The Struggle for Interests over the Transfer List and the Perilous Step into the Core Circle

The sound of Consultant Chiyo's footsteps faded at the end of the passage, and the nearly tangible pressure in the air dissipated with it.

The air in the maintenance room seemed to start flowing again.

Ji Tu's legs went weak, and he slid down the cold wall until he was sitting on the floor, gasping heavily. The cold sweat on his forehead soaked his Protector. The two team members behind him also wore expressions of having narrowly escaped disaster. When they looked at Baishi, their awe was now mixed with a little more probing and complexity.

Baishi slowly stood up and patted nonexistent dust from his knees.

The Fox Mask concealed every expression on his face.

He did not look at Ji Tu, who had collapsed on the floor. He simply put away the report Scroll that Consultant Chiyo had just examined and set down again, his movements meticulous, as if the heart-stopping clash with the higher-ups had nothing to do with him.

"Archive the logbook. Keep tonight's events to yourselves."

Leaving those words behind, he turned and walked out of the maintenance room.

Cold calculations raced through his mind. The transfer tonight. The highest-level inspection. The reduced number of slots. These three things were like three iron gates, completely sealing off his path to the One-Tail.

A Konoha assignee, an outsider—no matter how one looked at it, he could not possibly appear on this List.

He walked all the way back to the temporary barracks of Third Squad. Along the way, every patrol member he encountered respectfully nodded to him. He had helped Ji Tu out of a difficult situation over the budget issue and restored Captain Zuo Shi's dignity during the handover of the defense zone. Such things spread quickly among the rank and file.

"Knows the rules."