There was nothing to say throughout the night. Shimiya Aoba slept extremely well. He had always liked sleeping in an extremely quiet, dim environment, because that way he couldn't feel time passing. It was especially blissful during vacations.
The only flaw was that this lousy place didn't even have a pillow. It was terribly uncomfortable.
He had no idea how long he had slept. When he opened his eyes, a tall ninja wearing a Konoha Headband was standing before him, scrutinizing him.
Aoba was startled, but before he could say anything, the man in front of him slowly spoke. "You're Shimiya Aoba?"
Aoba nodded and thought, Isn't that obvious?
"You're young, but ruthless when you strike, vindictive, and ill-tempered... Forget it. Come with me."
Aoba knew that the people who had gone to investigate his past had probably sent back their report. Everything he had done during this time had indeed been observed by people lurking in the shadows. He just didn't know how they planned to deal with him now.
Following the tall ninja out, Aoba saw quite a few frightened gazes. What had happened last night had probably already spread. Seeing him being taken away, they were likely feeling greatly relieved.
He didn't care in the slightest. He hadn't come here to make friends anyway. He constantly reminded himself that he was an undercover agent, here to cause trouble. If he became entangled by emotions and failed to complete his mission, then even if Obito didn't deal with him, that damned system would drag him into blowing himself up with it!
This is way too difficult. Sigh!
"I'll take him away."
The middle-aged woman looked at Aoba with disgust, her eyes and nose seeming out of place, then said irritably, "Hurry up and take this troublemaker away."
The tall ninja said nothing and simply walked forward.
But after catching up, Aoba turned around and raised his middle finger at the middle-aged woman who had confined him, as a sign of respect.
If that damned system hadn't failed to issue a mission this time, he would have rushed over and spat in her face twice!
Using confinement as punishment in an orphanage was truly excessive. Konoha clearly wasn't as righteous as it appeared. Even without Danzo and the others, there were certainly plenty of sordid things like this!
"Although Lord Hokage hopes that I'll adopt you and raise you properly, I'd like to hear what you think."
The tall ninja suddenly stopped and turned to look at Aoba.
Aoba froze. He hadn't expected the man to say that, much less that someone had already arranged his future life.
Perhaps someone else would have agreed. After all, no child didn't yearn for the warmth of a family, especially after suddenly arriving in an unfamiliar place.
But he was different. He had come here with another purpose from the start. Being adopted would only involve more innocent people, and the thought of suddenly having another father made him feel awkward from the bottom of his heart.
So he refused without hesitation.
"I can live quite well on my own, so forget it. I'm sure you aren't satisfied with this arrangement either, which is why you're asking me, right?"
A trace of surprise flashed through the tall ninja's eyes. He hadn't expected a five-year-old child to see through his thoughts.
But he had to admit that the boy was right. Although his child had died on the battlefield, he didn't want to continue his bloodline in this manner. He was merely an ordinary Special Jonin, while this boy seemed to possess a certain special talent.
"You're right. I don't want to adopt you; I just found it difficult to refuse. But I still have to remind you of something. Do you know what your choice means? I can give you another chance to choose."
"No need. I don't want to call someone I've never even met 'Dad,' either. But I helped you with such a big problem, so could you help me with something too?"
"Hm? Tell me."
"I don't want to go back to the orphanage, and I don't want to be adopted again. So could you help me find somewhere to live?"
The tall ninja paused. He suddenly remembered what he had seen when he encountered Aoba in the confinement room, then sighed. These matters weren't his responsibility, but some people had gone too far. It seemed necessary to mention this to Lord Hokage.
"Are you sure you want to live alone? I could actually help you find a family willing to adopt you and treat you well."
"No, absolutely not. You said it yourself—my personality is too awful. Anyone who adopted me would be incredibly unlucky."
Thinking of the boy's violent tendencies, the tall ninja was rendered speechless and developed a headache. It seemed this was probably the only option.
"Come with me."
Before long, the two arrived at a house in a residential district.
The tall ninja opened the door and walked inside. "You can stay here for now. I'll report your situation to my superiors, but I can't guarantee what the result will be. Also, here's some money for your living expenses over the next few days. Consider it a bit of compensation."
After speaking, the tall ninja left the money and key behind, then prepared to turn around and leave.
Everything here seemed to have stirred up some painful memories, and he didn't want to stay any longer.
"Wait. I still don't know who you are."
Aoba suddenly realized that he still didn't know who the man was or what his name was, despite having traveled all this way with him.
"Just call me Jonin Mikawa. I'll come back once there's a result. Don't run around or cause trouble in the meantime."
Mikawa?
A Jonin, too?
After the man left, Aoba was somewhat baffled. He had no impression of this name at all. It seemed he was probably just a minor ninja, and not a famous one at that.
After all, there were so many ninjas in the Hokage World. He could only remember the names of a few familiar faces.
Moreover, after arriving in this world, aside from meeting the famous villains Madara, Obito, White Zetsu, and Black Zetsu at the very beginning, he hadn't encountered a single person in Konoha whose name he could call out. It seemed that ninjas and ordinary civilians truly belonged to two different worlds.
Still, once his identity was settled, this sort of thing probably wouldn't happen again.
As he thought, he looked over the surroundings. It was a private little dwelling of roughly thirty square meters. The place wasn't large, but it wasn't messy either. It seemed that no one had lived there for a long time, and a layer of dust covered everything inside.
"Looks like my main task today is to clean this place thoroughly."
After deciding what he would do next, he casually opened the wallet Jonin Mikawa had left behind and counted the living expenses inside.
A full thousand ryo!
EMMMMMMM... What were the prices like in the Hokage World again?
He vaguely remembered that the Book of Soldiers recorded one ryo as being roughly equivalent to ten yen. The price level was about the same as that of the Land of Neon before he transmigrated. A bowl of ramen at Ichiraku Ramen cost only a few dozen ryo, and definitely less than a hundred.
By that calculation, a thousand ryo had pretty good purchasing power!
Aoba silently gave Jonin Mikawa a thumbs-up!
(PS: Uh, I only complained yesterday, and today I received a private message about signing a contract. The ramen editor even replied to me. Wasn't he supposed to start work on the tenth? Did it happen early? I feel like such a blockhead! I really hope everyone can comfort this pitiful Old Faceless with recommendation tickets, collections, and investments~)
Before you continue