The Demon King, reborn in Japan as a monk

"I shouldn't have listened to you and stayed for a while." Yumiko, leaning against Ishihara Sho's chest, slapped him indignantly.

"Now you believe I'm not young anymore, right?" Ishihara Akira chuckled strangely.

"You still dare to talk back." Yumiko couldn't help but pinch Ishihara Sho again to vent her displeasure.

"Fine, fine, I won't say anything then. After all, my life is still in your hands," Ishihara Akira conceded.

"Is cultivation really that miraculous? Can it allow people to go without eating or drinking and still not have any health problems?" Yue Meizi asked with some disbelief.

"That's what the records say. But who knows what the real situation is? Otherwise, I wouldn't have you come here every now and then to help me get glucose injections. It's because I'm worried that you might not be able to cultivate properly and end up killing yourself."

“Then you can choose not to cultivate.” Clearly, after what has happened, Yumiko has begun to take Ishihara Sho’s matter—life—to heart, instead of being indifferent to whether you cultivate or not, as she was at the beginning.

“But I want to give it a try,” Ishihara Sho said firmly.

"..." Yumiko remained silent, unsure how to continue her persuasion.

……

The two then spent a quiet night in the new apartment before Ishihara Akira handed the keys to Yumiko and told her she could start keeping track of time...

In other words, he is about to officially begin his so-called cultivation—that is, his journey through the two-dimensional world.

So after taking Yumiko to the clinic where she works, Ishihara Akira took out his phone and contacted Friend A and Hanako-neechan. He told them that he probably wouldn't be going back to the temple and Friend A's place for the next few days, citing other things to do and a religious ceremony to attend to. He then returned to his new apartment, locked the door, lay back down on the mattress that was laid directly on the floor, covered himself with a towel, and entered his dream space, which was like a small world.

Having found a place where no other dream consciousnesses were active, the dreamer, in the capacity of the dream's owner, began creating elements related to the main characters of the world they were about to enter—

Then, a blonde woman with a grand heart, wearing a short green yukata with a large gambling character on the back, and a short-haired woman wearing a black yukata-style kimono and holding a pink pig appeared beside Ishihara Kaname.

Then, a red-eyed, curly-haired woman dressed like an Egyptian mummy, her body wrapped in bandages, but not a real mummy, but rather dressed in clothes made of bandages, appeared next to the blonde woman.

Next, a short-haired woman wearing a flesh-colored mesh body armor with a tan trench coat over it, and a purple-haired woman wearing a ninja vest, an animal mask, and carrying a sword, stood next to the red-eyed woman.

Then came a girl with blonde hair, but dressed in purple, a pink-haired girl in red, and a shy girl with white eyes.

As soon as the group appeared, they all surrounded them with smiles.

"This time, let me see if I can obtain the corresponding identity in the corresponding world by influencing the key characters," Ishihara Akira thought to himself, accepting the surrounding women with composure.

He then embraced them without hesitation, like a playboy who frequented brothels and began to grope them...

Not long after, the familiar circular white portal appeared in Ishihara Sho's perception. He then slowly walked over, and under the bewildered gazes of the elemental characters, he crossed the portal and officially logged into the corresponding two-dimensional world.

……

With a sudden shift from darkness to light, Ishihara Akira emerged from his dream world and arrived at a street that resembled the cityscape of Japan during the Taisho era.

Men and women walked among the crowd, some talking to merchants and haggling over prices, others chatting as if no one else was around. The lively and peaceful scene made Ishihara Akane feel much more relaxed.

Then, looking up again, a massive, yellowish-brown rock, resembling Mount Rushmore in the Land of Rice, etched with four enormous human heads, came into view, making it clear to Ishihara Yukiko where he was.

The world of Naruto, Konoha Village!

"I wonder if he has any identity. Otherwise, the Anbu might come knocking on our door..." Ishihara Akira muttered nervously to himself.

"Never mind, let's go find someone to confirm first."

After thinking it over, Ishihara Akane walked up to one of the shops and asked the person there for directions to the mountain flower shop...

"Keep walking straight along this road, turn right after two intersections, continue walking until the first intersection, turn left, and walk about 200 meters straight ahead, and you will see it."

"Thank you, Uncle," Ishihara Akira said gratefully.

"You little rascal, I'm only 20! Not an old man!" the shop owner said disapprovingly.

"You look like you've aged prematurely."

However, this also reminded Ishihara Akane that his current appearance was not something that could be associated with Konoha's new generation of shonen fighters like Yamanaka Ino. So he quickly ran to a secluded corner, first used his mental power to scan the surroundings to confirm that no one was around, and then quickly used the Tenma Genshin Impact ability to change his appearance from a young man to a child.

Only then did he emerge from the corner and, following the directions given by the man earlier, head towards the flower shop owned by the Yamanaka family.

……

We didn't encounter any problems along the way.

In other words, Konoha does check outsiders very strictly, but that applies to those who enter Konoha through legitimate means. For someone like Ishihara Sho, who suddenly appears, unless it happens to be discovered by the Anbu, it is not necessarily the case that the Anbu will be alerted immediately.

Especially now that Ishihara Sho has transformed himself into a child to avoid trouble, people generally hold back and don't pay attention to his actions.

Therefore, as long as you don't show yourself and get discovered, honestly, it's much simpler to infiltrate than Academy City in the world of A Certain Magical Index...

After all, Konoha doesn't have a surveillance network that operates 24/7 like the one that allows for aerial maneuvers.

