"Captain, what's our next mission?"
"Don't ask what you shouldn't."
His small request had been rejected. These damn Anbu regulations.
Yako followed Captain Antelope, waiting on a small dock.
A few days later, their target finally arrived.
An Uzumaki ninja squad. The captain was even a familiar face: Uzumaki Yuka.
Seeing the Fox Mask, Uzumaki Yuka felt a bit more at ease.
"Captain Antelope, Fox. I didn't expect to see you two. Where's Kakugyu?"
"Kakugyu sacrificed himself to scout out intelligence on the Cloud Ninja," Captain Antelope said.
A look of shame appeared on Uzumaki Yuka's face. "I'm sorry. We will engrave the sacrifices the Hidden Leaf ninjas have made for us in our hearts.""Hidden Leaf and Uzushiogakure are allies. It's our duty."
Yako was somewhat surprised that Captain Antelope would say something so warm.
The two squads began operating together. Uzumaki Yuka needed to seal a certain roaming, powerful ninja beast.
Taking advantage of the time when the Uzumaki ninjas went scouting, Captain Antelope spoke to Yako.
"Fox, use Uzumaki Yuka's good impression of you to get close to her. Especially during combat, you must stay by her side. Keep within two steps of her.
"Our target is the Adamantine Attacking Chains Scroll. If necessary, you are cleared to kill Uzumaki Yuka and frame the Cloud Ninja for it."
"Understood, Captain."
Beside a small lake, Uzumaki Yuka directed three Uzumaki ninjas to set up three traps.
In each trap, Explosive Tags were buried at the very bottom, with large wire nets laid over them.
It seemed they intended to blast the wire nets up into the air.
Once the traps were set, everyone hid in the woods bordering the lake.
Yako lay prone inside a bush, not far from Uzumaki Yuka's hiding spot.
To his surprise, Uzumaki Yuka moved over to his side.
The two of them lay on the ground together, their bodies concealed by the shrubbery, staring out at the lake.
Unlike the earth-shattering clashes of Kage Level ninjas, the battles of ordinary ninjas often involved tedious searching and quietly squatting in the grass.
Every ninja had their own survival wisdom. The weak, especially, had to be cautious.
Uzumaki Yuka asked softly, "Fox, can you tell me your name?"
"Sorry, I can't."
A brief flash of disappointment appeared in Uzumaki Yuka's eyes, but she quickly said, "I know. You're a spy for the Senju Clan within the Anbu, so you can't say it. You can't take the risk."
Yako did not answer. He neither confirmed nor denied it; feigning mystery would only deepen Uzumaki Yuka's misunderstanding.
Yako searched his memories and realized he had only ever seen a few Senju Clan ninjas back during his time at the ninja academy.
Ever since the sacrifice of the Second Hokage, the Senju Clan had constantly declared their intent to recreate the glory of the Senju.
The entire clan was fired up. Even the children shouted about becoming the Hokage.
For example, Senju Nawaki from the original story had shouted about becoming the Hokage while still at the ninja academy.
If Yako were to return to the village right now and shout about becoming the Hokage, no one would care. But when Senju Nawaki shouted it, many people took him seriously. People were just different.
"Miss Yuka, what exactly are you trying to capture?"
"A Spear Egret. It's a rather rare flying ninja beast," Uzumaki Yuka said.
"Every Uzumaki ninja can sign a contract for their own Summoned Beast.
"Sealing Jutsu isn't strong on its own, but after signing contracts with Summoned Beasts possessing various special abilities, one's strength experiences a qualitative leap."
Yako felt a bit envious.
The sacred ground Summoned Beasts of the Sannin were each capable of crushing a Chunin or even a Jonin.
Not to mention the jealousy of the Cloud Ninja and Mist Ninja; even the Hidden Leaf ninjas were deeply envious.
Yako slightly turned his head. Looking up and to the side through the gaps in the bush leaves, he spotted Captain Antelope's mask.
Captain Antelope was hidden in the canopy of a nearby tree. The eyes beneath his mask seemed closed, or slightly narrowed.
Uzumaki Yuka was the strongest in the Uzumaki squad, and Captain Antelope kept a constant watch on her.
Yako waited for a long time, but Captain Antelope's attention never wavered. Therefore, Yako refrained from taking any action.
The ground was damp and warm, with bugs crawling past every now and then.
Unaware of Captain Antelope's constant gaze, Uzumaki Yuka carefully shifted her position beneath the shrub to keep the bugs off her body.
With her squirming, more of her snow-white chest was exposed.
Yako remained unmoved. He adjusted his mask slightly upward to conceal his own eyes and carefully kept his focus on Captain Antelope.
After consuming two military ration pills, they lay in wait from morning straight into the evening.
The sun sank in the west, casting deeper shadows beneath the bushes.
Suddenly, a black dot appeared in the distance, flying toward them at incredible speed.
