Chapter 77: Chapter 75 : Kidnapping toddlers is too d*mn hard!

 

- Thanks as always Homura-kun, here's your reward.- said the old man.

- You are the utmost welcome, thank you for your patronage.- said Homura while he bowed to the man.

- How polite of you, here's some candy as always.-said the man while handing Homura a small piece of candy wrapped in red wrapping paper.

- T-thanks. (As always? It has only been 2 weeks...)- said Homura while flashing a slightly confused and forced smile.

Needless to say, it wasn't exactly a pleasant gift for Homura; though refusing would be more awkward for both parties.

There was no need to refuse to begin with, Homura had already decided to give it away to the first brat that would get on his nerve in order to leave him alone.

-(Why are old people always giving me candy? I don't really like sweets... I like beef. Why don't people give me beef? Maybe Choji's father gives beef for free... though I doubt it... Should have been born an Akemichi. I'd be well-fed and strong at the very least. N-no I will be hot when I grow up! It has to be worth something )- Homura shook his head trying to convince himself that he had made the right decisions all throughout. 

While Homura was having delusions, the old man was preparing himself to go to the back of the store.

Alongside the crates, Homura had brought.

- Just wait for a little while, at least until we finish unloading everything, and see what we can use for today's menu.

- Yep, no problem!- I mean, I understand.- rapidly said Homura while trying to correct his crumbling facade. 

The man simply scratched his face with his left index finger at Homura's forceful reply.

He understood that the child in front of him was acting out of character, and trying to sound professional since he didn't act the same way when he first came to the store, however, no matter how many times he had told Homura to relax; he always kept his act... till he would inevitably drop his guard and break it.

Still, it was easy for the shop owner to understand why Homura would do such a thing, as someone whose entire business revolves around the upkeep of feeding others, taste, appearance, and service are everything.

But it was weird for a child that young to try to put up a front as well, but he thought that it was nonetheless admirable, if not a tad bit awkward.

Instead of pondering any longer, the shop owner went to the back of his shop in order to finish unloading the delivered products.

Seeing the man leave, Homura finally calmed down and breathed a sigh of relief. He then decided to exit the store for a bit and wait outside.

Homura went a little ahead and sat on the bench in front of the store he delivered fish and other marine life he had caught.

It was overall a bother but it has become Homura's way of gaining money ever since he tried to trick Naruto at Ichiraku ramen.

A stupid plan, for a stupid boy.

He never thought his plan to get back at Naruto through, but Homura rarely thought anything through prior, however that entire event has served as a lesson that he needed to learn.

To be less overconfident in his aptitudes and abilities.

As well as being less prideful.

Such was why he even took the time to research jobs that kids did in the village to receive money.

And even managed to find something he was good at, which came in the form of fishing.

Sadly for him, food is not really an expensive commodity within Konohagakure, unless it was first-grade ingredients, not that Homura managed to obtain anything remotely close to a first-grade ingredient thus it was taking longer to repay his debt.

So he wasn't earning as much as he could have been.

It was one of the reasons as to why many or a the very least, a relative few bothered with trying to go hunt or fishing near the river or the many freshwater ponds around.

Konoha was a center of finance and commerce, within the land of fire.

It was nowhere at the level of the capital or other central hubs or some of the other provinces, but it would be a mistake to think that Konohagakure was not a commercial hub for the entire land of fire or even the surrounding lands next to the fire country.

Many would come and go every single day, bringing their goods to try to sell or even buy some goods that were only available within the village.

Though setting up shop was a very rigorous procedure, nonetheless it was not impossible.

Many could come and go after a meticulous screening period and process or a probation period.

The village had many ways to keep the peace, but it could not outright prevent spies and others to infiltrate the village.

Spies trying to infiltrate the village was a rather common occurrence, even a child such as Homura has seen people being taken as prisoners due to them being spies if the gossip he heard at the time was to be believed.

Cause the shinobi accompanying the prisoner said nothing of the sort and just told everyone to move along as they went wherever it was where they were heading towards.  

