Surveillance

He could barely sense the other person's presence, but anyone alive needed to breathe. No matter how slowly or faintly they breathed, there would still be airflow.

Li Tong sensed it!

In the woods behind the wooden cabin, someone was hidden among the trees, motionless and utterly still, breathing slowly.

Someone's watching me! Li Tong thought. He didn't believe the person had come to protect him or for any other reason. The reason was simple: even if an Anbu Ninja appeared stealthily near him, surveillance was more likely than protection.

They were about fifty meters apart in a straight line.

Li Tong suddenly sensed the person move. Their movement made only a faint sound, no louder than leaves and branches rustling. Their breathing quickened slightly, and they couldn't help letting a trace of their presence show.

It was an extremely cold presence, and Li Tong had locked onto it.

The person circled around to the opposite side of the woods from the cabin, changed positions, and went still again.

Who could it be?

Li Tong furrowed his brows and turned to look in the person's direction. Of course, he couldn't see them. He was inside the cabin, so all he could see when he turned was the wooden wall. But then he brought his hands together. Byakugan! Activate!

His eyes widened, wrinkles appearing at their corners, and his irises turned completely white.

The world before him became gray and white. The wooden wall turned translucent as his vision pierced through it, and the view drew closer. Li Tong saw the person whose presence he had locked onto, crouching on a branch with their body hidden among the leaves. They wore a black robe and a mask.

The mask was specially made and couldn't be seen through!

However, Li Tong's True Sight Eye displayed the person's information.

--

Name: Gui Qi

Identity: Anbu Special Mobile Force Ninja of Konohagakure, Land of Fire

Reputation: 8

Relationship: Hostile

--

"An Anbu Special Mobile Force Ninja. Was he from Root?" Li Tong was startled. He hadn't expected this.

Although both the main Anbu force and Root could be referred to as Anbu in public, their full names were clearly different. The former was the Anbu Special Assassination and Tactical Squad, while the latter was the Anbu Special Mobile Force.

Li Tong could tell at once that this was a Root Ninja.

"A Root Ninja with a reputation of eight thousand is watching me with hostile intentions?" Li Tong didn't understand. Why?

One thing was certain: Root Ninjas could only act on orders from their leader, Danzo. In other words, this Root Ninja codenamed Gui Qi had come to watch him on Danzo's orders. Danzo must have given him other instructions, too. Otherwise, mere surveillance shouldn't have resulted in a hostile relationship.

Yet Li Tong couldn't think of anything he'd done to offend Danzo.

Or had Gui Qi received his orders from Danzo, while Danzo was simply following Hiruzen Sarutobi's orders?

"Wait." Li Tong realized there was another problem. "With a reputation of eight thousand, does that make him a Jonin or an elite Jonin?"

The strength-reputation scale placed Jonin between three thousand and eight thousand, and elite Jonin between eight thousand and fifteen thousand. A reputation of exactly eight thousand was both the highest standard for a Jonin and the lowest for an elite Jonin.

"Ding! In response to the host's question: reputation is merely a reference value and cannot be used as an absolute measure of strength," the Card Emperor Sprite replied.

That was as good as saying nothing.

Of course, it didn't matter anyway.

Why is he watching me with hostile intentions? Li Tong wondered. After observing Gui Qi for a while, he withdrew his gaze and deactivated his Byakugan.

Li Tong didn't sleep well that night.

Gui Qi stayed outside the entire time. He had astonishing patience and could remain motionless for hours. If Li Tong hadn't had Frequency Perception, he might have been able to sleep. But his senses were too sharp: he could feel Gui Qi outside and was aware of him the whole time. He couldn't relax.

Gui Qi finally left before dawn.

Only when the morning glow appeared outside the window did Li Tong fall into a deep sleep.

"Hey, you lazybones! Get up!"

The roar that woke him brought Li Tong back to consciousness from deep sleep. He abruptly sat up on the wooden bed, nearly bumping into Tsunade's face. She had been leaning over him, but straightened at once, hands on her hips and looking thoroughly displeased.

"Why did you come in without knocking?" Li Tong asked sleepily, yawning.

Tsunade had come straight into his bedroom without even considering that she might see something she shouldn't.

"Have you looked at the time?" Tsunade pointed at the sun outside the window. "Why did you sleep so long?"

"Training. Practicing the Mystical Palm Technique. I didn't go to bed until before dawn," Li Tong said offhandedly, glancing out the window.

It was around eight in the morning. He'd slept for less than three hours.

"Hmph! You've been working hard, huh?" Tsunade curled her lip, a strange smile on her face. "If you can't use the Mystical Palm Technique by tonight, you'll lose our bet!"

