Some Sacrifices Are Necessary

Earth Release: Subterranean Mirroring Fish Technique!

Yagami kept disappearing and reappearing. Rather than traveling normally, he continuously used Earth Release to move.

After reaching the town's wooden wall, he created a Shadow Clone and had it climb over the wall.

"Someone's there! It's an assassin ninja!"

The Uzumaki Ninja and samurai followed the Shadow Clone out of town.

Seeing that his tactic had worked, Yagami vanished again using an Earth Release technique.

He found a concealed alley, panting heavily as he slowly replenished his Chakra.

The mission was to kill the noble town mayor, but Yagami felt that wasn't enough.

If he wanted to become an official Squad Leader, he had to earn the Brown Bear Squad Commander's trust. He had to do more.

Killing the noble mayor was meant to cut off the supplies of the nearby Uzumaki Ninja. That meant there might be prepared supplies in this town.

Destroying those supplies would let him exceed the mission requirements.

After catching his breath, Yagami entered the inner town again.

After a brief investigation, he found the inner town as skittish as startled birds. There were two locations with the tightest defenses.

One was the residential compound, where the mayor's family lived. There might be a successor to the mayor there.

The other was a house surrounded by three squads of samurai, along with an Uzumaki Ninja.

There had to be something very important inside. Otherwise, the Uzumaki Ninja would not have stayed there.

At a corner, Yagami slowly pulled back his head and eyes. After estimating the distance, he began forming Hand Seals.

His body slowly sank downward.

Ripples like water spread across the ground.

Earth-Corpse Transmigration consumed a great deal of Chakra. The technique infused Chakra into the earth and altered its density, allowing his body to swim through soil like a fish.

To prevent his infiltration from being exposed, he could not leave a hollow space in the earth behind him. He had to restore it with Chakra.

The complex operation and massive Chakra consumption meant that this technique was not very fast.

Yagami had only mastered the beginner-level Earth-Corpse Transmigration. He did not know how it would perform once he became more proficient.

After sneaking behind the Uzumaki Ninja, Yagami poked out his head and shoulders.

"Ah!"

The Uzumaki Ninja felt a sudden pain in his ankle. When he turned around, he discovered that someone had severed his Achilles tendon!

He hurriedly stabbed downward with his Kunai.

Yagami grabbed the Uzumaki Ninja's wrist with his left hand and stabbed at his abdomen with his right.

Although he struck the Uzumaki Ninja's abdomen, his own left hand was also pierced by the Uzumaki Ninja's Kunai.

Ignoring his bleeding left hand, Yagami crawled out of the ground and dodged the Uzumaki Ninja's dying struggle.

The Uzumaki Ninja dragged his crippled foot as he pursued for two steps, then immediately realized, "Poison! It's poison! This poison... why is it poison from our village?"

It really is poison from your village. Uzumaki Yuka's poison hasn't run out yet, so it's perfect for using on you.

The Uzumaki Ninja lost his ability to fight, and the samurai rushed forward. Yagami clashed with them.

Other than the samurai captain, none of the other samurai had Chakra. When their blades met his, they felt limp and powerless.

The samurai captain was somewhat more troublesome. His muscles were infused with Chakra, giving him tremendous strength, but he was less agile.

After Yagami killed four samurai, the rest scattered in a panic.

The Uzumaki Ninja lay on the ground, barely conscious.

Leaning against the wall, Yagami used Earth-Corpse Transmigration and slowly sank into the wall.

Once inside the house, he found that it really was a storehouse.

He opened one backpack after another. They were filled with all kinds of supplies.

He grabbed six Kunai and stuffed them into his Ninja Tool Pouch.

He slung a backpack over his shoulder, packed full of Soldier Pills.

In another small backpack, he actually found ten Exploding Tags.

He had struck it rich. Exploding Tags were hard currency, extremely expensive, and could only be made by ninjas who mastered both Sealing Jutsu and Fire Style.

In Konoha, an Exploding Tag cost 10,000 ryo.

ANBU provided standard-issue vests and ninja swords, but not Exploding Tags. Those had to be bought with one's own money.

Risking his life for Konoha and still having to bring his own rations—what a miserable deal.

He put the Exploding Tags into his Ninja Tool Pouch, thoroughly satisfied.

He could not carry the remaining supplies, such as tents, sleeping bags, and medicine.

Gritting his teeth, he took out an Exploding Tag, infused it with a little of his Chakra, and stuck it onto the other supplies.

He passed through the rear wall. Only after walking a long distance did he form Hand Seals and remotely detonate the Exploding Tag.

Amid the explosion, the Uzumaki Ninja's supplies flew into the air.

With a backpack full of Soldier Pills on his back, he left amid the chaos.

After escaping, Yagami did not rashly seek out the Brown Bear Squad Commander. Instead, he hid.

The full moon hung like a silver disk, its light like white frost.

Only after the full moon had passed did Yagami find the Squad Commander by the sea.

Cautious, cautious, and more cautious.

There was no one beside the Brown Bear Squad Commander.

"Squad Commander, I have completed the mission. I assassinated the mayor who supported Uzu Hidden Village. I also seized some of that mayor's supplies, and destroyed everything I couldn't carry."

Yagami set down the backpack and opened it. Inside was a huge bag filled with Soldier Pills.

There were also two Exploding Tags.

Yagami had kept the other seven Exploding Tags for himself and would not hand them over.

Even these two had been painful to part with. Otherwise, he would not have been able to explain how he had destroyed the supplies.

If he was going to put on an act, he had to see it through without leaving any flaws.

"Good! Excellent! Your performance far exceeded my expectations. Aside from taking too long to complete the mission, everything else was handled steadily. After so long, I thought you..."

Brown Bear did not continue.

When he had sent Fox to assassinate the noble, his original intention had been to pressure the Uzumaki Ninja into stationing more of their people to protect the nobles, thereby easing the pressure on the front lines.

Now, the noble was truly dead, and the supplies had been destroyed as well.

"Squad Commander, what did you think had happened to me?"

"Nothing. I'm very satisfied."

"Squad Commander, there's also bad news."

"What bad news?"

Brown Bear's gaze turned serious. Could the nobles have been hiding some backup plan from Uzu Hidden Village?

"The bad news is that Matsutori was unfortunately killed."

Brown Bear immediately relaxed. He had scared himself.

He said, "For the village, some sacrifices are necessary. We ANBU are the sharpest blades protecting the village in the darkness. Blades that are too sharp are easily broken. That is unavoidable."

Hearing the Brown Bear Squad Commander's consolation, Yagami felt much more at ease.

Antelope Squad, Azure Wolf Squad, and his current Fox Squad—everyone except him had died. He had feared the Squad Commander would become suspicious, but he had not expected him to not care at all.

If ANBU casualties had not been so high, he would never have been able to enter ANBU.

Brown Bear said, "Leave the Soldier Pills with me. They are supplies we urgently need right now, and I will distribute them to the other ninjas.

"As for the Exploding Tags, you and I will take one each. Keep one to save your life.

"You have already grown into an ANBU elite in battle, completing the mission outstandingly and beyond requirements.

"I now officially appoint you as a Squad Leader.

"Our squad has suffered heavy losses. Next, I will do my best to assign members to you. If there are no suitable members, you will carry out missions alone."

"The squad is having a difficult time. I can carry out missions alone."

Yagami happily put away an Exploding Tag. He had not expected the Squad Commander to be so generous, aside from not caring whether his subordinates lived or died.

That meant he now had eight Exploding Tags. He felt completely secure.

It was almost 40,000 characters already. When would he finally get a contract?