One of the White Ram Squad's shinobi dropped from the trees the moment he saw the state of Black Ox's chest. The injury caused by the explosive tag looked fatal. He rushed to help.
"Wait! Don't go near him! Be careful!"
White Ram's warning came too late.
The squadmate drew his kunai and slit Black Ox's throat clean open.
Blood spurted across his chest, mixing into a mess of black and red.
Everything descended into chaos.
"Everyone fall back!" Yako barked, voice slicing through the rain. "Maintain at least fifty meters between each other! No one is to approach anyone else!"
The squad obeyed immediately, scattering into the forest.
Only the sound of rain remained—pounding against leaves, pools of water, and thickening mud.
Five minutes passed. Nothing happened.
Ten minutes. Still nothing.
Fifteen minutes.
Cautiously, Yako stepped toward Purple Cat and began tending to her wounds.
She didn't attack him—an encouraging sign. Kato Dan had likely withdrawn.
He kept talking to her, testing for signs of possession, confirming her thoughts were her own again. Once assured, they began whispering tactics.
They had to be better prepared next time. They couldn't afford to be this reactive again.
As they resumed their journey, Yako enforced a new rule: every squad member had to stay twenty meters apart at all times. That way, even if someone was rigged with explosive tags, the others wouldn't get caught in the blast.
At the same time, he abandoned their southeastern route toward the Land of Fire. Instead, they veered south—farther away, into less predictable terrain.
He wasn't about to risk Kato Dan predicting their direction and setting up an ambush.
Two hours later, everything was quiet.
Yako let out a long breath.
Maybe… maybe Kato Dan had lost interest. Maybe he'd given up the hunt.
A jōnin like Kato Dan wouldn't waste his time forever chasing a bunch of low-value targets.
They found shelter in a densely wooded grove, each person choosing a tree to rest beneath.
Yako sat alone under one thick-trunked tree. Its broad canopy shielded him from the worst of the rain.
He gazed up at the heavy black clouds.
'If lightning struck right now… would it kill me?'
Not exactly the safest place to wait out a storm.
Some useless piece of knowledge from his past life bubbled up again.
'You're not supposed to shelter under trees in thunderstorms.'
Great.
As if they could all line up to take turns inside a cave.
Lightning flickered across the clouds, followed by low rolling thunder.
Yako stood up, ready to order the march to resume.
If they had to, they could loop around the Land of Rain from the south and cut through the Land of Rivers instead.
The second lightning flash was sudden—blindingly bright.
Yako squinted.
Something felt off.
Why was the flash… lingering?
A flare grenade soared out of the darkness, aimed straight for White Ram.
Shit.
Kato Dan hadn't given up at all.
He was still on them—like a damn curse.
Yako's hands blurred through seals—Body Flicker Technique.
He reappeared instantly between White Ram and the incoming flare.
White Ram was their sensor-type. Without him, they'd be blind in a place like the Land of Rain.
This cursed country wasn't just crawling with Rain shinobi. There were rogue ninja factions, Iwa stragglers, and even rumors of Uchiha Madara's shadow drifting somewhere through its swamps.
Flashbangs. Smoke bombs. All classic counters to dojutsu users.
With that kind of sensory overload, White Ram wouldn't even be able to keep his eyes open.
Yako kicked the controlled ANBU aside with a single precise strike.
He didn't want to kill him.
Leaf Monkey. Black Ox.
They were already dead—without meaning, without gain.
But just as he turned—
The sound of something slicing through air behind him.
No time.
'Can even someone like White Ram—someone with a kekkei genkai—be overwhelmed by Kato Dan's jutsu?'
White Ram was faster than most of the squad. Stronger too.
Yako had expected something like this and already began pivoting to the side, twisting mid-step.
Too late.
White Ram's palm struck his left shoulder.
The sensation vanished immediately.
His arm went numb—chakra points sealed.
Gentle Fist.
White Ram's strikes came one after the other, relentless.
