Yen fought while retreating, driven back toward the shore.
In Captain Antelope's eyes, Yen had only the strength of a genin, unfit for real responsibility. To have survived this long after Purple Cat's death already exceeded his expectations.
At the water's edge, Yen clashed hand-to-hand with a Cloud shinobi, testing each other with taijutsu. His eyes flicked constantly toward the blown-apart hut, taking in the whole battlefield.
From the wreckage, one Cloud squad had rushed out. One of them was badly hurt by the explosion, slumped by the stairs and gasping for air.
Horned Ox was a mess, filth dripping down his head. No wonder he'd lost his temper — he really had been "flown on." Theory mattered too in a shinobi's life. Poor Ox had paid for not understanding building layouts.
Antelope and Horned Ox each fought one Cloud shinobi.
In the distance, villagers stirred at the blast. Grabbing fishing spears, they poured out. But against shinobi they were helpless, lingering on the fringes, guarding their homes and boats instead of daring to charge.
Suddenly, two figures leapt from behind them.
Cloud shinobi. They'd been hiding among the fishermen.
Another squad, striking from ambush, turned the tide grim.
Yen had kept his distance, so the new arrivals rushed for Antelope and Horned Ox. Two against one — they were in danger. If they fell, he wouldn't last either.
Yen stopped holding back. He deliberately stumbled, exposing his back.
A Cloud shinobi raised his blade high and swung for Yen's head.
But under his body, Yen had already woven hand seals.
The shinobi froze mid-swing, joints locked by the Sealed Paralysis Mark. His blade halted thirty centimeters from Yen's skull.
Yen twisted up, kunai flashing, and stabbed into the man's belly. He twisted the blade, and the shinobi fell.
Yen sprinted for his comrades — only to see, too late, two Cloud blades hack down Antelope's head.
Horned Ox stiffened in shock, nearly cut down himself.
Dead? The captain?
But the body and severed head puffed away in smoke. A shadow clone.
Antelope had been testing them all along. Even their infiltration counted as part of his probing.
The real Antelope burst from the coconut grove behind, hurling explosive-tagged kunai into the villagers.
A squad was usually three or four. Only two Cloud shinobi had shown up earlier — there had to be more hidden among the fishermen.
He didn't bother distinguishing villager from enemy. The tags would kill everyone. Either the Cloud died in the blast, or the survivors would reveal themselves.
The explosions ripped through the crowd, seven or eight villagers flung screaming. Those who lived were maimed. Tags packed the force of a chunin-level Fire Style — devastating.
Yen turned away just as the two Cloud shinobi who'd slain the clone rushed him.
Two against one.
He let their blows drive him back, rolling with the strikes, feigning weakness.
Seeing the fox-masked shinobi so pitiful, one pursued while the other turned back to Antelope.
Yen sighed in relief. Yes, focus on the captain. He was the key. Yen was just cannon fodder.
The fight spilled into the shallows. To stop the Cloud from unleashing Lightning Style in water, Yen submerged, forming seals beneath the surface. The Sealed Paralysis Mark snared his foe long enough.
He killed the shinobi, then grasped the corpse's wrists and spun with it, thrashing underwater, making it look like a fierce struggle. His dance partner was a corpse, but the spectacle was convincing.
Only once the fighting above ended did he drag himself ashore.
Two Cloud shinobi killed — he had over-fulfilled his quota.
Antelope stood surrounded by corpses, though his abdomen had been pierced clean through. A mortal wound.
Horned Ox lay dead.
A bad sign for Yen. Without Ox, would the captain keep a closer eye on him now?
Would his newly-learned tricks be exposed? ANBU did not tolerate surprises. Jutsu were Konoha's most valuable resource after missions — they investigated and executed anyone suspicious of stealing them.
"Captain! Let's get out of here! The villagers are coming!"
Yen rushed to Antelope's side. The wound was real, not feigned. Blood ran between the captain's fingers.
The fishermen saw two shinobi — one bleeding, the other drenched and staggering — and found their courage. With spears raised, they charged, shouting vengeance for their dead.
Yen slung Antelope's arm over his shoulder and leapt away. A few swift bounds and they vanished into the grove.
"Fox," the captain rasped, "you chose wrong. You should have killed every armed villager, not fled."
"I feared more Cloud shinobi hiding among them," Yen answered.
Between two palms, a broad-leafed plant spread shadows. As they dropped toward it, Yen struck.
His kunai stabbed into Antelope's ribs.
Behind the mask, his eyes gleamed cold.
Always hiding, always forced to cast seals in secret — Antelope would discover him eventually. The Uzumaki girl had mistaken his sealing for Senju lineage. Would the captain not suspect the same?
ANBU hated anomalies. Everything had to be controlled.
Better to kill the captain now. Kill the captain, defect from Konoha.
If not now, when?
Even elite chunin died when wounded. A kunai could finish it.
Antelope grunted as the blade pierced.
Warm blood coated Yen's fingers, but less than he expected.
The ribs were iron-hard. His kunai dull.
The captain was ruthless. He countered immediately.
The arm draped on Yen's shoulder snapped tight, locking around his throat. His other hand rose, forming seals with the trapped arm.
Fire Style: Flame Bullet!
A fireball burst from Antelope's mouth.
At such close range, it engulfed Fox's head — and the captain's own arm.
Even dying, Antelope traded his right arm for Yen's life.
Caught in the lock, Yen couldn't form his seal in time.
His kunai was clamped by muscle, stuck fast in bone.
Too cunning. He had known Antelope used shadow clones — but not that he wielded Fire Style too.
To keep even this from his squad…
The speed of his signs proved it. Fire Style was his hidden trump card.
Yen's head was swallowed in fire.
It felt like fever — a thousand degrees of searing heat.
He died miserably, burned to ash.
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