Too Clingy

After a week, Lin Chongshu had worked himself to the bone.

Though he had accidentally beaten a few people to death, his arms were sore from all the swinging too.

Karin's mother and Princess Toki kneaded his shoulders for him.

Lin Chongshu's gaze lingered on Karin's mother for a moment. Come to think of it, this world's technology tree was seriously warped. It had electricity, lights, and a textile industry. It could make nylon fishnet stockings and thick black stockings, chemical fibers and precision looms.

But it had no cars, no rubber industry, and he could not even find a decent pair of normal stockings. Hidden Leaf Village's ninjas either wore sandals with bare legs or those thick, coarse black stockings.

"Someday, I'll have to open my own textile mill."

He muttered to himself, then patted Karin's mother's hand.

With a mature woman, one gesture was enough for her to know what you wanted.

Unlike Princess Toki. When Lin Chongshu patted her, she merely asked in confusion, "Is something the matter?"

Lin Chongshu picked up the thread. "No one's given you trouble these past few days, right?"

Princess Toki shook her head. "No."

"That's good. At least all the effort I put in these past few days wasn't wasted."

"You've all made up?" Princess Toki's eyes lit up. Just a week ago, she had personally seen Lin Chongshu brawl with them.

"Yeah. We're doing great now. We've really become one big happy bunch."

"Really? That's wonderful!"

Lin Chongshu nodded solemnly. "Those people are so familiar with me now. They're always clinging to my hands and refusing to let go."

After his bath, Lin Chongshu changed into clean clothes and went to the intelligence room as usual to look through the reports.

Orochimaru's intelligence network was extensive. Every day, he paid special attention to information regarding Konoha, Haku, Yakushi Nonō, and other familiar faces.

When he opened the briefing today, one particular item instantly caught his eye: Konoha Ninja Academy expansion. A Land of Fire construction team would depart for Konoha in three days.

He read that line three times, and the corners of his mouth slowly rose. He finally had a chance to make a pilgrimage to Konoha!

Early the next morning, Lin Chongshu left the base.

Following the construction team's route marked in the intelligence report, he tracked them for two days and intercepted the group when they were half a day's journey from Konoha's outskirts.

The construction team had around thirty people. Their leader was a middle-aged man in his fifties with sun-darkened skin. Lin Chongshu called him to the roadside and directly stuffed a wad of bills into his hand.

He had no intention of using the Transformation Jutsu to sneak in, nor did he plan to use sand to alter his facial contours.

Konoha was not open to outsiders as it had been during the Chunin Exams. Only a few years had passed since the Nine-Tails incident, and the village remained on high alert. Members of both the Hyuga Clan and Uchiha Clan patrolled both the perimeter and the interior.

The Hyuga Clan's Byakugan could see through chakra flow, while the Sharingan could expose genjutsu disguises. Before top-tier ocular techniques, any disguise based on chakra would only invite humiliation.

Lin Chongshu had taken another route. Through Orochimaru's intelligence channels, he had found the identity records of an orphan in the Land of Fire who was roughly his size.

Then, using the Shikotsumyaku, he spent nearly two hours gradually adjusting the density and contours of his facial bones. Rather than relying on chakra to disguise himself, he had fundamentally changed his bone structure.

The advantage of changing his face with the Shikotsumyaku was that it left no chakra traces. Even the Byakugan could not spot anything unusual. The only price was pain.

After taking the money, the construction team leader looked Lin Chongshu up and down.

A skinny kid, not very tall, with an ordinary face. He looked just like an orphan who had fled a war-torn region.

The man probably assumed that Lin Chongshu wanted to use this chance to slip into Konoha and make a living. Even working as the lowest-ranking laborer in Konoha would be better than wandering outside.

A little brat could not cause much trouble, so he did not ask further. "I'm only responsible for getting you through the gate. If you get thrown out after that, don't come crying to me."

Lin Chongshu nodded without saying much.

It was already afternoon by the time they reached Konoha's gates.

The ones conducting the inspection were two old acquaintances: Kotetsu Hagane and Izumo Kamizuki, Konoha's human-shaped barrier beasts.

The two stood on either side of the gate, wearing exactly the same expressions they had in the original story. Kotetsu flipped through the registration ledger while Izumo examined the construction crew.

Neither of them paid much attention to Lin Chongshu mixed in among the workers.

By the time he slipped into Konoha, it was already afternoon.

Lin Chongshu followed behind the construction team's carts through the final checkpoint. As his feet stepped onto the stone-paved roads inside Konoha, air carrying the mingled scents of leaves and roasted sweet potatoes rushed into his nose.

He took a deep breath. As expected of the holy land of bullies. He could practically hear the system's voice echoing already.

He followed the construction team for a while, then left them at the first intersection. The crew headed toward the Ninja Academy, while he turned toward the village's residential district.

After turning down two streets, he stopped beneath a streetlamp outside an izakaya. Leaning against the lamp post, he was just about to pull out the Konoha map he had brought from Orochimaru's base to confirm his location.

Whoosh!

A pebble flew at him from behind. Without even turning his head, Lin Chongshu spun around and caught it.

He turned back with a smile. "This feeling is wonderful. It's just like coming home."

Three children stood at the alley entrance. The leader was a crew-cut boy still clutching a second pebble. Behind him were two lackeys, one fat and one thin. The fat one held half an eaten sweet potato, while the thin one carried a branch.

"What are you looking at?" The crew-cut boy tossed the pebble up and caught it. "Black-haired kid, you look kind of unfamiliar."

Lin Chongshu weighed the pebble in his palm, then flicked it backhandedly.

The pebble spun through the air, grazed past the crew-cut boy's earlobe, cutting a bloody line along the edge of his ear, then struck the metal trash can at the alley entrance with a ding.

The crew-cut boy froze for a beat before feeling the sharp pain in his ear. He reached up to touch it and found his hand covered in blood.

"We'll be familiar soon enough."