Homura didn't know how the spy tried to infiltrate the village, but trying to forcefully infiltrate the village through a weak point within the surrounding areas had to be much harder than other much easier options.

The security in place within Konohagakure was rather lax but the area bordering around Konohagakure was much more rigid, so going through the main door was the way to go for most trying to get inside the village.

It was far different from most villages found within the continent. Hidden villages are closer to cities than actual villages commonly found.

So to most who lived in this world, living inside a shinobi village was relatively safe, at least it was safer than living in small villages that are relatively left to fend for themselves by their local Daimyos or authorities; due to how many there and how little sense it would make to allocate costly defensive procedures.

Many decide to move to Konohagakure or similar villages after earning enough to cover the cost of living or deciding to work there.

Even the wildlife was relatively safe since genins and in some cases, chunins would make sure to patrol and get rid of anything too dangerous lurking close by.

Those genins would even go around the village and clean dirty or polluted places; under the guise of D-rank missions.

The job of low-level ninjas was tough and never-ending but to the pleasure of the common folk.

Homura had seen numerous times throughout his entire life within Konogakure, freshly graduated genins running around the village to complete a ninja mission or rather a menial task.

Only to complain to no end that they are wasting their time by having to complete odd jobs.

A thought that Homura understood very well.

But beggars can't be choosers.

Although not a ninja yet, the request for odd jobs around the village are so frequent that adults often try to get children to help them instead of the available genins.

It was a cheaper alternative, since paying for the service of ninjas is quite expensive to the average citizen, though the quality of the work and time saved is nonetheless a good compromise.

Since ninjas are both faster and trained to handle harsher work.

But for Homura, the fewer genins around to take his job the better.

-...Hm, I was lucky today's pay is pretty good.- said Homura while looking at the coins in the palm of his right hand.

He had already received payment and was only waiting for the old man who ran the shop to unload the crates.

It usually takes 5 to 10 minutes, which Homura uses to try to collect information, but today he finished rather fast and there are no patrons from whom he could try to pry about a few sets of ultra-specific information for free.

Though to a hungry Homura was rather preoccupied with something else.

- Maybe I could...(I know that I have to save...but I really want to buy some meat skewers...n-no that would defeat the whole point...just a few more months...) *Sigh* It's better this way.

A reluctant Homura decided to skip lunch for now.

It was with a heavy heart and light stomach that Homura did not fall into the temptation of having juicy meat for his lunch after training and going fishing.

Many children his age go pick up mushrooms or like Homura go fishing early in the morning in the hopes to catch something good to sell.

Surprisingly many are able to do it after a few months of training.

Shows how different children in this world are, but not all are able to make it.

To be fair, children in his former world were the same, though, for Homura, someone who lived a pretty carefree life and didn't have to know or be subjected to the hard truths of his new life.

Not everything about his current life is depressing, though.

All things considered, he's rather lucky.

Homura is one of the few children to make an actual profit and is able to catch a decent amount on a regular basis no less. It was simply due to gifts. Not luck, but pure calculations, coupled with a trained physique... and a bit of trespassing.

He was able to catch more than he thought possible and more often than he would have liked.

Something that he was supposed to do only a few times, had the potential to turn into a real job if properly exploited.

And exploiting the opportunity that fell in his greasy and slime hands Homura did.

So he made a deal with several shops at least with shop owners who did not outright deny him for diverse reasons.

Homura was not the most popular individual in Konogakure, that's for sure.

He wasn't particularly loved by the villagers and had a not-so-favorable reputation; some of it was due to his fault other due to whom he associated or chose to spend his time with.

But he still managed to make a bit of money from it overall and it's not like it was a job that he did every day. He just needed to listen to his patrons when they needed his help or store them in a place until he could unload.

Sometimes he would feed fish or seafood he had caught or let them go Hannibal Lecter on each other.

I.E. let the little terrors of the sea eat each other.

Though he was never able to witness it, the number of sea life that disappeared inside his crate went down a lot after a day.

So unless they somehow were also able to use ninjutsu, that was the best bet.

