"Hey, hey, what are you doing now?"
Standing by the roadside, Olivia somehow produced a baseball cap out of nowhere, solemnly put it on, and then pulled out a face mask, preparing to wear it. Seeing this, Logan quickly stopped her.
Both the cap and the mask were black. Olivia lifted her head slightly, revealing the lower half of her face from under the cap's brim. Her dark eyes shone brightly in the night, "What do you mean, what am I doing? Of course, I'm..."
"Alright, I got it. No need to say it." Logan, seeing the barely contained excitement on his senior's face, spoke expressionlessly. She looked exactly the same as when she got into the taxi earlier. Given her all-black attire, it wasn't hard to guess what was going through her head.
Logan reached out and snatched the mask from her hand, "What are you, a thief? Why are you wrapping up so tight? I already told you, you don't need to do this."
"Don't touch my gear." Olivia pouted and tried to take it back, "Give it back..."
"Gear? You think you're some kind of secret agent? Senior, please be normal." Logan dodged her grasp with a sidestep, and in one swift motion, he plucked the baseball cap off her head, "No hat either."
Feeling the sudden emptiness on her head, Olivia ran a hand through her hair, smoothing out a few stray strands. Her face showed a hint of discomfort.
Logan's mocking words had struck right at the heart of her dramatic fantasies, leaving her both embarrassed and annoyed.
Logan glanced at the cap in his hand. The sleek black fabric was adorned with elegant gold-red patterns. He didn't recognize the brand, but it looked expensive. A thought suddenly crossed his mind, and he put the cap on himself.
After adjusting it, he found that the size is right, 'Hmm, not bad...'
"Fine, I won't wear it then." Olivia huffed, but the moment she saw Logan using it himself, her eyes widened in outrage. Such blatant double standards were unbearable.
"Give it back!"
"I'm confiscating it." Logan adjusted the brim of the cap. Though it slightly obstructed his vision, it was actually quite useful in his current situation. Combined with the mask, it would help obscure him from unknown surveillance cameras or wandering eyes in the dark.
If he used the Transformation Technique instead, it would constantly drain his Chakra, 'Who would've thought… Senior had unexpectedly helped me out.'
Olivia's face was filled with fury. Just a moment ago, he was mocking her for looking suspicious and over-the-top, and now, he was wearing the disguise himself?
Noticing the expression on Olivia's face, Logan quickly corrected himself, "I'm just borrowing it..."
"And what about me?" Olivia asked with a forced smile.
The target apartment was at the end of this street, less than 200 meters away. Logan's gaze lingered on the twenty-story building for a moment before he turned back to see Olivia, who was waiting for an explanation while still glaring at him, and then said: "I'm going alone."
Olivia was stunned, and her expression grew even more displeased. Logan shrugged and said, "I told you not to come, but you wouldn't listen to me. Senior, you can't blame anyone else for that."
Olivia was speechless for a moment. She followed his gaze toward the high-end apartment complex. From the outside, the building's warmly lit windows blended in with the surrounding structures. Logan let her take it all in without interruption.
When she turned back to him, much of her dissatisfaction had faded. Logan smiled slightly and quietly put on the mask.
…
Olivia clearly wanted to tag along to meet this so-called 'someone', but this time, Logan was firm in his refusal.
Given that she was somewhat in the wrong for insisting on coming, she had no choice but to back down. After Logan promised not to take too long, Olivia obediently went to wait at a nearby cafe.
Watching Olivia turn into another street, and after making sure she was gone, Logan refocused on the apartment, then scanned the surroundings, and quickly made his move.
…
With a faint click, Logan carefully pressed his hands against the window glass as he entered the 17th-floor apartment belonging to Masashi Kishimoto. His landing produced only a slight noise.
After observing for a while, he determined that sneaking in wouldn't be too difficult. Perhaps out of a sense of consistency, Logan chose a similar infiltration method to his shadow clone, which are avoiding the main entrance, reaching the rooftop first, and then slipping in through the windows.
