Mei Terumi: I Need Takasaki's Intel

When Takasaki walked out of the Ninja Academy gates, he finally shook off the lingering sensation of Kurenai Yuhi's embrace.

The hug of a mature, intellectual woman was truly marvelous—simply indescribable.

Naturally, he wanted to pursue a deeper level of interaction with Kurenai Yuhi, but he knew better than to rush things.

No need to rush, take it slow. Besides, Kurenai Yuhi told him he could come to her if he ever needed help in the future.

There will be plenty of opportunities to get close.

Takasaki didn't head home; instead, he walked toward Ichiraku Ramen.

Naruto had promised to treat him to a meal there once the exam was over.

Takasaki wasn't about to waste a chance for a free meal.

Upon arriving at Ichiraku Ramen, he chatted briefly with Teuchi, who was busy kneading dough in his white uniform.

For some reason, a string in Takasaki's mind seemed to pluck. As he recalled the memories of this body, he suddenly felt something was off.

According to what Kurenai Yuhi said earlier, she should have been very close with my parents. But in the memories I have of my parents, they would always recount everything they experienced when they came home for dinner. The problem is, in those memories, they never once mentioned Kurenai Yuhi.

If her relationship with my parents was truly that deep, they shouldn't have failed to mention her even once.

A thought subconsciously surfaced in Takasaki's mind.

Could it be... that Kurenai Yuhi was lying to him?

The moment the thought appeared, Takasaki dismissed it as absurd.

He was likely just being paranoid.

After all, Kurenai Yuhi had helped him cheat multiple times, called him into her private office to comfort him after he turned in his paper early, and even gave him a few seconds of a loving embrace.

If she were lying to him, what would she have to gain?

There was absolutely no benefit for her to gain from him.

Therefore, it was completely unnecessary.

Damn it, I'm such a jerk. Kurenai Yuhi treats me so well, and I actually doubted her. As compensation, once I marry her, I must treat her even better and continue to show her the utmost respect.

Not just superficial respect, but respect from the bottom of his heart.

Respect from the outside in, from the sofa to the balcony, and then to the big bed—respecting her seven times a night.

At the same time, Takasaki felt a bit puzzled: "Why hasn't Naruto arrived yet?"

After all, Naruto had relied on cheating to copy everything he needed; the remaining questions were simply ones Naruto didn't know how to answer.

Logically speaking, having watched him turn in his paper early, Naruto should have been able to finish up and leave shortly after.

At this moment.

Ninja Academy.

Takasaki's earlier display of turning in his paper with such flair had truly made Naruto envious.

Only a few minutes after Takasaki left, Naruto stood up to do the same, only to be sternly scolded by Asuma.

"Naruto, Naruto! Your grades are poor and your scores are already low; you should be spending more energy on your test paper. Even students like Sakura, Hinata, Ino, and Sasuke—whose grades are far better than yours—are still honestly checking for mistakes. It is truly inappropriate for you to turn in your paper early."

"But Takasaki turned his in early too," Naruto replied subconsciously.

"Takasaki is different."

The mere mention of Takasaki made Asuma feel a bit irritated.

He instinctively wanted to light a cigarette, but remembering he was in an exam hall, he suppressed the urge and glared at Naruto. "Go back to your seat. Don't make me say it a second time."

Naruto didn't dare to make a sound and obediently returned to his seat, muttering to himself: Why could Takasaki turn his paper in early, but he couldn't?

They were students in the same class, both dead last, both orphans, and even the answers on their papers were identical. Where exactly was he different from Takasaki?

Naruto couldn't figure it out.

He couldn't be bothered to overthink it, either.

Forget it.

He would just turn it in when the exam ended.

He had an appointment with Takasaki to eat at Ichiraku Ramen after the test; Takasaki was probably waiting for him there right now.

Regardless, thanks to Takasaki, he was certain to pass this exam.

At the same time, Naruto felt quite fortunate.

It was lucky that his seat was next to Takasaki's; if he had been assigned elsewhere, he wouldn't have been able to copy the answers at all.

If he had been assigned next to Sakura, it would have been even worse—even if he succeeded in cheating, he would likely be reported by her in a frenzy.

Naruto tilted his head toward Sakura Haruno and saw her with her head down, lost in thought.

To be honest, he still liked Sakura.

After all, he had been a "simp" for her for years; such ingrained habits weren't going to change overnight.

A thought suddenly popped into his mind: what would happen if he treated Takasaki with the same devotion he showed Sakura?

Sakura was dismissive of his kindness, yet Takasaki was truly willing to help him.

Meanwhile.

On the podium.

Asuma, dressed in his green jonin vest, noticed Naruto's movements and barked, "Naruto, focus on your test paper!"