His movements weren't as fluid as usual, but they still carried nearly eighty percent of his usual precision.
Kato Dan. That bastard had clearly done extensive research on the Hyūga.
To not only control them—but to replicate their techniques at such a high level?
Of course.
Hyūga were regularly assigned to Kato Dan's personal guard.
He knew them well.
Yako fought back with only his right arm, ducking and weaving.
"Purple Cat! Help me!" he shouted.
She responded instantly—Mind Body Switch Technique.
White Ram staggered mid-blow.
"I'm back, Captain! Purple Cat is controlled!"
He lunged forward to shield Yako, placing himself between captain and supposed traitor.
Purple Cat hesitated.
He said he was back to normal.
Her jutsu faltered ever so slightly.
Too late.
White Ram exploded into motion again, kunai flashing.
He aimed straight for Yako's throat.
Yako turned, dipped low. The blade rushed in.
Too fast.
He could see it—each rain droplet split open along the blade's edge.
The kunai didn't stop.
Yako surged forward on instinct, driving himself into White Ram's arms.
The blade pierced the back of his neck—half a centimeter deep.
"Nrgh!"
White Ram grunted.
Yako's kunai buried itself into White Ram's abdomen.
All of it happened in an instant.
Pure reflex.
Had White Ram moved even slightly faster, Yako's throat would've been pierced through.
Yako looked down.
His kunai had pierced White Ram's lung. The square-pointed blade had even crushed part of his rib.
Kato Dan had timed it perfectly.
He forced White Ram forward in the final moment, turning a critical wound into a fatal one…
Still conscious, White Ram raised a trembling hand and pointed north.
"Captain… I sensed it… that direction… I'm sorry…"
He was dying.
Twenty kilometers away, in a hidden cave, Kato Dan jolted awake.
So troublesome, this squad…
He'd thought controlling one ANBU Byakugan user would be enough.
But White Ram had been with Yako too long.
For Yako, only Purple Cat mattered more.
In ANBU, the closest things to "familiar faces" for him were Purple Cat… and White Ram.
White Ram, like most of the Hyūga branch family, was unfailingly gentle.
He'd died without ever breaking free of the Caged Bird Seal.
And it had been Yako's kunai that killed him.
Yako had crossed into this world with a heart already numb.
Everyone here had felt like a stranger.
And each full moon, when time rewound again—when death and blood lost permanence—it only deepened that detachment.
People died. So what?
People killed. So what?
But this month…
He killed White Ram.
And this time, he wouldn't be taking him back.
There was no saving him.
The guilt surged up violently.
Rain trickled into Yako's eyes.
They stung.
A sharp, unnatural heat exploded behind his skull, racing down his optic nerves.
His eyes turned blood-red.
In the center of each, a single tomoe spun rapidly.
Sharingan—awakened.
That cursed bloodline.
Each tomoe born from the death of someone precious.
This wasn't an elite awakening, like with Purple Cat—his most trusted comrade—but the result of watching White Ram, someone who'd been by his side all this time, die right in front of him.
The truth was…
A talented Uchiha could awaken their Sharingan if even a pet died.
Maybe that's why so many of them kept cats. Even the Summoning Beast known as Cat Granny.
Some of the ancient clan heads even claimed that keeping a cat around made eye awakening easier.
For the less gifted Uchiha?
They could slaughter their whole family tree and still never open their eyes.
Being an Uchiha's enemy was dangerous.
Being their friend?
Even more so.
White Ram leaned close to Yako's ear.
"Captain… I reported you to Yellow Dog Squad Captain. That night with the Nine-Tails… your chakra flared abnormally…"
Yako's heart skipped.
Yellow Dog was starting to suspect him?
He turned to look at White Ram.
Behind the eyehole of his ANBU mask, the Hyūga's pale pupil had turned cloudy—like spoiled milk thick with fibers.
Yako stood up.
White Ram was gone.
Now he had to keep Purple Cat—and the others—alive.