Darkness fell over his eyes, and the scene shifted.
Yen woke on the small boat, back at the full moon night when they had just landed in the Land of Waves.
He adjusted his fox mask. The feeling of being burned to death in the last run had not faded. His face still seemed to scorch, as if his own flesh had melted and charred.
"Fox, off the boat. Now."
Unlike last time, Yen dawdled and did not jump ashore immediately, earning a bark from the captain.
He remembered clearly that in the last run Captain Antelope never said that line.
After a revival, most things would progress along the same track, but some of his actions or changes could bring different outcomes, which Yen did not want. Until he reached the moment of his previous death, he had to be careful and follow the old path as much as possible, to keep his narrative edge.
He studied Captain Antelope a beat longer, highly wary of the Fire Style the man had hidden. Too devious, to conceal an ability even from his subordinates.
In a squad, everyone should know one another's strengths so they can work together. If the team does not know the captain's skills, they can make the wrong choices. That is playing with people's lives.
ANBU demands absolute loyalty. Everyone is watched by other ANBU. The captain, too, was on guard against his own men.
Antelope glanced at Fox. He had only hurried him off the boat, yet the fox-masked shinobi's eyes looked strange.
[Arc of the Moon activated.
The host has one resurrection per month and will revive on the night of the previous full moon upon death.
Reward: one lottery draw.
Shadow Clone Technique (basic)
Fire-nature chakra
Taijutsu grapple lock (basic).]
The grapple lock was the arm choke Antelope used on him, strong and hard to break. Yen already had the Sealed Paralysis Mark; he did not need a lock. Fire-nature chakra was unnecessary for now. He was a fake chunin. Handling Earth Release well was already good. Until he reached elite chunin, there was no need to develop another nature. Even if he did, he did not have the chakra to cast it many times.
In the end, Yen chose the Shadow Clone Technique.
Shadow clones create solid bodies. Sometimes even ocular jutsu cannot see through them. Antelope was especially skilled with clones, often using a clone or a subordinate's life to probe for intel.
The downside is chakra is split evenly. But that flaw is not much of a flaw for shinobi with very large or very small reserves. If you have a lot, half is still plenty. If you have little, there is hardly anything to lose. For Yen right now, the split was acceptable. He could just rely on taijutsu.
As in the last run, the story advanced, and the squad reached the fishing village by the sea. They crawled into the raised underfloor space from different sides; Horned Ox took a face full of "flying" and, furious, slapped on an explosive tag. Yen fought while backing away and slipped aside.
This time he knew where the real captain was hiding, so when he formed seals for the binding he was more cautious, making sure the captain would not see.
Cloud shinobi hidden among the villagers struck. In the end Horned Ox died and the captain was wounded. Yen burst from the water and shouldered the injured captain away.
In the coconut grove, Antelope felt a stab of pain at his ribs. His scalp prickled. He thought Fox was trying to kill him, then looked down and saw Fox had given him a hemostatic injection. He exhaled. Fox would not be so foolish as to strike him. Even hurt and slashed, he could still kill Fox.
They found a natural cave in the reefs and hid inside.
This time Yen did not harbor a trace of murder. He carefully treated the captain's wounds. There were more than ten days until the full moon. Without the captain, he would never make it. Being ANBU was too dangerous.
Antelope felt Fox's concern, and with Fox now his only subordinate, his attitude warmed.
He even analyzed the situation. "Fox, in our search sector we have run into two Cloud squads. Looks like Cloud is operating in force in the Land of Waves. The mission share here has always been contested between Kirigakure and Uzushio. We have fought Mist many times to help Uzushio and lost plenty of people. Without Konoha, how could Uzushio stand against Mist?
"Lately there has been grumbling in the village. Why help an outside village at all. Better to take the Land of Waves contracts for ourselves. Now that Cloud is here, things are complicated."
Yen thought, then asked, "Captain Antelope, is Uzushio not our ally? Are those complaints just appearing on their own, or…"
"Enough," the captain snapped. "If you want to survive in ANBU, you do not ask what you should not know and you do not know what you should not ask. Those complaints about Uzushio are of course natural. What, you think ANBU is spreading them?"
He denied it, but Yen was eighty percent sure ANBU was behind it.
The Nine Tails jinchuriki Uzumaki Mito's condition was poor. Yen had even guarded the Senju compound before. Mito had married into the Senju and had not taken their surname. In power and status, no one could compare, but she was too old now. The village leadership and the Senju seemed to disagree on the next jinchuriki.
In the past, the Senju handled talks with the Uzumaki. This time the village bypassed the Senju entirely and sent Danzo personally to Uzushio, which meant the village could no longer reach agreement with the Senju.
It took five days for Antelope to recover. They resumed the mission, searching their assigned sector for Cloud. This time they found three Cloud squads. Luckily, the captain did not order Yen to probe. Each time they spotted a squad, they observed from afar, then slipped away.
Day by day, at last the full moon night arrived, the only time that gave Yen peace of mind.
The full moon hung like a silver plate, the light like white frost.
Yen crouched on a reef. The sea wind was damp against his mask.
In the distance, Captain Antelope was reporting to the company captain. The surf roared nonstop. Yen could not hear the words, only saw the captain nod again and again in agreement.
Behind the mask, Yen was deeply dissatisfied with his position. This would not do. As an ANBU grunt he did not even know the mission content and could only follow orders. That left him passive in every operation. He at least had to become a squad leader and enter the tasking system to access more intel.
Intel was everything. It was the key to staying alive.
He stared at Antelope's back and calculated. He had failed to kill him last time. That had been luck. He still needed to get rid of him soon.
He checked his system panel.
[Host status:
Chakra reserves: chunin level.
Chakra nature: earth.
Ninjutsu: basic three techniques, Earth Release: Fish in the Earth, Shadow Clone Technique.
Taijutsu: basic taijutsu, basic kunai throwing.
Sealing: Sealed Paralysis Mark.
Other: none.]
A good cook does not pick ingredients. A clever homemaker does not pick the grain. With these abilities, he had to find a way to step over Antelope's corpse and become a squad leader.
They were all ANBU. No one had the right to call anyone else black-hearted.
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