Don't even mention the Konoha Barrier. It won't be activated unless you touch it, and it's quite troublesome to use. At most, it's just convenient for the Third Hokage to 'inspect' the people's conditions. You'd need a lot of luck to catch Ishihara Sho, who has already infiltrated the area.

Although if he were to actually make contact with the Konoha Twelve, the risk of his own exposure would increase exponentially...

Chapter 41 Ino and Sakura

Soon after, Ishihara Akira found his destination—the Yamanaka family's flower shop—and stepped inside.

"welcome!"

"Eh? It's Ishihara-san, are you better now?" Yamanaka Ino, a blonde girl wearing a purple turtleneck top that exposed her shoulders and belly and a matching short skirt with a slit, looked at Ishihara Sho in surprise as she walked into the store and asked instinctively.

Ishihara-kun?

It seems they have a certain status.

"Hmm, much better." Ishihara Akane secretly breathed a sigh of relief and followed up on Yamanaka Ino's words.

"That's good. So, did you come here today to buy flowers?" Yamanaka Ino smiled and asked again.

"I'm sorry, Yamanaka-kun, but I actually have something else I'd like to ask you for help with," Ishihara Akira said awkwardly.

He had just arrived in this world and didn't even have a proper place to stay yet, so where would he get the money that could be used in this world?

Sexual repayment?

"What is it?" Yamanaka Ino asked curiously.

“I want you to help me catch up on my studies,” Ishihara Akira said.

"Tutoring?" Yamanaka Ino asked in surprise.

"As you know, I've been recuperating at home and have fallen behind in a lot of classes. If I go back to school directly, I'll definitely fall behind in the current teaching pace. So I was thinking, could I ask a classmate to help me catch up on the missed classes before I officially go back to school..." Ishihara Akira said, putting his thoughts into words.

"Tutoring? Why don't you go to Sakura? In terms of theoretical grades, she's the best in our class," Yamanaka Ino asked, somewhat puzzled.

"I'm afraid she'll beat me up," Ishihara Akira chuckled dryly.

"Huh?" Yamanaka Ino was taken aback: "You didn't provoke her, why would she beat you up?"

"I think she's always hitting Naruto..."

"..."

After a moment of silence, Yamanaka Ino said again, "Don't worry, Sakura has a very good temper. As long as you don't provoke her like Naruto does, she won't beat you up for no reason."

"Is that so? Okay then, I'll go ask Sakura later." After a pause, Ishihara Akira asked again, "By the way, Yamanaka-kun, do you know where Sakura lives?"

"I knew something felt off! It's the way you address me! You call Sakura Sakura, so why are you calling me Yamanaka-kun? Don't you consider me a friend?" Yamanaka Ino was taken aback at first, then suddenly realized.

"No, if I didn't consider you a friend, I wouldn't have come to you to ask you to tutor me," Ishihara Akira quickly said, waving his hands in a flustered manner.

“That’s true…” Yamanaka Ino exclaimed in realization.

"Then please stop calling me Yamanaka-kun and just call me by my name."

"Ino?"

"That's more like it."

"The location of Sakura's house."

"Let's go, I'm free right now, I'll take you there."

"Then your family's flower shop."

"Mom, I'm going out with a classmate for a bit. You can keep an eye on the flower shop." Yamanaka Ino was straightforward, turning her head and calling out towards the back of the shop.

"Got it. Remember to be careful."

"Okay." Then Yamanaka Ino said to Ishihara Sho, "Alright, let's go."

Ishihara Akira followed, leaving the Yamanaka family's flower shop with Yamanaka Ino, and headed towards Sakura's house...

……

With Yamanaka Ino leading the way, the two soon arrived at a simple two-story apartment building and knocked on the door.

"Bang bang bang..."

"Here you are."

As the door opened, a woman with a stern face, dressed in a beige floral kimono, appeared before Ishihara Akira and Yamanaka Ino.

"Hello, Auntie, we are Sakura's classmates. Is Sakura home?" Yamanaka Ino asked politely without pausing.

"You've come for Sakura, huh? Come in, she's home." The woman then stepped aside and invited the two inside.

"Sakura, one of your classmates is here to see you!" The woman who entered the house shouted loudly towards the second floor.

"Please have a seat, I'll get you some tea."

After saying that, he ignored Yamanaka Ino's "no need" and went straight to the kitchen to make tea for Yamanaka Ino and Ishihara Sho.

Then, light footsteps sounded, and Sakura Haruno, wearing a red off-shoulder top that looked somewhat like a cheongsam but was different, and black safety shorts, came down from upstairs.

"Ino, Ishihara-kun? What brings you here?" Sakura Haruno was taken aback at first, then greeted them with some surprise.

"Ishihara needs to talk to you." Before Ishihara Akira could speak, Yamanaka Ino got straight to the point.

"Ishihara-kun?" Sakura Haruno looked at him with some surprise.

"Well, I haven't been attending classes because of my illness, so I was worried that I wouldn't be able to keep up with the current teaching pace after I came back. So I wanted to ask Ino to help me catch up on what I missed, but Ino said that when it comes to theoretical knowledge, you are the best in the class, so she recommended that I ask you to help me catch up, so..." Ishihara Akira explained with a dry laugh.

"So you came looking for me?" Sakura Haruno, having learned the whole story, sat down opposite the two of them and said calmly.

"Yes." Ishihara Akira nodded.

"Here, have some snacks first," said Sakura Haruno's mother, who came over with a small plate full of snacks.

"Thank you auntie."