NOVEL NEXT Chapter 33: The First Quest
Two months have passed since Utaha's book signing event.
In the past two months, Haru prepared for his entrance exam which would be held in January. It wasn't that he was arrogant, but he was sure that he could get a perfect score on his exam and used most of his time to train his magic and swordsmanship rather than studying.
In the past two months, Yajima also shared new magic on the "group chat", but Haru didn't learn it since he was fully focussed on training his light magic and almost the rest of the new magic which was shared by Yajima was quite strange magic and he felt that it was a waste of time to learn it.
Magic is similar to puzzles.
Haru needed to set pieces into a complete puzzle so he could perform that magic and there wasn't only one answer since he could complete it with various sets which resulted in a different effect.
Turning on the air conditioner in the living room, Haru could feel the temperature outside was very hot since it was in the middle of August. There were a lot of things which he had done in the past two months such as going out with his friends and Sora. He also learned how to cook with the recipe which was shared by Yajima on the "group chat". Then he also collected a lot of points from the daily sign of "group chat", but he had never used it since the shop feature hadn't been opened yet.
In the past two months, Haru had told the existence of "group chat" to Sora and she also wanted to join this group, but it was impossible for now since he couldn't invite anyone nor there was a way to do that. Even though he was the leader of this "group chat", he didn't have any privilege to invite someone into the "group chat". Overthinking was useless since it was better to use his precious time to train and learn cooking since it had become his hobby.
His cafe would be ready soon and he thought he should open the cafe next month since he felt his skill wasn't enough to open the cafe. He wanted to learn more before he opened his cafe.
When he was practicing his cooking, suddenly there was a notification within the "group chat" for the first time. He opened the "group chat" and felt surprised since it was the first quest of the "group chat" after it had invited him two months ago.
[First Quest of the Dimensional Group Chat.]
[Quest: Stop Orochimaru to destroy the Konohagakure.]
[Participant: Everyone in the group chat.]
[Reward: 1500 points, new features on the group chat, and one random reward.]
[System Note: The time in the original world will be stopped when everyone is going to the quest.]
[Countdown: before the attack of Orochimaru]
".........."
Everyone was silent when they saw this notification.
Kuroneko: "Is this real?"
Gintoki: "Probably, but are we really going to another world?"
Yajima: "But more importantly, all of us will go there?"
Haruka: "Yeah, and the time will be stopped in our world and only Tsunade's world will be moving, probably."
Gintoki: "Interesting."
Yajima: "I have read "Naruto" and it seems to be a very interesting world."
Kuroneko: "Wait! Wait! What about me? I'm a normal human!!!"
Kuroneko was quite curious about another world but she didn't really want to go to the world of ninja. She knew that it was very dangerous especially when she didn't have the ability to protect herself. She had tried to practice both magic and chakra but it was useless. She had also tried to practice swordsmanship but she was too weak to do that. She didn't have the ability to protect herself which made her nervous.
Haru also understood Kuroneko's dilemma and replied, "I will protect you. I know that I don't have that much experience in battle but I have a lot of support magic which is able to hide, escape, protect, and help us in the quest."
There were a lot of things which could be done with light magic such as increasing his speed.
Haru knew that speed was very important since it would help him to run away when something bad was happening.
Gintoki: "You don't need to worry, Kuroneko. You should think of this as a picnic, or we can also follow the civilians to retreat."
Gintoki was curious about another world, especially the world of ninjas. He wanted to see Naruto, tried ramen, and bought an Icha Icha novel about that world.
Yajima: "Picnic, huh? I think that is good. This will be our first time having an offline meeting. I'm quite excited to see everyone."
Kuroneko: "I don't want to have the first offline meeting in the middle war!!!"
Kuroneko: "But I also want to go there too."
Kuroneko's feelings were conflicted.
But then Tsunade answered everyone's worry.
Tsunade: "You don't need to worry. In two days, the final match of the Chuunin Exam will be held. I've talked about this matter to my teacher and they have prepared for the battle with Orochimaru. I will also give you my summoned beast to protect you all of you later."
In the past two months, their relationship had become closer to each other and they had always wanted to meet each other. This time they had a chance and Tsunade also wanted to see everyone since it would be a rare chance.
They had a chance to meet with each other and they had also received the first quest of the "group chat". Even though the quest was a bit hard, it seemed that they could handle it since they knew Naruto's story. Their advantage was that they knew the future and they were able to retreat when the situation was dangerous.
What made Haru relieved about this quest was the time would stop during the quest which made him not need to worry about leaving Sora for a while. Rather she wouldn't notice when he had left for the quest later.
Haruka: "What do you think, Kuroneko?"
---
Ruri wanted to come to but she was afraid to become a burden for everyone. She thought for a bit and knew that it was a rare chance. She had made a decision and decided to go with everyone.
Kuroneko: "I will go too."
Gintoki: "Good, I need to pack my toothbrush first."
Yajima: "Ah, me too."
Tsunade read the "group chat" while twitching her lips. She thought that everyone was really treating this quest as a picnic in her world. She had talked about this matter to her teacher and she believed he should be able to solve Orochimaru later.
They had set a trap for Orochimaru and only needed to wait for the fish to enter the net.
"Orochimaru...."
Tsunade looked at her apprentice and said, "Shizune, tell Hokage that I'll have my friend come."
"Eh? Friend?" Shizune was quite surprised.
"Yeah, there will be four people," Tsunade said.
Shizune was confused but nodded.
Tsunade waited for them to come to her world while looking at group chat.
---
Haru didn't tell Sora about this quest and quietly prepared his backpack since he was sure that he needed to stay for few days in Tsuande's world. He brought something for his daily use while also waiting for everyone to get ready. He was also the group leader and he was the one who organized everyone.
Haru: "Are you guys ready?"
Gintoki: "Oooh."
Yajima: "Yes."
Kuroneko: "Of course, I have brought my power from hell."
Tsunade: "Come."
Haru looked at the group chat and pressed the teleport button on the quest notification. Suddenly a light engulfed him and the world stopped waiting for him to come back from the quest.