The Art of Stealing Chickens Is Doing It Quietly

Aburame Tetsumaru grabbed Uchiha Kei again and pulled him behind a large tree by the roadside. The moment they stepped around it, Kei saw the problem, and his face instantly went deathly pale.

Wherever someone passed, traces would remain. No matter how skilled a Lurker was, they could never erase every trace completely.

When a hundred-pound person lay flat on the ground, stones and dirt could recover, but flowers and grass would inevitably be crushed. In the end, they could only cut off and pull out the broken grass, then stick it back into the ground before leaving.

From a distance, nothing seemed out of place, but up close, the severed grass stems were obvious.

Uchiha Kei was an extreme oddity among the Uchiha: he feared death, so he was exceptionally sensitive to danger. In an instant, he understood the peril involved. All the displeasure from being pushed around by his captain vanished, and he immediately lowered his head in surrender.

Kurama Yun had probably been exhausted by all the running back and forth today. Her reactions were a little slow, and it took her several minutes to grasp the problem.

She wiped her face and put on a serious expression. Her spirited bearing immediately dispelled her lazy fatigue, and even her eyebrows rose sharply.

Another personality?

Aburame Tetsumaru was completely certain now. Kurama Yun truly had split personalities, and more than one at that. It was the first time in both his lives that he had seen someone like this in person. Not knowing how to deal with it, he decided to pretend he had seen nothing.

"Captain, what should we do?" Kurama Yun asked directly, her voice unexpectedly clear and bright.

"..." Aburame Tetsumaru looked deeply at the girl through his sunglasses before speaking. "We can't keep tracking Juyuan. We'll track this group of lurking ninjas instead."

"These two groups are likely connected. If we follow them, we might actually find the rogue ninja Juyuan sooner."

"I'll make some preparations, then we'll leave immediately."

"Yes!"

"Yeees~" Her voice had turned soft and adorable again.

This time, Uchiha Kei also noticed something strange about Kurama Yun. Like his captain, the cowardly Uchiha said nothing and pretended he knew nothing.

Aburame Tetsumaru bit his finger, formed hand seals, and performed the technique.

Summoning Technique.

After a puff of white smoke, an Insect Hive half the height of a person appeared.

Aburame Tetsumaru opened the Insect Hive and took out three Dragonflies and three Olfactory Moths. He awakened and released all six insects, then dispelled the summoning.

After leaving the Ueno Squad, he had lacked a sense of security and felt that concealing his methods might be beneficial. Only Captain Ueno and Might Duy should have been familiar with his insect abilities, and both were companions who would not spread gossip. So he had kept it secret from his unfamiliar new teammates.

Just now, after seeing the traces left by the Lurkers, Aburame Tetsumaru suddenly understood what he had overlooked: the enemy.

The people who knew you best were often not your friends, but your enemies—especially enemies you had fought on the battlefield but failed to kill. They would study even the slightest trace with care.

Under such circumstances, keeping secrets was incredibly foolish.

Now that he had figured it out, and since he needed stronger scouting power, Aburame Tetsumaru naturally brought out his strongest methods.

The Dragonflies were entirely emerald green, their shells gleaming with an oily sheen. The Olfactory Moths were pure white and fluffy, with a pair of translucent pale-yellow antennae. Both were beautiful.

The two kinds of insects immediately caught the little girl's attention, especially the fuzzy Olfactory Moths. Kurama Yun even tried to reach out and touch one.

Aburame Tetsumaru hurriedly stopped her. The Olfactory Moths were not merely Scout Insects that used their large antennae to capture gas molecules and track scents. Now, they also carried combat duties.

Their method of fighting relied on the fluffy scale powder covering their bodies. Every scale contained deadly poison, and scattering it could create vast clouds of toxic mist.

With the more powerful Olfactory Moths and the Dragonflies that flew high for a broad view of the area, Aburame Tetsumaru was completely confident that he could track these seasoned Lurkers.

"Move out."

The three of them followed the Olfactory Moths at a run for a full two hours. By the time Kurama Yun was gasping for breath, they had finally caught up to the Lurkers.

It was not three squads of ninjas, but a full five squads—five complete squads, twenty Iwagakure ninjas in total.

"There are too many. We can't beat them."

The three members of the Aburame Squad reached a consensus. Iwa Ninja ninjutsu was very limited: they only knew Earth Release and Explosion Release. As for Dust Release, only the Tsuchikage could use that, so there was no need to count it.

When encountering Iwa Ninja on the battlefield, there was no need to overthink things. Anyone who knew Lightning Release could almost certainly win. Even those who did not could prepare targeted countermeasures. They were easy enough to deal with.

However, Iwa Ninja were generally tough-minded, skilled at defense, and especially proficient in teamwork. The more of them there were, the stronger they became. Once there were more than ten gathered together, even people capable of defeating them would be reluctant to challenge them.

