Father, that's a great word. If it weren't for this damned transmigration, maybe in a few years, I would have become a father too. Ugh! It's impossible to be a father in this life, but it seems like it's still possible to be a mother.
Ptooey, ptooey! Inoyue spat several times in her mind. She was overthinking again. Being a mother, that's no joke; I'm a straight man.
Her thoughts scattered quickly. Anyway, now wasn't the time to think about such things.
Looking at Asakura Yuichi kneeling before her, Inoyue finally compromised: "I can help you investigate and try to resolve this matter. But I can't guarantee anything, do you understand?"
Inoyue left herself an out; this was her bottom line. If her own life was involved, she would still prioritize her safety. After all, she was just an ordinary person and hadn't reached the height of self-sacrifice.
"Alright, thank you for your help." Asakura Yuichi raised his head, looking at the Konoha Chunin she was kneeling before. It was hard to imagine she was only an eight-year-old Little girl. Because no matter her words and actions, or what she had just said, they all showed her maturity.
If she were truly just a child, she would probably have been moved by his kneeling and agreed. However, she wasn't impulsive but gave a very steady answer.
It was from this moment on that Asakura Yuichi treated the Inoyue before him as a peer of his own age, not daring to show the slightest disrespect.
"I need information about your son, the more detailed, the better. If there are documents like the Royal Daily Records, that would be even better." She acted on her thoughts. To investigate the cause of Asakura Ichikai's sudden change, she needed to start from before his change, to know what he had done and where he had been.
Inoyue's thoughts were meticulous—that was the impression she gave Asakura Yuichi. And she even knew about the Royal Daily Records, which further proved that this little Little girl before him was by no means ordinary, truly worthy of being a Konoha Ninja.
...
The moon had climbed to its highest point, hanging high in the sky.
The meeting finally ended, and Inoyue emerged from the main hall. The maids in the side hall had already woken up and immediately greeted Inoyue as she came out.
A single conversation couldn't lead to any substantial progress. However, it did allow Inoyue to learn some things.
Asakura Ichikai, fifteen years old, was a legitimate Prince before his change. Both his talent and upbringing were top-notch, worthy of the title of Prince. His personality change occurred on a full moon night a year ago.
A full moon night? Inoyue looked up at the full moon hanging high in the sky. To put it bluntly, this was just the Ten-Tails' sealing ground, but at this moment, Inoyue had a new question.
If the current moon was created by the Six Paths Sage sealing the Ten-Tails, then where was the real moon before? This was a new mystery, and the Ninja World still had many, many such mysteries.
"Princess? Princess!" Inoyue was lost in thought, staring at the full moon in the sky. Bai Lu called out twice.
"Ah!" Inoyue responded softly, a slightly embarrassed smile on her face. Lately, she didn't know what was wrong with her; her thoughts scattered very quickly.
"Princess must be homesick, right? Although home is far away, we five are here, and we will always be with Princess." Karura, with her indigo-blue eyes, stepped forward to comfort her. Her voice was very pleasant and truly gentle. Perhaps this was a genuine outpouring of emotion, her comfort for an eight-year-old girl.
"If we weren't enemies, maybe we could even be friends," Inoyue thought to herself, and smiled genuinely, "Thank you, Big Sister!"
Big Sister—a Princess calling a maid Big Sister. Karura clearly hadn't expected it, and a trace of doubt suddenly arose in her heart, but then she was relieved. She was just an eight-year-old girl, far from home. The five of them were her only relatives, so calling her Big Sister was probably not strange.
Poor child, since you called me Big Sister, then until the mission is completed, I will treat you like a real Big Sister.
Karura made up her mind. She was a soft-hearted person, but such a person was not suitable to be a Ninja. She was very aware of this herself, and she had acted on a whim again.
Inoyue didn't know that she had almost given herself away. In her opinion, the best disguise was no disguise; everything should be a genuine outpouring of emotion. If there were no flaws at all, it wouldn't truly be perfect.
...
When the Thirteenth Princess of the Land of Fire married, the Daimyo of the Land of Rivers dared not neglect her, arranging a separate sleeping quarters for the Princess next to the main hall.
This sleeping quarters belonged entirely to Inoyue and the five maids. The maids comfortably attended to Inoyue, bathing her, changing her clothes, massaging her, and so on. After these tasks were done, the maids went to the side room to rest.
The side room was no more than fifteen meters from the main room. As long as Inoyue needed anything, she could call out at any time, and a maid would surely come to serve her. This was because the five maids rested in shifts, ensuring at least one person was always on standby.
Lying on the soft, large bed, she comfortably felt the soft mattress beneath her.
In her previous life, when she watched Naruto, she had never seen what true nobility looked like. In this life, she unexpectedly had the opportunity to enjoy a truly aristocratic life.
It was truly… too luxurious. So luxurious that it made one forget home, even not wanting to be a Ninja anymore.
But then again, where should she even begin investigating the client's matter? Inoyue's thoughts were very erratic, jumping from one thing to another.
Well! There were no clues, so she'd start with his daily records! Then she'd go see the places he had visited. Speaking of which, to investigate this matter, Asakura Yuichi had directly given her full authority; she could go anywhere in Daimyo City, including the royal forbidden grounds.
You eat your food one bite at a time, and you do things one by one. Everything can wait until tomorrow! This matter wasn't urgent.
"Hmm... Should I ask a maid to come in and sleep with me?" Inoyue's thoughts started jumping again, and her little inner desires were stirring.
"I'm quite speechless myself," "But this idea is really good!" Inoyue, lost in thought, tossed and turned in bed, but ultimately restrained herself. She was originally a transformed fake; if she were exposed, it wouldn't be good. Everything should just happen naturally.
...
Deep in the night, Daimyo City was so quiet that only the chirping of insects could be heard.
There were many insect chirps in late autumn, but if one listened carefully, they would notice that the chirping here fluctuated in regional patterns.
Some tendrils wriggled on the ground. Where they passed, the insects would become very quiet, as if frightened. After these tendrils left, the chirping resumed as before.
This phenomenon was too subtle for anyone to notice.
There were three tendrils, each with a mask at its head. They converged from three directions onto an unguarded rooftop.
Here, there was a disfigured person. His head was wrapped in a gray cloth, only his eyes visible. His eyes were unusual, exhibiting a red base with green pupils. On his forehead, he wore a Ninja headband with a horizontal slash across it.
He was clearly a Rogue Ninja; only Rogue Ninja would draw a horizontal line on their headbands to signify their break with the Village.
The tendrils from the three directions gathered around this Rogue Ninja, then slowly climbed onto his body, forming his missing parts.
"Didn't find it?" A gloomy voice suddenly sounded, yet he didn't seem to move his mouth. But in a flash, his red-eyed, green-pupiled eyes suddenly narrowed: "No, it should be here. Earth Grudge Fear has already sensed it! To perfect Earth Grudge Fear, I must find it."
...
In the early morning, Inoyue woke up early because she hadn't slept well last night; she had a dream!
Since the fusion of her soul during her transmigration, she had always dreamt of experiences from before she was eight years old. This was the first time she had such a long and strange dream.
The dream she had last night wasn't a nightmare, but it wasn't a pleasant dream either. She dreamt of herself walking alone in another world. This world was very quiet, different from both the current Ninja World and her previous world.
If she had to describe it, Inoyue felt that the world in her dream was more like the world of the dead, a world where a living person shouldn't go.