In an unassuming apartment complex, a summoning array inexplicably appeared. The spatial fluctuations caused ripples in the air, creating a visual effect akin to shimmering water.
With a flash of light and a puff of smoke, Logan tumbled out.
Landing steadily on the bedroom floor, Logan dusted off his clothes. This was his room back at home.
Having just completed the Reverse Summoning Technique, Logan's expression was far from pleasant. The hour-long ordeal in the Paulownia Forest had left him thoroughly unimpressed, "Clan Head, my foot... he's completely unreliable!"
The awkward conclusion had left him hanging. Akiyama, with his proud demeanor, had shown no inclination to offer a helping talon.
Logan's attempt to seek aid from the Divine Bird Clan in solving the mystery of his transmigration had clearly hit a dead end. Despite the elder's extensive search through the archives, no clear answers had emerged.
"Maybe the elder was just trying to save face. That indifferent act was probably intentional." Logan grumbled as he plopped into the swivel chair by his computer desk. His movement brought his computer out of sleep mode, revealing a desktop background of a provocatively posed anime girl.
"And that convoluted conclusion, did it really take an hour to come up with that?"
On his desk sat a Naruto figurine he'd obtained at a convention in Los Angeles Anime Convention.
It depicted 'Raiden Hattori' dressed in ANBU attire, striking a dramatic pose with a kunai in hand. The figure's sharp, tilted stance and cold intensity made it eye-catching and explained why it had easily won over a legion of fans online.
Logan stroked his chin as he admired the figurine, his gaze eventually shifting to the 1080P high-quality poster of himself on the wall. With a sigh, he looked away.
The sigh, of course, wasn't out of admiration for the craftsmanship of the merchandise. Logan was simply lamenting the elder's failure to meet expectations and provide any solutions to the Space-Time conundrum. Definitely that.
After all, Space-Time were profoundly complex subjects. While the Divine Bird Clan's extensive history and wide-reaching knowledge suggested that their texts might hold some tangentially related secrets, these insights were likely to be unsystematic, a haphazard collection of ancestral experiences rather than rational, scientifically-grounded answers.
Logan found it hard to accept that the clan couldn't provide a concrete explanation, though perhaps it wasn't entirely unreasonable.
Still, not all was lost. Logan's persistence over the years had solidified his belief that the Ninja World wasn't just an imaginary construct from a manga. The signing of the Summoning Contract and the existence of Paulownia Forest as a separate world served as undeniable proof of its reality.
The real question was: what connected Earth and the Ninja World?
As the point of intersection between the two, Logan himself is undoubtedly the key.
Abandoning hope for an easy answer from the (senile) elder, Logan realized the truth would have to be uncovered by his own efforts.
He grabbed his mouse and opened a browser, navigating to the Anime and Manga Website. In no time, he clicked into the manga section.
Since his first instance of crossing worlds, Logan had made it a habit to follow the manga's updates.
First, he reviewed the series from the first chapter to the latest, searching for discrepancies between the story and his personal experiences.
Second, revisiting the series sometimes provided new insights, as omniscient perspective could sometimes reveal details he hadn't noticed before.
If the manga's Author had drawn even a single page differently from what Logan knew to be true, it would have been a groundbreaking discovery.
Unfortunately, the Author had yet to 'slip up'. Still, Logan clung to a gambler's hope that reading the manga might somehow yield clues, even though, so far, it had remained just a story.
Even if a line or two of discordant dialogue occasionally slipped into the manga, the broad-minded otaku community wouldn't bat an eye. If anything, they might enthusiastically share it across social platforms, praising the Author for their creativity.
In a work of fiction, any level of imagination was fair game. Logan couldn't decide whether to feel disheartened or relieved that no one could suspect anything odd about his character just from the manga.
"Logan, come down for dinner!" Logan's mom, Amanda's voice came from the staircase.
Logan responded with a quick acknowledgment, rubbed his temples, and got up to eat. After the autumn field trip, there was a short break, and school hadn't resumed yet.
'I wonder if David survived the 'parental education of love' after being formally notified and criticized.' Logan thought of David's bitter face on the bus back from the autumn field trip, and couldn't help but smile, 'Hopefully, the classroom will be quieter now. Skipping out to explore off-campus... Who knew he had the guts for that...'
In the living room, the family of three sat down at the dining table. Logan's dad, Frank, occupied the prime seat, sipping leisurely on a drink while glued to the TV.
He barely acknowledged his son, who shuffled down from upstairs at a snail's pace. Only Amanda offered some courtesy, serving Logan a plate of food.
Logan, in turn, put on a 'good boy' expression and ate quietly.
Outside, as the sun disappeared, there wasn't much of a view… just a gray sky and countless windows displaying similar scenes of families around their dinner tables.
Conversations were sparse, limited to mundane exchanges. The atmosphere was dull and uninspired, yet Logan found a small sense of comfort in the simplicity of life, melting into its tranquil monotony.
After the meal, Frank stared in disbelief as Logan actually helped his mom clean up in the kitchen. Sure, the help was half-hearted and barely effective, but it was help nonetheless!
Frank quickly lowered his head and busied himself with the remote control, avoiding Amanda's amused gaze.
As the night deepened, Logan finished his nightly routine and lay on his bed, waiting as usual. Unsurprisingly, no crossing over occurred.
He clicked his tongue, picked up his phone, and noticed a red notification dot on the manga app's bookshelf.
Seeing the 'Updated one minute ago', Logan paid for the new chapter without hesitation… That's right, he believed in supporting the official release.
The fresh black-and-white panels loaded on his screen. The digital pages mimicked the flipping of paper, and Logan quickly read through the entire new chapter.
With a calm and uneventful mood, Logan deliberately avoided scrolling to the comment section at the end of the chapter. Instead, he turned off the lights and went to sleep.
The chapter covered the aftermath of Konoha Crush Plan. Although the Third Hokage, Hiruzen had survived, his injuries and old age made him unfit to continue leading the village. As a result, Naruto and Jiraiya still embarked on a journey to find and bring back Tsunade.
"Just the Rasengan training alone... not to mention all the other events… it'll keep the Author busy for a long while..."
As an outsider observing the progression of others' stories, Logan pulled the blanket over his head.
While the Naruto World buzzed with activity, Logan knew his own life would move forward as well.
After the unexpected escapades of a casino-themed night forced upon him by his classmates, the brief autumn trip felt like a mere interlude, and the end was nowhere in sight.