Chapter 237 Plot Explosion

"Logan, hurry up and get up!"

"..."

Bright white light peeked through the curtains but failed to dispel the dimness in the room. Logan lay sprawled on the bed, sound asleep. However, the soothing quiet was abruptly shattered by a determined shout from outside the door.

Tap, tap, tap.

Footsteps echoed down the hallway, growing louder with each step. Though it wasn't clear what the owner of the footsteps was doing, it felt as if they were in a rush, constantly knocking things over, and the noises kept getting closer.

Logan frowned, listening to what sounded like a drumbeat amidst his sleepy haze. Suddenly, the door was flung open, amplifying the sound to the point where it was impossible to keep sleeping.

Logan turned his back, eyes still closed, wearing a pained expression, 'Why did waking up early for school here feel so torturous when it didn't seem like a big deal back in the Ninja World?

"Did you hear me, Logan? Look at what time it is..."

Logan didn't respond. Seeing this, his mom, Amanda, decisively pulled open the curtains, letting the bright daylight flood the room. The light also exposed Logan's messy sanctuary, cluttered with figures and light novels, to the world.

Logan's brows furrowed as he made one last attempt to resist, but Amanda had already yanked the blanket off him and started tidying up.

There's a decisiveness and busyness to a woman handling household chores, especially when it's a familiar routine repeated hundreds of times. Waking up the reluctant sleeper on a Monday morning was just another step in the process.

With his stronghold lost, Logan had no choice but to open his eyes and get up. Amanda had already done a sweep of the room and left. Sighing, Logan glanced at the clock on the wall, slowly climbed out of bed, and grudgingly began dressing and washing up.

He had battled life and death in another world, wielded superhuman Ninjutsu, and even summoned the fiery Divine Bird that scorched the earth. Now, he was putting on a school uniform to go to class.

Standing in front of the mirror at the sink, Logan brushed his teeth and squinted at his reflection. This strange contrast, which had repeated several times now, still felt unsettling.

After brushing his teeth, Logan went downstairs to eat a quick bite. With nothing much to organize, he grabbed his school bag, which hadn't been opened since bringing it home, and headed out, yawning all the way.

The road through the neighborhood stretched out before him, devoid of the golden halos often seen in summer. Though the sky above was bright, the clouds were dense, and the wind swept up leaves from the ground. Logan tugged at his school jacket.

'It's already November.'

Time had passed quickly without him noticing. Since Logan's first return, months had gone by in his familiar hometown, and he had experienced an even longer journey in the Ninja World.

While in the midst of those events, he was unaware of the passage of time. But looking back, there was an inexplicable sense of nostalgia. Logan boarded an early bus, which was already crowded.

In the swaying, uncomfortable bus filled with empty bottles, Logan stood steadily. He had survived the most brutal wars in the Naruto World, and there was no reason not to push through the mysterious and challenging phases of his current life.

Logan had mostly figured out the timing of the travels between world by now. After numerous back-and-forth trips, regardless of the underlying principles and mechanisms, at least on the surface, it was something Logan couldn't afford not to clarify.

One thing was certain: Logan had entered the manga, or a world that could be accessed and publicly displayed through unknown means (serialized in magazines and online).

The flow of time between the two worlds didn't sync up. While he was in the Ninja World, time in the real world was paused, and while he was in the real world, the Ninja World's time had no fixed pattern. It could span a long duration or pass in mere moments.

Based on the limited information available, Logan could infer that this discrepancy depended on the progression of the story. In a less flattering sense, it could be said to be determined by the 'author's' will.

Logan can only stay in the real world for a week each time, which coincides with the interval between manga releases. Each time a new chapter is about to appear, Logan is forcibly pulled back into the Ninja World.

The duration Logan spends in the ninja world isn't fixed; it depends on when the elusive [To Be Continued] appears.

If we consider this as a manga, the travel between world occur when the plot reaches a critical point. However, there's a prerequisite: Logan must 'appear' at that critical moment in the manga, though he doesn't necessarily need to be the main focus.

Simply put, Logan needs to appear on the last page, even if only as a barely noticeable background element, to trigger the condition for returning to the real world.

Ding-dong.

The bus chimed as it arrived at the stop, and a swarm of uniformed students crowded the doors. Several schools, including Fresno High School, were clustered nearby, creating a daily battle among similarly dressed students for buses and food during rush hours.

Logan got off with the crowd, fortunate enough to be among many female students. A male student tried to push through, but seeing the bus doors about to close, Logan wasn't about to miss the chance and wait for the next one.

Ignoring the suspicious behavior and anxious look of the male student, Logan didn't want to lose precious early reading time, so he squeezed past him, mingling with the youthful energy as he stepped onto the ground.

The bus pulled away, and Logan noticed someone glaring at him from the window. Logan calmly smiled, thinking, 'Getting through high school is like crossing a single-plank bridge. If you want to study, well, that's just how it is.'

Messing around like this helped clear Logan's remaining drowsiness. He walked along with a few other students in the same school uniform, and soon, the gate of Fresno High School came into view.

After swiping his card at the entrance, Logan suddenly recalled his first traversal back and forth. That was in the early days of Konoha's Year 54, an exception to the usual pattern.

If a major plot point occurred after a [To Be Continued] moment and the time gap in the Ninja World since the last event was long, Logan would return after exactly seven days in sync with the real world.

This had only happened once because, back then, the manga's next chapter wouldn't be released for several years. By the time the story resumed in Konoha's Year 60, with continuous plot development, Logan's traversals typically matched brief intervals in the Ninja World.

Upon entering the classroom, Logan found most of his classmates already there. Many students were boarders, a common aspect of student life that starts early and becomes more prevalent in high school.

There was no sound of reciting lessons; instead, everyone was looking up. Logan discreetly entered, glanced around, and realized that Diane was making some announcement.

In high school, where physical education classes were often 'borrowed' due to time constraints, class meetings were sometimes held early in the morning.

It wasn't unusual for the arts committee member to make announcements. Diane, with her ponytail and a sweet smile on her pretty face, made the typically unflattering uniform look fresh and appealing. As expected, good looks are always a virtue.

"Logan, you're here. Listen up... um, I was just talking about how we'll arrange bus seats, and the items not allowed on the autumn outing, like..."

'So, it was about the autumn outing. No wonder everyone was listening so intently.' Logan scanned the room, and found that none of his classmates had the dreary expressions they wore during the homeroom teacher's lectures on exam results.

In an exam-oriented environment, where everyone's focus was on grades, constantly doing practice questions and memorizing points, the prospect of a whole day without classes or homework was like a beam of light shining through the gloom, offering an irresistible allure and excitement.

'It's about time for this, too...' Logan thought as he recalled the chilly sky from earlier that morning, then took his seat.

"Logan, psstt, hey, look over here!"

Logan neatly placed his school bag down, carefully took out yesterday's homework, asked the student in front for the answers, and started copying without looking away. Throughout, he completely ignored the presence of a chubby guy beside him, who was desperately trying to get noticed.

David's expression was barely contained excitement, as if he was bursting to say something but holding back. Logan knew that with David acting like this, it definitely wasn't just about sharing the joy of the upcoming autumn outing, and there was definitely something else on his mind.

It's not that Logan didn't want to acknowledge David, but he could already guess what nonsense the guy wanted to talk about.

'With the start of a new week, the latest updates for various manga and anime had been released. Heh, as a hardcore otaku, what else could he possibly want to discuss?'

Sure enough, as soon as the class bell rang, David came over and slung his arm around Logan's neck, " Logan, it's intense, man! Big news! Have you seen the new Naruto chapter? The plot is explosive?!"

"..."