Homura used to own a huge aquarium in his previous life and had to be heartbroken every time he'd see some of his pets go inexplicably missing.

And it wasn't his former cat's fault, he made sure to not let the cat near his aquatic friends.

But it was ultimately to no avail.

So he stopped caring for the most part and let them do what they wanted.

Even if he did not spend his time making sure that his products were relatively intact, the big ones were always the last ones standing anyway, and the ones that made him earn more.

Those were the ones who he cared about, and the same was true for sea life in this world as well, though, the species of the fish he caught did make a difference but Homura was no expert or true fisherman.

Nor he wanted to put in the extra effort in learning more.

The second option(I.E. let them fend for themselves) was often the one he chose.

It was just overall too much hard work, and feeding them would affect his already meager margins.

He didn't want to have to feed them for days on end, and regardless if he did it or not, they would often go the Hannibal Lecter way anyway.

The entire process already took more time than he would like for the small pay and work involved.

Especially more so when he couldn't walk on water to catch more and overall make his job much easier, but if he could walk on water in the first place, there were better ways for him to earn money than simply fishing.

Though it was good for Homura, that Konohagakure had so few rules about fishing and overall hunting.

The people inhabiting Konohogakure were lucky enough to live and be surrounded by one of the richest forests around for miles.

The land of fire was always prosperous, but the land near Konogakure was especially even more so.

If it wasn't for the high number of traps, wildlife, and giant animals snooping around all the time, a lot more people would venture inside the forests.

But as it stood, it was a place that could easily lead to one's death. Thus why Konohagakure had so many forests or fields closed to most people, even genins.

Homura himself knew very well how it felt to be barred from entering certain grounds.

- (After I was caught supposedly stealing weapons from training fields, I had to get money in an honest way somehow. Not that I truly want to do that but that bastard Teuchi is a pretty scary dude, who knows what he will do to me?!... had to make money so I work odd jobs. I knew that many orphans or just regular children did the same, but it takes so much time... I want to go back to the times I use to do nothing all day long)- thought Homura as he watched people going left to right on the busy street in front of him in a begrudging mood.

Homura wished to find an easier solution to his problems.

But he had so little time. Even less than ever, since he decided to start woodwork practicing and studying craftsmanship.

Leaving him completely busy.

Besides, most businesses in Konoha are small businesses or family-owned businesses.

There isn't much need to hire anyone, however, there are apprenticeships...but unfortunately, not all come with a salary or anything of the sort.

Learning an art while helping in the job is definitely enough for most, especially since free food is often one of the perks.

It's pretty much just unpaid labor to put it lightly.

But most times you get a room and 3 meals a day as compensation.

That is why it is still popular among orphans.

And those who cannot become shinobi due to diverse reasons; often try to find one for themselves.

To Homura, he thought that it was like being adopted but also being a butler on the side... with the slight chance of inheriting your master's shop... in other words, it's hell.

In Homura's case, he uses his skills such as supercomputing to fish and gather stuff and sell it back to some small restaurants, stalls; or just anyone available to buy.

But finding buyers was quite hard and certain days were a complete bust. 

-(It's really a waste of my time and skill. Worse, it usually takes all day to gather anything worth of value, and can't wait too long or might spoil the bounty. Though, I have never killed a single mammal.)

Homura was reluctant at taking others beings' lives, even if they are just small animals or his prey.

Fish is his only exception.

Explaining why he didn't want to go hunt with Takao and ended up going fishing instead.

-(It's a bit hypocritical of me to have no problem with taking the life of stuff that lives underwater...but I've gone hungry too many times for me.... and most sea life just looks weird, for me to feel too bad.)

Truth be told Homura once accidentally fatally wounded a fish jumping out of a pond with a projectile weapon and ate it to not waste it.

Ever since that day, it became easier for him to go fishing.

- That kid... Nah, wrong hair color... and maybe too old?.. I have no idea what their age range is. - pondered Homura as he looked at the figure of a child who had passed by in a hurry.

While waiting outside, Homura saw the figure of a child whom he thought he had recognized from his memories but it was ultimately a miss.

