Uchiha Tonan’s remark seemed to touch a painful point in the beggar’s heart. He was unable to control his emotions. He covered his face with both hands and sobbed, “I’m a good-for-nothing.”
The emotions he had suppressed for so long were released all at once. He wailed and his entire body shook non-stop, as tears flowed down from between his fingers. Tonan looked at this and sighed. He released his hand, and carefully arranged the beggar’s collar.
“Failure is everywhere, and life is hopeless. That’s the reality. You won’t drown if you fall into the water, but you will drown if you stay in the water. All you have to do is swim and keep swimming forward. Those who choose to give up from the beginning will not fail in the end. Because they failed right at the start. Failure is not terrifying, the fear of failure is.”
The beggar stopped crying and slowly raised his head as if seeing someone for the first time. At this time, the breeze was gently blowing the young boy’s hair. The leaves not far away on the ground also fluttered and flew in new directions. The radiance of the evening sun was extraordinarily rich, and like a pure solution, dyed Tonan’s face golden. Just like the Buddha in the hall.
The beggar looked at Tonan’s face, which was lit up by the evening sun, and asked in a voice bereft of confidence, “Can I do it? I’ve given up for so long, is it too late?”
Tonan reached out his hand and patted his shoulder, “How can you be sure this is the endpoint of your life and not the lowest point before soaring high. If you give up too soon, you’ll never know what you missed.”
Tonan smiled, and his eyes were filled with motivation. After listening to him, the beggar slowly lowered his head, and gradually clenched his fists. The atmosphere was silent. Tonan waited patiently for his decision.
……
After a long time, the beggar took a deep breath and raised his head. He looked at Tonan with a newfound determination, “Thank you, my name is Sekiya Ippu, what is your name?”
Tonan stood up with a gentle smile and extended his hand, “Leaf ninja, Uchiha Tonan.”
Ippu nodded. He seemed to want to engrave this name in his heart. He extended his hand and got up, “If I can truly make it out, I’ll definitely come to Konoha to thank you in person.”
He took a deep breath and turned around, walking towards the gate of the Fire Temple with staggering steps.
“Where are you going?” Tonan asked from behind. Ippu paused and raised his head. In the distance, the sky was a fiery red with the setting sun. This kind of intensity could make people tremble and cry. This kind of flamboyance was as dazzling as the young who recklessly burned themselves for a moment.
“I’m going to take a look at a higher place. No matter how long this journey is, and no matter how hard it is… at least… I’ll not give up…”
‘Ding! Gained Sekiya Ippu’s acknowledgment.’
After Ippu left, Chigo came over to Tonan and said in a surprised tone, “Tonan, I didn’t expect you’d be able to persuade him.”
Tonan smiled lightly, “It’s the way to understand it. He was so dispirited because he despaired in the current situation. The method to save him was not persuading him to let go because he had nothing to let go of. But let him realize that the worst is just the present. As long as he worked hard, the future will be better than the present.”
Tonan was not good at consoling people, but he copied the pyramid selling pattern he had heard in anti-fraud news in his previous life. In his view, it seemed that no dispirited people could be found in that kind of an organization.
Chigo pondered for a long time after hearing his words, and he seemed to understand something, but he also felt like he couldn’t grasp it. “Tonan, you told him that Buddha is a false belief…”
Tonan put his palms together and apologetically explained, “It was an expedient measure. I didn’t mean to disrespect Buddha. It’s just that, what he needed the most right now was not belief, but hope.”
Chigo nodded. He didn’t blame Tonan. Instead, he kept thinking about what Tonan said today to admonish Sekiya Ippu. Words were one thing, but actions were another. Tonan succeeded in waking up the fighting spirit in a person the Fire Temple was unable to enlighten.
“Tonan, you truly have more wisdom than anyone I’ve ever met. I’ll instruct a monk to clean a room for you later. You can stay in the temple at night. I’d like to discuss dharma with you for some days.”
Tonan shook his head, “No, I haven’t checked out from the inn. I’ll come back tomorrow to seek your advice.”
“Alright…”
………
After leaving the Fire Temple, Tonan returned to the Revered Fire Street. Before the markets closed, he went to a bookstore to buy a blank book and a pen and returned to the inn. In the room, under the dim lighting, he wrote the words ‘Make-Out Paradise’ on the cover of the book.
He didn’t know whether Jiraiya had written ‘Make-Out Paradise’ at this time or not. But that didn’t matter. In any case, there was no such thing as copyright in this world. Anyone could steal it.
Initially, Tonan wanted to create more visuals and pictures but unfortunately, he didn’t have the skill. This was a shortcoming. He decided to pay attention to talents in the future who could fill this gap for him if he had a chance. Learning one more skill would give him one more method to resolve problems.
Novels and comics, each had their strong points. The visual impact of comics was more intense and could make people immerse in the scene and imagine more clearly. However, the novel emphasized the story, which could mobilize the readers’ imagination, gradually generating a feeling of substitution, and the emotions were more vivid.
It was not that there were no vulgar novels in the Ninja World market but the plots were mostly crude and followed a fixed pattern. Tonan was customizing this novel for a certain someone. He believed it would make the person addicted to it.
He wrote the first story in the novel — The Rhythm in the Field.
The background was the fields of the autumn harvest. The male protagonist was full of vigor and vitality, and the female protagonist was delicate, lovely, bright, and beautiful. The key to this kind of novel was to score right at the beginning.
The backstory should be fresh and relevant. The more difficult and twisty the beginning was, the more exciting it would be. The other parts just needed a brief description, as most of it wouldn’t be read carefully. Because by this time, the readers would have already begun to imagine on their own.
It was enough to rewrite the psychological transformation of the female protagonist at halfway point. Along with the progress of the situation, the female protagonist’s stubbornness of vowing to die rather than obey would gradually turn into the desire to resist but still welcome it. In the end, she would compromise in her heart, and begin to actively cater to the man’s desire.
The most terrifying aspect of such a novel was not rousing a man’s brutish nature, but quietly rearranging readers’ cognition, making them think that the psychology of the opposite sex was like this, and as long as they succeeded in the base, the other party would surrender.
The light bulb in the room had a poor connection. It flickered slightly from time to time. The window next to Tonan was also blown open by the cold wind. It was late autumn now, and the passing wind was still bone-piercingly cold.
Although Tonan didn’t feel cold, he got up and put on the windbreaker hanging on the hanger. He then returned to the table, sat down in a seiza-style, and continued writing calmly. He wanted to finish this masterpiece as soon as possible.
The hand speed of a ninja was not something ordinary people could imagine. In just two hours, he had finished writing an entire book. Most of the content was nonsense, but readers wouldn’t read carefully anyway. As long as the first part was exciting enough to make the readers enter their imagination, most of the content would only be skimmed through.
In short, the quintessence was on the first couple of pages. Tonan leisurely breathed out and stared at the novel on the table. A smile appeared on his face. Things will become more interesting now.
