Yako had neither a single tile nor brick in Konoha. No relatives. No home.
After joining the ANBU, he was also responsible for internal chores, so he simply lived in the ANBU quarters.
Now, with a rare three-day break, he couldn't stay in the ANBU base any longer. If a mission came in and the captain saw he was still there, his vacation might be cut short.
Changing into casual clothes, Yako quietly snuck out of the Forest of Death where the ANBU base was located and wandered around Konoha.
He paused and turned his head to gaze at the Hokage Rock in the distance.
The faces of the First, Second, and Third Hokage loomed large—so large it triggered a kind of megalophobia.
The closer one got to the base of the Hokage Rock and the Hokage Building below it, the more oppressive those gigantic visages became.
This village didn't have the shounen-manga vibrance of the original story. All it had was the suffocating pressure of death.
Everyone was like Kakashi in the original: teammates dead, teacher dead, friends dead. Everyone was mentally scarred in some way.
A village with a mental health crisis.
During the Second Great Ninja War, most ninjas were stationed at the frontlines, and Konoha felt a bit desolate.
After half an hour of aimless wandering, Yako decided to find a cheap inn to stay at.
"...Where's my wallet?"
Only when he reached for his money did he realize it was missing from his ninja pouch.
Thinking carefully, Yako figured he must've left it at Tsurugetsu Tavern.
From a distance, he observed Tsurugetsu Tavern for half an hour and spotted the same alluring proprietress from last night.
It was already midday. Given the ANBU's efficiency, if that woman had been a spy, she would've been executed overnight.
Good. She wasn't a spy.
At least, for now, she was clean. Yako let out a breath and went in to retrieve his wallet.
The proprietress had just taken out the trash. When she spotted the same ninja from last night walking over, her teeth chattered from nervous tension.
It's over.
Had her spy identity been exposed?
That handsome young man wasn't a regular shinobi—he'd directly killed her partner without hesitation.
To avoid leaking intel post-mortem, her partner had never met her face-to-face. He'd never even seen her face. So why was she still exposed?
What should she do?
Pretending not to see him, she turned and went back into the tavern.
Gripping a sharp fruit knife tightly, she began slicing lemon wedges at the bar.
When she saw Yako take a seat right in front of her, the woman looked up and said, "Would you like another bottle of sake?"
"You give me back my wallet first, then I'll have money to order sake."
"Huh?"
The proprietress stared in shock at the Konoha shinobi before her, fingers flexing on the fruit knife—gripping and releasing, over and over.
He's… not here to arrest me?
"What are you spacing out for?! Give me back my wallet!"
"Wallet? What wallet?"
He's looking for a wallet?
That's too absurd to be fake.
After that emotional rollercoaster, a rush of relief and joy surged in her chest, and she couldn't help the rising swell of her breath.
Yako hopped off the tall stool and headed for the back.
The proprietress immediately blocked him.
"Sir! The backyard's under renovation, you can't go in there!"
She was terrified.
When she woke up last night, the room was empty.
Her partner underground had vanished. That handsome guest was also gone.
She tried contacting her spy partner through secret channels—no response.
There was even a patch of mismatched earth on the ground, like someone had dug something up and tried to cover it again.
Yako brushed her hands aside and stepped into the backyard—only to find that, yes, it was genuinely under repair.
The stone tiles were all upturned. What exactly was being fixed?
"I told you, it's under renovation. Look—how about you rest upstairs for a bit, and I'll go search the yard for your wallet," she said, wrapping both arms around Yako's elbow.
"I recognize you! You were the guest from last night!
Why did I black out? Why did you leave? Weren't we going to discuss Yin-Yang Release?"
"Last night you tripped and hit your head. I prefer it when things are lively—not dull and lifeless."
His arm, now firmly cushioned, was tugged upstairs. As they reached the second floor, he asked, "What's your name?"
"Kyoi."
Seated in a private room, Yako said:
"Kyoi, there's 150,000 ryō in my wallet. You have to find it. You have to give it back."
Konoha shinobi were infamous for their paltry income.
He'd spent a month doing ANBU missions—risking death every day—just to earn 100,000 ryō. The remaining 50,000 had been squeezed out of the captain last night.
Kyoi went downstairs to look.
She searched the backyard, the side room, around every table and chair—but couldn't find the wallet.
Back upstairs, she composed her expression and entered the room with sultry eyes.
"Honored ninja… I really couldn't find your wallet. I'm such a fool… but now I understand. You didn't really come back just for the wallet, did you…? Even if I couldn't find it, I can make it up to you… in other ways."
She'd heard Yako liked passionate responses, so she pulled out all the stops.
Downstairs, the tavern's first lunchtime guest was having a drink.
After ten minutes, he looked up.
Dust was falling from the ceiling.
The floorboards above creaked rhythmically.
Another twenty minutes passed. The upstairs door creaked open.
Kyoi readjusted her shoulder strap, panting heavily, then shut the door again.
Yako called out, "You said it—if you lost my wallet, I'm staying here for three days!"
"I'll make sure to repay your loss in… creative ways."
Satisfied, Yako lay back on the bed to nap.
Still young. Still inexperienced. Last night he'd thought she was stiff and unresponsive—but she was actually decent. Better than decent.
Three days later, Kyoi stood heartbroken at the door, seeing him off.
This Konoha ninja had a tight mouth. Three days, and she hadn't gotten a single word out of him.
She'd had to reinforce the floorboards. Was Konoha's information security always this intense?
Still, she was sure now—this handsome ninja hadn't come to investigate her.
Yako returned to the ANBU under cover of night.
Once inside, he spotted his wallet inside his locker.
He picked it up, dumbfounded. How was it here?
He'd been so careful—three days ago when he left, the wallet hadn't been in the locker!
Behind him, his captain's voice rang out—who knows when he showed up.
"Fox, I took my 50,000 back and added your B-rank mission reward of 100,000. So now there's 200,000 in there. Count it if you want."
Didn't matter anymore.
Yako only wanted to know—over the past few days… that passionate woman, Kyoi… ah… mmm?
Wait. Wasn't she too enthusiastic?
Could she really have been a spy?
Did ANBU miss something? Or was she truly clean?
Doesn't matter. Spy or not—that's Konoha's problem, not his.
Even if the whole village burned, it had nothing to do with him.
Female spies were great. They required… regular, thorough investigation.
The captain said, "Come on. We've got a mission. The spy we caught is from Iwagakure—we need to follow the trail."
Yako donned his fox mask and sighed behind it.
Last time, a squad followed a trail—and all of them died. Any spy bold enough to operate in Konoha had some real power. Hard to say who's the vine, and who's the melon.
He strapped on his ANBU armor, slung the standard-issue shinobi blade, double-checked every detail, then disappeared from the ANBU gate with his captain and two teammates.
Let's just hope this turns out to be a simple C-rank mission.