The key difference was that his shadow clone had taken the elevator up to the rooftop before descending, while Logan had taken advantage of the sparse nighttime foot traffic to leap across from another building before making his way down.
Tightening the straps of his backpack, Logan listened intently for any movement inside as he carefully stepped over the drying rack, crossed the balcony, and gently slid open the glass door with a faint creak before stepping in.
The living room was dark, so the owner was likely asleep. Logan's eyes scanned the area. The room was spacious, with ordinary furniture quietly arranged across the floor.
Given the unexplained disappearance of his shadow clone, Logan was highly cautious about this place, mentally preparing for the possibility of encountering a formidable enemy.
As he passed the sofa and coffee table, he pressed himself against the wall and drew a kunai, one he had just retrieved from his sealing scroll before jumping over.
The carpet was soft beneath his feet. When he reached the bedroom door, he heard steady breathing from within. Logan twirled the kunai in his hand before proceeding to check the other rooms.
There was only one person in the entire apartment If there were no surprises, the person sleeping in bed should be the Manga Author, which made things more convenient for Logan.
For the next while, Logan remained highly alert, searching every corner for any traces left by his shadow clone or clues to the reason for its disappearance.
At the same time, he also kept an eye out for anything that might explain the mystery of his own transmigration.
However, despite spending twice as much time as his shadow clone did, Logan experienced nearly the exact same process. What he saw and thought was almost a repetition of the process without any discovery.
That was, until Logan opened a door leading to a workspace about the same size as the master bedroom.
Two dimly lit desk lamps remained on, likely left in an automatic power-saving mode. Logan took in the sight of scattered papers, rough sketches, workstations of various sizes cluttered with pencils, and a sleeping mat in the corner. He took a deep breath.
This was where the Manga Naruto was created. Logan put away his kunai, his thoughts aligning with his shadow clone's upon seeing the same scene.
Fully focused, Logan walked over to the assistants' desks, flipping through stacks of original manuscripts, examining the sharp tip of a freshly sharpened pencil, and running his fingers over the slightly warm surface of a laptop that had recently been used… Then, he approached the main workstation.
'This should be Masashi Kishimoto's desk.' Logan looked at the neatly arranged manga volumes on the side, the pen holders, stacks of blank paper, and the flashing indicator light of a drawing tablet connected to a laptop.
Logan's actions were slower, more deliberate than his shadow clone's, yet nothing differed from before. It was like replaying a mirror image. Until his gaze swept past the drawing tablet… and the synchronization shattered.
"This is…"
Sensing something, Logan's eyes fixed on the drawing tablet at the center of the desk. A subtle but unmistakable sensation emanated from it, one he would never forget.
It was faint, almost negligible. Under normal circumstances, Logan might not have noticed it. But in this quiet, hyper-focused state, with his heightened awareness, he detected it.
Frowning in confusion, he slowly extended his hand...
The moment he touched it, an overwhelmingly powerful force erupted, swallowing him like a whale drinking in the ocean!
Like a sudden chemical reaction, two seemingly ordinary entities collided and triggered an explosive effect. Logan was shocked to feel his Chakra being instantly pulled in, surging out of him uncontrollably.
"Stop..." Fortunately, Logan was always on guard. The change was sudden. The abrupt change startled him, but he reacted in an instant, pouring all his strength into stopping the Chakra being drained, "it..." Gritting his teeth, Logan barely managed to stabilize his Chakra at the last possible moment.
"Huff..."
The sudden, massive suction force vanished as quickly as it had appeared. Once Logan had fully suppressed his Chakra, the anomaly disappeared without a trace, as if it had all been an illusion.
He yanked his hand away from the drawing tablet as if electrocuted, panting heavily. That brief struggle had drained him as much as an intense battle. His back was unknowingly drenched in cold sweat.
Clang!
Just as Logan reeled from the shock, the sound of shattering glass echoed from the doorway. He turned his head sharply and saw a figure standing there abruptly, with water spreading across the floor from the broken cup at their feet.