Konoha Year 46.
Land of Wind, Sunagakure.
Li Fan stood with his hands clasped behind his back, his face devoid of expression, silently watching the scenery outside the window.
Outside, there was nothing but endless yellow sand. The air humidity was incredibly low, and the sand carried by the hot wind slapped rhythmically against the windowpane—pap, pap.
After staring at the landscape for a long time, Li Fan finally shook his head. He couldn't tell if he was happy or worried.
He had transmigrated into the world of Naruto, and moreover, he had taken over the body of Rasa.
Wasn't this countless times better than his previous life? Working from 8 AM to 9 PM, six days a week, and then spending fifteen minutes voluntarily sweeping the floor after work?
Only four days off a month, for a measly salary of five thousand bucks?
After all, in Naruto, there were extremely beautiful women everywhere.
Logically speaking, Li Fan should be ecstatic.
But Li Fan couldn't bring himself to be happy.
Why?
Thinking of this, Li Fan looked down at his hands, covered in thin calluses. He specifically focused on the prominent callus on the middle finger of his right hand, formed from over a decade of holding a pen.
Yes, Li Fan had physically transmigrated into the Naruto world, merely replacing Rasa's existence.
Although in everyone else's eyes, Li Fan was Rasa.
Whether in photos or portraits, Rasa's image had morphed into Li Fan's original appearance, and his name had changed from Rasa to Li Fan.
However, the most critical issue was that Li Fan did not possess Rasa's power.
With his modern human physique, any random student from the Ninja Academy could kill ten of him.
Furthermore, Li Fan hadn't discovered any so-called "Goldfinger" or cheat system on himself yet.
Although Li Fan was lustful to his core, he was also somewhat afraid of death. Faced with this situation, he naturally couldn't muster much excitement. Perhaps if his basic safety were guaranteed, that would be a different story.
Knock, knock.
Suddenly, a knock sounded at the door, jolting Li Fan from his contemplation.
Li Fan didn't immediately walk over to open the door as he would have on Earth. Instead, he took a deep breath and asked in a low voice:
"Who is it?"
"Lord Li Fan, it's me."
Hearing the gentle voice of a young woman, Li Fan secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
It turned out to be his convenient sister-in-law. Or rather, the convenient sister-in-law from Li Fan's memory.
Li Fan pushed open the door, and a wave of heat immediately hit him in the face. He narrowed his eyes, and after a few seconds of adjusting, he looked down slightly at the woman before him.
Standing outside was a beautiful blonde girl, about sixteen or seventeen years old, wearing a Sand Ninja forehead protector. Her skin was snow-white, and her figure was slender.
A hint of anxiety was clearly visible between her delicate brows.
Looking at the beautiful girl in front of him, Li Fan subconsciously lowered his gaze to check out her feet.
He suppressed the messy, lewd thoughts that suddenly surged in his mind, and instead put on a faint smile, speaking gently:
"Yasha Lian, is something the matter?"
Yes, the character who was the male Yashamaru in the original story was a woman in the world Li Fan had transmigrated into.
And she was a stunning beauty who would rate a ninety out of ten.
After transmigrating and replacing Rasa, Li Fan had inexplicably inherited all of Rasa's previous memories in this world.
This Naruto world was generally consistent with the original story in Li Fan's memory, but there were significant discrepancies in some "minor details."
For example, the person before him, Yasha Lian, was a woman of national beauty here, despite being a man in the original work.
Another example: in the original story, by this time, Rasa and Karura should have already established a boyfriend-girlfriend relationship.
But in the memories Li Fan acquired, this world's Rasa had absolutely no interest in romance and was solely focused on training Ninjutsu.
The Rasa of this world was a standard—textbook standard—ascetic monk.
Although his strength was slightly higher than the original Rasa at this time, and he was about two years younger...
His interpersonal relationships were dozens of times weaker than the original Rasa.
Upon learning these things, Li Fan actually felt relieved.
Yasha Lian looked at Li Fan with some curiosity. She noticed that Lord Li Fan's tone and gaze seemed much gentler than before.
The thought merely flashed through her mind. Yasha Lian then spoke to Li Fan in a business-like tone:
"Lord Li Fan, Elder Chiyo and Elder Ebizo are looking for you. They want you to go to the Kazekage's office immediately. They said it is a very important matter."
Elder Chiyo? The Kazekage's office? An important matter?
Li Fan quickly scanned through Rasa's memories but couldn't recall any major events happening recently.
Even so, a sense of unease rose in Li Fan's heart.
The reason was simple: it was Elder Chiyo who had sent someone to notify him.
Normally, no matter what major event occurred, it should be the Third Kazekage sending someone to summon him.
But now, Elder Chiyo, who was in a semi-retired state, had bypassed the Kazekage entirely to summon him to the Kazekage's office.
Thinking of this, Li Fan was startled. He had roughly guessed a certain possibility.
Yasha Lian watched Li Fan's originally calm expression turn a bit strange. She hesitated, but finally asked with a hint of concern:
"Lord Li Fan?"
"It's nothing. Since it's urgent, let's go immediately."
Li Fan waved his hand and walked toward the Kazekage's office based on his memories.
Yasha Lian immediately followed behind Li Fan, keeping a distance of three steps.
Hierarchy exists everywhere, especially in the ninja world where strength reigns supreme.