"I know, I know. Don't bother me. Go outside and let me sleep a little longer." Li Tong tried to shoo her away.

"No sleeping. You have to teach me the Hypnosis Technique!" Tsunade pulled Li Tong back up just as he had lain down again. Then she brought her hands together, formed Hand Seals, and a soft glow appeared in her palms. She pressed them against Li Tong's forehead.

A cool sensation seeped into Li Tong's consciousness, and he immediately woke up.

He wasn't sleepy anymore!

Tsunade had used Medical Ninjutsu on Li Tong to ease his mental fatigue.

"All right." Li Tong knew there was no way he'd get back to sleep. "But I need breakfast first."

"Fine. Get dressed quickly. I'll wait outside." Tsunade tossed the clothes that had been draped over a chair to Li Tong, who was wearing only his sleeping robe, then turned and walked out.

A little later, they were in the busy shopping district.

"Look, it's Li Tong!"

"I heard that guy's gone crazy. He says he's going to learn the Mystical Palm Technique in one day."

"Guess Tsunade scared him. He was almost buried alive, after all."

"Hey, this is getting interesting. He's spending so much time with Lady Tsunade now. I wonder if the Hyuga Clan will give him trouble again."

Li Tong and Tsunade walked side by side down the street. Even though he was wearing sunglasses, people still recognized him. It was like a thousand flies buzzing around them.

Something strange had happened again: news of the bet between Li Tong and Tsunade had spread throughout Konoha. It seemed that everyone knew about it.

"Hey, do you want to go on an outside mission?" Tsunade suddenly asked.

"Hm?" Li Tong glanced at her. "Why are you asking all of a sudden?"

"Here's some advice." Tsunade sounded serious. "Don't leave Konoha. The Hyuga Clan will show some restraint while you're in the village, but once you leave, you'll probably die a horrible death..."

"Is that so?" Li Tong replied noncommittally. Then he added, "Is the Hyuga Clan really above the law? No one's going to do anything about it?"

Tsunade shook her head without answering.

After breakfast in the street, the two returned to the cabin by the lake.

Li Tong resumed teaching Tsunade the Hypnosis Technique.

They continued until around two in the afternoon.

Tsunade felt she'd learned enough of the technique and wanted to find someone to test it on. Naturally, she couldn't use it on Li Tong, since he understood how hypnosis worked. His subconscious would resist, making him more or less immune.

So Tsunade decided to find her dear little brother, Nawaki Senju.

"Hey, you've got less than four hours left, so keep at it! I'll come find you before dark!" Tsunade said in a teasing tone, then left.

"Stupid woman," Li Tong muttered.

He hadn't eaten lunch.

Not long after Tsunade left, Li Tong headed out into the street.

The flies were everywhere.

Li Tong didn't care anymore. He found a high-end restaurant, ate, and then went shopping.

He was looking for an enemy he could kill. Tsunade had been bothering him for the past few days, and at last he had some time to himself.

From the afternoon until dusk, Li Tong still couldn't find a suitable target. It wasn't that there were no foreign spies, but it was hard to come across any with real strength. They were all weaklings with reputations of just a few hundred—in other words, Genin.

Most spies who came to gather routine intelligence were Genin. Gathering such information didn't require much strength, but it did call for strong observational and analytical skills.

The sky darkened, and the sunset was blood-red.

"Damn it! Stop!"

"Stop him!"

The eastern end of the busy shopping district suddenly erupted into chaos. A burly foreign samurai barreled down the street, knocking over several pedestrians and overturning roadside stalls as he fled in panic.

Behind him, several Konoha Military Police Force Ninjas were chasing him.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

A Chunin from the Military Police Force flung Kunai at the burly samurai, sending them straight toward him.

The burly samurai swayed as he ran, dodging the Kunai as if he had eyes in the back of his head. This wasn't your average samurai—he had some real skill!

Li Tong had just emerged from an alley when he noticed the commotion.

The burly samurai charged straight toward him, snarling, "If you don't want to die, get out of my way!"

Everyone else near the mouth of the alley had already run off, afraid of getting dragged into trouble. Only Li Tong stood there alone. He hadn't quite figured out what was happening, and he didn't have the instinctive fear a normal person would feel at the sight of a desperate fugitive.

"Gui, you're asking for death!" The burly samurai saw that Li Tong wasn't moving and assumed he meant to stop him. Li Tong was wearing a Konoha Ninja uniform.

The burly samurai was only a short distance from Li Tong. He drew the long sword at his waist, and his speed suddenly increased.

Charging Assassination!