Hong Meiling Sleepwalks Through the Heavens

Groggily, Meiling opened her eyes, only to be shocked by the sight in front of her.

She found herself on an unfamiliar path with a slightly dense forest on both sides. Down the end of the path, a settlement that resembles a village could be seen.

This is obviously not anywhere near the Scarlet Devil Mansion.

That’s weird… am I back on Earth? She wondered. The Human Village is the only human settlement in Gensokyo, but this doesn’t seem like the Human Village…

Did… did I travel through time again? She shivered as she looked around. From Gensokyo to another world?

Looking down, it was, indeed, the signature outfit of Hong Meiling. Hence, she should be Hong Meiling in the flesh. She pondered, and tried scourging through her memories to look for any other villages in Gensokyo, only for an abrupt Ding! to interrupt her train of thought.

Information began flooding into her brain alongside the chime that resonated through her mind. At first, she thought that she had gained some kind of system she had read in various novels in her previous life. However, that didn’t seem to be the case.

It was simply information.

Reading through the walls of information in her mind, she gained an understanding of her current situation, and her eyes widened.

I did travel through time, yes, but not exactly.

When she travelled through time and inhabited Meiling’s body, it seems that she was bestowed an additional ability.

In short, whenever she sleeps, she will accumulate something called [Dream Energy]. Once this Dream Energy value hits 100 points, she can travel to other worlds when she dreams in her sleep.

Hence, whenever she slept on the job, she began accumulating Dream Energy. Today, it seems that she has accumulated enough to travel to this new world.

Despite ‘sleepwalking’ into this new world in her dreams, this world is very much real. Of course, Meiling’s physical body was still leaning against the brick wall of the Scarlet Devil Mansion fast asleep. Her current body in this world may be considered a ‘clone’ or ‘doppelgänger’ of some sort, and when she ‘leaves’ this world, the real Meiling in Gensokyo will wake up.

Leaving this world is simple – her current state of ‘sleepwalking’ consumes the accumulated Dream Energy. Exhausting this Dream Energy will wake her up in Gensokyo.

And, of course, if she happens to be woken up by somebody in Gensokyo, she will be forcefully ejected from this world.

Squinting her eyes at the information in her mind, it seems that time runs differently in each world too. No matter how many days she spends in a different world, only a few hours will pass in Gensokyo.

The question is, where am I?

Bah! Let’s go into the village and find out!

As she walked down the forest path, Meiling could see that the village was bigger than expected, perhaps, even bigger than the Human Village in Gensokyo.

There seemed to be two guards that stood by the entrance to the village. They donned clothes fitting for a ninja and an eerily familiar forehead protector.

N-Naruto?

She knew it was the Naruto world due to the telltale pattern engraved on their forehead protectors. However, it is not the symbol of any of the Five Great Shinobi Countries, but a spiral pattern that was exactly the same as the one of Naruto Uzumaki’s back.

Combined with the fact that the both of the guards had red hair, Meiling guessed that she woke up in the forest near the Hidden Eddy Village.

The ninjas in this village are mainly from the Uzumaki clan.

Because the ninjas in the Uzumaki clan possess powerful Fūinjutsu (or, sealing techniques), they are feared by many other ninjas, causing them to form a coalition to destroy the Hidden Eddy Village.

However, seeing that it was still in tact, that must mean that she was transported to the time before they were destroyed.

In theory, of course! I still need to confirm whether this is actually the world of Naruto!

Meiling continued walking down the path, and soon, one of the two guards reached out to stop her, “Who are you? What is your purpose of coming to Hidden Eddy?”

Yes! I am in the world of Naruto!

“I’m… just a visitor,” she said, somewhat cheerfully.. “Just visiting!”

The guard seemed taken aback hearing this. The Hidden Eddy Village is relatively closed off from the outside world, and apart from their alliance with the Hidden Leaf Village, they didn’t see much external activity. While it is true that the number of visitors who come to the Hidden Eddy Village is not zero, it is still a very small number.

The two guards glanced at each other, as if wondering if they should let this strange girl in.

They couldn’t sense any chakra radiating from her body, so she shouldn’t be a threat.

