Threat! Strange Anbu

"An, Anbu?"

Tenten was stunned; she never imagined that the ones saving them would be the Anbu of Konoha!

Beside her, Akado Yoroi was equally astonished, wondering if he had committed some sort of blunder.

Kabuto, however, asked suspiciously, "Don't think that just because you're impersonating an Anbu, I won't dare to strike at you!"

Yet, Neji, wearing his mask, had no time to answer Kabuto.

He had witnessed Tenten being poisoned just moments ago, and now the most important thing was to get them out of the battlefield—preferably with Rock Lee in tow.

Otherwise, if there were other enemies lurking, the two of them would only be held back.

"This is no longer any of your concern. Leave at once."

Neji leaped down, suppressing his voice and keeping as much distance as possible from Rock Lee and Tenten, terrified that they might discover his identity.

But such strength was worlds apart from the Neji they knew; even if he weren't wearing a mask, they might not have believed that the Anbu before them was their very own teammate, Hyuga Neji!

"Why would the Anbu intervene?"

Rock Lee asked.

Neji replied, "If you don't leave now, you won't get another chance."

He then pulled a kunai from the ground and assumed a combat stance.

It was a fighting posture he was extremely unfamiliar with, all to avoid any possibility of being suspected!

"You bastard..."

Kabuto gritted his teeth. The person before him was completely ignoring him, acting as if taking on two opponents at once was a trivial matter.

"Let's go, Tenten!"

"Right!"

"Thank you!" Tenten and Rock Lee departed, offering their thanks to the masked youth who had saved them.

Little did they know, it was simply because Neji didn't want his teammates to fail the Chunin Exams.

He had originally intended to step out and help his teammates defeat the enemies, but Tenten had been poisoned, and the surroundings were riddled with enemy traps...

In this situation, to be safe, he had no choice but to hide his identity and end the fight quickly.

"Is there another one..."

Beneath the mask, Neji's Byakugan took the opportunity to scan the surroundings, discovering several more trap locations. It seemed the opposition had made extensive preparations for this ambush.

"With this range of traps, just how many sets of scrolls are you trying to collect?"

Facing Neji's interrogation, Kabuto's eyes widened.

This completely overturned his worldview. First of all, based on the intelligence he possessed, there were no youths this young within the Anbu!

This was not an era of war; Konoha's hierarchy was extremely strict. Even a genius ninja like Sasuke could not possibly have risen to the rank of Anbu so quickly.

Moreover, with just a single glance, he could instantly perceive the other teammate, Tsurugi Misumi, hiding in the trees, and he even knew the exact range of the traps...

"Why would the Anbu get involved in the Chunin Exams?"

Kabuto had already pulled out another scalpel, refining his chakra, which transformed into a sharp, blade-like edge covering the scalpel.

"That is none of your concern."

As soon as Neji finished speaking, he leaped, soaring into the air.

The next moment, the ground where Neji had been standing erupted, and out crawled Tsurugi Misumi!

"Yoroi!"

Neji narrowed his eyes in mid-air. If he remembered correctly, this person's ability was to absorb chakra; he could not be allowed to get close.

On the other side, Akado Yoroi had already approached with lightning speed, his arms extending to bind Neji's entire body.

This person's ability was retractable limbs—merely a leftover failure from Orochimaru's experiments, Neji thought with a sneer.

"Rotation!"

Neji channeled his internal chakra, integrating a change in nature, and controlled the Rotation to release at less than twenty percent of its full power, forming a layer of spinning chakra directly on his skin.

"Aaaah!"

Akado Yoroi's body was instantly shredded by the wind-attribute chakra; over a dozen gashes appeared on his limbs, and blood sprayed everywhere!

Akado Yoroi was flung aside, and Tsurugi Misumi, who had approached Neji, was struck squarely in the head by a palm descending from the sky, knocking him unconscious.

Standing on the spot, Kabuto saw this scene and was internally convinced: the person before him was a real Anbu, not an impostor!

"Why would the Anbu strike at us Genin? Did those two bribe you?"

Kabuto clenched his fists. Although his current strength was far beyond that of a Genin, there was no doubt that there was no need to clash with an Anbu member right now.

"Why?"

Neji landed safely, the unconscious Tsurugi Misumi and Akado Yoroi lying to the side.

"Why don't you tell me first why you came to Konoha to be a spy?" Neji chuckled. A double agent like Kabuto was a dangerous individual, even if his threat level seemed low for now.

"You..."

Kabuto was struck straight to the heart by those words.

He had assumed his flawless acting was impeccable, yet it had been dismantled in an instant. Subconsciously, he concluded that this person must be an Anbu assassin sent by the Konoha high command to eliminate him for being a spy!

"Tch!"

Kabuto lowered his head and reached out his hand, bracing himself for a fierce battle.

But Neji didn't have much interest in him.

"Hey, give me the antidote," Neji said.

"An... antidote?"

Kabuto blinked in astonishment.

"The antidote for the poison those two were hit with just now. Give it to me, and I'll leave."

Neji was growing impatient. He knew Kabuto's combat ability wasn't bad, and since he himself was only maintaining his stamina with a Military Ration Pill, it was best to avoid a direct confrontation.

Kabuto, meanwhile, was on the verge of a mental breakdown.

After all that psychological pressure, he had already prepared his internal monologue for a miserable death in the Forest of Death, only for the other party to just want an... antidote?

And that medicine... wasn't even lethal.

Taking a deep breath, Neji raised his right hand as he saw Kabuto still standing there in a daze...

"Wait! I'll give it to you! I'll give it to you!"

Kabuto recalled the masked youth before him, the way he had instantly dispatched Tsurugi Misumi and Akado Yoroi with such fluid, seamless combat skill. This person's strength was surely at the Anbu level.

Perhaps even higher, though Kabuto now suspected that this person might be a fake Anbu.

Otherwise, why would he show absolutely no intent to kill, even while knowing he was a spy working from within Konoha?

"Here!"

Kabuto took a pouch of herbs from his ninja pouch and tossed it quickly toward Neji, who caught it.

He didn't dare get any closer to the youth until he felt more secure.

This person was not only powerful but mysterious—so mysterious that even an intelligence expert like him couldn't deduce a single clue...

Neji inspected it; it appeared to be an herb used to neutralize the poison known as Time-Crow Fern.

"Can I go now?"

Kabuto asked cautiously, and Neji waved his hand.

The next moment, he leaped upward and vanished from Kabuto's sight.

His movements were fluid, without a hint of hesitation.

Only then did Kabuto collapse onto the ground.

His plans were completely disrupted. To run into such an expert in the Forest of Death—if he hadn't been careful, he could have lost his life!

If Neji knew what Kabuto was thinking, he would likely die of laughter. In truth, he hadn't been confident about fighting Kabuto either, and with no conflict of interest, he couldn't be bothered to get entangled.

Neji immediately took off his Anbu uniform and mask, then hurried toward the location of Tenten and Rock Lee.