Once again, Izumi tasted the bitterness of social death. Her delicate eyebrows drooped, and her big, dark eyes—accentuated by the tear mole—sparkled with grievance.
She really was going to become the team's walking compass and human error eliminator for multiple-choice problems.
Izumi let out a long sigh in her heart. After sulking for a moment, she mimicked Tamao's mindset and tried looking at the situation from a fresh perspective.
Thinking it over differently, a sudden light dawned in her eyes. She realized maybe her strange "talent" wasn't something she couldn't accept.
At the very least, she was someone useful. She could help Captain Yu and the rest of the clan.
In that regard, Izumi felt she had far outshone Uchiha Mikoto.
With that thought, the feeling of grievance disappeared. She widened her pretty dark eyes and looked directly at Mikoto.
Mikoto was stunned. Startled by the girl's blunt stare, she suddenly grew flustered, thoughts spiraling.
Had this girl seen through her death wish?
No, that couldn't be…
Mikoto composed herself, maintaining her calm and gentle demeanor. She smoothed out her expression and then looked softly toward Yu.
The rest of the Uchiha also stopped teasing Izumi and turned to look at their captain.
"Izumi stays. Tamao and Minami, take the rest of the clan and wipe out the enemies lying in ambush on the other two mountain paths. Leave no one alive.
We'll keep moving forward with the merchant convoy. Once you're done, regroup with us!"
Yu handed out the orders, his eyes sweeping across the Uchiha whose bloodlust had yet to fade.
Tamao and Minami beamed with excitement. They had just started getting into the groove. Each took a member of Izumi's patrol squad and split off in both directions.
Yūhi Kurenai and Nonōyu hadn't been called upon, but they weren't worried about these Uchiha. Just moments ago, they had witnessed firsthand the strength of Yu's squad.
Unless the Root squad had people like Yamanaka Fū or Aburame Tōrune, they couldn't possibly defeat a four-man Uchiha team just by sheer numbers.
After the battle ended—
The valley was saturated with the stench of blood. Soon, it attracted flocks of crows from the surrounding mountains.
Dozens of crows spread their wings and landed around the corpses, drinking the warm blood and pecking at the flesh as if no one were present.
A few unlucky crows flew too close to Yamanaka Fū's corpse.
They unknowingly inhaled nano-scale poisonous insects still lingering in the air. Their eyes bulged, claws spasmed twice, and they collapsed in agony—never to move again.
Nearby crows noticed the strangeness. They craned their necks and tilted their heads to glance at their fallen companions.
But thinking nothing of it, they resumed greedily feasting on the corpses.
Yu walked through the bodies, startling the crows into flight. He arrived before Sosen and said calmly,
"Get the caravan moving again."
Sosen stammered, sweat beading on his forehead. He couldn't see the slightest hint of emotion on Yu's calm face.
As if none of what had just happened had even occurred.
He quickly sprang into action, rallying his survival-hungry escort team to drive off the crows and drag the bodies to the side of the road.
"They're all dead… Every single one…"
"That was Konoha's ANBU… The elite among elites… not even one survived."
"Less talk, more work!"
The Tsuchigumo convoy members whispered nervously among themselves, glancing at the corpses they once pinned their hopes on. Cold dread crept up their spines.
After the valley floor was cleared—
The wheels rolled on.
The Tsuchigumo Clan's caravan continued moving forward. After what had just happened, the atmosphere in the convoy had fallen into a dead silence.
Yu sat in the back of the first wagon, along with Mikoto, Kurenai, Nonō, Izumi, and Hotaru. The wagon creaked slowly along the road.
Before departing again, Yu had split off two shadow clones to scout ahead and reduce the risk of another ambush.
As the adrenaline faded, Izumi, who had participated in the battle, began to cool down inside.
Suddenly, an interesting question popped into her mind. After thinking it over, she decided to ask Yu.
She couldn't always be the only one feeling awkward!
"Captain, were you scared the first time you killed someone?" Izumi asked curiously, her large, pretty eyes fixed on the side of Yu's face.
That question made all the women in the wagon look toward Yu—clearly, they were curious too.
Uchiha Mikoto's soft gaze lingered. She thought, for such a cold man, surely he wouldn't have felt fear, even the first time he killed someone.
Kurenai and Nonō, however, weren't so sure.
They asked themselves: even as ninjas, their first kill had brought mixed emotions. Fear often came from morality, from a sense of right and wrong.
So they were very interested in what someone like Yu might feel.
Yu didn't shy away from the question. He looked directly at Izumi, thought briefly, and replied seriously:
"The first time I killed someone… he was probably scared. But my blade was fast. He didn't get the chance to be scared for long."
"Uh… didn't let him be scared for long. Captain, you're… surprisingly kind, I guess," Izumi twitched at the corner of her mouth.
She couldn't help feeling that the way Yu answered questions was very… unconventional. The déjà vu was strong.
No wonder Tamao turned out the way he did.
After that, Yu fell silent again.
The other women looked at him with strange expressions, unsure what to say. In their minds, they grumbled:
"We asked if you were scared to kill, and you said your blade was fast??"
What the hell does that mean??
One of the guards kept pretending to look toward the woods, but in truth, he was sneaking envious glances at Yu, surrounded by a wagon full of beautiful women.
If he could be surrounded by so many beauties, his life would be complete!
Sosen noticed the behavior and kicked the hopeless guard, scolding in a low voice: "What the hell are you staring at? You think someone like him is someone you can even look at?"
The guard, nursing his kicked shin, pouted:
"Aren't you just as jealous? You were staring too…"
Sosen flew into a rage and smacked the guard on the back of the head, growling, "What do you know? I was reading his facial expressions! That's strategy!"
About ten minutes later, the caravan neared the Tsuchigumo Clan's territory.
Yu received a task completion notification in his mind.
Eliminate the Root pursuit squad.
Annihilate the Root team hiding in Mt. Katsuragi.
[Reward]: Forbidden Technique Replication Scroll!
Tamao and Minami had successfully completed their task. Yu turned back and looked at Sosen on the second wagon, signaling him to slow the caravan down.
The wagons gradually came to a slower pace.
Yu shifted his attention to his storage space, where a jet-black scroll had appeared in the corner.
He flipped his right hand. Space trembled.
The Forbidden Technique Replication Scroll materialized in his palm like a magic trick. Just touching it revealed its usage.
Hold it in hand, lock eyes with the target, and the scroll would replicate one of their forbidden techniques. If the target had many, the scroll would choose one at random.
Before everyone's eyes, Yu made the scroll vanish again, like a sleight of hand, back into storage.
Hotaru, the Tsuchigumo heiress, looked amazed. She was clearly fascinated by Yu's space-manipulating ability.
Just as she was wondering what he'd do next, she suddenly noticed that his deep, dark eyes were calmly watching her.
Hotaru quickly lowered her head, terrified of angering an S-rank rogue ninja.
Yu shifted his gaze from the petite girl. Originally, he hadn't planned to go to the Tsuchigumo homeland.
But now that he had the Replication Scroll, it seemed he had no choice.
After all, it was on the way.
It wouldn't delay his escape.
The forbidden technique "Wrath of Heaven"… with a destructive range of hundreds of kilometers—
a large-scale forbidden jutsu powerful enough to tip the scales of war.
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