"Thump, thump, thump..."
"Ah!"
"Catch him…"
In the second week of September, the greenery was still dense, and the desolation of autumn had not yet set in. Logan finally returned to this world amidst the [To be continued] mystery, only to find himself once again caught up in his old profession.
After working with Blue Gang, Logan was drafted as muscle for the day's showdown against the Sand Down Society. The big boss, Damian, originally intended to let Logan, the 'true successor of hidden martial arts', to shoulder some of the burden, thus reducing the casualties among his own.
And Logan, feeling a little guilty for making the other party wait for so long, completed the whole process very diligently.
A few nights ago, he knocked out more than a dozen thugs from Sand Down Society. Now, facing a more severe situation, he effortlessly evaded the swishing weapons, and not a single person was able to touch his clothes. was almost comical, the contrast between the fierce-looking thugs putting all their strength into it and a high school student in a uniform moving with such ease.
Picking up a wooden stick, Logan took down person after person with a single strike. His left hand waved, and thugs flew out exaggeratedly, the scene shifting absurdly between whack-a-mole and One Punch Man.
With a clatter, another group of people fell to the ground. Amidst the groans of the fallen, the dozens of Blue Gang's thugs were left dumbfounded. They had just spent the afternoon preparing themselves mentally. But now, they hadn't even started warming up, and it was already over?
Damian watched dumbly as a Sand Down Society's higher-up with position as high as limped over, and said dejectedly: "We surrender, we surrender..."
The fear and panic were clear in the opponent's eyes, and he was obviously doubting his life because of the young man who hit him and left whenever he wanted.
"Uh... clean this up." Damian raised his hand stiffly.
The dim afterglow formed a triangle in the hall through the glass. The disarrayed furniture and floating dust particles caught in the interplay of light and shadow. The scene was now silent.
The men swallowed their saliva and could only step forward to clean up the aftermath. Compared to the nervous waiting before the planned time, the actual confrontation had been surprisingly brief and decisive.
The student, smiling warmly, walked over, and the crowd instinctively parted to let him through. Damian secretly held his breath, feeling an overwhelming pressure emanating from the young man. It was now clear to him why the Sand Down Society's members had looked so suffocated earlier…
"Mr. Light, the job's done."
"Ah, oh... yes, it's done." The balloon called tension deflated with a soft pop.
Logan's demeanor remained unchanged, maintaining that ambiguous shy smile, "I'm sorry, I got held up at school and couldn't escape..."
"Oh, it's like that. It's fine. As a student, it's inevitable..."
'What am I saying?' Damian mentally slapped himself, 'I'm a boss of a gang, for crying out loud!'
In the midst of the awkward conversation, Logan rubbed his hands together. He looked around before speaking softly, "Uh, about the payment..."
"..."
"Do you prefer cash or transfer?" Damian regained his composure, aware that many people were looking at him secretly.
"PayPal, please."
Damian's mouth twitched, "Of course, no problem."
Logan told him a string of numbers, and Damian noted them down. He glanced at his men busy at the back and heard a few shouts of cursing as they moved things. His trusted strong man was reporting the results of the battle to George. The topic had become boring at this point.
His long-standing habit of making conversation pushed him to say something. He studied the young man before him closely, finding him increasingly mysterious and unpredictable. Also, there was still a little bit of strangeness that did not belong to this era.
As the other was about to make his excuse to leave, Damian blurted out a sentence first.
"Little brother... you can't be late next time."
Hearing this, the young man's face showed a moment of surprise, then he laughed, "It's something unexpected, I will definitely go earlier next time..."
The sky finally turned dark at the threshold of twilight, and Damian watched as the young man walked away.
He let out a sigh, then covered his face.
…
"Ding, ding."
On the way home, Logan's phone chimed with a message notification. Logan unlocked the screen to see that it was a message from Diane.
"Logan, why did you leave so quickly? You didn't even stay to receive the award. I picked up the tug-of-war certificate for you. I'll give it to you later. Also, I didn't expect you to win first place in darts. Congratulations!"
The tone was still quite formal. After the tug-of-war ended and the remaining slow activities wrapped up, there was a closing ceremony and awards presentation. Logan was busy playing whack-a-mole and acting like One Punch Man, so he naturally left early.
He casually scrolled through his phone. With the holiday starting, the class chat group was unusually lively, filled with everyone sharing amusing stories from the activities, mostly boasting about their class's heroic tug-of-war performance.
After browsing for a bit, Logan lost interest. As he neared home, he couldn't help but recall the look in Diane's eyes when she helped him up after he put in a real effort and fell to the ground.
'Something felt off.'
There wasn't enough evidence to draw any conclusions, so Logan decided not to dwell on it for now. Maybe suspecting she liked him was more plausible. After all, he was one of the most handsome boys in school.
After dinner, he received a Paypal notification. The amount was substantial, giving him hope for future endeavors. Being a hired muscle this time didn't earn him a huge amount, but it is quick and easy, far surpassing the slow trickle of part-time jobs.
The night grew deep, and the week was nearing its end.
A new chapter of Naruto was about to be released, and Logan would return to the more colorful Ninja World.
This back-and-forth lifestyle might be a long-term arrangement, and Logan was prepared for it.
Over the weekend, Logan did not go out to play around. He first criticized David online for being unreliable and abandoning him. However, the other party insisted that there was really a gathering of comic friends, and the beautiful young lady was present.
David's serious demeanor made Logan waver. After all, the fun sports event was over, and there was no need to keep up the tough talk. As for the beautiful young lady... Logan only had four letters to offer David: "Haha".
He started his mornings with a run, loosening his muscles in solitude. In two days, Logan transformed from a couch potato to a healthy homebody. While browsing online, Logan thought about bringing modern items into the Ninja World, and maybe he could achieve unexpected results.
Weapons and high-tech devices were the first to come to mind. Unfortunately, Logan's student status made that impossible. He can ask the thugs of the Blue Gang about the weapons. And if that doesn't work, he can use Ninja methods to sneak in and steal... After all, stealing from thugs doesn't really count as theft, right?
There were also some technological knowledge worth considering, though Logan, as a liberal arts student, found it quite daunting.
As the day turned to night and Sunday arrived, Logan stood solemnly in his room, having re-dressed as a Ninja, including a Jonin vest and a fox mask. The style of his appearance suddenly became very disharmonious with his current location.
Calculating the timing, he created a shadow clone.
Soon after, the sudden stillness suddenly hit his soul, followed by a strange tugging sensation, and in a trance, his vision was turned upside down again.
Swaying grass and towering trees. This is the Forest of Death.
As the dim light stabilized, Logan blinked in surprise, 'It was still night?'
"Swish, swish, swish." Several presences came to him, all of them were ANBU wearing masks. Before Logan could react, they glanced at him briefly before turning their attention to the front.
"Go and report to Hokage-sama that the Scroll of Seals and Uzumaki Naruto have been found. There is no danger!"
Logan leaned lightly on the thick branch, and couldn't help but turn his head when he heard these words. It was an unexpected scene. In the clearing ahead, Naruto and Iruka were nervously facing the arriving group of ANBU.
'This... time has not changed?'