Chapter 15: The Book Confiscated by Konan
Hattori Hirakawa was still thinking.
Because Uehara Naraka had only given him one chance, although with a small hint: the twelve-year-old boy wanted to hear some stories of manly romance.
But, there are many categories of "manly romance" stories.
As a ninja who lived life on the edge, Hattori Hirakawa's favorite stories were, of course, the ones in Make-Out Paradise!
It's just that the stories inside were somewhat unsuitable for children.
Hattori Hirakawa pressed his temples hard. Perhaps at this kid's age, he probably didn't understand the beauty of Make-Out Paradise yet?
Should he tentatively ask?
After thinking for a long time, the Thorn of Amegakure looked at the boy who seemed to be growing impatient and quickly asked first, "Um, have you heard of Make-Out Paradise?"
"..."
Uehara Naraka's impatient expression instantly vanished. He slowly raised his head, his eyes filled with curiosity, confusion, and longing.
Even through the gas mask, Hattori Hirakawa could see the thirst for knowledge in his eyes. For some reason, he1 suddenly felt that he and the two Genin would definitely survive.
"Give me the book, then scram."
Uehara Naraka extended his palm.
Actually, he wasn't particularly curious about what was written in Make-Out Paradise. It was mainly because several side quests were related to the Make-Out Paradise series.
There were many book-related side quests.
But the rewards for these side quests were unknown.
When Uehara Naraka had just transmigrated, he bought that slow-selling book The Tale of the Utterly Gutsy Ninja. After finishing it, he received a reward of 100 Chakra points.
Perhaps this also proved that there were actually quite a few otaku who liked reading, which was why the system had such a side quest.
Hattori Hirakawa gritted his teeth, took an orange-covered book out of his ninja tool pouch, and handed it to Uehara Naraka, "Make-Out Paradise is very popular in Amegakure (Village Hidden in the Rain). I also had to wait in line for a long time to buy this copy."
"Mm."
Uehara Naraka reached out and accepted the treasure.
As Uehara took the copy of Make-Out Paradise in his hand, a 'ding' sounded in the system in his brain. He hadn't expected that just obtaining a book would complete a side quest.
Side Quest: Obtain one copy of Make-Out Paradise. Reward: 100 Gold Coins.
There was actually such a simple quest? This also showed that someone really had such a simple wish. This book... was it really that interesting?
Uehara Naraka subconsciously opened the book's flyleaf, glanced through it casually, and murmured, "Hmm, this book is a bit interesting..."
Hattori Hirakawa clutched his chest and slowly stood up, "So, can we leave now?"
"Whatever."
Uehara Naraka stopped flipping through the book, looked up as Hattori Hirakawa left with the two Genin, then suddenly called out to him, saying with a grin, "Wait! After you get back to Amegakure, don't forget to tell Hanzō of the Salamander: we killed the Salamander today, his turn will be soon!"
"..."
Hearing the kid insult his leader, Hattori Hirakawa just gritted his teeth, didn't look back, and simply led his two subordinates away.
The three ninjas who luckily escaped didn't remain silent the whole time. Some random chatter drifted over on the wind and was overheard by Uehara Naraka.
"Captain Hattori, that guy looked really young, yet he's already so strong..."
"Yeah, judging by his build, he's probably only twelve or thirteen!"
"But starting to read Make-Out Paradise at such a young age? This kid's definitely going to be ruined in the future, right?"
"..."
Uehara Naraka couldn't be bothered with them. He spared the lives of these two Genin and Hattori Hirakawa simply on a whim. Anyway, they wouldn't dare interfere with Konan's fight against the Salamander.
After sending off the group of Ame ninjas, Uehara Naraka reviewed his gains from this encounter. Advancement Quest 2 was completed, and Advancement Quest 3 only needed two more Chunin kills to be finished.
Besides that, there was also a precious copy of Make-Out Paradise.
Based on the principle of not wasting resources, Uehara Naraka began searching his system panel for quests related to Make-Out Paradise. Soon, Uehara found several relatively simple ones.
Side Quest: Collect two volumes of Make-Out Paradise. Reward Unknown.
Side Quest: Read the full text of Make-Out Paradise. Reward Unknown.
Side Quest: Read Make-Out Paradise aloud with emotion. Reward Unknown.
When Uehara Naraka saw the third side quest, the corner of his eye couldn't help but twitch, "...Why is there such an embarrassing quest?"
However, such a simple quest wasn't undoable; it just had to be done in a suitable location, definitely somewhere quiet and deserted.
A gentle breeze blew past.
Uehara Naraka felt his hand suddenly become empty.
When the boy looked up again, he only saw sheets of paper overlapping, forming the figure of Konan. Killing a masterless Salamander ninja beast was still quite easy for Konan.
Konan was holding that copy of Make-Out Paradise in her hand, her brows tightly furrowed, her expression unpleasant.
Uehara Naraka quickly opened his mouth, wanting to explain, "Konan-sensei..."
"No need to explain."
When Konan returned, the first thing she saw was the cover of Make-Out Paradise. It looked familiar, as if she had seen it advertised outside a bookstore once. It was an extremely popular book. As Jiraiya's disciple, she had naturally heard of her teacher's great work.
Out of curiosity, Konan had also secretly queued up and bought a copy once. Naturally, she was greatly disappointed by the contents, even suspecting someone had forged it under Jiraiya's name.
After all, Jiraiya had been a 'single dog' (perpetually single) for so many years; how could he possibly write a normal romance story? But after investigation, it turned out Jiraiya really did write it, and the contents were even more stimulating than a romance story.
Because she knew it wasn't a proper book, she had snatched it from Uehara Naraka's hand just now.
"This kind of book isn't something someone your age should read."
Her light-blue hair obscured the woman's profile. She looked down at Uehara Naraka and continued seriously, "No, you should never read this kind of book."
"..."
Uehara Naraka watched as the Make-Out Paradise in Konan's hand turned into countless scattered pieces of paper floating away, as if seeing innumerable gold coins flying away from him.
Konan reached out, removed Uehara's gas mask, looked at the boy's young face, and asked softly, "Naraka, where did you get this book?"
This teacher was a bit too strict!
Uehara Naraka took a deep breath and argued slyly, "I let a few people go just now, and they gave me this book. I actually intended to give it to you. Konan-sensei should really want her own teacher's work, right? I heard them say it's not easy to buy..."
"I understand."
Konan sighed and ruffled his hair, "If anyone gives you this book again in the future, just kill them directly... Remember that?"
"Yes."
Uehara Naraka agreed readily with his young face.
She spoke so gently, yet the subject matter was so bloody.
Moreover, he originally thought the Make-Out Paradise series side quests were all very simple tasks. Thinking about it now, this quest really wasn't going to be that easy to complete.
The Make-Out Paradise series had always been extremely popular. He probably wouldn't be able to buy it until those publishers found Jiraiya and got his agreement for a large-scale reprint, right?
"Alright."
Konan finally let the matter go with satisfaction and brought up their mission, "Hanzō of the Salamander should know about our revenge by now. We'll return to the base first and hide for a while to avoid any traps he might set... Besides, a few things have come up in the organization that I need to handle."
(End of Chapter)