The two guards are also Chūnin ninjas – just a step away from Jōnin; they possess superior perception skills, so even if she tries hiding her chakra, it would be impossible.

They then concluded that she is, in fact, an ordinary traveler. A visitor, as she said.

However, something nagged at them in the back of their minds. An ordinary girl? Travelling out, braving the dangers to get to this village? The probability of her getting into trouble is infinitely close to 100%.

The two guards were not aware that, even though there was no so-called ‘chakra’ within Meiling, if they were to fight her, hell, even if a Jōnin were to fight her, they will most definitely lose.

Despite their doubts, they nodded and allowed Meiling entry into the village. After all, they had no proof or reason to stop her, and despite how secluded they were, that didn’t mean that they would deny visitors entry.

Plus, she’s alone, and there were more people in the village who were good at sensing chakra. If anything wrong happens, she will be exposed immediately.

Meiling entered the Hidden Eddy Village with relative ease and walk about in the streets. Glancing around as she strolled, she noticed that many people had red hair, which displayed the Uzumaki clan’s dominance.

Meiling herself has red hair, though it is different from theirs. Her hair is bright red, while their red held a pinkish, purplish hue.

Walking down the street, a chill soon ran down her back. I don’t have their currency!

Food, accommodation, leisure, anything…

This is a big problem…

In desperation, she walked around to look and see if anybody was hiring.

I didn’t expect that the first thing I would do in another world is look for a job! 

She thought of her post in the Scarlet Devil Mansion and chuckled to herself.

However, it didn’t seem like anyone was hiring. Am I going to sleep on the streets on my first day?

Maybe… I should ask.

Meiling saw a somewhat luxurious inn down the street, and walked towards it.

Entering, she could see a receptionist with brown hair, and she looked about twenty-five years old. The brunette’s head rose and she greeted Meiling immediately with enthusiasm, “Welcome! Would you like to book a room?”

“Eh… uh…” she stuttered. “I… are you all hiring? I want to stay at this inn, but I don’t have any money.”

The brunette’s eyebrows raised slightly. After an awkward silence, she turned around, “Wait a minute, I have to ask my boss.”

The brunette then went further inside the inn.

Waiting a while, a middle-aged man, probably about forty with a stout demeanor walked into the lobby with the receptionist. He must be the owner!

Glancing at Meiling, the owner fell into thought: I have hosted many guests in this inn for years – ninjas, samurais, even nobles! I have never seen this girl in my life, so she must be a traveler… let’s see – she doesn’t seem like a threat, but asking for a job out of the blue? Something’ s fishy.

Studying her, his mouth opened, “We’re a little tight on kitchen staff right now. Are you good at cooking?”

An awkward, cold sweat dripped down her forehead as she fell into thought too: Well, sort of, kind of! I cooked a little in my previous life, but they’re all Chinese food! Don’t all of you eat Japanese?

Brushing off her thoughts, she put her fist to her chest and smiled enthusiastically, “I know a bit, but I don’t know if it meets your requirements!”

“Well, I suppose we can have a little test of your cooking skills.”

…

“You’re hired.”

“…eh?”

Perhaps it was because the chefs in this inn were not very good at cooking, or that the villagers didn’t eat well, but after Meiling used ingredients she could scourge in the kitchen to cook up two random dishes, the owner immediately agreed to her becoming a chef.

Although her cooking was foreign, it didn’t matter. The inn needed new dishes anyways.

Then came the most important part – her salary. Meiling stated that she might only work for a few days, so the salary was calculated on a daily basis – a payment of about 100 to 200 per day, including food and shelter.

Meiling didn’t know if the salary was high or low, but she knew that she could only remain in this world for a while. Since food and stay were provided, she didn’t really care about her salary anymore.

This way, she temporarily changed her job of being the gatekeeper of the Scarlet Devil Mansion, to a chef of an inn in the Hidden Eddy Village.

As she did her duties in the kitchen, she found that, although there weren’t many staff in the kitchen, there certainly wasn’t a need for a new hire.

Maybe boss feels bad for me, and wants to give me a job!

Seems that this village is simply a place with simple folk customs.

[t/n: early release today! don’t be afraid to comment ^.^ i would love reading your comments on the story/any corrections to be made :3]