Those ninjas who focused solely on Earth Release had ridiculously thick turtle shells. Even Lightning Release ninjas guaranteed to win would struggle to finish them off in a few hours. It was far too troublesome.

Only the successive Raikage and the Yondaime Hokage were exceptions.

Earth Release ninjas were still ninjas. Their innate frailty had not changed; their formidable defense was built upon ninjutsu.

The successive Raikage had specialized in Lightning Release and developed Lightning Release Chakra Mode. Earth Release was naturally countered by Lightning Release and had no answer to it.

The mature Yondaime Hokage was incomparably swift. Before him, no ninja could fully perform a ninjutsu. Without Earth Release reinforcing them, every Iwa Ninja went down with a single Rasengan.

Aburame Tetsumaru did not possess such overwhelming ability. Faced with five Iwa Ninja squads, he immediately gave up on fighting and waited for an opportunity while resting.

One glance was enough to extinguish Uchiha Kei's desire to claim credit. He wanted to show off his new ninjutsu, but he wanted even less to die.

Kurama Yun, whose stamina was terrible, was in even worse shape. After running around for half the day and then sprinting for two more hours, she was so exhausted that her mind had gone hazy. She collapsed onto the ground and gasped for air.

Thanks to the Dragonflies' long-distance observation abilities, Aburame Tetsumaru could stay far away, quietly observe, and rest. He even directed Uchiha Kei to build a simple tent.

In truth, he was quite uneasy. Across both his lives, this was his first time carrying out a mission independently. Although he had great confidence in his own judgment, he could not help feeling anxious.

Tracking such a large group of Iwa Ninja was not his mission. If they still failed to find the rogue ninja Juyuan in the end, Tetsumaru would earn his first record of mission failure.

At first, Aburame Tetsumaru had not cared much about it. But after carrying the reputation of a one-hundred-percent mission completion rate for so long, he had gradually grown attached to it and did not want to lose it so easily.

Of course, once he had made his judgment, the greatest taboo was wavering. He had to carry it through firmly. Even if it ended in failure, there would be nothing to regret. It would only be one failed mission on his record.

As time passed, the Iwa Ninja began setting traps and arranging an ambush position. The situation became clearer and clearer.

Aburame Tetsumaru relaxed. He even had the leisure to instruct Uchiha Kei in digging a smokeless stove. They lit a smokeless fire, boiled water, and cooked a meal.

With a tent, hot water, and hot food, the three of them got a good rest. Kurama Yun's stamina recovered as well. Aburame Tetsumaru was very satisfied. He had no intention of fighting head-on during the coming mission; he would have to rely heavily on her Genjutsu.

As night gradually fell, Aburame Tetsumaru recalled the last Dragonfly on duty. After taking turns flying for half the day, all three Dragonflies had reached their limits. Once it was dark, these insects would no longer be useful.

The task of continued surveillance was handed over to Ghost-faced Moths, which specialized in night scouting. These moths flew silently and possessed extremely powerful night vision. Other than their slow speed, they had no flaws.

Naturally, the difference between day and night was obvious. The Ghost-faced Moths' field of vision could not compare with the Dragonflies', so the Aburame Squad could only abandon their original hiding place and move closer to the Iwa Ninja ambush position.

When the moon rose, the key figure appeared. The Konoha rogue ninja Juyuan met up with the Iwa Ninja. This finally put Aburame Tetsumaru at ease, and he quickly settled on a battle plan.

Aburame Tetsumaru made one last round of pre-battle communication with Uchiha Kei and Kurama Yun. "Without a doubt, Juyuan is an Iwa Ninja spy. Since he is only a Chunin, I judge that aside from passing along intelligence, his only role is to lure Konoha Ninja into the ambush zone. He will not participate directly in the battle."

"The best-case scenario is that he leaves alone soon. That will be our best chance to capture him."

"In the less favorable scenario, he'll withdraw only a short distance. Then we can only close in and risk launching an attack."

"The worst-case scenario is that he participates in the ambush battle. Then we can only adapt to the situation. If I decide the timing is unsuitable, we retreat."

"Remember, you must obey my orders absolutely. Otherwise, I will consider it insubordination."

The two nodded together. Then Kurama Yun hesitated before asking, "Captain, what about the Konoha Ninja the Iwa Ninja are planning to ambush? Should we find a way to warn them?"

???

Aburame Tetsumaru and Uchiha Kei stared at Kurama Yun with utterly baffled expressions until the little girl lowered her flushed face. Neither of them said anything.

Aburame Tetsumaru + Uchiha Kei: The ones coming were most likely Root. Warning them would just be asking for trouble, wouldn't it?

Aburame Tetsumaru had deduced that the Konoha Ninja following Juyuan were Root, while Uchiha Kei had seen it directly. Under the gaze of his Two-Tomoe Sharingan, the traces of activity near the village were filled with the Root style that irritated every Uchiha.

