My Misadventures as a Hotel Owner
Prologue: Down On My Luck
"*Sigh* another day in the life of me…,"
These words were uttered by a man who was currently sitting on a bench in the park over at Tokyo, Japan as the sun was gradually setting. He's an adolescent male with spiky blonde hair and a swimmer's physique, as well as whisker marks that would make one think of a cat or a fox, mostly the latter when they look at him. He's currently wearing a black-and-orange t-shirt, knee-high shorts, black sneakers with orange accents, and a black sweatband with an orange stripe.
"Seriously, just what did I do to end up like this?" he glanced to see a knapsack propped up against the bench next to him along with a mountain bike before letting out another sigh "…guess it's just one more event to occur in the life of Naruto Uzumaki,"
To understand why he was muttering such things, we'll need to take you to way back before all this. Back to his beginnings.
For starters, Naruto was found as a baby placed at the doorsteps of an orphanage, the reason he got his name was because of a note was attached to his blanket so the caretakers gave it to him. As the years passed and Naruto grew, he was viewed as odd by the other children because of the whisker marks on his cheeks which led to some of the older children to try and bully him.
However, they soon learnt the hard way that Naruto isn't a timid child and packed quite a punch for someone so small at the time. Many of the younger children in the orphanage looked up to Naruto who stood up for them and was a naturally kind person at heart. But this wasn't without its downsides, some of the caretakers and bullies painted a bad image of him as a violent child which discouraged couples from adopting him…there was something about this that felt familiar to him like he had gone through it before and he disliked it immensely albeit he didn't regret his actions and continued to protect the children from the bullies.
As time went, some of the much kinder caretakers noticed that Naruto was quite different compared to the other children. He likes helping the children and hardly refuses when they come to him for his help, he doesn't like being lonely for long periods of time, seems to possess a large amount of stamina judging by how he doesn't get tired for a while and is sometimes the last to go to sleep. Even so, Naruto is considerate and kindhearted, wanting to help even when not asked.
Naruto noted that he had been having strange dreams of sorts, seeing an older version of himself fighting people and creatures with weird powers, it was rather surreal and a bit scary every time he has them. There were times he would wake up with tears in his eyes due to seeing a man with spiky blonde hair resembling him and a redhaired woman along with a girl with dark blue hair and moonlike eyes looking at him with love.
Years later, something unbelievable happened. One of the caretakers who had good relations with Naruto dropped a lottery ticket on the table, the blonde had come upon the ticket and the curious side of him ended up putting in random numbers. The caretaker wasn't too happy but decided to take a chance with it, and the next thing she knew; she had won 600 million yen! The caretaker couldn't believe it…she had never even dreamed of getting this much money in her entire life and this was all because of the amiable child whom she had been taking care of.
In a decisive moment, she set up a savings account for Naruto which she transferred a decent amount of money for him to use for his education in the future whilst using some to help with the improvement of the Orphanage before keeping what remains for herself.
Thanks to this stroke of good fortune, Naruto was able to go to school; going through grade school, junior high, senior high and finally graduating from Tokyo Institute of Technology with a Bachelor's Degree. His life throughout school was a rather bumpy one, the students and teaching staff viewed him to be a delinquent due to his spiky blonde hair and whisker marks yet again. Even more so, delinquents attempted many times to beat him down, but Naruto would always be able to hold his own against them, it was as if his body knew exactly how to fight. In spite of the ostracization, Naruto was able to make a handful of trustworthy friends during his time in school but we'll go into depth later on.
Now to talk about what had happened that led to Naruto sitting on that park bench and was sighing in depression. You see it was when Naruto was returning to his rented apartment from one of his part time jobs.
**Flashback Start**
"Phew, today was a bit tricky. But I was able to get through it, now to head to my room for some serious R&R before tomorrow. The gods know that I need it," said Naruto tiredly.
The blonde teen wearily climbed up to the stairs to the floor where his apartment room was located, unlocking the door with his key before going inside and locking it up afterwards. He tossed his backpack onto a chair, going to the fridge to grab a can of orange soda and a bag of potato chips before returning to the living room to plop himself on the couch and was about to pick up the remote to turn on the TV when suddenly
*Bang* *Bang* *Bang* *Bang*
"Mr. Uzumaki, open this door right now! I know you're in there!" a muffled gruff voice was heard as someone knocked on the door loudly.
A confused Naruto rose from the couch and went to open the door to see a chubby looking man with balding hair and stubby cheeks, wearing a tan t-shirt, green shorts and a pair of yellow flipflops. He recognized the man to be the landlord of the apartment but was confused as to why he was glaring at him.