In fact, there were simply too many misses for him to bother himself in trying to remember them all.

At this point, he believes that he may have been wasting his time.

That for now, he had reached a dead end.

There were simply just too many passersby each day on this busy street and his target was just too young to know if they looked more or less the same from his memories.

Children grow older at a much faster rate than adults, a few years off the mark and they may look completely different.

Unfortunately, Homura had no idea of their age but either they were already born and walking around or they basically just grew up from being a toddler.

It was a rather large margin and year gap to work with.

So Homura could do nothing more than hang around in areas near the Senju park, such as the shop he came to deliver goods.

But wasting so much time, was starting to cut on the time he could allocate to his training but Homura could not give up so easily, not when greatness was just around the corner.

Every day... taunting him but always too far away for him to be completely smitten by the idea of having to waste precious hours trying to find an ephemeral unicorn.

- (...If only I could find some Senju DNA... every day I have to see Naruto being in peak health due to being an Uzumaki and having the fitness rivaling a grown-ass man at 6 years old...it's so unfair... ?... Now that I think about it...has he ever been sick?... Hmm, I don't think so?)- Trying to remember all the times, he spent near Naruto.

Naruto Uzumaki being a descendant from the now mostly extinct Uzumaki clan possessed more or less the same fitness as any other child, however, he recovered far faster than anyone Homura had ever seen.

It was clearly abnormal.

It was unclear to Homura if it was due to the Kyuubi being sealed inside of his body or not but it mattered very little to Homura, nor could he tell which reason was true.

Naruto's physical appearance already showed that he was heavily impacted by the Kyuubi's chakra since his birth.

It would be pointless to theorize what was true or not, neither did he have Naruto's DNA on hand or another Uzumaki's to compare it with.

Neither was Naruto an average Uzumaki clan member or even an average human being.

No matter what was the truth, it would be simply impossible to understand all the intricacies that made Naruto so special.

That was simply who he was.

After all, he was the child of prophecy, the one destined to save the world or destroy it.

Furthermore he was also the reincarnation of the sage of six path's second son, Ootsutsuki Asura.

Such a peculiar existence was not something that could be analyzed by looking at a random strand of genes or DNA sequences to get the full picture.

Besides, Homura believed that Naruto was closely guarded at all times, or at least was being monitored to some degree.

He was too dangerous for Homura to try to interfere with, he still remembers that just getting involved with Naruto was enough for the third hokage to barge in his life.

Though it was easy to meet the Hokage, spending an afternoon with him was far from normal.

He was someone that very few people within the village get to meet personally, let alone have a full conversation with.

Homura didn't show it at the time but he thought his life had hit a dead end before it ever truly began.

And to some degree, he was still afraid that his fears and troubles were not over yet.

If the hokage decided to hit him with a genjutsu and have him spill the beans about everything he knows, his life would be over.

No way he could get out of that situation or even excuse everything he could potentially reveal to his imagination acting up.

No matter what that scenario had to be avoided at all costs.

So Naruto was off-limits.

At least until the chunin exams or after Sasuke leaves the village; at least that is what Homura believed to be true.

So if Naruto was off-limits for now; the next best thing was the Senju clan, more specifically a surviving Senju clan member.

But that also was easier said than done.

Homura had no idea where the Senju were or if they even existed at this point in time.

When Homura asked about it all he got were mentions of Tsunade or the first Hokage history lesson from old folks.

And they were mostly wrong stories and totally biased.

They even said that Hashirama Senju was a giant of a man or that Tsunade was an unparalleled beauty, that looked like a princess from a fairy tale.

Both things could be said to be true... but also not really the full picture.

You are reading story The Tale of Some Random Shinobi (Naruto) at novel35.com

Though Homura has never met them in person, he was relatively positive that Hashirama wasn't anywhere as tall as they described him to be and Tsunade was never described to be an unparalleled beauty within the pages of the manga.

No one started blushing in her presence, like a certain cyborg was capable of doing.

So the best way he could learn was through the public library... but it was doubtful they had the precise information he wanted available, and sadly Homura couldn't really read... he was relatively young, and what he could read was rather limited.

