Good-for-Nothing

"Antelope Squad! Move out!"

Yagami's captain wore an antelope mask, and the squad members all called him Captain Antelope.

Aside from Yagami, the squad also had Purple Cat and Horned Bull.

Their true identities were unknown. Even if the person behind the Purple Cat mask had been replaced, Yagami would not have known.

The four members of the squad left the Forest of Death and followed Konoha's wall the whole way.

As they walked, Yagami started to feel that something was off.

This direction... were they heading to Konoha Gate?

Were they leaving the village?

Leaving the village was absolutely not okay.

If he ran into danger inside Konoha, he could always shout at the top of his lungs if nothing else.

Calling for backup was nothing to be ashamed of.

But if he ran into danger outside the village, he could scream himself hoarse and it would still be useless.

Antelope Squad arrived at the entrance to Konoha Gate.

Without submitting any application to leave the village, and without slowing down, the four members of Antelope Squad passed through Konoha Gate.

One member of the Guardian Squad said enviously, "ANBU are so cool. They all wear masks and look so cold and stern."

"Then you can apply to join the ANBU. You'll get to wear a mask every day too."

"Forget it. Wearing a mask as ANBU means the only day you see the light is the day you die."

Yagami was in a foul mood. How had they ended up leaving the village?

As Captain Antelope ran, he said, "The target we're monitoring this time is an Elite Chunin.

He's already become a squad leader and is leading a genin squad on transport missions near the front line.

That Elite Chunin is suspected of being connected to Stone Ninja spies. We're going to track and investigate him, gather evidence, and be ready to eliminate him at any time."

After hearing that, Yagami felt even more guilty.

In the ninja world, someone two ranks higher could potentially kill you in an instant.

Ninja ranks were roughly divided into: genin, chunin, Elite Chunin, Special Jonin, jonin, Elite Jonin, Kage Level, Super Kage Level, and Six Paths Level.

An Elite Chunin could instantly kill a genin—especially someone like Yagami, a fake chunin and true genin.

Along the way, Yagami carefully observed Captain Antelope and his two teammates, wanting to confirm their strength.

Captain Antelope's strength was at least Elite Chunin. Otherwise, he would not have said something like "eliminate an Elite Chunin."

He himself was a genin. As for Purple Cat and Horned Bull, both of them were very likely chunin. Only with that average strength could they meet the ANBU requirement of a chunin-level squad.

After leaving the Land of Fire and entering the front line in the Land of Rivers, they had to be careful everywhere.

Captain Antelope quickly found the surveillance target.

Yagami looked at the distant Konoha squad through binoculars.

The surveillance target was a burly man with a resolute face.

Of his three student subordinates, one was a ninja from the Akimichi Clan, one was a civilian girl with no clan emblem on her, and the last was a civilian male ninja wearing glasses.

All four of them carried huge backpacks, though it was unclear what supplies they were transporting to the front line.

After watching for only two or three seconds, Yagami quickly lowered the binoculars.

He did not know if it was an illusion, but the Elite Chunin seemed to have glanced in his direction.

Captain Antelope was still observing with his binoculars. "Maintain a distance of two hundred meters. Don't get close. Slowly gather intelligence."

For five days straight, Antelope Squad followed the target squad from afar.

The target squad repeatedly moved between the Land of Rivers border and the Land of Fire border, constantly transporting supplies.

Those five days were fairly peaceful.

Yagami counted the days.

He had enjoyed three days in Tsurutsuki Izakaya, spent four days getting to the border, and followed the target for five days. Twelve days had already passed. In another thirteen days, he would reach the full month.

Yagami hoped they could just keep monitoring quietly like this.

Captain Antelope suddenly shouted, "Something's happening!"

The surveillance target went behind a large tree, avoiding his own team members.

He stuffed a scroll under the tree roots, then quickly left.

"Move! Confirm the contents of the scroll, then proceed according to plan!"

The four ANBU rushed quickly toward that large tree.

Yagami charged very fast.

They had to be fast. Only by charging in quickly could they pick out the easy targets.

He shifted position slightly and rushed toward the female ninja in the target squad.

She was eleven years old, and a civilian besides. She had to be weak, right?

Captain Antelope reached the base of the tree first, took out the scroll, opened it, and swept a glance over it.

"It's an Iwagakure spy! Eliminate the target!"

It wasn't easy for Iwagakure to plant a spy, let alone one at the Elite Chunin level.

