A Chance Encounter with Kazahana Koyuki

Never mind the turmoil of the international situation and the schemes among the various factions within the village.

After Neji rushed out of Konoha, he had Thunder Roc climb higher into the sky. By the time they reached roughly ten thousand meters, the air had become so thin that even Thunder Roc could barely survive there for long. Neji was not feeling much better either, but it was necessary if he wanted to shake off any possible pursuit from Konoha.

After flying at high altitude for about a quarter of an hour, Neji had Thunder Roc descend and head toward the capital of the Land of Hot Water. It was one of the destinations he had planned from the start.

Thunder Roc flew at an incredible speed. In just an hour, they arrived near the capital of the Land of Hot Water. Neji dismissed the summoning technique and landed outside the city.

Walking along a country path, watching the golden wheat fields waiting to be harvested outside the capital and the scattered villagers working among them, Neji realized that life was not actually so bad.

When he passed a melon patch, he greeted the old man guarding it, paid a few pieces of loose silver, and bought a large sweet melon. He sat right there in the field and ate it, undoing his headscarf and hair tie to reveal his smooth forehead.

The breeze, the sunset, the sweet melon, and freedom. It was wonderful!

After a busy day, Neji felt slightly tired and lay down on the grass, soon falling asleep. He seemed to have a dream—a dream in which he returned to the past, back to Earth!

Suddenly sensing someone approaching, Neji slowly opened his eyes and looked at the little girl walking toward him.

Since he could not sense any Chakra fluctuations from her, Neji did not stay too guarded. He asked softly, "Little sister, what can I do for you?"

The girl said timidly, "My family lives up ahead. My dad saw you sleeping here alone, and it's getting dark, so he asked me to ask whether you'd like to have dinner at our house and stay the night."

Neji was rather surprised. They're this hospitable? Should I play along, or maybe prepare some sort of gift? Curious, he followed the girl to her home.

But once he actually arrived, Neji's face stiffened in embarrassment, and he cursed inwardly, Damn it, the girl's family runs an inn and restaurant! What hospitality? They're just touts, like those old ladies hanging around train stations in my previous life! They're soliciting customers! Soliciting customers!!

And here he had thought they were kind-hearted villagers! Good thing he had not shown anything, or he would have died of embarrassment!

Still, it was already late, and he really did not want to keep traveling back to his base. Having an inn where he could rest and eat was not bad at all.

So he followed the girl into the inn.

The inn gave off a fairly pleasant impression. It was clean and had a touch of rustic charm. There were around seven or eight guest rooms, and only after entering did Neji discover that it was a hot spring inn, with a modest bathing pool in the backyard.

It was quite a decent family-run inn.

When Neji entered, a couple warmly welcomed him. After exchanging a few polite words, Neji ordered a huge spread of food. He had never hidden the fact that he ate a lot, and the sight of the table full of dishes made his appetite surge.

The couple, however, became somewhat uneasy. They seemed worried that Neji might be planning to dine and dash. After all, normal people rarely ate this much. Yet judging by his clothes and bearing, he did not seem like that sort of person. They wanted to collect payment first, but feared offending a guest; if they did not, they feared losing both food and money. They were torn to death!

Seeing their concern, Neji took out a ten-thousand-ryo banknote and handed it to them, finally dispelling the awkwardness.

Still, the couple deserved praise for their cooking. Neji ate with great satisfaction. During the meal, the little girl enthusiastically brought him tea and fruit, giving him a faint sense of home.

After eating and drinking his fill, Neji returned to his room and changed clothes, preparing to enjoy the country hot spring and relax his body and mind.

But the moment he reached the hot spring, he ran into another awkward situation!

This damn place was an open-air hot spring, and a woman was already bathing there. Although she was dressed fairly conservatively, there was only one pool. It was still terribly awkward for a man and woman to share it!

Neji had no intention of making either of them uncomfortable,

so he turned to leave. His actions surprised the woman in the hot spring.

The woman was named Kazahana Koyuki, formerly the princess of the Land of Snow. After her father's younger brother rebelled, she had been forced to flee her homeland and wander from place to place.

She now used the alias Fuji Fuyuki and worked as an actress. She had been filming a movie in the Land of Hot Water, but for certain reasons, she had left the capital in the middle of the night. Since it was already dark by the time she left the city, she had stayed here. Discovering that the inn had a hot spring and no other guests, she decided to relax for a while.

She had not been soaking for long when a young man came over, apparently intending to use the hot spring as well.

Although Kazahana Koyuki felt a little unhappy, she did not stop him. Instead, she had been preparing to leave herself!

Yet before she could even rise, the young man had turned around and left. She immediately found him rather cute.

Neji did not recognize her. He only vaguely thought she looked fairly pretty and did not care much otherwise.

Unable to take a bath, he returned to his room and planned to practice a little before going to sleep.

Before he could even settle down, Neji sensed something strange. Three ninja had climbed onto the roof. Their strength was so-so—two Chunin and one Genin. That told Neji they definitely were not here for him. Otherwise, these three small fry would not even be enough for a warm-up.