"Um sir, what seems to be the matter? I didn't know that you're back, your son told me that you went to visit your parents at your hometown," asked Naruto confusedly.
"Don't play dumb with me Uzumaki, you know exactly what's the problem!" the landlord snarled "You haven't paid your rent for the past four months, don't pretend like you're dumb!"
Naruto was shocked by the accusation aimed at him "What, no! you must be mistaken, I've been paying my rent all this time, even before the payment deadline!"
"If that's the case then why haven't I been notified of a single yen from you in my bank account?"
"That's not possible, I've been giving the money to your son all those times. There's no way that it wouldn't have gotten to you!" Naruto protested, he'd been making sure to pay the rent with the money which he had been earning from his part time jobs. He had learnt form the orphanage that little things contribute just as much to the large things in one's life which was why he paid close attention to both types.
"Well that's a different story compared to what I heard when I return. My boy told me that every time he came to your place to collect the rent money, you would threaten to beat him up just because he was asking for the money,"
"What!? That's not true, I never threatened your son!" said Naruto.
"Spare me your lies, I should have known better than to let a ruffian like you into my apartment!" said the landlord angrily.
It soon dawned upon Naruto as to what was going on, the landlord's son had been keeping the money which he had been using to pay the rent for himself then set him up to take the blame while he went scot-free, knowing full well that the landlord would believe the son over the tenant.
At that moment, the landlord grabbed the keys from the door and scowled at him "I want you out of here before the day ends and to never show your face here again!" he stomped away, leaving Naruto standing at the doorway, trying to comprehend that he had just been kicked out of his home.
With a sigh, Naruto took out his phone and made a call…
***Flashback End***
"…it's a good thing she was willing to keep most of my stuff at their place for the meantime while I try to find another place to stay, but…," Naruto looked at the piece of newspaper which contained the vacancy section with each and every one of them having been crossed out with a red marker "Not one of them had any room left…at least take the notice off the papers instead of stringing people along and giving them false hope…,"
He crumpled the paper into a ball and tossed it sideways to land cleanly into a trash bin close by before leaning back further on the bench. Seriously, how could he have expected that he would be kicked out of his apartment by the landlord because of his own son's greed. What were the chances of that happening to anyone? Now he has to book a room at a hotel for tonight and try to find apartment to rent the next day.
*Beep* *Beep* *Beep* *Beep*
"Huh?" Naruto snapped his head back up, hearing his phone chime to alert him of a notification which he checked.
Congratulations! Out of the 50 million people, the Gentle Hearth has chosen you for our questionnaire, answer correctly and truthfully to stand a chance to win a grand prize.
"Ugh, I'm not in the mood for this…," Naruto lifted a thumb to delete but then paused in thought "…then again, what do I have to lose here? Maybe something good might happen just like with the lottery ticket back at the orphanage,"
Deciding to take a chance as well as sate his curiosity, Naruto tapped on the notification to follow the link to the website where he was greeted with a message.
Thank you for taking the time to answer these questions. Be sure to answer the following questions honestly, click the link below to begin and good luck.
Tapping the green button at the bottom, Naruto was taken to the next page where he came upon the questions and started to read through before answering them one-by-one;
1. Are there many things that you like to do?
Ans; Yes, I do.
2. You notice a wallet on the side of the road. What will you do?
Ans; I would hand it to the police so they would return it to the true owner.
3. A delinquent is hassling someone on a busy city street! What will you do?
Ans; I wouldn't waste a second to help.
4. Can you sincerely thank someone when you feel grateful?
Ans; Yes, I can.
5. Can you focus on something you like?
Ans; Yes, no reason to do it halfheartedly.
6. Do you like to imagine things for your amusement?
Ans; When I'm bored, yeah.
7. Do you feel lonesome when you are alone?
Ans; Yeah, it's depressing.
8. It is a pleasant day at the beach. How do you feel?
Ans; I'd feel great, even more so with friends.
9. It's the summer holidays! Where would you like to go?
Ans; Anywhere, I'm openminded to many things.
10. Do you tend to laugh a lot?
Ans; Yeah, when I'm very happy.
After reading through and ensuring that the answers were carefully inputted, Naruto tapped on the submit button and received a message afterwards.
We of the Gentle Hearth would like to thank you for taking the time to answer these questions. Be sure to expect our response within the week, have a nice day.
"Well, as nice as it can get despite everything. Now to go and book a room for the night," Naruto stood up from the park bench to strap on the knapsack to get on his bike and ride towards a decent hotel which he had found online through his phone.
Later that night as Naruto slept, those strange dreams of his other self came happened again but the images and voices were clearer to see and hear.
