Afterglow of the Dark Night and a Silent Interrogation

The charred remains of the rogue ninja Leech gave off faint white smoke amid the dense forest, and the acrid smell of burning lingered in the air. Yan stood in the middle of the scorched earth, tightly gripping the deployment map with its burned edges. It was the only physical proof of the mission's success, and also the first "spoils of war" he had watered with flesh and blood.

"Rabbit, how is Captain Tiger?" Yan's voice remained calm, but it carried an unquestionable chill.

Rabbit snapped out of her shock at the rogue ninja's instant death. Her trembling hands barely steadied as she began administering emergency treatment to Captain Tiger. The glow of medical ninjutsu lit up at her fingertips, gently covering Captain Tiger's sunken chest.

"Three broken ribs, trauma to the lungs, and slight internal bleeding..." Rabbit's voice carried a trace of tears. Medical ninja were innately terrified of lives slipping away, and Yan's destructive power instinctively frightened her. "His injuries are serious. We need to return to the village immediately for more precise treatment."

"Deer, make a simple stretcher." Yan gave no unnecessary orders; every word was precise, without the slightest redundancy. "Move covertly. Leave markers along the way to prevent us from being tracked."

Though Deputy Deer was still shaken, he moved on reflex. He knew that in this situation, Yan's words were orders. Silently, he took rope and several vines from his ninja tool pouch and began skillfully constructing a stretcher. His movements were somewhat hurried, and every glance he cast at Yan carried undisguised awe and fear.

Yan did not look at them again. He walked around the area, spreading his Observation Haki outward like a tide. It extended eight hundred meters in every direction, covering most of the forest. He needed to confirm whether there were any other enemies lying in wait besides the rogue ninja who had already been burned to ashes.

There was nothing unusual. After Yan's eruption of extreme heat, the forest seemed to have been thoroughly cleansed. Even the usual noisy chirping of insects and birds had vanished without a trace. Only the breeze rustled through the leaves with a soft whisper, as though murmuring about everything that had just happened.

After confirming that it was safe, Yan returned to the center of the team. He carefully put away the deployment map, then glanced at Captain Tiger, who was still receiving treatment.

"Captain Tiger, are you sure no other important intelligence was leaked?" Yan asked.

Captain Tiger shook his head with difficulty, his face twisted by excruciating pain. "The deployment map... was the most important thing. He didn't have time... to send anything out." His gaze settled on Yan, complicated, as if trying to see through the boy completely. "You... what exactly are you?"

Yan did not answer. He knew this was an ANBU taboo. His identity and direct authority under the Hokage gave him greater freedom than usual during operations, but the price was absolute secrecy regarding that identity.

"We're leaving," Yan ordered curtly.

Over the next few hours on the return journey, the atmosphere was unusually oppressive. Deputy Deer carried the makeshift stretcher, taking turns with Yan to move covertly. Rabbit stayed beside the stretcher, continuously performing basic treatment to maintain Captain Tiger's condition.

No one spoke. From time to time, Deputy Deer glanced at Yan walking beside him. The boy wore a plain black mask and moved with light steps, as though he had merged with the night itself. His sensory ability was beyond imagination. Every route he chose and every danger he avoided was frighteningly precise. Deputy Deer knew that without Yan, the three of them would likely have become wandering ghosts in this forest. Yet the shock of that power, along with the humiliation of being saved by a thirteen-year-old child, left him at a loss.

Yan, meanwhile, was completely immersed in his own thoughts. His first killing in the truest sense. His first experience of utterly crushing someone without mercy. Deep within him, there was neither wild exhilaration nor the slightest pity. There was only an extreme calmness... an adaptation. He knew this was the road he had chosen, one destined to be accompanied by slaughter and bloodshed. To protect those "ordinary moments" he wanted to protect, he had to become the sharpest blade.

As dawn began to break, the five-man team—now reduced to four, with one seriously wounded—finally returned to Konoha. They did not enter through the main gates. Instead, they used an ANBU-only secret passage and arrived directly at ANBU headquarters.

ANBU Headquarters, Medical Room.

Captain Tiger was rushed into intensive care, where ANBU medical ninja began emergency treatment. Deputy Deer and Rabbit were taken away for injury examinations and psychological evaluations. Yan was brought to a sealed interrogation room. This was not punishment, but the standard procedure after an ANBU mission—reporting and evaluation.

There was only one person in the interrogation room: an ANBU codenamed Owl. He sat behind the table, a mask covering most of his face and leaving only a pair of eyes exposed, deep as bottomless pits.

