Unstable Factor

"What are you doing?"

As he watched the four boys and girls beneath the tree leave amid laughter and chatter, the man in the fox mask crouching on the branch stiffened slightly. At that moment, a snow-white, sharpened blade lay across his neck, nearly cutting into the skin, while a cold voice sounded from behind him.

"I... I... just didn't expect... that kid's senses to be so sharp..."

Perhaps because the blade was far too close, its edge already pressing into the flesh of his neck, he spoke with extreme care, his words nearly broken and halting. He was afraid that merely speaking might cause him to scrape himself against the blade and leave a streak of blood.

"Hmph!"

An even colder snort came from behind him.

"I remember that when Lord Danzo sent you here, he told you to be extremely careful. You absolutely could not leave any trace for others to notice. Lord Danzo even said that you could abandon surveillance for a time if it meant avoiding detection. Why did you follow him without authorization?"

After that snort came a questioning voice already laced with killing intent.

"I..."

But as soon as those words were spoken, the man in the fox mask was left tongue-tied, unable to offer any explanation.

He was no fool. If the person behind him learned that he had done this merely because he was curious about and unwilling to accept defeat to the ten-year-old boy who had just passed by, then the blade would likely slit his throat without hesitation.

The person behind him might be his partner in this mission, but he was absolutely not someone he could entrust his back to. If anything went wrong, this companion's blade would pierce through him at any moment. Of course, if anything happened