Luck Was Also a Kind of Strength

The 20th, ANBU changing room.

Having just finished Konoha's routine patrol, everyone stood before their lockers, taking off their ANBU vests.

Yagami's breathing was even softer than usual, afraid that the captain would call on him.

Could anyone imagine how terrifying it was to be called on by the captain?

It was like slacking off for a week, only for the manager to call on you to present the proposal.

It was like coming home from a foot massage, only for your wife to call on you to do your duty.

The captain still called Yagami's codename.

"Fox, keep an eye on Tsurutsuki Izakaya tonight."

Damn it, it was him again.

Yagami put the ANBU vest he had just taken off back on.

This vest was not the cloth armor worn by ordinary ninja, but gray iron armor, just like Kakashi's outfit when he had served in ANBU in the original story.

Yet an iron vest could not provide the slightest sense of security.

After night fell, Yagami hid in the woods at the street corner, watching the distant izakaya.

At one moment, his eyes shifted slightly beneath his mask.

He had clearly been extremely attentive and had even anticipated it, yet he still had no idea how the Squad Leader had appeared beside him in an instant.

He asked the captain for money, shamelessly requesting three stacks this time.

There was no reason not to take free money. I bled for ANBU, so ANBU could not shortchange me.

Entering Tsurutsuki Izakaya, Yagami still headed straight for the corner.

"Bring me your most expensive sake!"

The female owner he had seen in his previous life carried over the drink, smiling seductively as she leaned close to Yagami.

Her neckline was so low.

Yagami stared, entranced.

So big, so beautiful—why didn't they tremble? They were ultimately lacking a bit of aesthetic appeal.

The same routine followed. The female owner's towering breasts pressed against his side as she led him into a side room in the rear courtyard.

The female owner closed the door.

"Ninja-sama, do you prefer Yang Release or Yin Release?"

"I get it. I get it all too well. Sometimes I like Yang Release, sometimes Yin Release. When I'm tired, it's Yin Release—you get on top. When I'm still good, it's Yang Release—I get on top!"

"Hehehe, Ninja-sama, you truly are easy to understand."

Yagami flirted aloud, but inwardly he was on high alert.

Something moved!

Something moved!

Something in the corner had burrowed over from underground.

There was no change to the ground at all, but Yagami also knew Earth Release: Subterranean Mirroring Fish Technique and sensed the newcomer.

At the same time, the female owner moved as well.

She pressed herself against him. Just like last time, her red lips were so soft.

"I can't wait any longer! Let's skip the kissing scene. Come on, Yang Release first!"

Yagami suddenly exerted force, throwing the female owner to the floor as he pounced toward the shadows.

He pulled a hidden kunai from the small of his back and viciously stabbed it between the female owner's legs.

The female owner had originally thought this Konoha Ninja was quite eager, but then she saw the kunai's iron ring over Yagami's shoulder.

Oh no!

It felt a little cold between her legs.

The moment she hit the ground and was about to exert strength, she suddenly heard a muffled groan from behind her back.

Even worse!

The kunai was not meant to assassinate her—it had stabbed her teammate beneath the ground!

Beneath the ground behind her back, her teammate convulsed.

This Konoha Ninja had happened to stab the spy teammate's heart through the space between her legs.

A storm raged in her mind.

For her spy identity, Iwagakure had sacrificed many companions. The teammate who had accompanied her for years and the teacher who had taught her had both died in Konoha.

To protect one another, she and the teammate beneath her had never met, communicating through coded markings.

Her teammate had been exposed. She absolutely could not be exposed.

The only chance to preserve her identity as a spy was to pretend she knew nothing.

Exposure meant death. Being discovered meant death.

If she fainted, Konoha might mistakenly conclude that she knew nothing. This was her only chance.

"Ah!"

The back of the female owner's head slammed heavily into the ground.

Yagami clearly felt the female owner's body go limp as she fainted.

Feeling the ground between the female owner's legs, Yagami got a hand full of blood and decided to call the captain over first.

Yagami left the side room, leaped onto the roof, gave the captain a hand signal, and returned to the room in the rear courtyard.

The door was open. A few seconds later, the captain entered the side room as well.

The captain cautiously shut the door and immediately examined the scene. "Blood is seeping from the ground around the kunai. There's someone underground! Fox, did you kill him?"

"Captain, my Chakra nature is earth. I sensed someone underground, so I tried stabbing the ground with a kunai."

The squad leader nodded and said, "Good. Very good."

The Squad Leader raised his hand, then smashed open the ground the next instant, digging the person out from beneath it.

He was covered in dirt mixed with blood.

After checking him over, the squad leader continued:

"Skilled in Earth Release. Judging by his square face, he looks like someone from the Land of Earth, likely a Stone Ninja spy.

"Excellent, Fox. You completed a B-rank Mission.

"Someone who had only just passed the Chunin Exams could complete a B-rank Mission. Your luck is pretty good. Lord Hatake Sakumo once said that luck was also a kind of strength."

Yagami had not expected his captain to have dealings with Hatake Sakumo.

Kakashi said luck was a kind of strength; it seemed he had heard it from his father, Hatake Sakumo.

Yagami corrected him. "Captain, my strength isn't that terrible, is it?"

"If over a thousand ninja hadn't died on the Land of Yu battlefield, and if the Chunin Exams hadn't been made easier during the Shinobi World War, you wouldn't have become a chunin even in another three years."

Seeing that he could not change the captain's impression of him, Yagami turned toward the female owner, indicating that there was still a living person here.

"It's fine. The female owner has fainted and can't hear our conversation," the squad leader said.

"Take this man away first and extract intelligence from his brain. Following that intelligence, we might be able to pull out an entire chain."

The captain hoisted the spy onto his shoulder and left the room.

Yagami restored the ground, then carried the female owner onto the bed.

He gave the female owner one last look, feeling somewhat regretful. Though they did not tremble and were not soft, they were big. What a pity.

After retrieving his equipment from the woods at the street corner, Yagami returned to ANBU as well.

Yagami and the captain delivered the corpse to the Intelligence Division.

A Yamanaka Clan ninja took the corpse away.

Yagami said, "Captain, can I rest for a few days? These patrols, surveillance duties, and this spy mission have left me rather tired."

The captain had wanted to refuse, but after considering Fox's terrible strength, whether he was in the squad or not made no difference. Since he had just completed a spy mission, he said:

"I can give you three days of rest. Remain available for notification at any time. The village needs people right now, so you must return to the squad after three days."

"Alright, thank you, Captain."

Yagami needed to hold out until the next full moon on the fifteenth before he would have a chance to revive.

For these twenty-five days, he would delay for as long as he could.