A Message Forced Yotsuki to Choose Sides on the Spot

"Before dawn, who would they go after first?"

Bai Ye rose from beside the door, his hand already gripping his shoulder bone.

"Those who knew about the gray paper."

"You and Iruka?"

"And Yotsuki."

Chiba picked up the written order delivered by the Anbu. The chakra lingering in the dark red seal had already faded, leaving only a notch along the edge from repeated stamping.

"That food delivery guy?"

"Yeah."

"He worked for Root. If he died, it would save food."

"He knew the contact."

Bai Ye lowered his hand from his shoulder.

"Were they going to save him?"

"Let's see which side he chose."

There were no Root members outside the orphanage, but the sensory vines found a fresh trail of blood behind the pharmacy's back door. One of the cloth shoes Yotsuki often wore was missing, its heel pointing toward the drainage ditch.

Chiba did not enter the orphanage. Roots burrowed through the cracks in the wall along the blood trail and soon encountered two streams of chakra.

"Three entries are missing from the records."

Someone was turning pages in the pharmacy.

"Last night, you informed Chiba about Warehouse Seven in advance, allowing him to set up a sensory Root Network. That counts as your first dereliction of duty."

Yotsuki leaned against the medicine cabinet, the sleeve on his right arm cut open by a short blade. Blood dripped from his wrist into an empty medicine jar.

"I only told him the pharmacy needed Iruka's signature."

"Why was he waiting outside the apartment in advance?"

"He had discovered the poison line long ago."

"You didn't put that in your report."

"I've never entered Iruka's home."

The Root ninja pushed the records toward Yotsuki.

"Second, you destroyed the hair of Kaguya's test subject and concealed the presence of a stranger within the Senju Clan Grounds."

"The source had not been confirmed."

"Third, after last night's operation failed, you did not return to Root."

Yotsuki pressed his wound with his left hand.

"Lord Danzo did not summon me."

"You were summoned now."

Another ninja took out a black cloth bag and walked toward the medicine cabinet.

Yotsuki did not look at the bag. He only pushed the bloodstained medicine jar farther away.

"The Cursed Tongue Eradication Seal can already restrict my speech. Why blindfold me too?"

"You went somewhere you should not remember."

"If I went this time, would I be able to come back?"

"You asked too many questions."

Before the bag could be pulled down, a thin vine burst through the pharmacy floor.

Its tip did not attack the two Root ninjas. It merely knocked over the wooden rack beside them, which was filled with medicine powder. Bottles and jars smashed across the floor.

White powder obscured their vision. Yotsuki seized the chance to retreat, his shoulder smashing through the window frame.

The Root ninja chased him to the window, but there was no one outside.

"Who was that?"

"A rat."

Chiba stood atop the medicine cabinet, Bone Vine supporting the beam beneath his feet.

A short blade stabbed up from below.

He shifted half a step aside. The vine wrapped around the back of the blade and guided its edge toward the cloth bag in the other Root ninja's hand.

The fabric split open. What fell out was not rope, but a syringe filled with dark red medicine.

When Yotsuki saw it, the foot he had already extended through the window drew back.

"That was a memory eraser."

"You recognized it?"

"Root used it on members who lost control. After it was injected, they forgot everything from the past three months."

The knife-wielding ninja kicked aside a medicine bottle.

"Yakushi Yeyue is suspected of leaking secrets. Root will take him away now. Senju Chiba, are you trying to shield a traitor?"

"What did he leak?"

"That had nothing to do with you."

"Then you hadn't figured it out."

"Move."

"He still had to deliver food tomorrow."

Yotsuki braced himself against the window frame, blood from his right hand already running to his fingertips.

"You came here in the middle of the night just for a box of rice balls?"

"Today, I wanted meat."

"Chiba, this wasn't the time to talk about that."

"Then leave first."

Yotsuki looked at the two Root ninjas.

"I couldn't leave."

"Your legs weren't broken."

"There was a seal on my tongue. If I left their range of control, the Cursed Seal might kill me."

Chiba had a thin vine coil around Yotsuki's ankle. No toxin entered him; it only traced the flow of chakra beneath his skin.

There truly was a sealing force coiled near the root of his tongue.

"Forget Root's secrets for now."

"They would pursue us."

"Let them."

The knife-wielding ninja raised his hands to form seals.

"Senju Chiba is obstructing Root's mission. Permission granted to subdue him on the spot."

Bone Vine rose from the medicine powder, its inner framework spreading open and separating the two men on opposite sides of the medicine cabinet.

The short blade cut through three layers of wood in succession but never made it past the framework.

The other man flung several kunai. Their blades struck the vines and fell among the scattered medicinal herbs.

"You stopped me like this last night too."

"That was a misunderstanding."

"What about now?"

The Root ninja did not answer. His arm moved back, preparing to grab a signal flare.

Chiba tightened the vine knot first.

Their wrists were locked against the medicine cabinet. The framework did not crush their arm guards, but it kept their fingers from reaching their ninja tool pouches.

"Yotsuki."

