Room 20, the ANBU locker room.
They had just finished a routine patrol in the Hidden Leaf Village. Each person stood by their locker, undoing their ANBU vests.
Yako's breathing was quieter than usual, afraid the captain would call on him.
Can you imagine how terrifying it is to be called out by the captain?
It's like slacking off all week only to have your manager ask you to present the proposal. Like coming ho from a foot massage parlor and your wife asks for your "assignnt."
The captain still called out Yako's codena.
"Fox. Tonight, you're staking out the Tsurugetsu Tavern."
Damn it. Still .
Is it because I'm the most useless?
Everyone else gets to rest, but trash like doesn't have that right?
He pulled the ANBU vest he'd just taken off back over his shoulders.
This wasn't the standard flak jacket worn by ordinary shinobi—it was gray iron armor, just like the kind Kakashi wore during his ANBU days in the original series.
But despite being made of iron, it offered no sense of safety.
After nightfall, Yako hid in the trees at the street corner, watching the tavern from afar.
At one mont, his eyes shifted slightly beneath the mask.
He was being serious. He even predicted it in advance. And yet… he still didn't know how the squad captain had shown up.
Yako flinched as the squad captain approached.
He asked for money—thickened his skin this ti and asked for three stacks.
Might as well. I bleed for ANBU. They shouldn't shortchange .
Once inside the Tsurugetsu Tavern, Yako went straight to the corner seat.
"Bring the most expensive sake!"
The sa lady boss from last ti brought over the bottle, smiling seductively as she leaned close.
Her neckline was very low.
Yako stared, transfixed.
So big, so beautiful… but why don't they jiggle? It ruins the aesthetic.
Sa procedure as before. Her chest brushed against his ribs as she led him into the side room in the back.
She closed the door.
"Dear shinobi, do you prefer Yang Release or Yin Release?"
"Oh, I get it. I totally get it. Sotis I prefer Yang Release. Sotis I'm more into Yin Release. When I'm tired, I go Yin Release—you get on top. If I'm doing fine, I go Yang Release—I get on top!"
"Hehehe, dear shinobi, you really do understand."
Yako chuckled, but inwardly, he was on full alert.
Movent.
Sothing had moved!
From the corner of the room, sothing burrowed up from underground.
The floor didn't visibly shift, but he knew the Hidden Fish in Earth Technique himself. He felt the intruder coming.
"I can't wait anymore! Let's go! Yang Release first!"
With sudden force, Yako tackled the lady boss to the ground—straight toward the shadow's location.
From his lower back, he pulled out a hidden kunai and drove it between the woman's legs.
She had been thinking this Konoha shinobi was just a little too eager, when—over Yako's shoulder—she caught a glimpse of the kunai's iron ring.
Oh no!
There was a sudden chill between her legs.
Just as she hit the floor and was preparing to fight back, a groan ca from beneath the floor.
Even worse!
The kunai wasn't ant to kill her—it was for the teammate underground!
And it hit a vital point. Maybe even the heart.
Yako had stabbed between her legs and into her comrade's heart.
A storm of thoughts rushed through her mind.
To protect her identity as a spy, the village had sacrificed many comrades. Squadmates who'd been with her for years, even teachers who had trained her—all died in the Hidden Leaf.
To avoid exposure, she and this teammate had never t. They communicated only through coded marks.
Now that her partner was exposed, she must not be.
The only way to preserve her cover… was to pretend she knew nothing.
If she was found out, she would die. If she passed out, Konoha might assu she didn't know anything. It was her one and only shot.
"Ahhh!"
The lady boss slamd the back of her head into the floor and passed out.
Yako clearly felt her body go limp. She'd lost consciousness.
Was this woman really a spy? If she was, wouldn't fainting now be risky? Wasn't she afraid I'd kill her on the spot?
Doesn't matter. First, call the captain—he's still in the trees by the street.
Yako left the side room, leapt to the rooftop, and vanished in a flicker. After signaling the captain, he returned to the side room.
The door was open. Seconds later, the captain stepped in too.
He shut the door cautiously, eyes scanning the scene: "Blood around the kunai… soone underground. Fox, did you kill him?"
"Yes, Captain. My chakra nature is Earth, so I sensed soone underground and stabbed through the floor."
The squad captain nodded. "Good. Very good."
He raised a hand and, in the next second, smashed open the floor—dragging the intruder out.
Covered in dirt and blood.
After a quick inspection, the captain continued:
"Proficient in Earth Release. Judging by his broad facial features, likely soone from the Land of Earth. Suspected Iwa-nin spy.
Well done, Fox. You just completed a B-rank mission.
Just passed the Chūnin Exams, and you're already finishing B-rank missions. You've got good luck. Lord White Fang once said—'Luck is also a kind of strength.'"
So this captain had dealings with White Fang?
Kakashi always said luck was a kind of strength—guess he heard it from his father, Sakumo Hatake.
Yako muttered, "Captain, I'm not that weak, right?"
"If over a thousand shinobi hadn't died on the battlefield in the Land of Hot Water, and the Chūnin Exams hadn't been watered down for warti… you wouldn't make Chūnin in three years."
Seeing he couldn't change the captain's opinion, Yako turned toward the unconscious lady boss and gestured that she was still alive.
"No worries. She's out cold."
"Captain, is the lady boss an Iwa-nin spy?"
"Don't know. First we take this guy and extract intel from his mind. Maybe we'll find a lead."
"If this woman's a spy, we won't let her off."
"I'll take the spy. Clean up the scene so no one knows ANBU was here. Then report back."
The captain hoisted the spy and left.
Yako painstakingly repaired the floor and placed the lady boss back on the bed.
He glanced at her one last ti, a little regretful. She didn't jiggle and she wasn't soft—but she was big. What a waste.
He retrieved his gear from the trees and returned to the ANBU base.
Pushing the corpse along, Yako and the captain delivered the body to the Intelligence Division.
A mber of the Yamanaka Clan took the body.
"Captain," Yako said, "can I take a few days off? Between the patrols, the stakeout, and this spy mission, I'm wiped out."
The captain was about to refuse, but thought about Fox's pathetic combat ability. With or without him, the squad wouldn't be affected. Given he'd just completed a spy mission, the captain said:
"Fine. You get three days' rest. Be on standby for orders. The village is short-handed—return in three days, no excuses."
"Yes, thank you, Captain."
Yako had to hold out until the next full moon on the 15th for a chance to revive.
Twenty-five days left. One day at a ti.
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