Uzumaki Yuka stared at Fox in sheer terror.
'Isn't Fox a Senju clan spy within the Anbu?'
'Wait!'
It hit her. Right when the Explosive Tag went off, Fox had coated his kunai in hemostatic medicine.
The kunai hadn't struck deep, and thanks to the coagulant, the bleeding was minimal.
Pushing through the pain, Uzumaki Yuka activated the Adamantine Sealing Chains.
Yako feigned helplessness, his face draining of color as he acted out utter panic and an inability to stop her.
Over a dozen Adamantine Sealing Chains shot outward, impaling everyone on the field—except for Yako.
Whether they were Cloud Ninja or Captain Antelope, every last one of them was speared by the formidable power of that sealing scroll.
Under the suppression of the Sealing Jutsu, no one could move a muscle.A surge of dark satisfaction coursed through Yako. He had deliberately smeared hemostatic medicine on his kunai for this exact moment: to trick Uzumaki Yuka into thinking he was on her side so she would spare him.
The deception had worked flawlessly. He was the only one left untouched by the Adamantine Sealing Chains.
Rising to his feet, Yako brandished his kunai and methodically executed the paralyzed Cloud Ninja one by one.
Watching Fox's fluid, ruthless movements, Captain Antelope saw his subordinate in an entirely new light.
This ninja—once the weakest link in their squad, a mere piece of cannon fodder making up the numbers—was growing at an astonishing rate. His timing was becoming increasingly lethal and practiced. He finally had the distinct edge of a true Anbu operative.
Glancing down at the chain spearing right through his abdomen, Captain Antelope felt a wave of agonizing pain.
The Adamantine Sealing Chains were tipped with bladed darts, and one of those darts had impaled him right through the chest.
'To think the Uzumaki clan's Adamantine Sealing Chains technique can materialize chakra... What a terrifying secret technique.'
Materializing chakra reportedly touched upon the realm of Yin-Yang Release—something far beyond the grasp of ordinary ninja.
Seeing Captain Antelope's wretched condition, Yako didn't rush in to treat his wounds. Instead, his first move was to snatch the sealing scroll straight from Uzumaki Yuka's grip.
He handed the scroll over to his squad leader. "Mission accomplished. I got it!"
Captain Antelope cursed inwardly. 'I told you to grab the intact scroll, not the one that's already been used!'
With no time to berate Fox, Captain Antelope ordered, "Move! Fall back!"
Supporting his captain, Yako leaped into the dark woods bordering the lake.
"Captain! Let me give you a dose of hemostatic medicine!"
The coagulant was injected smoothly into the captain's side ribs, and the gushing blood slowed to a halt.
In the pitch darkness of the forest, the eyes behind Yako's mask gleamed with a sharp, calculating light.
As he hauled Captain Antelope along, he carefully monitored the man's physical condition, feeling for even the slightest tremor in his muscles.
That hemostatic injection was less than half medicine—the vast majority of it was lethal poison.
Uzumaki Yuka was a Chunin, and a poison fielded by a Chunin wouldn't lack potency.
This time, Yako wasn't going to make a reckless, clumsy move like he had before.
Captain Antelope was harboring a devastating Fire Release trump card, and Yako had no intention of burning to death a second time.
He would never let the same trick kill him twice.
Once they had put enough distance between themselves and the battlefield, Captain Antelope panted heavily and said, "Fox, your strength is pitifully weak, but your luck is uncanny. You manage to survive every single time. Keep holding on... maybe you'll grow into a decent ninja someday."
"Thank you for the praise, Captain."
Captain Antelope's breathing grew increasingly ragged. "This time... cough, cough... the mission failed. But we can select the next... cough... the next Uzumaki squad and keep hunting for the sealing scroll."
Waves of darkness washed over the captain's vision. He assumed it was just the natural onset of severe blood loss.
'Worthy of the Uzumaki clan,' he thought grimly. 'Their final counterattack was monstrous.'
Noticing the captain's rapid deterioration, Yako pressed him. "Captain! If you pass out, how am I supposed to contact the squadron captain? I'm worried I won't be able to treat wounds this severe. Does the squadron have a medical ninja?"
As his consciousness began to fray, Captain Antelope realized Fox had a point.
With a full abdominal perforation, his spleen was likely ruptured. He desperately needed a medical ninja from the main squadron; hemostatic medicine wouldn't come close to saving him.
