Darkness swallowed his vision; the scene shifted.
Yorimitsu woke up on the little boat, back on the full-moon night when they had just landed in the Land of Waves.
He adjusted his fox mask. The memory of being burned to death last life still clung to him—the face-melting heat, his flesh scorched and charred.
"Fox, get off the boat!"
Unlike last time, Yorimitsu dawdled—he didn't leap ashore immediately and needed a nudge from the captain. Yorimitsu remembered that in his previous life Antelope Captain never said that.
After revival, most events still followed the story's course, but some of his different actions could cause changes—things he didn't want. Before the moment he'd died last life, he had to be careful and stick close to what had happened before in order to keep his narrative advantage.
Yorimitsu glanced at Captain Antelope with increased wariness. He was especially afraid of the captain's hidden Fire Release. That was too treacherous—hiding a secret ability and not telling your subordinates. A squad should know one another's strengths and play to them; ignorance could lead to fatal mistakes.
ANBU insisted on absolute loyalty; everyone watched everyone else, and Antelope also kept tabs on a few team members. Antelope scanned the fox and mused inwardly—he'd only told him to hurry. Why did Fox look so strange?
[Arc of the Moon activated!
The host has one resurrection opportunity per month; upon death, revival occurs on the previous full moon night.
Reward: one lottery draw:
1 — Shadow Clone Technique (Beginner);
2 — Fire-natured chakra;
3 — Taijutsu Locking Technique (Beginner).]
Taijutsu locking was the very move Antelope had used to clamp Yorimitsu's shoulder—powerful and hard to break. Yorimitsu already had the Curse Sealing Mark, so he didn't need a lock technique. Fire nature chakra wasn't needed either for now. He was a pseudo-Chūnin; using Earth Release well was enough. Before reaching elite ranks, there was no point opening an elemental nature that he couldn't support.
In the end Yorimitsu chose the Shadow Clone Technique.
Shadow clones can create real, physical duplicates—sometimes even genjutsu can't distinguish them. Antelope relied on shadow clones for probing and to risk subordinates' lives. The drawback is chakra division—but that's less of a problem for those with very large or very small chakra pools. For someone like Yorimitsu, splitting chakra wasn't terrible; at worst he'd continue relying on taijutsu.
As in the previous life, the story progressed: the squad reached the fishing village. They infiltrated the houses' raised floors; Kakugyū got "flown on" and angrily used an explosive tag. Yorimitsu fought and retreated to the side.
This time he knew where Antelope's true body hid, so he used seals more carefully while casting the sealing technique, ensuring the captain wouldn't notice. Cloud ninja hidden among the villagers struck—Kakugyū died and Antelope was wounded. Yorimitsu burst from the water, carrying the injured Antelope. In the coconut grove, Antelope felt a sharp pain in his side.
His scalp tingled; he mistakenly thought Fox intended to kill him. But Fox injected a hemostatic agent into his wound. Antelope relaxed—Fox wasn't that foolish. Even grievously wounded, he could still kill Fox.
They sheltered in a natural cave among the reef rocks. This time, Yorimitsu had no murderous intent; he meticulously dressed the captain's wound. There were still more than ten days until the full moon—without Antelope, Yorimitsu couldn't survive. Being an ANBU was simply too dangerous.
Antelope felt the fox's care. Since Yorimitsu was his only surviving subordinate at the moment, he grew noticeably friendlier.
Antelope even analyzed the situation aloud:
"We've found two Cloud squads within our search area. Looks like Cloud is deploying heavily into the Land of Waves. The mission shares for Waves have long been contested by Kirigakure and Uzushiogakure. Konoha has fought Cloud a lot to help Uzushiogakure; many of our people died. Without us, how could Uzushiogakure stand against Cloud? Lately there are complaints in the village—why help an outsider? Why not seize the mission shares ourselves? Now Cloud shows up and things get complicated."
Yorimitsu pondered and asked, "Captain, isn't Uzushiogakure our ally? Are those complaints organic, or—"
"Enough!" Antelope snapped. "To live in ANBU you mustn't know what you shouldn't know, nor ask what you shouldn't ask. Those complaints are natural—of course they are. Do you think ANBU would spread them?" He denied it, but Yorimitsu suspected the ANBU had a hand in it.
The status of the Nine-Tails Jinchūriki, Mito Uzumaki, was precarious; Yorimitsu had once guarded Senju family land. Mito had married into the Senju but retained her Uzumaki name—an elder with unmatched status. But she was very old, and the village leadership disagreed over the next jinchūriki arrangements. Previously the Senju had mediated with the Uzumaki; now Konoha bypassed the Senju and Danzo personally came to Uzushiogakure—proof the village couldn't reach consensus with the Senju.
Antelope spent five days recovering and then resumed the mission, searching a zone. This time they discovered three Cloud squads—fortunately Antelope didn't order Yorimitsu to probe the intel. Each time they spotted Cloud parties, they observed from afar and withdrew.
Days passed and finally another reassuring full moon arrived.
—The full moon hung like a silver plate; moonlight seemed like white frost.
Yorimitsu squatted on a reef rock. The sea breeze was moist, brushing his mask. In the distance, Antelope reported to the company commander; Yorimitsu couldn't hear their words over the waves. He only saw Antelope nod repeatedly, agreeing to something.
Beneath the mask, Yorimitsu was deeply dissatisfied with his situation. Being ANBU's refuse—never knowing mission intent, always at the captain's mercy—left him passive. He needed to become a squad leader to access mission distribution and more information. Intelligence was survival.
Staring at Antelope's back, Yorimitsu calculated. Last time he failed to kill him—Antelope had been lucky. He had to finish the job quickly.
He checked his system panel.
[Host Status:
Chakra capacity: Chūnin-level.
Chakra nature: Earth.
Ninjutsu: Basic Three Techniques, Earth Release: Underground Fish Projection, Shadow Clone Technique.
Taijutsu: Basic Taijutsu, Basic Kunai Throwing.
Sealing Jutsu: Curse Sealing Mark of Retribution.
Others: None.]
A good cook makes do with any ingredients; a clever woman doesn't fuss over rice. Using these abilities, he'd find a way to step over Antelope's corpse and become the squad leader. Everyone's ANBU here—no one should accuse another of having a dark heart.