Wanted Arsonist

Tanaka Hikaru lamented Uchiha Naruto's missed opportunity while also complaining that his own archery instructor back then had been some old geezer. According to him, if a beautiful female archer had taught him, his archery would have long since been unrivaled nationwide.

Uchiha Naruto naturally didn't believe a word of that nonsense. After visiting a few more clubs without finding much to interest him, he said goodbye to Tanaka Hikaru and went home.

Over the next few days, Uchiha Naruto spent a little time checking out other clubs after school, then went home to read or train.

On Friday, Uchiha Naruto left the tennis club after declining its captain's enthusiastic invitation to join.

After several days of experimentation, Uchiha Naruto was certain that his Two-Tomoe Sharingan could easily copy techniques from all sorts of competitive sports.

Skills that others acquired through ten years of relentless training, through the bitterest winters and hottest summers, were his with a single glance from the Sharingan.

Even a complete novice like him, who had previously known nothing about tennis, could effortlessly execute difficult topspin-slice serves and extreme topspin shots.

Ordinary high school boys stood no chance against techniques copied directly from Grand Slam-level players.

Halfway through the tennis match, Uchiha Naruto had started to feel a little embarrassed. This was practically bullying.

With the power of the Sharingan and his superhuman, Genin-level physique, if Uchiha Naruto pursued sports, winning championships would be child's play. Earning billions of yen a year through endorsements and sponsorships would be no problem, giving him an effortless ride to the pinnacle of success.

If this Tokyo had been nothing more than an ordinary urban world, becoming a sports star would have been a pretty good choice.

But all manner of otherworldly beings, including monsters and evil spirits, lurked in the shadows of this bustling, noisy city. With that hidden side to the world, pursuing worldly status and money as someone who had crossed into it held little meaning for him.

Although society remained peaceful and prosperous, and everyone dismissed monsters and evil spirits as urban legends and groundless rumors, Uchiha Naruto still felt uneasy. Perhaps it was because he had been attacked by a monster and an evil spirit in the same day, but he kept feeling that he lacked a sense of security.

Now, only his Sharingan and the system could give him that sense of security.

For the time being, all he needed to do was maintain his identity as the high school student Uchiha Naruto and quietly grow stronger until the day he awakened the Mangekyo Sharingan.

When he returned to the Uchiha Clan residence, it was just as quiet and empty as before, to no one's surprise.

Uchiha Senmon hadn't returned since going out that day. Judging by his usual habits, he might be gone for ten days or half a month.

That suited him just fine. The less contact they had, the less likely he was to be exposed. In a few months, even if Uchiha Senmon noticed that his son had changed, he would attribute it to starting high school and entering a new environment.

Am I eating out again tonight?

Uchiha Naruto casually picked up a banknote bearing Fukuzawa Yukichi's portrait from beneath the object weighing it down on the living room coffee table, thinking idly.

After his Home Economics class, he had watched plenty of cooking videos and copied some truly exquisite knife skills, but that was as far as it went. He had no interest in actually cooking.

He took off his school uniform and changed into casual clothes, then left home and wandered aimlessly around the neighborhood.

A pair of sunglasses bought at a hundred-yen shop rested on his nose, hiding his activated Sharingan.

Neon lights glowed amid the city's nightlife, and pedestrians thronged the streets. Everyone wore an indifferent expression and hurried along, like parallel lines that would never intersect.

As Uchiha Naruto walked, the Sharingan behind his sunglasses swept over the crowd.

Over the past few days, Uchiha Naruto had made a habit of wandering outside in sunglasses for half an hour before going out for dinner, secretly scrutinizing passing pedestrians with his Sharingan.

The results were much better than he had expected. He hadn't found a single person harboring a monster.

After encountering two supernatural incidents in a single day, Uchiha Naruto had begun to wonder whether this Tokyo was a modern metropolis by day and a hell on earth teeming with demons by night. But now it seemed that the odds of an ordinary person encountering an otherworldly being were negligible.

All right, that wraps up the routine patrol. Time to eat.

Deactivating his Sharingan, Uchiha Naruto considered where to have dinner that day.

For the past few days, he had eaten lunch in the school cafeteria and dinner at cheap fast-food chains like Yoshinoya. The food wasn't really to his taste, but the portions were large and the prices low, making it good value for someone with his enormous appetite.

There happened to be an izakaya up ahead. Uchiha Naruto lifted its doorway curtain and walked inside.

A glance around revealed an ordinary izakaya, packed with customers, with only one waitress attending to them.

There was also a patrol officer talking to the owner by the semi-open kitchen.

"Yes, sir. If I see anyone suspicious, I'll call the police box right away."

After respectfully seeing the patrol officer out of the izakaya, the owner wiped away his sweat with a towel and grumbled under his breath, "What's going on this week? This is already the third inspection. Has some fugitive murderer slipped into Nakano Ward?"

Upon spotting Uchiha Naruto, the owner immediately put on a smile and greeted him warmly.

"What would you like to eat, sir? Hitotsubashi! Hitotsubashi, have you finished changing? Hurry down and serve the customers."

Uchiha Naruto glanced at the price list posted on the wall and casually ordered a large serving of pan-fried dumplings.

The food at places like this was generally nothing special. There might be a pleasant surprise, but most probably couldn't even match the standardized fare at family restaurant chains.

The owner then asked whether he wanted to add another fifty yen to upgrade to a dumpling set meal, which came with rice and miso soup.

At that, Uchiha Naruto's expression turned disgusted, and he firmly refused.

Eating dumplings with rice was a distinctly Japanese practice. Japan didn't have a long history of eating dumplings; they had only become widespread after the war. Once they were introduced, the Japanese, accustomed to rice as their staple food, naturally treated pan-fried dumplings as a side dish to go with it.

The Japanese firmly believed that only rice, bread, and noodles could serve as staple foods. Even something else made from dough was relegated to a side dish if its shape was a little different.

For that very reason, they preferred pan-fried dumplings with crisp skins, whose meat juices burst through the thin wrappers with one bite, and couldn't accept boiled dumplings.

While he waited for his food, the television in the izakaya broadcast a wanted notice.

"A fire broke out at a private residence in the Shimo-Nakano area. Fortunately, there were no casualties. Police have confirmed that the fire was deliberately set and are now issuing a public wanted notice for the suspect. Anyone who spots a suspicious individual should promptly contact a nearby police station. A reward of two million yen will be offered for significant leads once they have been verified."

The face of a monk with deep furrows between his brows appeared on the television screen.

"The arson suspect calls himself Chiriku. These are high-resolution images of the suspect's face and full body..."