Heterochromia

Half an hour later, Toneri walked out of the public bathhouse under the astonished gazes of the crowd, three vivid red handprints overlapping on his face.

Toneri ignored the envious, jealous looks from the men around him and gently touched his cheek with his right hand.

The handprints had already swollen slightly.

"Ow—

What a bunch of beasts!

How could they hit a little kid so hard? Don't they have any conscience? My little Toneri wouldn't even react!"

Toneri muttered under his breath, his left hand brazenly clutching a pale yellow sachet that gave off a distinct, fresh fragrance.

Mint!

After leaving the turbulent... public bathhouse, Toneri had casually picked out a clothing store and bought an outfit that looked ordinary but was practical enough.

With the sachet pinned to his waist, it didn't look out of place at all.

He looked completely different from before, as if he'd been reborn.

Even someone who knew him probably wouldn't recognize him now, though no one knew him in the first place.

He no longer had the slightest trace of dirt about him, and even carried a faint minty scent. At first glance, he looked like a child from a well-to-do family.

Sniff—

Toneri took a deep breath, enjoying the scent on himself, then nodded with satisfaction. "Now that's a fragrance!"

As he spoke, he lifted the sachet to his nose and gave it a gentle sniff.

"I wonder what kind of beauty would carry a sachet like this. She must be absolutely gorgeous."

Meanwhile, from inside the public bathhouse Toneri had just left came a dreadful squeal, like a pig being slaughtered.

"Ah!!—

Who stole my sachet!!! Let me catch you!!!"

A woman in a pale yellow dress stood there, her hair long and fluffy. The only thing was, her build was a bit like a ball.

Of course, she was a ball of a woman—only much bigger. Her pig-slaughtering shriek resounded throughout the entire bathhouse.

Everyone who knew her, men and women alike, shuddered instinctively at the sound.

She was the most "big-hearted and stout" person in town, as well as the tigress everyone feared: Big Yellow!

As for her looks, well, she really was gorgeous.

It was just hard to understand why anyone would steal her sachet...

As one of Konoha Root's informants in the Land of Lightning, Toneri had access to a special channel for passing along messages.

He didn't control these channels, and they couldn't help him get to the Land of Fire. Aside from his handler, no one even knew Root had other bases in the Land of Lightning.

But none of that mattered. He didn't need to worry about it; he only had to make good use of what he knew.

To evade pursuit by Kumogakure's Anbu, he'd made several preparations.

Washing away his scent and changing into decent clothes were just two of them.

Kumogakure's Anbu wouldn't give up the search for him so easily.

So Toneri had found them a perfect target to investigate—

One of Konoha Root's bases in the Land of Lightning!

It was also the only base he could deduce the location of through his handler.

He'd given them a suitable target, an enemy to focus on.

That would leave them with no time to worry about some seven- or eight-year-old brat with no chakra to speak of.

After making these preparations,

Toneri handed over most of what remained of his thousand Ryo to a merchant caravan traveling between the Land of Fire and the Land of Lightning, asking them to take him along on their trip.

Why hadn't the caravan's owner gotten greedy after a little kid like Toneri produced a "fortune" of several hundred Ryo?

Because Toneri had taken out a Kumogakure Headband—the Two-Tails Jinchuriki's Headband, to be precise.

In the Land of Lightning, a Kumogakure ninja's Headband was something ordinary people weren't allowed to touch or defy.

The caravan owner didn't want any trouble, so he obviously wouldn't do anything to Toneri.

That was also why Toneri had deliberately chosen a caravan that looked rather timid and spineless.

In the Ninja World, it was forbidden to make a ninja's Headband without permission. That meant anyone who possessed one had to be one of two things:

Either they were a ninja themselves,

or they'd killed a ninja and taken it as a trophy.

Either way, they weren't someone an ordinary merchant caravan could afford to provoke.

And although the Second Shinobi World War was underway, the Land of Lightning and the Land of Fire were still relatively safe, since the latter was an ally of the former.

Toneri had paid them well, so taking him along on their route wasn't a big deal.

The caravan owner even arranged a carriage just for Toneri.

It was piled high with goods, but it also gave him a space of his own.

In those days, merchant caravans traveling between the Land of Fire and the Land of Lightning were as numerous as fish crossing a river, especially after the two nations signed an alliance agreement.

Smuggling opium and profiting from the price difference between the two sides was one of the most popular businesses of the era.

Sitting alone in the carriage, Toneri toyed with the mint-scented sachet in his hand, an intoxicated look on his face.

Just after he'd left, a masked Kumogakure ninja appeared silently in the small town, following the footprints Toneri had left behind.

Toneri had clearly underestimated the abilities of ninja, especially Anbu Ninja skilled at tracking!

Following Toneri's broken trail of footprints, the Kumogakure Anbu found Root's base in the town.

In just half an hour, the base had been completely wiped out.

But it was there that the Anbu's trail went cold.

Whether that was because of the base or because the owner of the footprints had done it on purpose was unclear.

With no other choice, the Anbu squad leader decided to leave for now. He needed to report Konoha's infiltration here; this was a serious matter.

As for tracking the child,

he could only wait for a Summoning Beast skilled at tracking by scent.

Before that, he investigated the town one last time.

Border towns like this were melting pots, full of all kinds of people.

It wasn't until he looked into things that he found something that made even the Anbu squad leader's jaw drop.

Every kind of strange character had turned up here!

Even though the body was that of a child, fatigue was inevitable, no matter how out of place the soul inside it was.

He'd been forcibly made into a Tailed Beast's vessel, walked all night, and then taken a bath so horrific it defied description...

If he hadn't had the willpower of a battlefield medic, and if he hadn't been under the constant threat of death, this body would have needed rest long ago.

Riding in the slightly swaying, bumpy carriage, Toneri began to struggle to stay awake. His upper and lower eyelids battled more and more fiercely.

At last, as his will weakened, his eyes closed.

He fell asleep...

His body curled up unconsciously in a corner of the carriage, as if that might make him feel a little safer.

His expression grew peaceful, and his breathing gradually evened out.

Unnoticed by anyone, wisps of pale blue energy began to move through Toneri's meridians from his abdomen. They then flowed throughout his body before disappearing into the cytoplasm of his cells.

His fatigue eased a little...

"Mm—where am I?"

Rubbing his eyes, Toneri struggled to open them and realized he was somewhere unfamiliar.

The light around him was dim, and he could barely make out his surroundings. He seemed to be standing on dry, cracked rocky ground.

In front of him stood an enormous barred gate made of some unknown material. In the center of the gate was a paper talisman bearing the character "Seal."

The shape of the character, its strokes, even the tiny flecks of ink were exactly the same as those on his stomach.

Behind the gate, Toneri could just make out a colossal shadow, as huge as a mountain.

At first glance, it looked like a massive volcano blazing with fire!

Toneri slowly walked up to the barred gate.

The moment he drew close, he felt the temperature rise noticeably!

Whoosh—

As if it had sensed Toneri approaching, a wave of hot air swept over him.

It blew Toneri three or four meters backward, and the surrounding air grew even hotter.

Two lantern-like eyes suddenly opened!

Toneri froze where he stood as he met that gaze. Only one thought remained in his mind...

One blue, one yellow...

Was that... a Persian cat?

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