This spy definitely had contacts beneath him. Based on past experience, they were most likely his students or disciples.

The Akimichi Clan genin definitely wasn't the spy. He was a ninja-clan shinobi.

Either of the remaining two students could be spies.

As for how to tell them apart... the Anbu's usual practice was not to.

Yagami threw two kunai at the civilian female ninja.

One shot straight toward her left eye, drawing the target's gaze.

The other went straight for her abdomen, ensuring it would hit.

The civilian female genin instinctively raised her kunai and knocked aside the one flying toward her eye.

She protected her head and neglected the rest. The other kunai struck her in the abdomen.

Blood sprayed out.

Yagami didn't know whether the girl in front of him was actually a spy, but he showed no mercy at all. After kicking her down, he pinned both of her hands to the ground with kunai.

Beside them, the Akimichi genin saw the miserable state of his female teammate and immediately went mad.

He took a kunai from Purple Cat head-on and charged at Yagami.

Yagami stood where he was, quietly watching the Akimichi genin rushing toward him.

Purple Cat was chasing him from behind. Barring any surprises, the Akimichi genin wouldn't make it in front of him.

However, the Akimichi genin directly took out a secret medicine pill and swallowed it in one gulp.

Yagami didn't even see what color the pill was.

Not good!

"Human Bullet Tank!"

As expected of a ninja-clan shinobi, the Akimichi genin transformed into a massive human bullet and rolled toward Yagami at extreme speed.

Yagami hurriedly jumped backward.

Damn it, something went wrong. He wasn't going to screw this up, was he?

He was caught by the Human Bullet Tank and crushed hard against a huge boulder.

At the critical moment, Yagami hid behind the enormous ball of flesh, secretly formed Hand Seals, and used Earth Release: Subterranean Mirroring Fish Technique.

His figure vanished as he dove into the boulder.

Luckily, he had learned a ninjutsu from the system. Otherwise, he would have died right here.

For a moment, shattered stone flew everywhere.

The Human Bullet Tank was about to stop, and Yagami hurriedly reappeared, not wanting anyone to discover that he had mastered Earth Release ninjutsu.

The Human Bullet Tank was big enough that no one else could see anything.

To make it convincing, he deliberately let the Human Bullet Tank roll over him, shattering several bones throughout his body.

"Enough!"

Captain Antelope barked sharply.

When the Akimichi genin heard the unfamiliar voice behind him, his body shrank back down, and he turned to look.

In the distance, the Iwagakure spy, the Elite Chunin, had been pinned to a tree by kunai.

Captain Antelope's ninja blade had pierced the female genin's chest.

As for the bespectacled genin, Horned Bull had stabbed him to death with a kunai.

"Who are you people?!"

The Akimichi genin had just tried to say something when Captain Antelope appeared with a Body Flicker and punched him in the abdomen, interrupting his frenzy.

"We are Konoha Anbu, handling an Iwagakure spy. Clear your head and don't cause trouble!"

If civilian ninja died, then they died. But this Akimichi genin had the backing of a ninja clan, so they couldn't simply kill him outright.

The Akimichi genin crawled toward the pretty civilian female ninja, weeping bitterly.

"I still hadn't told you that I... I liked..."

Konoha Ninja all matured early. Whatever emotional entanglement there had been between the two of them, the female genin was already dead, and death had cut off all feelings.

Captain Antelope came up to Yagami and looked at his injuries.

Yagami hurriedly said, "Captain! The Will of Fire! We can't abandon any Konoha comrade! I'm just injured—you can't leave me behind, right?"

"A useless piece of trash. If we take you back to recover, it'll take another dozen days or more."

Hearing what his captain meant—that he would not abandon him—Yagami let out a sigh of relief.

Then he thought about it again. Recovering could take a dozen days or more?

Didn't that mean he could drag it out until next month's full moon? There was such a good thing?

Carried on Horned Bull's back, he returned to Konoha. After half a month of recovery, Yagami finally waited until the full moon.

However, he also waited until a new mission arrived.

The Anbu Director, Danzo, sent two Anbu platoons to the Land of Waves and the Land of Whirlpools.

Yagami felt uneasy.

The Uzumaki Clan of the Land of Whirlpools... they weren't about to be wiped out, were they?

What could a small fry like him do in an earth-shaking event like the extermination of the Uzumaki Clan?