"You really overdid it, Leaf Monkey."
Hearing the Fox Captain sympathize with him, Leaf Monkey said:
"When I was in the middle of the mission, I wasn't thinking. Captain, Squad Leader Flower Deer's injuries are real too. Everyone gave it everything."
Yoru glanced at Flower Deer, his head shaved bald, scalp covered in blade wounds.
Some of the cuts had reopened from the sprinting, leaking pinkish blood.
Looking closely, red blood was mixed with yellow pus.
Yoru then checked the poisoned Shimura ninja and said:
"We'll rest up ahead. Patch your wounds before moving again, don't leave permanent damage. Give the Shimura guy a few more shots of stimulants. As long as he doesn't die, it's fine."
Yoru hadn't expected his squad to take this mission so seriously.
As captain, he had read Leaf Monkey's file.
Leaf Monkey, real name Sugifuku.
A civilian-born chūninja from Konoha, raised by his older brother. Later his brother died in battle, leaving Sugifuku to raise his nephew.
Two years later, the nephew died in combat as a genin.
Sugifuku lost everything. He was ready to throw his life away in the Land of Grass frontlines, fighting like a man who wanted to die.
Because of this tragic resolve, ANBU selected him.
ANBU told him: "We will use any means necessary to end the war quickly. Serve the Hokage, and Konoha will return to peace sooner."
Sugifuku found a new flame in his heart, he didn't want his brother or nephew's fate to be repeated.
Since entering ANBU, he treated every mission as his last, desperate to end the war.
And such a good ANBU operative… was now being used to save one of Danzo's relatives.
"Leaf Monkey… when we get back, I'll request a jutsu scroll suited for you. Don't worry, I'll make sure you survive at least a few more months."
"Thank you, Captain!"
They had only rested a few minutes when White Ram suddenly said:
"Captain! Seven o'clock direction! A Sand squad, 800 meters out!"
"So Sand didn't plan to follow the exchange rules either. They had backup just like us. None of us are saints, just two sides of the same rotten coin."
Yoru immediately ordered:
"Those carrying injured, move first! Everyone else form the middle guard! I'll handle the rear!"
The squad marched again. Yoru stayed in the back, eyes fixed on the canyon beside the river.
There, he heard the metallic clatter of puppets.
The funnel-shaped canyon amplified the clicking sounds of puppet joints.
Three humanoid puppets leapt out of the gorge, firing a barrage of poison senbon toward the Fox Squad.
"Water Style: Water Wall!"
Yoru was ready. A water wall over a dozen meters long blocked the squad's flank.
All the poisoned needles hit the wall, leaving spreading patches of purple toxin on the water surface.
Before the wall collapsed, Yoru formed five rapid seals.
"Water Style: Severing Wave!"
A high-pressure stream burst from his mouth, sweeping across and slicing all three puppets apart.
Their insides exploded everywhere, gears, springs, belts, quite the show.
Their combat power dropped sharply.
One puppet's puppeteer was skilled, its severed upper and lower halves still crawled forward.
That was the annoying thing about puppets, unlike humans, you couldn't predict their behavior with normal logic.
After blocking a blade from a puppet arm with another water wall, Yoru shouted:
"Get away from the canyon!"
The squad changed direction, widening the distance. Forced to reposition, the puppeteer had to leap out of the gorge.
Two puppet masters, controlling fresh puppets, charged toward ANBU.
Yoru stopped and turned to face them.
Two puppets approached on the ground, drawing his attention, while a bat-shaped puppet swooped silently from above for a surprise attack.
Got him!
The bat puppet fired poison needles straight into the Konoha captain's back
BOOM!
A puff of white smoke, an Shadow Clone.
When?!
The puppeteer suddenly recalled, just after Yoru cast the Water Formation Wall earlier, he must have swapped in a clone behind the water.
Yoru rose from the ground behind the two puppet masters.
"Water Style: Severing Wave!"
The stream cut through both puppet masters at the waist.
Their guts spilled everywhere.
Unlike their puppets, they couldn't move after being cut in half.
Yoru walked to the canyon edge. Below, two Sand-ninja were fleeing.
He jumped down, landing on the river surface, and used his fastest Body Flicker Jutsu, Water Body Flicker, the technique of Hanzō the Salamander.
He appeared instantly behind the two Sand-ninja and fired another Severing Wave.
Both their skulls were sheared off cleanly.
Cruel, but he couldn't allow witnesses. No one could know he had mastered Hanzō's trademark jutsu.
After finishing, Yoru waited a while before climbing back up, pretending it took effort to kill the two Sand-ninja.
When he rejoined the squad, Flower Deer said enviously:
"Captain, your Water Style is incredible."
Yoru replied:
"Severing Wave was my special-jōninja reward from ANBU. The Water Wall came from the former owner of this mask, Black Ape's predecessor."
He quickly added to Black Ape:
"Not you, your mask's previous previous user. When we return, I'll request jutsu for you all. Think about what you want."
Back at camp, Yoru went straight to the medical tent.
Tsunade examined the heavily poisoned Shimura chūninja first. She lifted his eyelids, checked carefully, then said:
"The toxin hit his nervous system. Even if he survives, he'll be brain-damaged. With ANBU's usual style, shouldn't someone like this be quietly disposed of on the way back?"
Yoru said:
"Lady Tsunade, even cured he'll still be a Shimura clan idiot, so we can't dispose of him on the way."
"…Hmph." Tsunade said. "I see."
The three rescued prisoners, along with Flower Deer, Leaf Monkey, and others, were all treated in the tent.
Yoru was kicked out by the medical-ninja and waited outside.
Halfway through the treatments, two people approached, Nara Shikakuro, the commanding general, and his deputy, Sakumo Hatake.
They entered, then came out again soon after, both looking troubled.
Standing outside the curtain, Shikakuro said:
"Sakumo… the evaluation-exam system you proposed, its impact is too great. Word has spread. Many chūninja and special jōninja on the front lines are starting to take extreme risks. These three prisoners we rescued, they were captured because they recklessly charged ahead.
Sakumo, I understand your reasoning. But for now, the recommendation system suits Konoha better. If we start formal examinations now, our chūnin will die in droves. Don't you think so?"
After speaking, Shikakuro turned, and finally noticed the ANBU hiding in the shadows.
His eyes tightened, then relaxed once he saw the mask.
As commander, he wasn't a top-tier fighter, so missing an ANBU in hiding wasn't too shameful.
At least it was ANBU, not an enemy spy overhearing everything.
Yoru thought, As expected of the Nara clan head… such a sharp angle of attack.
Sakumo didn't want his proposals to cause needless casualties either.
Sakumo fell silent, unsure how to respond. It's hard to build something. Easy to destroy it.
Shikakuro had used simple facts to block Sakumo's plan.
You want exams? Then I'll show you how reckless Konoha shinobi become the moment you incentivize advancement.
Over-compliance is sometimes more destructive than rebellion. Tell people they can't burn firewood, and freeze a few soldiers on purpose, the rule gets overturned.
Shikakuro's subtle maneuvering left Sakumo unable to push further.
Shikakuro departed. Sakumo remained, deep in thought.
Yoru walked by, pretending to pass, and whispered:
"Putting aside my ANBU identity… Lord Sakumo, I support the exam system."
Sakumo blinked, looked at the masked ANBU, but, understanding ANBU secrecy, said nothing and left.
After Leaf Monkey's surgery was finished, Yoru returned to the ANBU tents.
Captain Yellow Dog found him:
"Fox, Deputy Commander Sakumo wants details about the ANBU prisoner-exchange mission. I approved it. Go report to him."