō was there, ruining his holiday?
Yōkō changed into ordinary clothes and left the Forest of Death where the Anbu was located with a heavily 'sneaky' air, wandering around Konoha.
He stopped and turned, looking at the Hokage Rock not far away.
The faces of the First, Second, and Third Hokage were colossal, giving a sense of megalophobia.
The closer one got to the base of the Hokage Rock, the closer to the Hokage building, the more oppressive the giant faces felt.
This village lacked the youthful vitality of the original shonen manga; it was only filled with the oppression brought by death.
Everyone was like Kakashi in the original story – having lost teammates, teachers, friends – more or less mentally ill.
This was a village of universal mental illness.
During the Second Great Ninja War, most ninja were at the front lines, leaving Konoha Village somewhat desolate.
After walking aimlessly for half an hour, Yōkō planned to find a cheap inn.
"My wallet?"
Only when he went to take out money did he realize his wallet wasn't in his tool pouch.
Thinking carefully, Yōkō concluded it could only have been left at the Tsurugetsu Izakaya, so he went back to look for it.
Outside the izakaya, the voluptuous and beautiful proprietress had just taken out the trash at the street corner. Seeing the ninja from last night approaching in the distance, her teeth chattered with nervousness.
It's over.
Had her spy identity been exposed after all?
That handsome young man from last night had stabbed her spy teammate to death.
To prevent intelligence leaks after death, her teammate had never met her, had never seen her face. So why was she exposed?
What to do?
The proprietress pretended not to see him, turned around, and went back into the izakaya.
Gripping a sharp fruit knife tightly, the proprietress sliced lemons on the counter.
Seeing Yōkō sit down in front of her, the proprietress looked up and said, "Will you have a bottle of sake again?"
"Give me back my wallet, then I'll have money to order sake."
"Ah?"
The proprietress stared at the Konoha ninja in surprise, the fruit knife in her hand loosening and tightening, tightening and loosening.
He wasn't here to arrest her?
"Why are you stunned! Give me back my wallet!"
"Wallet? What wallet?"
Looking for a wallet?
The reason was too absurd not to be true.
After this emotional rollercoaster, the proprietress's chest was filled with a surge of joy, her bosom heaving uncontrollably.
Yōkō jumped off the high stool, moved to the side, and headed straight for the backyard.
But the proprietress directly blocked Yōkō.
"Customer! The backyard is under repair, you can't go in!"
The proprietress was terrified.
After waking up last night, the room was empty.
Her teammate from underground was gone, and the handsome guest was gone too.
She tried contacting the spy teammate using their unique method, but got no response.
There was a patch on the ground with a slightly different color, as if someone had dug something out from below and then restored the surface.
Yōkō brushed aside the proprietress's hand and entered the backyard, finding it was indeed under repair.
The floor tiles were all pried up, unknown what they were fixing.
"I told you it's under repair! How about this, customer, you go rest upstairs on the second floor first, and I'll go into the backyard to look for your wallet." The proprietress wrapped her arms around one of Yōkō's arms.
"I recognize you, you're last night's customer!"
"Why did I pass out? Why did you leave? Weren't we going to discuss Yin Release and Yang Release?"
"Last night, you fell and hit your head on the ground, knocking yourself out. I like enthusiastic responses, not lifeless ones."
With his arm surrounded by voluptuousness, Yōkō went up to the second floor. He asked, "What's your name?"
"Kyōi."
Sitting in the private room on the second floor, Yōkō said:
"Kyōi, my wallet had 150,000 ryo in it. You must find my wallet, you must pay me back!"
Konoha ninja were notorious for their meager incomes.
After a month of missions in the Anbu, teetering on the edge of death, he had only earned 100,000 ryo. The remaining 50,000 was what he had demanded from the captain last night.
Kyōi went downstairs to look.
She searched the backyard, the side room, around every table and chair, but couldn't find the wallet.
Going back upstairs, Kyōi adjusted her expression and entered the private room with seductive, smiling eyes.
"Ninja-sama, I really couldn't find the wallet. I'm so silly, only realizing now... you didn't really come for the wallet, did you? Even though I couldn't find the wallet, I can compensate you in other ways"
Hearing that Yōkō liked enthusiastic responses, Kyōi used all her skills.
Downstairs in the main izakaya hall, the first customer of the afternoon came in for a drink.
After more than ten minutes, the customer looked up.
Dust was sifting down from between the floorboards overhead.
The floorboards were creaking and groaning.
Another twenty-plus minutes passed, and the door to the second-floor private room opened.
Kyōi readjusted her shoulder strap onto her shoulder, breathing heavily, and closed the door.
Inside, Yōkō, lying lazily on the bed, said, "You promised, since you lost my wallet, you'd let me stay here for three days!"
"I will definitely compensate for your loss... in all sorts of creative ways."
Yōkō, satisfied, lay on the bed pretending to nap.
So young, lacking experience. Last night he actually thought they weren't soft or jiggly... Good, it's good that they're firm. Perky is good.
Three days later, Kyōi saw Yōkō off at the door, heartbroken.
This Konoha ninja's lips were so tight! For three days, she hadn't managed to extract a single word from him.
She'd even had to reinforce the izakaya's floorboards once. Are all Konoha ninja's confidentiality this strong?
However, she was certain the handsome ninja wasn't here to investigate her.
Yōkō returned to the Anbu under cover of night.
After entering the Anbu headquarters, he saw his wallet in his locker!
He picked up the wallet in astonishment. How could it be here?
He was very careful, very meticulous. When he left the Anbu three days ago, the wallet was definitely not in the locker!
The captain's voice suddenly came from behind; he had appeared out of nowhere again.
"Fox, I took my 50,000 ryo back and put in the 100,000 ryo reward for the B-rank mission. That means you have 200,000 ryo in your wallet now. Count it."
Counting it was irrelevant now.
Yōkō just wanted to know why the beautiful proprietress Kyōi had been so... enthusiastic these past few days... Ah... Huh?
Wait, the proprietress had been too enthusiastic towards him, excessively so.
Could she be a spy?
Whatever. Whether she's a spy or not has nothing to do with him. That's Konoha's problem, not his.
Even if Konoha were destroyed, it wouldn't concern him.
A female spy is good. A female spy needs frequent... investigations. Thorough investigations.
The captain said, "Let's go, mission. The spy we brought back is from Iwagakure. We're going to follow the leads."
Yōkō put on his fox mask and sighed behind it.
Last time, a squad also went to 'follow the leads,' and they all died. Spies daring to operate in Konoha Village have some skill. It's hard to say who is the vine and who is the melon.
After putting on his Anbu iron flak jacket, strapping on his standard-issue ninja sword, and checking every detail, Yōkō followed the captain, along with two other teammates, and disappeared from the Anbu entrance.
He hoped they could simply complete a C-rank mission and be done with it.
(End of Chapter)