"Lava." Owl's voice was hoarse and tinged with fatigue. "Report the details of the mission."

Yan recounted the mission from their encounter with the trap, to his intervention to eliminate the rogue ninja, to recovering the deployment map. Every detail was precise, every word calm and composed. He omitted the specific temperature of his Magma-Magma Fruit, using only "high temperature" to describe it. But he knew that Captain Tiger and Rabbit's reports would already contain exaggerated enough descriptions to draw the attention of the higher-ups.

Owl listened in silence throughout. He did not interrupt or ask questions. He only occasionally tapped his fingertips lightly against the tabletop, producing a regular, faint sound. Only after Yan had finished his report did he raise his head and fix Yan with a piercing stare.

"You exceeded your mission orders." Owl's voice lowered. "The mission explicitly required the elimination of a defecting chunin. The one you eliminated was—a rogue ninja at the Hidden Mist jonin level. And you killed him in a single move."

"The situation was urgent." Yan's tone did not waver in the slightest. "Captain Tiger was seriously injured, and Deer and Rabbit had lost their ability to fight. If I had not acted, the mission would have failed, the team would have been wiped out, and the deployment map would have been lost completely."

Owl's gaze remained on Yan's face for a long time. He tried to find a trace of fluctuation behind that mask, in those pitch-black eyes—some pride or fear befitting a young boy. But he found nothing. That face, those eyes, were as calm as a lake in deep winter, without the slightest ripple.

"The power you displayed... far surpasses that of a genin, even exceeding the scope of a jonin." Owl continued, his tone carrying a nearly imperceptible note of probing. "According to Captain Tiger's report, your ability is unrelated to Fire Release. It is some kind of bloodline limit that has never appeared in Konoha. Why did you not mention it?"

"My ability falls under the direct jurisdiction of the Hokage." Yan once again produced that immunity card. It was the authority Hiruzen Sarutobi had personally granted him, and his greatest source of confidence. "This is a special authorization from the Third Hokage. For any details concerning my ability, you may consult the Hokage directly."

Owl's fingertips stopped on the table. He knew Yan was telling the truth. That special authorization had already caused a huge uproar within ANBU. A child from the reserve unit had actually received authority directly under the Hokage—such a thing had never been heard of in ANBU history.

"Very well." Owl finally withdrew his gaze, and his voice took on a complicated undertone. "The mission was completed very well. The deployment map has been recovered. Three team members survived. You... did well."

This was recognition from ANBU's higher-ups. Within ANBU, such recognition was more precious than any praise.

"But—" Owl changed direction, his tone turning cold again. "Your strength is no longer suited to remaining in the reserve unit. From this moment on, your mission rank will be directly elevated to—'Special Jonin Level.' Your codename, 'Lava,' will be directly assigned to the Shadow Guard."

Shadow Guard.

This was a special unit within ANBU. It did not fall under the standard ANBU captain system, but answered directly to the Hokage himself. Its members were typically elites possessing Kage-level or quasi-Kage-level strength. They were responsible for the Hokage's personal security, top-secret missions, and handling special incidents unsuitable for public disclosure. Its authority was higher than that of ordinary ANBU directly under the Hokage, and its status was more exceptional as well.

For the first time, a ripple stirred deep within Yan's heart. This was not what he had expected. He had originally thought that, at most, he would remain in the reserve unit while receiving more difficult missions and a wider operational range. But he had not expected the Third Hokage to elevate him so directly to the level of the Shadow Guard.

This meant he would come into contact with Konoha's core secrets more frequently and become more deeply involved in Konoha's political whirlpool. At the same time, it meant the "shackles" upon him would become heavier, and the surveillance over him more stringent.

"Understood." Yan nodded, his tone unchanged.

"Starting tomorrow, you will undergo special training with the Shadow Guard. Your instructor will be personally appointed by the Hokage." Owl stood up, ending the conversation. "Go rest. Tonight, you will spend the night alone in ANBU's highest-security Windowless Stone Room. No surveillance. No chakra detection."

Yan raised an eyebrow slightly. Was this some kind of "gift" from the Hokage? Or... another form of surveillance?

In the darkness, he could clearly "see" the flow of chakra throughout ANBU headquarters. The maze-like corridors, the sleeping ANBU members, even the steady, rock-solid chakra presence in the distant Hokage's office—all of it was exceptionally clear at this moment.

This "Windowless Stone Room" truly had no windows in the physical sense.

But to him, all of ANBU headquarters lay beyond his "window."