In a world such as the shinobi world, the number of people with a basic academic education depended severely on where one was born or who was around that could potentially teach them.

So having no other choice or not knowing where the Senju were he decided to look out for people with Senju DNA.

However, that was also impossible.

The only people who had Senju DNA besides those who are or were Senju clan members that Homura knew about, were very few.

Most were dead.

One was outside the village at the current time.

The only other confirmed to have Senju genes, who wasn't a Zetsu or a terrorist, was one of Orochimaru's failed experiment.

Known as Tenzo, who will later be known as Yamato.

Though he had the best kind of Senju DNA inside of him, which was without a doubt those that belonged to the first Hokage, Hashirama Senju.

Hashirama's undiluted DNA allowed the people who had it inside them to heal faster, get physically stronger, have larger chakra reserves, and above all allowed for those who could control them to use the kekkei genkai known as wood release.

A genetic condition that allowed to mix 2 nature affinities- earth and water chakra natures- to use wood release, the ability to create and mold wood into any shape the wielder chooses.

Which was far more versatile than first envisioned and allowed its user to do things most shinobi could only dream of.

However, the person who had access to it, Tenzo, was not only a Konohagakure shinobi, but an ANBU officer.

Which was impossible for Homura to ever lay a finger on, at least in his current condition, or do something that could neutralize him or limit the effects of wood release, but by then Homura would have needed to graduate from the ninja academy and have been a shinobi for years with a vast variety of knowledge and experiences.

Making him a worthless candidate. 

Which was a tough break since he hasn't even become a full-fledged student as of yet.

So his only other alternative was to investigate people that could be said to be linked to the Senju or be possible descendants of the inactive clan.

Fortunately, there were few of those in this era.

Mainly one fit the profile, at least if the Uzumaki clan descendants' are excluded from the hypothesis, since they come from a clan that shared close ties with the Senju clan and had even closer blood ties since both clans can be said to be offshoots of one another.

Then only one case remained, or rather only one individual could be said to match the profile; and that person, rather, that child was no one other than the little girl who inherited the wood kekkei genkai... Moegi.

Yes, the individual that Homura has been desperately searching for ever since passing the academy tryouts and after almost losing a fight against one of his roommates... was none other than Moegi.

Sadly, Homura knew very little about the girl.

All he knew was her name and had an idea of what she may look like since her hairstyle and hair color did stand out among the average Konohagakure citizen.

But it was hardly enough.

He didn't even know if she had a family name, or had a family altogether which was not impossible.

A lot of people have no family name in this world and it's not because they are all orphans of war; with no clear idea of their background or family lineage.

However, he was almost certain that she had one... but Homura is not particularly good at remembering the names of people he knew or other people in general.

Needless to say, he didn't know where she lived or if she had parents or relatives to take care of her.

In fact, he didn't know anything about her at all.

He had heard that she was a more fleshed-out character in Boruto, but he hardly watched that series when it aired.

In the original manga, she appeared very little. Which was not very surprising because the entire pace of the manga was rather fast and only focused on Naruto's story or things that could impact Naruto in general.

It had hardly the time to flesh out the lives of the other characters the same way the anime tried and ended up doing with mixed results.

And she had overall very little screen time in both continuities.

Far less than Konohamaru; who was connected to 2 semi-important side characters and was the unofficial apprentice of the main character, but regardless of his background or role in the story he was nonetheless barely present.

In other words, she was a background character for the story and setting of another background character, but Homura remembered that she was listed to have wood release when he tried to remember people who were Senju or had wood release powers.

And since wood release is not something that one could simply learn such as most ninjutsu; she was the perfect next target for Homura to try to steal DNA from.

The idea of having one of the most busted abilities in the entire story was enticing but the reality was in general much more cruel than one ever expects it to be and far more random.

Konohagakure was a very large village with a rather large population.

Finding a single child whose background was totally unknown to him; was a ridiculous challenge.