"What?"

"Go."

"You weren't going to kill them?"

"Killing them would be troublesome."

"Leaving them alive would be even more troublesome."

"They had to go back and report."

Yotsuki climbed out through the window. When he landed, his right knee gave out, and his palm sank into the muddy water.

Chiba jumped down from the medicine cabinet. As he passed the two Root ninjas, he took the memory eraser.

"Tell Danzo I was borrowing him for now."

"He belonged to Root."

"Whoever carved the seal owned him?"

"You couldn't undo it."

"I would be able to later."

Bone Vine sealed the pharmacy's doors and windows, enough to trap the two men for half an hour.

On the way back to the clan grounds, Yotsuki remained two steps behind. The wound on his right hand had stopped bleeding, but his gaze paused several times on the back of Chiba's neck.

"You knew all along?"

"Knew what?"

"My identity."

"Since the orphanage."

"How old were you then?"

"Older than you thought."

"Why did you keep me around?"

"You could cook."

"Chiba."

Yotsuki stepped over the drainage ditch. His sole slipped against the stone edge, and he caught the wall before he could drop to his knees.

"I was asking about something serious."

"You could bring Root's information to me, and you could bring my information to Root."

"So you had been using me all along?"

"Hadn't you been using me too?"

Yotsuki opened his mouth, then finally tugged at his sleeve and wrapped the torn cloth around his wrist.

"About last night's mission, I only knew Iruka would be poisoned. I didn't know they would directly try to kill him."

"Leaving him one breath would still kill him."

"I took the antidote."

"You didn't bring it."

"Danzo told me to wait for you to beg him at the old shrine. If I gave it to you early, the Cursed Seal would activate."

Chiba stopped near the school's back wall.

"Did you want to give it to me?"

Yotsuki looked at his crookedly wrapped sleeve. He tried twice to undo it, but the cloth was stuck together with dried blood. The more he pulled, the tighter it became.

"I didn't know."

"Then think about it slowly."

"Danzo wouldn't give me time."

"I would."

"You saved me. Weren't you afraid I had deliberately lured Root's people there?"

"I was."

Yotsuki raised his head.

"Then why did you still come?"

"If they killed you, I would lose a line."

"Was that all?"

"And food."

"Could you stop bringing up food?"

"No."

The morning class bell rang from the direction of the school. They had already missed the first lesson.

Yotsuki reached into his pocket. The Root record book had somehow been soaked through with medicine powder, leaving only a few legible pages.

"I had to go back and report today."

"Mm."

"They would ask what you said."

"Tell them the truth."

"You weren't planning to threaten me?"

"There was no need."

Chiba vaulted over the school's back wall. The students on the training ground were practicing throws. Iruka's left arm was in a brace, but he still stood beside the targets recording their scores.

Naruto was the first to spot Chiba.

"You're late! Iruka-sensei said anyone late today has to run twenty laps!"

"He only said that about you."

"And that guy behind you? Why are his hands covered in blood?"

Yotsuki hid his right hand inside his sleeve.

"The vial shattered."

Kiba leaned in and sniffed.

"There are still the chakra scents of two people inside."

"Are you a dog?"

"Akamaru smelled it first."

Iruka closed the grade sheet and walked over to Chiba.

"Back pretty late from your night run?"

"It was far."

"The people from the Hokage Tower waited for you for half an hour."

"I'll go after class."

"And the evidence from last night?"

"Safe."

Iruka glanced over the strip of cloth around Yotsuki's wrist. He did not press further, only stuffed the tardiness record into Chiba's arms.

"Go to class first. Neither of you leave after class."

Yotsuki sat in the last row of the classroom, one hand pressed against the base of his tongue.

The Cursed Seal left by Root had not flared up, nor had the two people from the dispensary pursued him to the school. That silence instead made him write the same character wrong several times.

During the break, the crowd poured out of the classroom. Chiba passed by his desk without stopping.

Yotsuki thought Chiba would leave directly, but a tiny leaf landed on his shoulder.

Vine roots blocked out the surrounding noise. Only those standing close could clearly hear the words within.

"Tell Danzo not to use such low-level methods next time. It's boring."

The leaf fell into the textbook.

Chiba had already reached the door. Naruto chased after him, asking where he had gone last night, while Sasuke blocked their path with a training record in hand.

Yotsuki remained seated, his fingers hovering above the leaf.

If these words were sent back to Root, Danzo would know that Chiba had seen through the entire arrangement, and that Yotsuki still had an uncut line of communication.

If he did not send them, the two Root shinobi at the dispensary would report it anyway. Concealment would become a new crime.

The Cursed Seal at the base of his tongue began to burn, and the leaf on the textbook absorbed the blood seeping from his palm.

Yotsuki tucked the leaf into the deepest part of the book and stood, heading for the door.

"Chiba."

"Speak."

"I'll deliver those words exactly as they were."

"Do as you like."

"What if Danzo tells me to kill you?"

Chiba took the kunai Sasuke handed him and turned toward the training ground.

"First decide which way your blade points."