"Hayate, no need to be so formal," Evan said with a warm smile, gentle as a spring breeze. "Just call me Evan."
That expression—so mild, so effortlessly friendly—made Yugao's heart skip for a moment.
She had barely interacted with Evan before.
But in ANBU, she had heard plenty of stories.
Stories of a boy who slaughtered entire units alone, who ended wars by force, who terrified enemy villages into submission.
By all accounts, she imagined someone cold, distant, blood-soaked.
Yet the person standing before her…
He seemed almost approachable.
Soft-spoken.
Polite.
Confusingly so.
"Cough… cough…" Hayate started to speak again, "Th-that wouldn't be right. Evan-dono is, after all—"
Evan cut him off casually, as if the conversation bored him.
"What happened here? I heard the clash of jutsu from a distance."
Yugao immediately straightened, her expression solemn.
"Someone attacked four Root operatives. All four were killed."
"Root?" Evan blinked lightly. "Ah. Danzo's people."
Hayate nodded gravely.
"We must report this to the Hokage immediately. Anyone capable of killing four jōnin in a single instant is an extreme threat."
"Mm…" Evan's eyes flickered thoughtfully. "There aren't many in the Leaf with that level of strength."
"Exactly," Yugao agreed. "To kill four elite jōnin simultaneously, without giving them even a moment to react—only someone with technique on par with—"
She stopped mid-sentence.
Her gaze drifted to Evan's profile.
A rumor rose in her mind—one she had always taken as exaggeration.
Evan, as a teenager, cutting down eighty Mist-nin in a single breath on the Water Country front…
Breaking their morale so completely that the Hidden Mist capitulated days later…
And now—he appeared here, alone, minutes after Root died in precisely the same manner.
Her blood ran cold.
It was him.
Hayate, unaware of her revelation, continued:
"Only the Hokage-sama's Flying Thunder God could—"
Evan rolled his eyes.
People always assumed the impossible could be learned if someone "stole" it. As if the Flying Thunder God were some elementary chakra exercise.
He smiled sweetly at Yugao—whose face had gone ghost-pale.
"What's wrong, Yugao? You look like you've seen a ghost."
Gulp.
Her palms were dripping with sweat.
She forced herself to swallow.
"N-nothing…"
She was lying, and she knew he knew it.
Evan exhaled quietly.
Honestly… killing both of them would be the simplest solution.
He couldn't exactly allow rumors that he murdered Leaf shinobi to spread—not when he was carefully maintaining his "bright, dependable Konoha youth" persona.
Just as the thought crossed his mind—
Run.
The instinct slammed into Yugao like lightning.
Her entire body stiffened.
He was going to silence them.
She hesitated only a fraction of a second before speaking.
"Evan-dono, may I… ask you a few questions?"
Evan raised a brow, amused. "Of course."
Yugao turned to Hayate.
Her voice was calm—too calm.
"Hayate. Go report to the Hokage. I'll stay and ask Evan-dono what I need."
Go.
Before he decides to kill us both.
Hayate blinked.
Confused, but moved by her determination.
"…All right."
He leapt away through the trees.
Yugao finally exhaled, a tremor of relief in her breath.
At least Hayate can escape… even if I die here.
"So."
Evan's voice brushed against her ear—too close, too gentle.
"You've already figured it out?"
Yugao froze.
His breath ghosted over the shell of her ear, warm and soft as if whispering to a lover.
He was behind her—so close his chin rested lightly on her shoulder.
Yugao's entire body locked in terror.
I'm dead.
I am absolutely dead.
"E-Evan-dono… what do you mean?" she whispered, desperately clinging to ignorance.
Her heartbeat hammered against her ribs.
The two of them were practically pressed together—his heat radiating against her back, his voice lowered to a silky whisper.
It felt unbearably intimate.
But she didn't dare move.
Not an inch.
One wrong motion might be her last.
"What's wrong?" Evan chuckled softly. "Don't be nervous. I'm not a bad person."
He breathed in gently—taking in her faint floral scent—his mind already weighing what to do with this sharp, perceptive kunoichi.
"Evan-dono, could you… please step back a little?" Yugao managed to say, cheeks reddening with a mixture of fear and embarrassment. "You're too close…"
Evan flashed a bright grin.
"Don't you like it?"
"I—I…"
Her voice cracked.
She truly had no idea what answer might keep her alive.
Yugao knew too much about him—more than ordinary Leaf shinobi.
She had heard the rumors, read the classified reports.
She knew how many died under his hand.
She doubted even an ANBU squad could restrain him.
"Yugao," Evan murmured, twirling a strand of her violet hair between his fingers. "You've figured it out, haven't you?"
"That these Root shinobi… were killed by me."
Her heart plummeted.
She had suspected.
But hearing him admit it—
There was no going back.
Yugao bit her lip.
"Why? Why kill them? Even if they are Root… they're still Leaf."
"They tried to take me," Evan replied calmly. "I simply defended myself."
"Root wanted to… capture you?" Yugao whispered. "For what purpose?"
Evan shrugged lightly.
"How should I know? Root doesn't need reasons to snatch people off the street."
His tone was casual.
Almost bored.
The meaning, however—
Was anything but.
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