Strange Eyes [Seeking Recommendation Votes]

Chapter 3: Strange Eyes [Please Recommend]

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

Ignoring the envious and jealous stares from the surrounding men, Toneri gently touched his cheek with his right hand.

Under the fermentation of time, the handprints had already swollen slightly.

"Hiss—

What a beast!

Hitting such a small child with full force—don't your consciences ache? My little Toneri wouldn't even react!"

Toneri muttered under his breath, his left hand brazenly clutching a light yellow sachet, a distinct fragrance wafting out from it.

Peppermint scent!

Having just emerged from the surging waves of... the public bathhouse, Toneri casually found a clothing shop and bought a set of clothes that looked quite ordinary but were clean and practical.

He tucked the sachet into his waistband, and it didn't look out of place at all.

His whole demeanor was completely different from before, as if he had truly shed his old skin.

Even an acquaintance who knew him well probably wouldn't recognize the current Toneri—though no one knew him in the first place.

No trace of dirt on him, and even carrying a faint peppermint fragrance, at first glance he seemed like a child from a well-off family.

Inhale—

Taking a deep breath, savoring the scent on himself, Toneri nodded in satisfaction. "Now this is a fragrance!"

With that, he picked up the sachet and gently sniffed it near his nose.

"I wonder what kind of beauty would wear a sachet like this? Probably a really stunning one."

At the same time, from the public bathhouse Toneri had left, a miserable scream like a pig being slaughtered rang out.

"Ah!!!--

Who stole my sachet?! Don't let me catch you!!!"

A woman in a light yellow dress with fluffy long hair, but whose figure was somewhat like a ball.

A woman, of course, magnified many times over, her pig-slaughtering voice spreading throughout the entire bathhouse.

Hearing this voice, anyone who knew her, whether man or woman, instinctively trembled.

She was the most "broad-minded and stout" person in their town, and also the tigress everyone feared, Big Yellow!

As for her looks, well, they were indeed quite "stunning."

But who knew why someone would still steal her sachet...

As one of Root's informants in the Land of Lightning, Toneri had a special channel for transmitting information.

Although these channels were not under his control and couldn't help him reach the Land of Fire, and aside from his handler, he didn't even know the locations of Root's other outposts in the Land of Lightning, none of that mattered or needed attention. He just had to make good use of what he knew.

To evade the pursuit of Kumogakure's Anbu, he had made multiple preparations.

Washing off his scent and changing into decent clothes was only one step.

Kumogakure's Anbu wouldn't give up their chase so easily.

So, Toneri found them a very suitable target for their investigation—

One of Root's outposts in the Land of Lightning!

It was the only outpost he could deduce through his handler.

He gave them a fitting target, a corresponding enemy.

Then they wouldn't have the mind to focus on a seven- or eight-year-old brat with no Chakra fluctuations at all.

After completing these preparations, Toneri handed over most of the remaining money from his thousand Ryo to a merchant caravan traveling between the Land of Fire and the Land of Lightning, asking them to take him along during their trade.

Why didn't the caravan owner, seeing a small child like Toneri produce a "fortune" of several hundred Ryo, get greedy?

Because Toneri had pulled out a forehead protector representing Kumogakure—the one belonging to the Two-Tails Jinchuriki.

In the Land of Lightning, a Kumogakure ninja's forehead protector was something ordinary people could not touch or defy.

The caravan boss, wanting to avoid unnecessary trouble, obviously wouldn't do anything to Toneri.

This was also why he had deliberately sought out a caravan that seemed timid and spineless.

In the Ninja World, such forehead protectors were not allowed to be privately manufactured, so there were only two types of people who possessed them:

Either they were ninjas themselves, Or they had once killed a ninja, and this was a trophy.

Either way, this kind of ordinary transport caravan couldn't afford to provoke them.

And although the Second Shinobi World War was currently raging, as an ally of the Land of Fire, traveling between the Land of Lightning and the Land of Fire was still relatively safe.

Since he had paid well enough, giving him a ride along the way was no big deal.

In fact, the caravan boss even arranged a wagon just for Toneri.

Though the wagon was piled high with goods, it still gave Toneri a space of his own.

Caravans like this, shuttling between the Land of Fire and the Land of Lightning, were as common as carp crossing a river in this era—especially after the two nations signed their alliance treaty.

Smuggling goods and profiting from the price difference between the two sides was one of the most popular trades of the age.

Sitting alone in the wagon, Toneri toyed with a sachet that carried a minty fragrance, a look of intoxication spreading across his face.

But the moment he left, a masked ninja from Kumogakure appeared silently in the small town, tracking the footprints Toneri had left behind.

To be fair, Toneri had underestimated the abilities of shinobi—especially these Anbu who specialized in pursuit!

Following the intermittent footprints Toneri had left, this Kumogakure Anbu found Root's stronghold in the town.

In just half an hour, the entire base was uprooted.

But it was there that the trail the Anbu had been following vanished.

Whether it was because of the stronghold or because the owner of the footprints had deliberately done so was unclear.

With no other choice, the Anbu captain decided to leave for now. He needed to report Konoha's infiltration here—this matter was no small thing.

As for tracking the child...

He would have to wait for a Summoning Beast skilled in scent tracking.

In the meantime, he conducted a final investigation of the town.

These border towns, situated on the fringes of nations, were a mixed bag—all sorts of people could be found there.

He hadn't bothered to investigate before, but once he did, even this Anbu captain was slightly taken aback by what he uncovered.

Truly, every kind of monster and freak had gathered here!

With a child's body—even if it housed a soul whose age didn't quite match—physical fatigue was unavoidable.

Forcibly turned into a Tailed Beast's vessel, walking all night, then taking a bath that was utterly miserable...

If not for the strong willpower of a battlefield medic, if not for the constant threat of death, this body would have long since demanded rest.

As he rode in the slightly jostling, bumpy wagon, Toneri could barely hold on. The battle between his upper and lower eyelids grew fiercer.

Finally, with a slight slackening of his will, his eyes closed.

He fell asleep...

His body unconsciously curled up, shrinking into a corner of the wagon, as if that could give him a little more security.

The expression on his face softened, and his breathing gradually evened out.

Unnoticed by anyone, faint strands of pale blue energy began to slowly move through Toneri's meridians from his abdomen, then circulated throughout his entire body, finally vanishing and hiding within the cells of his various tissues.

The fatigue in his body eased slightly...

"Mmm—where is this?"

Toneri rubbed his eyes and forced them open, only to find himself in an unknown place.

The surrounding light was dim, barely enough to make out his immediate surroundings. It seemed he was standing on a patch of dry, cracked, rocky ground.

In front of him was a massive gate made of some unknown material, shaped like a prison cell door. At the very center of the gate was a paper talisman bearing the character "Seal."

The shape, the strokes, even the specks of ink on that "Seal" character were identical to the one on his stomach.

And behind this gate, Toneri could barely make out a mountain-like, enormous black silhouette.

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

Toneri slowly walked up to the barred gate.

Just by getting closer, he could feel the temperature rising sharply!

Whoosh!

As if sensing Toneri's approach, a wave of hot air blasted toward him.

It sent Toneri flying back three or four meters, and the air around him grew even more scorching.

Two lantern-like eyes suddenly snapped open!

Toneri, meeting those eyes, froze in place. Only one thought filled his mind...

One blue, one yellow...

Is this... a Persian cat?

New book period, please throw me your recommendation tickets!