"Antelope Squad! Move out!"
Yagami's team leader wore an antelope mask, so everyone called him Captain Antelope.
Aside from Yagami, the squad included Purple Cat and Horned Ox.
No one knew their real identities. Even when the person behind Purple Cat's mask had been replaced once, Yagami had no idea.
The four members of the squad left the Forest of Death, walking along the perimeter wall of the Hidden Leaf.
After a while, Yagami began to feel uneasy.
This direction… were they heading toward the village gate?
They couldn't seriously be going outside, right?
Inside the village, even if things went wrong, he could still shout for help.
It wasn't shameful to call for backup.
But once outside the village, no one would hear you scream even if you yelled yourself hoarse.
Captain Antelope led the squad straight to the main gate of the Hidden Leaf.
They hadn't even submitted a mission application for leaving the village, yet their pace didn't slow. The four ANBU passed right through the gate.
One of the gate guards watched them go with envy. "The ANBU are so damn cool… always in masks, all mysterious and stoic."
His partner snorted. "Then apply for ANBU duty yourself. You can wear a mask every day too."
"Forget it," the first man said quickly. "You only get to show your face after you die in that job."
Yagami's mood soured further. Seriously… why did they have to leave the village?
As they ran, Captain Antelope spoke in a calm, clipped tone.
"Our target this time is a jonin-level elite chunin. He's been leading a three-man genin squad, transporting supplies near the front lines. Intelligence suggests he's been in contact with hidden stone spies. Our mission is to monitor, gather evidence, and eliminate him if necessary."
Hearing that, Yagami's stomach tightened.
In the shinobi world, a difference of two ranks could mean instant death.
Ninja ranks roughly went like this: genin, chunin, elite chunin, special jonin, jonin, elite jonin, Kage-level, and beyond that, Six Paths-level.
An elite chunin could kill a genin in the blink of an eye.
And Yagami… was basically a fake chunin—a genin pretending to keep up.
As they traveled, Yagami carefully studied his teammates, trying to gauge their strength.
Captain Antelope had to be at least elite chunin-level; otherwise he wouldn't talk about "cleaning up" another elite chunin like it was nothing.
Purple Cat and Horned Ox were likely both chunin, making their team's overall strength about right for an ANBU-level squad.
Once they crossed the borders of the Land of Fire and entered the Land of Water, they had to be even more cautious.
Captain Antelope soon spotted their target.
Through his binoculars, Yagami saw a sturdy, broad-shouldered man with a firm expression.
Behind him were three subordinates—a boy from the Akimichi Clan, a civilian girl without a clan crest, and a bespectacled civilian boy.
All four carried large packs, transporting some kind of supplies to the front lines.
Yagami only glanced for a couple of seconds before quickly putting down the binoculars.
Was it just his imagination, or had that elite chunin just looked in their direction?
Captain Antelope continued his observation. "Keep a distance of two hundred meters. Don't get close. We're gathering intel slowly."
Five days passed like that.
The Antelope Squad shadowed their targets from afar.
The target team kept shuttling between the borders of the Land of Fire and the Land of Water, running supply missions.
Those five days were calm, almost too calm.
Yagami mentally kept track of time.
Three days spent "enjoying" himself at the Tsurugetsu Tavern, four days traveling here, and now five days of surveillance—twelve days total. Another thirteen days and it would be the full moon again.
He just hoped the mission would stay quiet until then.
But then Captain Antelope suddenly called out, "We've got movement!"
The elite chunin target slipped behind a large tree, hiding from his team's view.
He crouched, tucked a scroll beneath the tree roots, and then quickly left.
"Move in! Confirm the contents of that scroll, then proceed as planned!"
The four ANBU operatives rushed forward.
Yagami sprinted ahead. He had to move fast—fast enough to pick the easiest target.
Adjusting his path, he charged toward the civilian girl in the target team.
Eleven years old, civilian, no clan backing—she had to be the weakest.