"I'll never give up…I'll never go back on my word. That's my Nindo; My Ninja Way!"
"It ain't over until justice prevails and evil is wiped out! Every good story's got to have a happy ending!"
"If you don't like the hand fate had dealt you…fight for a better one!"
"I want to protect the village I love for the children of the future!"
Naruto saw himself go through great lengths to protect his friends, even risking his own life and skirting very close to death for their sake and his as well. Heck, he practically saw his younger self fight a giant tanuki made out of sand whilst riding atop a giant toad dressed like a yakuza. Then his teen self fought actual dragons, something that's straight out from those anime and manga he likes.
The blonde woke up the next morning and couldn't help but notice that his body was feeling rather sluggish which lasted only until he took a nice hot bath and a decent breakfast after ordering room service. He was currently on the bed with his laptop in search of vacancy in other hotels since it was the weekend and he does his part time jobs on the weekdays. That was when his phone started to ring, leading to him quickly answering it.
"Hello?"
{Hello, am I speaking to Naruto Uzumaki?}
"Uh yes, who am I speaking to?"
{I am a representative of the Gentle Hearth, calling to thank you for partaking in our questionnaire as well as to congratulate you for winning one of our prizes being an all-new apartment}
Naruto stood there in shock, almost dropping his phone at the bomb dropped on him. Surely, there's no way he could be an owner of an apartment when he had been kicked out from one just yesterday.
"Are you serious about this? Surely it can't be true that I've won an apartment just by answering your questionnaire," said Naruto skeptically.
{It's quite understandable that you would be doubtful. But rest assured, the Gentle Hearth is a legitimate business and does not partake in any criminal acts like scamming. There's more to the questionnaire than what is seen on the surface, many like you had answered the questions and yet none approached it as seriously as you did during our analysis. As we speak, a parcel containing the required items is being delivered to you}
*Knock* *Knock* *Knock*
There was someone knocking on the door, prompting Naruto to open it and finding a maid carrying a parcel in hand.
"Good morning Mr. Uzumaki, I have a package for you," said the maid politely.
"Uh, thanks," Naruto took the parcel and retreated to his room, he opened the parcel to see lots of paperwork, keys, an address, and most critical of all; an actual deed of an apartment with an official seal on it.
{Judging by your silence, you have seen the originality of the parcel which can be crosschecked at any office. The apartment's location can be found on the address, we'll leave its appearance as a surprise. Once more, we congratulate you for being an owner of the apartment and hope that you manage it responsibly}
"Wai-,"
Naruto tried to protest but the call ended before he could say anything more. He looked through the papers one by one in search of anything which could have any negative effects on him and found none so far.
"Is it just me or are things moving too quickly to even make any kind of sense…," Naruto crossed his arms with a thoughtful look on his face before letting out a sigh "It's like the saying goes 'When life gives you lemons, you make lemonade'. Now to go and find out the kind of lemons I've gotten…,"
"WHAT THE HELL IS THIS!?" Naruto's voice could be heard down several blocks down from where he was and he had a pretty good reason to yell.
You see after checking out from the hotel, Naruto had rode his bike down to registrar's office to check the validity of the papers and deed which turned out to be perfectly legal and not a scam. Afterwards, he followed the address and couldn't believe what he was looking at the moment he set his eyes on the building which was located at the suburbs.
Before Naruto was a two-level traditional Japanese house, similarly designed like the inns he used to stay at during school trips but…the building looks like it had seen better days.
Parts of the fence bordering the building are broken into pieces, the paint on the walls are faded, weeds have grown all over the place. All this evidently points out that no one has lived inside for more than a year much to Naruto's growing aggravation.
"Brand new my ass, this place is practically half dead!" said Naruto angrily "Make up your mind already, Lady Luck! Are you giving me fortune or misfortune!?"
Unknown to the angered blonde, someone was watching him from the corner of the street with a mischievous smile on their face and mysterious intentions aimed at him.
This is Hussbek online with a new story, I've been receiving numerous requests for me to do a Naruto/Isekai crossover story, I held it off up to this point since I wanted to at least complete one of my older stories before finally giving in and putting one up.
Drawing inspiration from mangas like Boku no Heya ga Dungeon no Kyuukeijo ni Natteshimatta Ken and Kikanshita Yuusha No Gojitsudan, this will be a reincarnated Naruto in modern Japan able to cross between it and the isekai world with lots of twists and elements from various media. So, I'm open for ideas and suggestions as we go on.
Be sure to read and review like always.
This is Hussbek from Ghana.
Signing out and staying alive.