Yasha Lian, who was currently only a Chunin, naturally wasn't qualified to walk side-by-side with Li Fan, who was already a Jonin and the disciple of the Third Kazekage.
Li Fan hurried toward the office, not forgetting to nod in return to the villagers or ninjas who greeted him along the way.
About ten minutes later, Li Fan arrived at the Kazekage's office. Before he could knock, Yasha Lian stepped forward to knock and announce his arrival.
After watching Li Fan enter with her own eyes, Yasha Lian gently closed the door and stood guard outside, just like the other ninjas stationed around.
Li Fan walked into the office with steady steps, naturally glancing at the people sitting inside.
There weren't many people in the office, only about twenty.
Having assimilated Rasa's memories, Li Fan easily recognized everyone present. It could be said that the twenty or so people sitting here were the strongest among all the Jonin currently remaining in the village.
The old woman sitting in the office chair, looking over sixty with fewer wrinkles than she would have a decade later, was naturally Chiyo. The old man standing beside her was Ebizo.
Li Fan's gaze suddenly stopped on a strikingly beautiful woman with a cool demeanor and revealing clothing that highlighted her tall, explosive figure.
She had green hair styled in buns with orange bangs. Such a distinct hairstyle would look ridiculous on an average person.
But on this woman, it didn't look strange at all; instead, it appeared very normal and eye-catching.
What drew the most attention were the two massive peaks on her chest. They were high and swollen. Even just by visual estimation, Li Fan knew his hands would barely be able to grasp them even if he stretched his fingers to the limit.
Li Fan's gaze lingered on her for two or three seconds before moving to the others.
This woman was naturally the Scorch Release ninja, Pakura, a minor character who only appeared for a few minutes during the Impure World Reincarnation arc in the later stages of the original anime.
Sure enough, once the female characters from the anime were placed in reality, their proportions became exaggerated. These had to be at least an E-cup.
After observing everyone present, Li Fan strolled toward the empty seat next to Pakura.
There were only twenty-one chairs in the office, and the only empty one was to Pakura's right. Li Fan couldn't be picky even if he wanted to.
Once Li Fan was seated, Chiyo, who hadn't spoken a word and kept an expressionless face, suddenly twitched her left hand slightly.
In an instant, all the open doors and windows slammed shut!
The office, which already had poor lighting, became even dimmer.
Chiyo's half-closed, murky eyes slowly swept across the room, lingering on Li Fan for an extra second.
After scanning the room, Chiyo spoke in her completely aged and raspy voice, devoid of any emotion:
"The Third Kazekage and his personal guards have been missing since this morning. The Anbu have secretly searched the entire village but cannot find them."
As soon as Chiyo said this, the oppressive atmosphere in the office vanished instantly.
Except for a few individuals, the other Jonin widened their eyes, looking at Chiyo in shock, and then began whispering amongst themselves.
Li Fan, however, showed no surprise. He simply sighed softly.
It was just as he had expected.
For the semi-retired Chiyo siblings to suddenly appear and bypass the Third Kazekage against all protocol...
To summon the Jonin currently in the village to the office to discuss matters...
In this era, aside from the disappearance of the Third Kazekage from his memory, what else would be worth the siblings acting this way?
The fuse that was the Third Kazekage's disappearance had been lit. It seemed the Third Great Ninja War was about to begin.
Pakura also looked at Chiyo in shock, but she quickly shifted her attention to Li Fan sitting beside her.
She noticed that Li Fan didn't have a surprised expression, nor did he look at Chiyo like the others. He was just calmly staring straight ahead.
Curiosity immediately surged in Pakura's heart. Did Li Fan already know about the Third Kazekage's disappearance?
Pakura wanted to ask Li Fan, but she hesitated. She naturally knew "Li Fan," the personal disciple of the Third Kazekage.
But because "Li Fan" was naturally reticent and spent all his time training unless there was a major event or a mandatory mission...
And since she was often out on missions, she didn't interact with him much. At best, their relationship was merely that of nodding acquaintances.
However, after hesitating for only a few seconds, Pakura spoke to Li Fan in her slightly cool, mature voice:
"Lord Li Fan, judging by your expression, did you already know about this?"
Li Fan, who was internally brainstorming various countermeasures, suddenly heard a cool female voice that was both familiar and unfamiliar calling his name.
He immediately snapped out of his thoughts and looked at Pakura, who was watching him.
Ignoring the faint fragrance drifting toward his nose, Li Fan instinctively wanted to smile. However, realizing he shouldn't be smiling right now, he immediately composed himself and said calmly:
"No. I merely guessed that since the retired Lady Chiyo bypassed my Master to summon us directly, perhaps something happened to Master. Maybe a serious illness. I just didn't expect it to be much more serious than I imagined."
After saying this, Li Fan immediately turned his head back and looked down, preventing anyone from seeing his expression.
Seeing this reaction, Pakura sighed internally.
She guessed that Li Fan was probably grieving. After all, the Kazekage and his guards disappearing for a day without a trace—anyone could guess the implication behind it.
However, Li Fan wasn't grieving for his cheap master.
He had suddenly lowered his head simply to hide the look of shock on his face.
To others, it looked like Li Fan was staring at the floor. In reality, Li Fan was staring at a screen that had appeared before his eyes!
There was only a single short line of text on the interface:
[Super Affection System]