Not only that but the fact that she may have been a toddler or may not have been born as of yet for all Homura knew... made things from hard to outright impossible.

The dangers and pain of having an incomplete set of information; he needed something more concrete to find her within the time limit.

But Homura was nothing if not persistent.

He decided to look for places that were linked to the Senju and tried to sell his goods in those specific areas.

If the girl had indeed Senju blood coursing through her veins, she had a high chance to frequent locales linked to the Senju clan within Konohagakure.

It wasn't a very high probability but any probability can be considered quite high as long as it is not zero and anyone desperate enough to try to fool themselves that they had a chance to complete an almost impossible task.

That's why Homura sold the things he had caught around this general area in the vain hopes of finding the child prior to going to the academy.

The part of Konohagakure where Homura was currently located was located just a few meters away from the Senju park.

There was no better place to try finding her or at least one of her parents, besides playgrounds or spots where kids use to hang out at or by... but those were just too numerous for Homura to visit them all, though he tried to find a glimpse of her near the ones considered to be the nearest the Sarutobi clan.

Since she and Konohamaru would probably end up as childhood friends as well in this reality.

Not that he knew or really cared if it was true or not.

He wasn't even sure what age Konohamaru was at beginning of the manga or if he was an academy student by then. It was one of the things only a massive fan of the Naruto franchise would know or have an overall idea about it.

Which was not the case for Homura.

Plus, children can theoretically attend the academy at any time.

He only played a couple of Naruto games and watched the anime as a child, but without the super-computing skill's help he'd never have remembered those things; he'd be very lost at the moment or at more likely at all times.

He didn't even know what year it was. 

Regardless of his lack of knowledge or common sense, Homura had little choice in the matter altogether.

He didn't know any of the several variants of the clone technique in order to be in more than 2 places at the same time. But he at least knew that if he wanted to have an easier time at the academy, Senju DNA, was the way to go; unfortunately, that was easier said than done.

And there was still the possibility that the girl was no Senju.

A slight probability but one which could be considered true nonetheless.

The sad truth was that the Senju clan members were ultimately either all dead or out of commission.

It would certainly explain why Homura got such vague answers and weird stories every time he asked about the Senju to the elderly.

Information flows much more slowly and was overall less available in a world without internet access; it was impossible for Homura to verify what was true.

The only Senju clan member being actively promoted or referred to be alive and who was more or less active was Tsunade; even though she wasn't performing as a ninja any longer.

Just like Homura she only went by her first name only, her clan was not really part of her shinobi identity.

So the few people Homura asked about her who were not elderly either didn't know she was a Senju or forgot all about that fact.

Her identity in the shared consensus of most Konoha citizens lies more in the fact that she was one of the famous Sannin trio than the granddaughter of the 1st Hokage.

Only those who were truly old seem to see her as such and even refer to her as a princess; which made Homura cringe a little hearing them call her that way.

Worse, she even chose to focus mostly on her pursuit of medical ninjutsu, unlike the most famous and notorious members of her clan; who in their heyday were famous for being able to specialize in many different skills, true to their name.

Senju is a name that could be interpreted as a thousand skills or a thousand hands.

A clan that both inspired their allies and brought never endless fear to their foes by them being such a deadly force on the battlefield.

Which was the same for Tsunade, just not in the way one might associate to a Senju clan member.

But perhaps it was also more valid in Tsunade's case as she was a Sannin. And fought just as much as any other than any other Senju that ever lived, only being surpassed by Hashirama and Tobirama being so formidable on the battlefield.

Though the same was true for Tsunade's reputation as a warrior and due to her status as a medical ninja and her immense track record in saving her allies, she was perhaps the Senju whose clan's reputation embodied her being the most.

But being the granddaughter of the man who created the village, she was seen by many as royalty in the village even if some forgot why that is or who she was.

And as the princess of both the village and her clan... even though she was old enough to be a grandmother.

She had maintained a certain amount of influence and her name was easily recognizable for when Homura needed to find where she used to live, too bad it was just a normal, if not a higher class residence; just not the Senju clan's compound.

Which was what Homura ultimately was after.