"Let me emphasize this one last time." Aburame Tetsumaru was still worried. "We're here to launch a sneak attack, not a frontal assault. I'd rather abandon the mission than fight a battle that will certainly get us killed."

"We are ninjas. Professional ninjas get things done quietly."

"Yes."

"Prepare according to the most favorable scenario. Go."

The three separated and lurked behind the Iwa Ninja ambush position.

Aburame Tetsumaru released a large swarm of Crickets. Their chirping grew from soft to loud, gradually rising and falling in waves until the nighttime forest became noisy.

Two alert Iwa Ninja found the sudden chirping strange. One of them was the Iwa Ninja commander. He ordered the Iwa Ninja to search toward the sounds, and they soon caught several Crickets.

They turned them over and inspected them several times but found nothing. Since they were unfamiliar with the local environment, none of them realized these were not native insects.

The noisy insect calls helped create a sense of safety. A thought flashed through the commander's mind, and after crushing several Crickets to death, he put the matter out of his mind.

Aburame Tetsumaru had raised the Crickets as alarm insects, but because they chirped uncontrollably throughout the night, they had been replaced by quieter crickets.

However, they had elegant bodies, loud calls, and emerald-green shells. Aburame Tetsumaru sold them as ornamental insects in Konoha, and business was quite booming.

There were two purposes behind releasing the Crickets. The first was to create an environment suitable for transmitting signals. The second was to warn the Konoha Ninja.

He hoped they recognized the Cricket calls.

Juyuan removed his Konoha forehead protector and replaced it with the long-missed Iwagakure forehead protector. After saying goodbye to the commander of the Iwa Ninja unit sent to receive him, he set out for Iwagakure with the intelligence tucked against his chest.

He was a spy painstakingly planted by Iwagakure, and it had been almost ten years since he replaced the Konoha Ninja.

As a ninja with mediocre talent who only excelled at Earth Release ninjutsu, he had no future in Iwagakure. That was why he had risked his life to accept this dangerous long-term mission.

Now, as long as he returned to Iwagakure, he could reclaim his real name and his original appearance. More importantly, he would receive a large bonus, three advanced ninjutsu, and a safe position.

Though excited, Juyuan did not lose his caution. He chose a longer route, spending two days circling around the Land of Rain along the eastern route before entering the Land of Earth. Then he traveled another three days through sparsely populated paths, finally reaching Iwagakure.

He stepped into Iwagakure, which he had not seen in ten years, covered in dust from his journey. Soon, he saw the Tsuchikage Building decorated with the huge character for "Earth," and tears streamed down Juyuan's face.

After completing the tedious inspection and verification procedures, Juyuan quickly received an order summoning him to the Tsuchikage. He did not dare delay and hurried to the Tsuchikage Building.

To his surprise, the short Sandaime Tsuchikage personally received him at the entrance of the Tsuchikage Building. Juyuan did not recognize any of the ninjas standing on either side of the Tsuchikage, but their attire made it clear that they were all Jonin. He felt absolutely wonderful.

After he paid his respects to the Tsuchikage, the Tsuchikage immediately had someone present him with the bonus, ninjutsu scrolls, and a promotion order. He was actually being appointed a Jonin of Iwagakure.

Juyuan was delighted and terrified. Becoming a Jonin was completely beyond his expectations. Could he really handle a Jonin's duties? But becoming a Jonin felt incredible—like a dream.

"Ha ha ha ha ha,~~~~~ugh."

Uchiha Kei gently pulled the Ninja Blade from Juyuan's right chest. Juyuan opened his mouth wide, but the blood flooding into his lungs prevented him from making any sound. He could only wheeze softly as he smiled bitterly. So it really was a dream.

He had been struck by Kurama's Genjutsu. Once he was completely trapped within the illusion, Uchiha Kei made the first move, piercing his lung and preventing him from making a sound.

Kurama Yun followed immediately, cutting Juyuan's hand tendons and preventing him from using ninjutsu.

Then Aburame Tetsumaru used Kikaichū to inject him with large amounts of sleeping medicine and paralytic drugs, stopping any attempt at suicide.

Capture successful.

After Juyuan was knocked unconscious, Aburame Tetsumaru carefully searched him. After ruling out several traps, he found the intelligence described in the mission.

Aburame Tetsumaru did not open the intelligence to inspect its contents. He rolled it up and stuffed it into Kurama Yun's hands.

He wrapped the assorted metal weapons and blades found on Juyuan in Juyuan's own clothes, tied them up with a belt, and handed them to Uchiha Kei to carry.

He stuffed the stripped-bare Juyuan into a sack. A ninja in his thirties weighed at least fifty kilograms, no light burden, so he carried him himself.

"Mission complete. We withdraw."

Thump! Thump! Thump! The Iwa Ninja launched their ambush.

Aburame Tetsumaru glanced over, but he could not see anything. He hesitated slightly, then ran away without looking back.