After sensing the area a little more carefully, he found that aside from the two men staying next door, the innkeeper couple and their daughter, only the woman bathing downstairs remained. Of the two men, one was roughly Chunin level, while the older one appeared to be a samurai whose strength was difficult to judge. Neither had noticed the anomaly on the roof, and they were resting silently.

Neji became interested. A good show was unfolding right before him, and in this era with relatively scarce entertainment, it managed to stir his interest somewhat.

Neji guessed that the three people on the roof were most likely targeting the woman downstairs, while the ninja and samurai in the room were probably guards or trusted retainers.

Sure enough, after making a brief investigation, the three people on the roof headed straight for the woman, who had just dressed and was preparing to return to her room. She was fairly alert. The moment she discovered three black-clad figures rushing at her, she cried for help and turned to run. She was not slow either; she had probably trained for years.

But how could an ordinary person's speed compare to that of ninja? As expected, the woman was captured in just three breaths. During those same three breaths, the two men inside rushed out and confronted the three black-clad ninja.

Since the woman had already been captured, the two men were wary of provoking them and chose to negotiate first.

The samurai said, "Who are you? Release Miss Fuyuki at once. Name your conditions."

Hearing the name "Fuyuki," Neji was rather surprised. Wasn't she the princess of the Land of Snow? Then he remembered the current time period. It seemed she was indeed still concealing her identity and posing as an actress.

That samurai was probably Fuji Fuyuki's manager, Asama Sandayu. As for the Chunin beside him, Neji did not recognize him.

The two sides exchanged a few more words, but it seemed they could not reach an agreement.

Still, Neji had pieced together what had happened. Fuji Fuyuki had been filming in the Land of Hot Water when the leader of a local underground faction learned of her presence and wanted to invite her to a banquet. Such things were not uncommon for actors who traveled everywhere year-round. Some lesser actresses even looked forward to such invitations.

But Fuji Fuyuki had once been a princess of a nation. She had some principles of her own, so she refused the invitation. After finishing filming, she left the capital of the Land of Hot Water that very night. She had assumed the matter was over, but who knew the other party would be so persistent? That was how tonight's incident had come about.

While Neji was lost in thought, the situation below took another turn. Fuji Fuyuki took advantage of the gap while the ninja holding her hostage was negotiating with her guards and activated several self-defense devices she wore.

Several bursts of irritating gas and electric current instantly erupted from Fuji Fuyuki's body, startling the ninja holding her. Instinctively, he released his hostage.

By the time the ninja recovered and tried to seize Fuji Fuyuki again, it was too late. The Chunin and Asama Sandayu had already seized the rare opportunity, charging forward to engage the three ninja.

The two sides were roughly equal in strength, though Fuji Fuyuki's side was barely stronger. Fuji Fuyuki herself remained quite composed. She did not scream or cry; instead, she quickly ran back to her room, retrieved something, and swiftly returned to the battlefield.

Neji saw clearly that Fuji Fuyuki was holding something similar to a firearm from his previous life.

Sure enough, when Fuji Fuyuki returned to the fight, she pulled out the firearm, aimed at the weakest Genin, and fired. The shot struck his body directly, taking him out of the fight.

Even Neji could not help praising Fuji Fuyuki. She remained calm in danger, could still observe the enemy's strength while under pressure, and did not greedily chase credit or act rashly. She chose the weakest ninja as her target.

She could be called both brave and resourceful!

Unfortunately, she was too weak. In this high-powered world, that bit of courage and intelligence could not accomplish much.

With Fuji Fuyuki's firearm assisting them, the battle proceeded without surprises. After another Chunin on the opposing side was injured, they chose to retreat. Asama Sandayu did not intend to pursue them. On one hand, he did not want to kill anyone and offend them beyond repair. On the other, the three opponents had not completely lost their ability to fight. If they made a desperate counterattack, he might get dragged down with them. It was not worth the risk.

Once they watched the enemy retreat completely, all three of them breathed a sigh of relief.

This was not the first time they had experienced something like this, but this time had been particularly dangerous. They could not help sighing at how difficult life was.

Fuji Fuyuki treated the two men's injuries. The ninja hesitated several times, clearly wanting to speak, until he finally said, "Miss Fuyuki, I'm truly sorry, but I intend to resign from my position as your guard and return home to live a more peaceful life. I won't be able to protect you anymore."

Fuji Fuyuki's brow trembled slightly, but she forced herself to remain calm. Smiling at the ninja, she said, "Thank you, Mr. Rokuda, for protecting Fuyuki during this time. I'll have Sandayu deliver your payment later. I hope you'll have a wonderful life from now on."

She did not say a single word to persuade him to stay. Fuji Fuyuki herself knew that because of her personality, she often offended many people and caused plenty of unnecessary trouble. Yet she was unwilling to compromise, and even less willing to degrade herself.

Over the years, she had earned quite a lot from making movies, but most of it had gone toward hiring ninja or samurai to protect her. Still, most ninja and samurai could not last very long. They either left because they were injured or killed, or gave up because the work was too dangerous.

Only Asama Sandayu had been willing to protect her all this time. This left Kazahana Koyuki feeling somewhat downcast. Even her survival was not guaranteed, let alone improving her life. As for restoring her country! She could only dream about it!