Though none of that helped Homura, who was now busy checking any of the passers-by for any traits that could relate to possible Senjus descendants.

Not that it would have helped him, but he was slightly stupid due to his overconfidence and a bit deluded.

- Damn! This is harder than I thought...*sigh*- said Homura while looking at a child who was clearly not his desired target.

Unlike Uchiha who mostly shared key features that could easily make them distinguishable to some degree... at least for some.

Most Uchihas were hard to recognize and could blend easily into Konohagakure, it was a heaven-sent fortune that most of them wear something with their clan logo.

Dark or brown spiky/straight hair and similarly colored eyes were hardly traits that could be considered unique within a village where a huge chunk of the population also had green or violet-colored hair.

Facial features were usually the way to go, in order to find family or clan resemblance.

But the Senjus were a whole different can of worms.

True to their namesake they came in all shapes and forms.

Only someone who had the ability to see and understand genes or knew their specific chakra signature could tell who was a descendant of the Senju or not.

By appearance alone, almost anyone in Konohagakure could pass for a Senju.

Even Homura with his patchwork hair color, could easily pass for a Senju with if one went by his features alone.

- Jeez, today will be a bust as well... lunchtime is about to start soon...( I can't believe that I wasted another day, in this place... What could have possibly happened to the Senju? Pfft! I don't f*cking know. My best guess is that they all died in the 1st or 2nd great ninja war, alongside Tobirama and Hashirama... though for my sake I hope it's not totally true.)- thought Homura as his mental fortitude was breaking.

A desperate Homura was starting to lose patience and was considering alternative/ more dangerous ideas.

- (There is a household that I guess belongs to Tsunade and even has the name Senju written on it. But through asking some drunk old men at the Dango shop nearby, they said it was empty... It may be a bit dangerous but if I get found out I should be fine, the old man is too soft. Too bad I don't know any other brat from konohamaru's class I could use my skill to cross-reference better patterns, instead of running around the village like I did to find Guy-san.)

However, his thoughts soon changed to something else.

More specifically about green tights. 

-(? Now that I remember...C did say the reason why I saw that weird image of a Naruto wearing green tights during my fight with Uryuu was due to me falling asleep for less than an instant due to fatigue... and the reason I saw Naruto was because my brain was trying to think of ways to figure out how to beat Uryuu... It's definitely not because Naruto pesters so much in real life that he now also pesters me in my dreams too, right? ...Am I becoming obsessed with Naruto? )

Homura's thoughts were starting to head in a weird direction.

- (No. That can't be true... but I have about 2 weeks left, so I better investigate that. Just not today.)

But before he could fully delve deeper into them, he decided to forget about the matter for now at the very least.

There were more pressing matters taking place.

Mainly getting his crates back and going to another area closely related to the legacy of Senju around the village and seeing if his luck would work better over there.

However, as Homura was about to leave and go back inside the store he saw something that surprised him.

-!

Far ahead in the sea of people flowing out of the street, the figure of a tall man with dark and slightly curly hair was seen exiting a shop nearby.

- S-Shisui-san!?

Homura immediately got up and started running.

Trying to catch up to a man he thought had died a long time already. 

But seeing him alive seemed, to almost take away all of Homura's worries.

He was filled with a sense of relief that maybe, just maybe his interactions with Shisui had changed the timeline somewhat.

It didn't matter that he had to squeeze through and almost bump into everyone ahead of him as he made his way through the whole street.

But sadly, he had lost sight of the person he was running after.

-! Damn! I lost him... again.- said Homura as he looked to his right and left trying to find the person he was looking for.

However, Shisui was much faster than himself, and if he took the wrong way he might lose him once again.

- ! (The shop! I have to go back and talked to the shop owner!)

Homura realized that even if couldn't find Shisui if he could talk to the shop owner, he may have a chance to find out if Shisui was truly alive or not.

So Homura ran back and looked for the shop that he saw him exit from and after a couple of minutes of running around, he found it.

It was a small shop with hardly anything distinguishing besides the small frame and a red banner on top of the entrance with 3 characters written on it that Homura didn't know what they meant.

