At Sea

Naruto held his breath, unable to exhale, and after three seconds of silence, said, "Read less useless books."

". oh."

With that, Naruto muttered something and left.

"Where is this excerpt from? I've never seen it before. Has the Pervy Sage released a new book?"

Sakura pursed her lips, said nothing, and slowly followed behind.

Two hours flew by.

Mitarashi Anko also brought a down jacket and a few strings of hot Red bean dumplings. The film crew's ship had already docked at the pier, and Kazahana Koyuki had been picked up as well.

I heard she slept peacefully, like a sleeping rose princess. Unfortunately, it wasn't a prince who knocked her unconscious, but some heartless blond-haired bastard.

"Damn it! You're the one I worry about the most!" Anko said, tugging at Naruto's clothes. "Be polite to your targets. We're ninjas, not bandits."

"Okay~!" Naruto said, drawing out the words as if he didn't care at all.

The three of them walked unsteadily, Anko felt somewhat exhausted, convinced that she and this guy were destined to clash. This mission was destined to be anything but simple.

Sakura was walking beside Naruto when Anko suddenly secretly pulled Naruto's hand from behind, holding it tightly for a moment before letting go.

Naruto looked completely bewildered; his movement was so sudden that Anko didn't notice at all. Sakura didn't say anything either, just smiled at him.

He felt a little confused, but after thinking about it, he didn't bother to ask. As long as he could complete the mission, nothing else mattered. So, Naruto casually brought up the system panel.

The last option popped up but I haven't made a selection yet. There's a countdown timer in the upper right corner of the panel, showing that there are only three hours left to make a selection.

The film crew's fleet hasn't set sail yet, and they might still be adrift at sea in three hours.

The options couldn't be delayed any longer; a choice had to be made now. The choice was either to protect Kazahana Koyuki and travel to the Land of Snow to overthrow the tyranny, or to threaten Kazahana Koyuki into handing over the Geothermal Generator and forcing the people of the Land of Snow to pay taxes.

These two things are not actually in conflict, and can even be done one after the other.

If it's a choice between two options, there's no need to choose the first one. The key to the Geothermal Generator is on Kazahana Koyuki; if you get it, you'll also need to eliminate the current king of the Land of Snow.

In addition, the mission this time is to protect Kazahana Koyuki as she travels to the Land of Snow to film a movie. In other words, no matter what, Kazahana Koyuki's safety is paramount.

Choose option two.

With a thought, option two flashed briefly and then disappeared, while the panel slowly faded away.

Even if it's a system option, he doesn't want to do anything too troublesome. He chose option two simply because the reward is an upgrade to Flying Thunder God.

If it were any other reward, Naruto might have chosen the first one to save himself the trouble. After making his choice, he stopped thinking about the system and decided to wait and see how things went.

Coastline, harbor.

As the late winter recedes, mountains stand by the sea, most trees with bare branches, and the world is filled with a sense of silence.

Occasionally, small clusters of green shoots can be seen. Someone runs down from the mountain and crashes their bicycle into the sea, drawing everyone's attention.

Sakura had already boarded the ship. Instead of looking at the person who had fallen into the water, she turned her gaze to a spot on the dock.

A blond-haired man stood squatting on the shore, grinning broadly as he watched the commotion, gesturing wildly with glee. He quickly made eye contact with the unfortunate man who had fallen into the water, and the two immediately began exchanging insults.

The man who had fallen into the water, his face flushed and cursing, climbed ashore with the help of the sailors. Almost without pausing, he stormed off to confront the blond-haired man.

With a bang, a graceful parabola flashed by as the man was thrown into the sea by the blond-haired man with his bare hands.

"Hahaha! Is that kid a ninja?"

"Where did these ninjas come from? Throwing someone into the sea, aren't they afraid of being punished?"

"They're not wearing Forehead Protector, they must be wandering ninjas! Maybe they aren't ninjas at all, who knows? If I were in their shoes, I could too."

The large ship was not sailing smoothly; it was rocking and swaying.

In the distance, the sea met the sky, forming a thin line edged with silver. Anko was handing over paperwork to her client, seemingly arguing about something.

Naruto and Sakura had nothing to do, so they stood on the deck and peered down.

The seawater was as blue and clear as the sky above, and the rushing white waves churned and thrashed like swimming fish. The salty sea breeze felt greasy on my face, much more bitter than soda water.

"So this is what the sea looks like." Sakura stood about three meters to Naruto's left, leaning half her body over the railing.

"This is the first time I've ever seen it," she said.

"Me too," Naruto said. "If you go west from the Valley of the End, you can see the sea. Last time when Sasuke left, I almost chased him all the way to the Valley of the End."

Upon hearing the name Sasuke, Sakura paused for a moment, then tightened her clothes. "Do you still want to win Sasuke back?"

"Hmm?" Naruto shook his head instinctively. "I don't want to at all."

"Hmm." Sakura didn't ask any further questions.

"You're all here? That saves me the trouble of looking for you all one by one." Anko's voice suddenly came from behind. "This mission is going to be a long one."

Naruto and Sakura turned around and saw Anko walking towards them, wrapped in a cotton coat and scarf.

The clothes were quite warm, but a large area of the fishing net training uniform and the dumplings on either side of her body were exposed in front of her. It was still a rich and generous day.

"Aren't you cold in the chest with your clothes unbuttoned?" Naruto asked bluntly.

Anko stopped in her tracks, glanced down at her open shirt, then looked up at Naruto, her expression slightly embarrassed.

"Your focus is a bit strange, damn it!"

"I was just curious," Naruto asked. "So, are you cold?"

Anko:"."

The next day.

Naruto had never been to sea before, didn't sleep well all night. Anko said the journey was long, and indeed, after a day at sea, they didn't feel like they were making any progress.

He would believe even if someone told him the ship was just circling at sea. The complete lack of sight of his destination made life dull and monotonous.

As dawn broke, Sakura came over and brought him some food.

"You can't sleep well either?" he asked while eating.

"Yeah, the ship is rocking too much." Sakura didn't look too good either, with some bloodshot eyes. "The crew said we'll get used to it in a few days, and it'll be much better on the way back."

"What about the woman?"

"Is this Teacher Anko?" Sakura asked.

"Who else could it be? Doesn't she sleep in the same room as you at night?"

"This..." Sakura suddenly laughed, "Do you want to hear it? But if you find out about something so shameful, she'll kill you."

Afternoon.

The good news is that Kazahana Koyuki has woken up; the bad news is that she's come with a knife.

I didn't cancel my application yesterday because I was looking for a new place, and today I'm moving. I only wrote 6,000 words, which is a bit low.

The daily rate will resume tomorrow.