Captain Antelope reached the tree first, retrieved the scroll, and scanned it.
"It's Hidden Stone spy intel! Eliminate the targets!"
Spies from the Hidden Stone weren't easy to plant, especially one of elite chunin rank.
That meant there was almost certainly a subordinate spy among his students.
The Akimichi kid could probably be ruled out—clan loyalty and all that.
That left the two civilians.
But ANBU didn't bother with distinctions like that.
Yagami threw two kunai at the civilian girl.
One aimed at her left eye to draw her attention, and the other straight for her abdomen to guarantee a hit.
Instinctively, the girl raised her own kunai to block the one flying at her face.
But she couldn't guard both.
The second kunai sank deep into her stomach.
Blood splattered.
Yagami didn't know whether the girl was really a spy or not, but he didn't hesitate. He kicked her down and pinned her hands to the ground with kunai.
The Akimichi boy, seeing his teammate bleeding out, went berserk.
Ignoring a kunai wound from Purple Cat, he charged straight at Yagami.
Yagami stood his ground, watching the boy approach.
Purple Cat was right behind him. The Akimichi wouldn't make it in time—
But the boy suddenly pulled out a secret clan pill and swallowed it in one gulp.
Yagami didn't even see what color it was.
Oh no.
"Human Bullet Tank!"
The Akimichi boy transformed into a massive spinning ball of flesh, rolling straight toward Yagami at terrifying speed.
Yagami leapt backward.
Crap—this was bad. He couldn't afford to mess up here!
The spinning meatball slammed into him, crushing him against a boulder.
At the very last moment, Yagami slipped a hand into a seal behind the massive form, activating Earth Style: Hiding Like a Mole Technique.
His body vanished, sinking into the stone beneath.
Thank the system for teaching him that one—otherwise he'd be a smear right now.
The ground erupted with flying debris.
When the Human Bullet Tank finally slowed to a stop, Yagami reappeared, careful not to reveal he'd used an Earth Style jutsu.
From the outside, it just looked like he'd been crushed.
To make it convincing, he even let a few bones crack for real.
"Enough!" Captain Antelope barked.
The Akimichi boy shrank back to normal size and turned, startled.
Behind him, the elite chunin spy from the Hidden Stone was pinned to a tree by kunai.
Captain Antelope's blade was buried in the chest of the civilian girl.
The bespectacled boy was already dead, a kunai through his throat courtesy of Horned Ox.
"Wh—who are you people?!" the Akimichi boy shouted.
Captain Antelope flickered forward in an instant, driving a fist into the boy's gut and knocking him out of his frenzy.
"We're the ANBU of the Hidden Leaf. We were ordered to deal with Hidden Stone spies. Calm down and stay out of the way."
Civilian casualties were acceptable.
But the Akimichi had clan ties—killing him would cause problems.
The boy crawled toward the fallen girl, sobbing.
"I… I still hadn't told you that I… liked you…"
Leaf shinobi matured early. Whatever was between them, it ended here. Death severed everything.
Captain Antelope walked over to Yagami, glancing at his injuries.
Yagami quickly said, "Captain! The Will of Fire… we can't abandon our comrades! I'm hurt, but you're not leaving me behind, right?"
"Useless," Captain Antelope muttered. "Another ten days before you're healed."
The words made Yagami exhale in relief. So he wasn't being abandoned.
Then it hit him—ten days to recover?
Perfect. That meant he could delay until next month's full moon.
He got carried back to the village by Horned Ox, spent half a month recovering, and finally reached the night of the full moon.
But along with it came a new order.
From ANBU Commander Danzo himself.
Two ANBU divisions were to be dispatched—to the Land of Waves and the Land of Whirlpools.
A bad feeling twisted in Yagami's gut.
The Uzumaki Clan of the Land of Whirlpools…
Don't tell him this was that massacre about to happen.
What could a small fry like him possibly do in a disaster of that scale?