- Yes! That's the one!

While confirming once again it was the right store he rejoiced and then he immediately went inside and talked to the shop owner who looked slightly perturbed by a young boy busting in out of the blue before he had time to finish his greeting.

- Welco-! -the shop owner was stopped in his tracks

- Excuse me! Was Shisui-san here!?- said Homura in a hurry.

- S-Shisui?- said the shop owner seemingly confused by Homura's question or by the not-so-common name he had heard.

- He's a young man from the Uchiha clan!

- Uchiha?... one of our previous customers was certainly from the Uchiha clan, but I'm afraid that you've just missed him.- said the man in a cheery mood.

-...I-I see. Thank you very much for your help.

- Don't mind it, boy. Sorry for not being much help.- said the shop owner with a bitter smile plastered on his face.

- R-right.- said a dejected Homura about to leave.

Homura exited the shop in a slightly somber mood.

He didn't get the answers he wanted and he was so close to finding out if he was able to change the timeline in a meaningful way.

- (..was it really, Shisui-san? I didn't really get a good look but it had to be him... right?)

Sadly, no one could reassure the boy if he was right or not, but he didn't let it deter him from trying to see if he could meet with Shisui once again, though he was reluctant to go to the Uchiha clan and try to find out if he was truly alive.

They were after all still under surveillance, sneaking in was ok, but going about the compound asking about Shisui was a whole different matter. 

And he feared that if he tried to ask Sasuke about it, he might find out who he truly is unlike a couple of years back.

He would be pushing his luck, in trying to pull the same act once again.

- *Sigh* I may have to dig through my memories... one more time to find out what is going on.

Homura then started walking once again, toward the shop where he had just delivered a set of crates to, when he suddenly heard loud munching noise coming from nearby.

-*Munch* *Munch*- (weirdly energetic while eating woman)

He looked at the noise and found a woman munching on a set of dangos skewers like there was no tomorrow.

It was as if she was devouring her prey.

She had the eyes of a predator, which contrasted with her medium size physique and overall appearance.

The woman was otherworldly in appearance and seemingly character was definitely unique.

The way she sat on the bench while eating, could only be described as messy and aggressive, but what was truly astonishing was her attire.

She could be described as risque but also lazy. Since she wore clothes that were seemingly made of or rather composed of a fishnet-type of mold to accentuate her outline or perhaps clothes made out of wires which revealed and emphasized her womanly form; but she also wore a huge opened tanned overcoat that hid a huge chunk of her body.

- !- The woman seemed to realize that she was been stared at by the child in front of her.

The purple-haired woman would soon stop wolfing down on the dangos skewers in her hands that she had bought and looked at the kid staring at her as if he had seen a ghost.

- Hm!? I am not giving you any, kid. Those are mine unless you wage some of your pocket money for it, huh? What do you say? How about it? - said the woman while flashing a weirdly confident smile.

The weird woman offered Homura some nonsensical/shameless challenge out of nowhere, for seemingly no reason whatsoever.

But instead of responding Homura, just pretended he didn't see her and soon after looked away as he continued walking ahead.

-(Walk away, Homura... "that" is not worth the trouble... She can only do snake magic, plus she reeks of booze even before launch time. Definitely a certified alcoholic.)- Thought Homura while trying to convince himself that he had dodged a bullet by ignoring her.

- Che! What a rude brat. Ignoring a beauty like me! (... I wasn't too hard on trying to mess with him, right? I was even willing to share one skewer with him if he managed to amuse me a bit... ) Meh, who cares! - (weirdly energetic while eating woman)

She soon removed all thoughts of what had just transpired and continued eating a skewer that was on her plate.  After she was done eating everything she had bought, she immediately finished drinking her cup of sake in a single gulp.

-Haaaa!!... That's the life!  Hahahahaha!!!! (weirdly energetic while eating woman)

That was the first interaction between Homura and Mitarashi Anko.

It was a rather weird one for both parties involved.

One that both parties would soon remove altogether from their minds.

Chapter end

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