Naruto hurriedly lowered his head, putting on an earnest expression.

Asuma picked up the only test paper left on the podium; it was Takasaki's.

Checking Takasaki's paper once more, the answers were still all correct, far exceeding the passing grade.

The better Takasaki performed, the more uncomfortable Asuma felt.

His intuition told him that Takasaki must have cheated to get those answers.

The problem was that he had been smoking in the aisle the entire time and hadn't caught Takasaki in the act.

More importantly, the teacher proctoring the exam at the time was his girlfriend, Kurenai Yuhi; if he claimed Takasaki cheated, it would be tantamount to questioning Kurenai Yuhi's proctoring abilities.

What annoyed him most was that he had previously questioned Takasaki in front of Kurenai Yuhi, only to be rebuffed by her.

His own girlfriend, instead of taking his side, had actually defended a dead-last student with abysmal grades.

This feeling truly made Asuma unhappy.

He certainly couldn't vent this frustration on Kurenai Yuhi, considering he hadn't even held her hand yet.

So, naturally, he took it out on Takasaki.

"Takasaki might be able to cheat on a written test, but he won't be able to cheat on the ninjutsu exam in ten days. I will be proctoring it personally."

"I know the level of Takasaki's Three Body Technique; he hasn't mastered a single one. I'd like to see how he tries to muddle through that."

If he didn't announce that Takasaki had failed the ninjutsu test in front of Kurenai Yuhi in ten days' time, the resentment he was bottling up would be hard to swallow.

Asuma was a jonin, after all, a veteran of war and one of the Guardian Shinobi Twelve of Konoha.

He wouldn't waste a massive amount of energy obsessing over a dead-last student like Takasaki.

Especially when the bell rang for the end of the written exam, and after collecting the papers, he pushed open the door to Kurenai Yuhi's office to find his girlfriend sitting gracefully at her desk grading papers; his mind was entirely on her.

"Kurenai, I'm here." He closed the office door.

Kurenai Yuhi looked up at Asuma, her brows slightly furrowed: "No smoking."

"I won't." Asuma grinned.

He stepped over lightly and placed the stack of collected papers on the corner of the desk: "The papers are all collected."

As he spoke, he reached over to pull the curtains shut.

He was about to get intimate with his girlfriend and didn't want anyone outside to see.

Yet, just as he pulled the curtains, Kurenai Yuhi stood up and swished them open again: "Don't close the curtains, the light is too dim."

"It's fine even if they're open." Asuma smiled, his inner expectations deflating.

He knew Kurenai Yuhi was a conservative woman; getting intimate with her was not going to be easy.

He hadn't even held her hand yet, let alone hugged her.

Asuma wasn't in a rush.

Kurenai Yuhi's conservative nature actually gave him a sense of security.

He was a Konoha jonin and the son of the Hokage; if someone of his status couldn't easily win Kurenai Yuhi over, others surely couldn't either.

Conservatism had its benefits.

At the very least, others couldn't easily get to her, and his girlfriend wouldn't cheat on him behind his back.

Asuma produced a rose from somewhere and placed it by Kurenai Yuhi's hand: "Kurenai, today is our 100th day together."

"Time flies, we've already been together for 100 days." Kurenai Yuhi smiled.

She looked at the rose by her hand and suddenly felt a strange sensation.

If it were the old her, such sudden romance from Asuma would have always brought her some degree of pleasant surprise.

But ever since she obtained the Diary, what she wanted more was the chance for Takasaki to write her name in it a few more times.

No matter how romantic a rose was, it didn't have the practical effect of being recorded in Takasaki's diary.

Even though Kurenai Yuhi thought this, she certainly wouldn't show it.

Firstly, the matter of the Diary could not be known by others.

Secondly, as Asuma's girlfriend, she didn't want to dampen his spirits.

Even if she had to pretend, she would act happy.

Her slender, fair fingers pinched the stem of the flower, and she brought it to her nose to smell: "It smells so good. Thank you for the rose, I love it. Asuma, you're a good man."

"Let's go out for a big meal to celebrate."

As Asuma spoke, he moved behind Kurenai Yuhi, leaned over, and tentatively reached for her small hand.

Before he could make contact, Kurenai Yuhi pushed his hand away. "Wait until later."

Kurenai Yuhi covered her nose as she added, "You smell too strongly of smoke; I'm not used to it."

She followed up with, "You should head out first. I need to focus on grading these exams and be responsible for my students."

"Alright. Take care of yourself, don't overwork."

Asuma's hopes were dashed.

He left the office, closed the door, and raised his hand to his nose to sniff carefully. There was indeed a lingering scent of tobacco.