"It's here! The Spear Egret is returning to its nest!"
It was a white egret over three meters long. The hard, slender beak at its front was an entire meter in length, while the rest of its neck and body were equally thin and elongated.
When it tucked its wings in, the Spear Egret boasted an extremely fast dive speed.
Seeing that Captain Antelope's attention had been drawn by the Spear Egret, Yako asked quietly, "Yuka, do you have any poisoned needles?"
"Poisoned needles? Yes!"
Uzumaki Yuka took a poisoned needle out of her ninja tool pouch.
Yako didn't know how to make poisons, so he didn't carry any.
If he wanted to deal with the powerful Captain Antelope, he had to rely on poison.
He took out his hemostatic agent and smeared it over his kunai, then placed the poison inside his ninja tool pouch.
Fox's series of actions left Yuka extremely confused.
Dipping a kunai in medicine... to slash and stop the bleeding at the same time?
Right at that moment, the Explosive Tag trap detonated.
Three large nets were blown into the sky, and one of them tangled around the Spear Egret's wing.
Uzumaki Yuka had no time to ponder Yako's bizarre behavior. She hurriedly leaped out and rushed toward the Spear Egret.
With Uzumaki Yuka gone, Captain Antelope's attention completely shifted. Only then did Yako quickly pull out the poison and inject it into the half-empty hemostatic agent bottle.
Everything was ready. Now, he just had to wait for an opportunity to strike at Captain Antelope.
According to the captain's orders, Yako couldn't leave Uzumaki Yuka's side, so he charged out as well.
With its wing tangled in the wire net, the Spear Egret couldn't fly and crashed to the ground.
Its spear-like beak was abnormally sharp. The first Uzumaki ninja who rushed forward had his thigh pierced right through.
That beak was literally a spear.
He couldn't imagine how much lethal power this ninja beast would have in a full dive.
The Spear Egret's neck was long and powerful. It constantly reeled back before thrusting forward to peck, keeping the Uzumaki ninjas completely at bay.
"I'll do it!"
Uzumaki Yuka leaped forward, forming hand seals to cast the Self-Cursing Binding Seal.
The cursed seals crawled up the Spear Egret's slender legs, then climbed onto its wings and neck, ultimately locking the bird down.
The Spear Egret continued to struggle, its body trembling incessantly.
Uzumaki Yuka explained to Fox beside her, "Next is a long process of taming. This ninja beast is too big. We have to wear it down until it's completely exhausted before we can use the contract Summoning Jutsu."
Yako slightly turned his head and realized Captain Antelope still hadn't appeared. He was still hiding in the canopy.
The contest of strength lasted a long time. Uzumaki Yuka finally suppressed the Spear Egret; the beast's eyes revealed a pleading look.
Seeing that the time was right, Uzumaki Yuka pulled out a scroll hidden on her thigh beneath her skirt.
It was the Adamantine Attacking Chains Scroll!
Just as Uzumaki Yuka, Yako, and the three Uzumaki ninjas focused all their attention on the sealing scroll, two Cloud Ninja squads that had been lying in ambush for a long time suddenly charged out from the flank.
The scroll!
The Cloud Ninja squads wanted to snatch the sealing scroll to study the secrets of the Uzumaki Clan's Sealing Jutsu.
To deal with the Cloud Ninja, Uzumaki Yuka was forced to release the Self-Cursing Binding Seal on the Spear Egret.
The Spear Egret's slender legs gave out, and it collapsed to the ground.
Uzumaki Yuka was not doing much better. Sweat had soaked through her tight clothes and dampened her skirt.
Her skirt clung tightly to her waist and hips, as if she had just been pulled from the water.
The Cloud Ninja charged over, and their squad leader instantly slashed an Uzumaki ninja to death.
Yako stepped in front of Yuka and blocked an incoming ninja sword.
Captain Antelope finally leaped down from the canopy, engaging in close combat with the nearest Cloud Ninja.
Given Captain Antelope's strength, he absolutely could have killed that Cloud Ninja in an instant, yet he was fighting back and forth with him.
Yako immediately realized that Captain Antelope was slacking off. Because he was an expert at slacking off himself, he saw through it at a glance.
If the captain was slacking off, Yako definitely needed to slack off as well.
He was forced back by a Cloud Ninja, narrowly avoiding getting his flank sliced open, and had to evade.
This consequently left Uzumaki Yuka exposed.
Uzumaki Yuka raised the scroll.
This scroll was originally meant for sealing the ninja beast, but now she had to use it against the Cloud Ninja.
Suddenly, Captain Antelope shouted, "Snatch it!"
The order was directed at Fox. The Anbu also wanted a complete Adamantine Attacking Chains Scroll.
Yako spun around, brandishing his kunai, and plunged it right into Uzumaki Yuka's abdomen!