Reaching blindly for his ninja tool pouch, the captain saw his vision double, then triple, spinning endlessly before his eyes.
Yako stepped in, drawing the scroll from the pouch himself and pressing it into the captain's trembling hands.
Shaking his dizzy, heavy head, Captain Antelope forced himself to focus, using a specialized technique to unseal the scroll.
"Every mission... the cryptography unit creates... a new... set of codes..."
Before he could finish the sentence, Captain Antelope slumped forward, out cold.
Yako stood over him in silence for several seconds. Only when he was certain the captain was completely unconscious did he begin forming hand seals, casting the Self-Cursing Binding Seal.
The sealing curse crawled across Captain Antelope's entire body.
Once fully assured that his captain couldn't mount even a shred of resistance, Yako raised his kunai and drove it mercilessly straight into the man's throat.
Blood erupted. The excruciating pain ripped Captain Antelope awake, his eyes snapping wide just in time to see the kunai embedded in his neck—and exactly what Fox was doing to him.
"You..."
Unable to utter another word, the captain died.
Yako couldn't afford to pause. He knew well enough that skilled ninja could extract vital intelligence straight from a corpse's brain.
With brutal efficiency, his kunai plunged down again and again, prying through Captain Antelope's skull and thoroughly churning his gray matter to pulp.
Truly repulsive.
And yet, truly reassuring.
Captain Antelope was finally dead.
He wondered if the squadron captain might promote him to squad leader now—after all, he was the sole surviving member of his team.
His grim task finished, Yako slowly rose to his feet. He scanned the dark woods around him, confirmed the coast was clear, and melted away from the site.
He studied the Anbu communication scroll in detail.
Whenever the Anbu executed large-scale joint operations, the village compiled a fresh encryption cypher to guide scattered squads back into formation.
By reading hidden markings left in the field, individual units could pinpoint their superior officers and track the movement of the main force.
Armed with this scroll, Yako could locate the squadron captain directly.
Once he secured a position as squad leader, he would receive missions directly from the top, gaining access to crucial intelligence instead of being used as a blind, expendable pawn.
Yako doubled back to the original battlefield and located Uzumaki Yuka still sprawled on the ground.
She didn't dare move an inch; a kunai remained jutting out of her abdomen.
The bleeding wasn't severe yet, but she was terrified that shifting around—or worse, pulling the blade out—would trigger massive hemorrhaging.
Seeing a familiar silhouette loom over her, Uzumaki Yuka breathed a sigh of relief. "Fox, you came back!"
Crouching beside her, Yako spoke softly. "I'm back. Sorry about earlier—I had to follow the captain's orders. Let me handle those wounds for you."
A bitter mix of resentment and confusion swirled inside her. To think the Konoha Anbu would actually attempt to plunder her clan's newly developed sealing scroll.
Thank goodness Fox was a Senju clan operative who had planned ahead, coating his blade in hemostatic medicine to keep her alive.
Squelch!
Uzumaki Yuka's jaw trembled violently.
A kunai had been plunged deep into her throat. Hot blood surged upward, filling her mouth and splashing past her lips.
A fleeting speck of guilt flickered across Yako's mind before evaporating.
Coating that kunai with coagulant had only ever been a ploy to win her trust, making it far easier to execute Captain Antelope's directive.
He was a Konoha Anbu operative, not some underground Senju clan mole.
Only a fool would volunteer to spy for the Senju clan—a doomed clan already marching toward its own extinction.
Crossing over into this brutal ninja world hadn't given Yako some grand mission to uphold justice; he only cared about surviving.
Uzumaki Yuka stared up at him, her fading eyes brimming with bewilderment and shock, unable to comprehend why Fox would betray her like this.
Yako offered no explanation.
If she wanted someone to blame, she could blame herself for knowing far too much. She simply had to die here. The secret of his Self-Cursing Binding Seal, the betrayal against Captain Antelope—if even a whisper of either leaked out, Yako would be dead meat.
As the great scientist Isaac Newton once said: better a dead comrade than a dead me.
Yako thoroughly searched Uzumaki Yuka's body but failed to uncover any additional Adamantine Sealing Chains scrolls.
Since there were none left, he let it be. Replenishing his stock of kunai from the fallen gear, Yako vanished into the night.