He suppressed the urge to light up. It seems if I want to have any physical contact with Kurenai Yuhi, I'll have to quit smoking.

Inside the office, Kurenai Yuhi stood up to draw the curtains and lock the door. She pulled the Diary from her consciousness and flipped through it.

"Has Takasaki not written in the diary yet?"

Even a mature, intellectual woman like her couldn't help but yearn for the rewards promised by the diary.

This desire was even stronger now that she knew the events that had transpired between her and Takasaki today would likely be recorded by him.

The sun climbed higher.

The written exam soon concluded.

The examinees handed in their papers and left the hall, discussing the answers with one another while anxiously awaiting the results ten days later.

The Ninja Academy grew quiet.

Kurenai Yuhi remained in her office, grading papers.

Every half hour or so, she would open the diary to check for new entries, but by the time lunch arrived, nothing new had appeared.

"Why hasn't Takasaki written a new entry yet?"

Kurenai Yuhi muttered to herself, though she wasn't particularly impatient. "He'll definitely write it later."

She was quite confident.

Takasaki's next entry would surely mention her name a few times.

Mist Village.

Mizukage Building, Intelligence Division.

Mei Terumi slammed her hand against the desk. "Intelligence! I need intelligence on Takasaki! Have you found absolutely nothing?"

"We are trying our best, but there is no one named Takasaki in the Mist Village. The ninjas we dispatched are already searching the surrounding villages."

"Faster! You must be faster!" Mei Terumi urged.

The head of the Intelligence Division looked troubled.

For the past few days, Mei Terumi had come to the department every single day to inquire about Takasaki.

The problem was that they had scoured the Mist Village's household registry and found no such person.

It was certain that Takasaki was not a resident of the Mist Village, which made the search significantly more difficult.

Even so, given the diplomatic relations between the Land of Water and the other four great nations, finding a single person shouldn't have been impossible.

Provided that this person, Takasaki, actually existed.

At most, they should have been able to find information on him within a month.

Yet, early this morning, Mei Terumi had acted as if she had lost her mind; she was waiting at the door before the department had even opened for the day.

"Lady Mei Terumi, I know you are anxious, but please, try to remain calm."

"Calm? How could I possibly be calm?"

Mei Terumi had originally intended to wait patiently.

After all, the diary was hers alone; sooner or later, she would find Takasaki and get him to write her name in his entries, allowing her to easily obtain rewards.

But the second entry that had appeared in the diary last night had left her panicked, filled with a sense of crisis.

The diary was not hers alone!

A girl named Hinata had a diary too!

And Hinata had used her proximity to Takasaki to get him to write her name in the diary multiple times, earning herself an extra reward!

A 10% increase in stamina.

Seeing such a reward made her truly envious.

She had recently been tasked with capturing the Mist Village rogue ninja Zabuza. Setting aside the fact that she currently had no intelligence on his whereabouts, even if she did find him, could she be certain of victory?

She could not.

After all, when Zabuza graduated from the Mist Village Ninja Academy, he had slaughtered every single one of his classmates.

He had even dared to attempt an assassination of the Fourth Mizukage and managed to escape successfully.

This was enough to prove the formidable strength of Zabuza.

Mei Terumi did not feel she could guarantee a victory against such an elite rogue ninja.

However, if she were granted a 10% increase in stamina, she felt her chances of winning would improve significantly.

So much so that Mei Terumi lay in bed all night, tossing and turning as she thought about this very matter.

If only that 10% stamina boost Hinata received had been awarded to her instead.

Yet, she did not even know who Takasaki was at the moment.

"Once there is any intelligence on Takasaki, you must inform me immediately!" Mei Terumi emphasized again, slamming her hand on the table.

Mei Terumi's beauty was something everyone in the Mist Village had witnessed for themselves.

Whether back in the Ninja Academy or after she became an elite jonin of the Mist Village, there had always been many men pursuing her.

Yet, Mei Terumi held men in disdain and had never been involved in any romantic rumors.

This led the ninjas of the Mist Village to speculate in private that Mei Terumi's first kiss must still be intact, and they wondered which man would be lucky enough to claim it in the future.

But over these past few days.

Mei Terumi had been frantically inquiring about the situation of this person named Takasaki.

Judging by the name, it was a man.

According to Mei Terumi's description, Takasaki held no grudge against her, nor was he a relative, yet he occupied her thoughts so completely.

What could be the reason for a woman to act in such a way?

It was highly likely to be love.

"Lady Mei Terumi, if I may ask, what is your relationship with this person named Takasaki that makes you so concerned about him? Is he someone you like?" a team leader from the Intelligence Department asked curiously.

As the words fell.

The entire Intelligence Department went silent.

Pairs of eyes all turned to look at Mei Terumi.