Uzumaki Youjia stared at the masked Fox in horror.
Wasn't he supposed to be the Senju spy within the ANBU?
Wait—!
She suddenly remembered: right when the explosive tags went off, Fox had coated his kunai with hemostatic medicine.
The stab hadn't gone deep, and thanks to the clotting agent, the bleeding was minimal.
Gritting her teeth, Youjia forced her body to activate the Adamantine Sealing Chains.
Meanwhile, Yorimitsu (Fox) put on a show of panic, pretending to be powerless to stop her.
Dozens of shining chains burst forth, impaling everyone—except Yorimitsu.
Both the Cloud-nin and Captain Antelope were struck by the powerful sealing technique, frozen in place by its chakra-binding force.
Inside, Yorimitsu felt a thrill of triumph. His plan had worked. The fake medicine had fooled Youjia completely, making her think he was an ally.
Now, he was the only one untouched.
Rising silently, he swung his kunai with precision, finishing off each Cloud-nin one by one.
Captain Antelope's gaze sharpened, impressed by Fox's fluid movements.
The weakest member of their team—once nothing but dead weight—was growing fast. His timing and execution were maturing; he was starting to resemble a real ANBU operative.
But when Antelope looked down at the chain piercing his abdomen and chest, the pain was overwhelming.
The Adamantine Chains were terrifying—chakra made tangible.
They said such mastery bordered on Yin-Yang Release, far beyond ordinary shinobi.
Yorimitsu assessed his dying captain's injuries but didn't move to treat him yet. First, he seized the sealing scroll from Youjia's hands and offered it up.
"Mission accomplished, Captain. I've secured the scroll."
Antelope cursed inwardly. I said an intact scroll, not one that's already been used!
But there was no time for blame. "Go! We're leaving!"
Yorimitsu supported the bleeding captain into the forest.
"Captain, I'll apply a hemostatic injection!"
The injection hit the captain's ribs perfectly—though half the mixture was actually poison.
Under the mask, Yorimitsu's eyes gleamed in the darkness, calm and calculating.
He felt every trembling muscle in the captain's body, waiting for the toxins to take full effect.
This time, he wouldn't act rashly. He remembered how the captain had used hidden Fire Release techniques before. He wouldn't die that way again.
After escaping the battlefield, Captain Antelope gasped for breath.
"Fox… you're weak, but lucky. You always survive. Keep it up… maybe one day, you'll grow strong."
"Thank you for the praise, Captain."
The man coughed blood. "This mission failed… but we can find another Uzumaki squad… take another sealing scroll…"
His vision darkened; he assumed it was blood loss.
Truly, the Uzumaki's final counterattacks are terrifying, he thought hazily.
Yorimitsu leaned closer, feigning concern. "Captain, if you pass out, how do I contact the main unit? We need a medic—fast!"
Antelope nodded weakly. The wound was deep—maybe even a ruptured spleen. He reached for his tool pouch, but his sight blurred; everything spun.
Yorimitsu took the pouch for him, respectfully handing over a scroll.
Shaking, the captain tried to activate it. "Each mission… the cipher unit… issues new codes…"
He never finished the sentence. His consciousness slipped away.
After a few seconds of silence, Yorimitsu formed hand seals—Self-Curse Binding Seal.
The dark curse marks crawled over the captain's entire body, freezing him in place.
Once sure there would be no resistance, Yorimitsu drove his kunai straight through the man's throat.
Blood spurted violently as Captain Antelope's eyes flew open in agony. He saw the blade. He saw the Fox.
"You…"
That was his last word before dying completely.
Yorimitsu didn't stop there. He knew corpses could be used for information extraction.
He plunged his kunai again and again, prying open the skull and destroying the brain.
Disgusting—but also reassuring.
Captain Antelope was finally dead.
Maybe now the squad slot would be his. After all, he was the only one left.
Standing up, he scanned the forest carefully, then vanished into the trees.
He studied the ANBU communication scroll he'd taken.
For large-scale joint missions, the ANBU always issued coded markers for scattered teams to regroup.
With this, Yorimitsu could locate the mid-level commander directly—and maybe earn a promotion.
When he became a squad leader, he'd receive missions firsthand and gain real intel, no longer a disposable pawn.
Returning to the battlefield, he found Uzumaki Youjia lying on the ground, still conscious but pale.
Her abdomen was pierced, but the bleeding was light. She dared not move, afraid of worsening it.
Seeing the familiar mask above her, she exhaled in relief. "Fox… you came!"
Kneeling beside her, Yorimitsu said softly, "I did. I'm sorry. I had to follow the captain's orders. Let me treat your wound."
Youjia's eyes filled with mixed emotions—resentment and confusion. So Konoha's ANBU had really tried to steal their clan's sealing techniques.
Luckily, Fox had been a Senju spy, and his clotting medicine had saved her life…
Pch!
Her jaw trembled. A kunai was now lodged in her throat, blood gushing into her mouth.
Yorimitsu felt a flicker of guilt—but it vanished just as quickly.
The medicine had been bait. The trust had been leverage. Nothing more.
He was an ANBU shinobi, not a Senju spy.
And the Senju? A clan doomed to extinction anyway.
Yorimitsu hadn't come to this world to uphold justice. He came to survive.
Uzumaki Youjia's eyes widened in confusion and despair. She couldn't understand why he'd done this.
He didn't explain.
Blame yourself for knowing too much.
The secret of his Self-Curse Binding Seal, his betrayal of his captain—any of that leaking out meant death.
As the great scientist Newton once said: Better them than me.
After searching her body and finding no other sealing scrolls, Yorimitsu restocked his kunai—then vanished into the night.