Ambush at Dawn

Lin Feng pushed open the wooden door of the watchtower.

Morning fog immediately swallowed his figure.

The Curse Seal on his left shoulder blade pulsed rhythmically, black markings already spreading from his wrist to the crook of his elbow.

Every step felt like needles piercing him.

The forest path was unnaturally quiet.

He stopped beneath an old cedar tree.

Through his chakra sensing, he felt three gazes settle on him from within the fog.

The Curse Seal on his shoulder blade suddenly flared with agony.

His perception was cut off at once.

Three kunai tied with explosive tags flew out of the fog, embedding themselves three steps from his feet in a triangle.

The blast wave shoved him toward the tree roots.

Lin Feng's back slammed into the cedar, and searing pain tore through his left arm.

The black markings suddenly shot up onto his shoulder.

Three figures emerged from the fog.

Root Ninja A approached from the front, while Root Ninjas B and C occupied his left and right flanks.

His escape route was sealed in an instant.

Root Ninja A raised his right hand. The Curse Seal pattern in his palm pulsed in response to the one on Lin Feng's shoulder blade.

"Hand over Shisui's intelligence now, and we may consider letting you die quietly."

Leaning against the trunk, Lin Feng took a breath.

"Danzo sent you to collect my corpse? He's already afraid."

Root Ninja A's eyes turned cold.

Root Ninja B drew a kunai, its tip aimed at Lin Feng's left shoulder.

"The Curse Seal on you is a beacon. From the moment you left the archive room, you were already in our hunting grounds."

Lin Feng lowered his head and glanced at the black markings spreading across his left arm.

"No wonder you're in such a hurry. So it's because I touched something I shouldn't have."

As he spoke, his right hand quietly formed seals.

The moment chakra flowed into the meridians of his left arm, the black markings abruptly surged onto his shoulder.

The flow became sluggish.

His hand seals went awry.

The technique collapsed.

His left arm felt as though countless needles were piercing through it at once.

Root Ninja A sneered.

"The Curse Seal can do more than track you. It can also disrupt chakra circulation. Did you think the archive room contained nothing but documents?"

Lin Feng abandoned ninjutsu and suddenly lunged forward.

His kunai swept diagonally toward Root Ninja A's throat.

Root Ninja A's expression remained calm.

He shifted half a step aside, predicting the movement through synchronized Curse Seals.

His right hand blocked the strike while his left palm slammed into Lin Feng's old shoulder wound.

Lin Feng dropped to one knee.

His left arm temporarily went numb.

The kunai fell from his hand.

Root Ninja B stepped forward, pressing a kunai with an explosive tag against the back of Lin Feng's neck.

Lin Feng's Sharingan spun rapidly, catching the patterns on the scroll at Root Ninja C's waist.

They were highly similar to the sealing technique from the Chapter 38 archive room.

The three men's Curse Seals resonated at a fixed frequency.

Lin Feng raised his head.

"Shisui is unconscious in the watchtower. He set a trap that activates whenever outsiders approach. Without me, you won't get anywhere near him."

Root Ninja A frowned.

Root Ninja C looked at his captain and said quietly, "Captain, I heard that after the Third Hokage learned about this, he didn't say anything."

"Shut up. Bind his hands tight."

Root Ninja A cut him off.

A sharp gleam flashed through Lin Feng's eyes.

The Third Hokage knew.

It matched Shisui's mutterings in his sleep.

Root Ninja A walked over to Lin Feng.

"Then you'll take the first trip for us."

Lin Feng voluntarily discarded his weapon and held out both hands.

"Go ahead and bind me. But only I can dismantle the trap—Shisui set a Sharingan-triggered genjutsu trap. If outsiders step into it, the entire watchtower will be set ablaze."

Root Ninja A hesitated for a moment, staring into Lin Feng's eyes.

Three seconds.

He ordered Lin Feng's hands bound tightly.

The rope bit into his flesh.

Root Ninja C tied another dead knot.

The three men escorted Lin Feng toward the watchtower.

Lin Feng kept his head lowered, his steps unsteady.

But beneath the cover of his hair, his Sharingan continued to turn.

Each time they passed a tree, he observed the positions of the three Root ninjas.

Root Ninja A was in front, Root Ninja B to the right, and Root Ninja C two steps behind on the left.

It was a standard triangular escort formation.

Lin Feng suddenly turned left.

"This way. The watchtower has hidden sentry defenses. We can't use the main entrance."

Root Ninja A stopped.

"You'd better not be playing tricks."

Lin Feng did not look back.

"The trap kills intruders, not guides. If you die, I'll be buried with you."

Root Ninja A was silent for a moment before following him.

Under Lin Feng's guidance, the path gradually narrowed.

A stone bridge deep in the forest emerged through the fog.

The bridge was narrow, only wide enough for one person to pass.

Root Ninja A shoved Lin Feng from behind.

"Cross."

Lin Feng stepped onto it.

The sound of the stream beneath the stone bridge was especially clear in the fog.

Root Ninja A followed close behind, with Root Ninjas B and C lining up one after another.

Lin Feng secretly used his Sharingan to continuously compare the resonance frequencies of their Curse Seals.

Every pulse, every flicker.

He adjusted the pulse of his own Curse Seal to the same rhythm.

The pain in his left shoulder blade suddenly became regular.

It resonated in sync with the Curse Seals of the three Root ninjas.

When they reached the middle of the stone bridge.

Lin Feng abruptly stopped.

Root Ninja A became alert.

"Move—"

Before he could finish.

The Sharingan in Lin Feng's left eye spun rapidly.

Using the Curse Seal resonance as a conduit, he projected genjutsu into the minds of all three Root ninjas at once.

The bridge collapsed.

It was the most primal fear.

Root Ninjas B and C retreated at the same time, stepping into empty air.

Root Ninja A clutched his head, his consciousness in chaos.

Lin Feng tore free from the ropes around his hands.

The next second, his right eye also lit up with the red glow of the Sharingan.

The fog beneath the bridge began to solidify.

The pulses of the three Curse Seals were forcibly synchronized and locked.

Root Ninja A raised his head, his pupils contracting.

"Genjutsu—"

Lin Feng was already standing before him.

His right hand reached into Root Ninja A's ninja tool pouch.

He pulled out a sealing scroll.

Its patterns were identical to those in the archive room.

Lin Feng tucked the scroll into his clothes.

"I'll be taking your Curse Seals."

Root Ninja A tried to move, but his limbs would not obey him.

The genjutsu still lacked its final layer.

Lin Feng formed hand seals.

The Sharingan locked onto the resonance frequencies of the three men's Curse Seals, fixing the duration of the genjutsu at sixty seconds.

He turned and walked toward the far end of the bridge.

Root Ninja A's hoarse voice came from behind him.

"You can't escape... Lord Danzo won't spare anyone who has touched the archive room's sealing technique..."

Lin Feng did not turn around.

He vanished into the morning fog.

The black markings on his left arm had already spread past his elbow.

The Curse Seal on his shoulder blade still pulsed.

But his fingers could move again.

The sealing scroll against his chest felt heavy.

Danzo wanted to use this thing to control Shisui.

The Third Hokage knew everything, yet said nothing.

Lin Feng raced through the fog.

The Sharingan in his right eye reflected the outlines of the dense forest.

He had to shake off the Curse Seal's tracking—or turn it around—

And use this Curse Seal to draw Danzo's attention in another direction.