The Code

The mission was to kill San-Dan-Kun, a Sunagakure spy, without alerting anyone.

By the time this book was published, it had already appeared across the entire web on .

Byakuya thought the mission had been deliberately made difficult.

San-Dan-Kun was a Sunagakure spy, and he was even embedded in the sensitive ranks of the patrol unit. Why not expose his identity and kill him openly? What was the problem with that?

Before he made contact with the patrol unit, that was exactly what he'd thought.

But after the patrol unit's ninjas captured him and took him away, he immediately decided that secretly executing San-Dan-Kun was the best plan. Root Organization probably knew the whole story, but hadn't explained it in the mission details...

Because he was the captain of the patrol unit.

If he announced outright that San-Dan-Kun was a spy, the others in the unit would probably be terrified.

If even the captain was a spy, then we're all doomed, aren't we?

Who would dare gamble on how the village's higher-ups would handle it? What if they killed everyone to cover up such a humiliating scandal? Or decided that San-Dan-Kun had already turned them into rogue ninja...

They might as well go all in and defect to Sunagakure. That was probably their only way to survive.

"It's dangerous in these mountains. Your parents are really okay with you coming up here to gather herbs?"

San-Dan-Kun sat in the cave, a bonfire blazing beside him as he roasted the leg of some unknown animal. Fat sizzled as it dripped into the flames, filling the whole cave with the smell of roasting meat.

Byakuya acted frightened out of his wits, trembling and unable to speak.

A Konoha Ninja sitting beside San-Dan-Kun laughed. "Don't be scared, kid. We're Konoha Ninja, not Sunagakure Ninja. We're not going to kill you. Just tell our captain whatever you need to say."

Another man burst out laughing. "Look at how scared this kid is. He'll only look at the captain, not at us."

Byakuya had already counted the people in the cave: eight in total, all exuding an air of danger. San-Dan-Kun, on the other hand, looked mild-mannered, with a harmless face.

"You, you, and you. Go scout the area."

"Oh, come on, Captain. Sunagakure's a bunch of cowards. They wouldn't dare attack Konoha. The village higher-ups are unbelievable, sending us to this godforsaken place."

"If you were sent to the Cloud Ninja front, you'd complain about that too."

San-Dan-Kun said sternly, "Quit fooling around and get to work."

Seeing that their captain was getting angry, the three men stopped stalling. They picked up the weapons they'd tossed on the ground and hurried out of the cave.

"What's your name?"

"Sa... Sasuke."

San-Dan-Kun gently coaxed him along. "Sasuke, where's your home?"

Byakuya seemed a little less afraid. He steadied himself and pointed casually. "Over those two mountains. My village is at the foot of them."

"Does the village have a name?"

"Bear Village."

"That's a nice name."

"Bears often wander into the village. My uncle was killed by one."

"I'm sorry."

"Can you let me go? I'm not very good at this. I still haven't found any herbs I can sell, and I'm afraid I won't get home before dark."

"You need money?"

"Everyone in the village needs money. If we had some, we could buy salt in town. The price of salt went up again."

San-Dan-Kun pulled a wad of money from his robes. Without even counting it, he stuffed it into Byakuya's arms. "Kid, this is all yours. Can you take me... take him to your village?"

Byakuya seemed guileless. His face lit up as soon as he saw the money. "Mom and Dad will be so happy when I bring home this much money. Take who? Who's going to the village?"

"Me."

The Konoha Ninja sitting beside San-Dan-Kun stood and grabbed Byakuya by the collar. "Come on. My time's valuable."

He'd seen San-Dan-Kun signal him and nodded slightly.

Meanwhile, Byakuya's real body was hidden in a leafy tree, watching the ninja and his own Shadow Clone leave the cave.

He didn't know exactly what would happen, but he'd find out soon enough.

Outside the cave was a forest teeming with wild beasts and venomous insects. The path was rough and treacherous.

Once the two figures disappeared into the woods, San-Dan-Kun left the cave again and quietly followed with two others.

"If I kill the whole patrol unit, does that count as killing the target without alerting anyone?"

With his current abilities, that was just wishful thinking.

They must have made this arrangement because they'd noticed something.

That was what made the mission so dangerous: Konoha Ninja could easily mistake him for an enemy and kill him.

He dispelled the Shadow Clone.

In an instant, all the clone's memories flooded into his mind.

Byakuya quickly processed what had happened in the cave. There are bad people in Konoha. They actually made a Sunagakure spy the captain of the patrol unit.

Before long, San-Dan-Kun led the Konoha Ninja back to the cave and called back the scouts. The patrol unit immediately moved to a new location.

Byakuya watched their every move.

To avoid the patrol unit's sensory ninja, Byakuya chose a spot that was almost a blind spot.

The tree he hid in stood behind a massive boulder. His eyes were just high enough to peer over it and see San-Dan-Kun and the others.

If San-Dan-Kun really is a Sunagakure spy, then Sunagakure already knows about this cave. It's also where San-Dan-Kun keeps the patrol unit under his control. If they change campsites now, with other Konoha Ninja "watching" him, it'll be hard for San-Dan-Kun to contact Sunagakure.

I guess he'll come back to the cave under the pretext of scouting the enemy, leaving a clue to the patrol unit's new camp.

Or he might think my Shadow Clone was meant to flush him out, and that Sunagakure wanted to talk to him. Since he couldn't send a message in front of the Konoha Ninja, he had to use this last resort.

Worst case, the patrol unit already belongs to Sunagakure, which would make this mission tricky.

No matter which it was, Byakuya only needed to plant Explosive Tags in the cave.

If San-Dan-Kun fell for the trap and came back, he'd blow him to pieces.

If he didn't, there was still plenty of time to complete Fate Choice Two. Hiroya, that old fox, hadn't said it had to be done within a certain number of days.

Byakuya could simply wait for another opportunity.

There was no way he'd let his real body fight San-Dan-Kun head-on.

Anyone who'd made it to the post of patrol-unit captain couldn't be completely useless, no matter how incompetent San-Dan-Kun seemed.

That went against his Way of Survival.

Near dusk,

wearing a Shuten-dōji Mask and a black trench coat, he planted the Explosive Tags from his Space-Time Scroll in the cave.

He left a Shadow Clone hidden deep inside, then returned to his original spot and crouched there, waiting to see what would happen.

Byakuya didn't know how long he'd waited. Looking up at the stars, he guessed it was around eleven at night.

Just then,

a figure appeared outside the cave.

He cautiously watched his surroundings. Only after making sure no one had followed him did he enter the cave.

"Hmph. Still using this old trick? Aren't you worried the Konoha Ninja will notice?"

Byakuya's Shadow Clone seemed to blend into the darkness. In a hoarse voice, it said, "Even if it's an old trick, you still came."

San-Dan-Kun snapped, "What choice did I have? I had to take the risk. Damn Konoha patrol-unit ninja. Two of them have started suspecting me. If this goes on much longer, I'll be exposed sooner or later. Tell me, when can I return to the village? I miss my child."

Then,

San-Dan-Kun went pale with shock and spun around to flee.

The conversation had gone in the wrong order.

They should have exchanged a code first to confirm each other's identities.

But the person hiding in the cave hadn't even tried to use one.

That meant this was a trap.

He'd fallen for it.