Delivering the Message

"Don't let him escape!" Lin Chuan lost sight of the target, but Terai had not been idle. Standing by the door, he formed hand seals and blew a fierce gust from his mouth, instantly dispersing the white smoke in the room and revealing the rogue ninja.

Seeing the rogue ninja trying to jump out the window, Lin Chuan used the Body Flicker Technique to appear at his side and delivered a side kick, sending him flying through the wall and into the neighboring private room. Cries of alarm immediately erupted from the men and women inside.

"He's drunk. He's in poor condition and can't display Chunin-level strength. We can handle him." Standing by the hole in the wall, Lin Chuan looked at the rogue ninja sprawled amid the ruined tables and chairs in the next room and quietly warned the arriving Terai.

When he had used the Body Flicker Technique to kick the rogue ninja earlier, he had noticed that the man's reactions were somewhat sluggish. If he truly possessed Chunin-level strength, he could not have failed to evade Lin Chuan's Body Flicker Technique. Although Lin Chuan's technique had surpassed the Chunin level, its user was only a Genin, so it was weaker than what a normal Chunin could perform.

"ANBU?" The rogue ninja climbed to his feet and saw the two Konoha ANBU staring at him through the dark eyeholes of their masks. His whole body went cold as he thought, I'm finished. I never thought this day would finally come.

"You can't escape. Come back with us obediently." Terai stepped through the hole in the wall and entered the other private room, glaring intently at the rogue ninja on the floor.

"No, I'm not going back with you!" The rogue ninja looked around for a way out. Suddenly, he spotted the big spender he had sent off earlier, drinking here as well. He immediately crawled toward Tsunade and tearfully pleaded, "Lady Tsunade, please save me! I have elderly parents and young children to support. I had no choice..."

Whoosh—

As the rogue ninja crawled over, Lin Chuan instantly drew a kunai and threw it at Tsunade's feet. It looked as though he was stopping the man from clinging to her leg, but he was actually trying to send a message.

"Hm? Who are you?" Tsunade was a little drunk and did not react at all to the kunai on the floor. It had not hit her, after all. But Shizune had not been drinking.

"Who are you? And who are they?" Shizune looked at the ANBU who had entered through the hole in the wall. Their attire was that of Konoha ANBU, something she knew all too well.

"I'm a Konoha ninja, and they're the ANBU here to capture me. Please save me, Lady Tsunade!" The rogue ninja grabbed Tsunade's foot and cried desperately.

"Lady Tsunade, please hand him over to us. He is a Konoha rogue ninja, and our mission is to capture him." Lin Chuan addressed Tsunade respectfully as "Lady." Though Tsunade no longer held a post in Konoha, she still counted as one of its higher-ups, and she deserved proper respect.

"Lady Tsunade, don't listen to them! I was forced into it! Please save me!" Upon hearing that the ANBU truly had come to capture him, the rogue ninja was so terrified that tears and snot streamed down his face as he kept begging Tsunade.

"You two are the children from outside the casino, aren't you?" Tsunade gave the slight figures of Lin Chuan and Terai a casual glance. Their height was far too distinctive, and with only a moment's thought, she guessed who they were.

"Lady Tsunade." Terai called out as well. Since they had been recognized, there was nothing to hide. As long as Tsunade did not stop them from completing their mission, it was fine.

"I visit casinos often, but I've never seen children begging outside one. When you were being bullied on the snack street, there was no fear in your eyes. Those weren't the eyes of two little beggars..."

"Lady Tsunade, shouldn't we refrain from interfering with an ANBU mission?" Shizune looked at the pleading rogue ninja with contempt. Now he knew to beg for mercy, but why had he become a rogue ninja in the first place? Why had he betrayed Konoha?

Seeing the contempt in Shizune's eyes and hearing her say they should not interfere, the rogue ninja's lowered gaze suddenly turned vicious. He flipped over, grabbed a fruit knife from the floor, and took Shizune hostage while she held Tonton.

Seeing this, Tsunade calmly continued drinking. Lin Chuan and Terai nearly burst out laughing. Had this guy drunk himself stupid? He actually dared to take Tsunade's little attendant, a Konoha Jonin, hostage.

"Rogue ninja, I must remind you that Lady Shizune, whom you've taken hostage, is Lady Tsunade's disciple and a Konoha Jonin skilled in medical ninjutsu..."

"What? A Jonin?" The rogue ninja had barely had time to panic before his knife-wielding wrist was seized and twisted. The fruit knife instantly fell from his hand, and Shizune grabbed him and threw him over her shoulder.

Boom—

The rogue ninja crashed heavily onto the floor, leaving him dazed. Lin Chuan used the Body Flicker Technique to appear beside him, twisted his arms behind his back, and pinned him down. The mission to capture the rogue ninja was considered complete.

"Thank you for your assistance, Jonin Shizune. We'll be leaving now." Lin Chuan hauled the rogue ninja up, intending to bid farewell to the two Konoha ninjas and return to hand over the mission.

"Wait. ANBU doesn't have children that young. Stop trying to fool me. Who exactly are you?" Tsunade drunkenly turned to look at Lin Chuan and Terai, whose hand was about to draw his blade. If they did not give her a reason, she would not let them leave.

"We are ANBU trainees from the ANBU Training Class." Seeing Lin Chuan shake his head slightly, Terai could only release the hilt of his blade and quietly reveal his identity.

Stab—

At the same time Terai revealed their identities, Lin Chuan drove his blade through the rogue ninja's heart from behind. The rogue ninja looked down at the blade protruding from his chest, his eyes filled with disbelief. I'm dying just like that? Weren't they supposed to take me back? I don't want to die!

"You?" Seeing Lin Chuan suddenly attack and blood flow from the rogue ninja's chest, Tsunade immediately felt sick and bent over to vomit. Her body began to tremble, her pupils contracted, her vision blurred, her breathing quickened, and waves of nausea and discomfort followed.

"Go. Hurry!" Seeing Tsunade's hemophobia flare up, Shizune immediately urged Lin Chuan and Terai to leave. She then turned to tend to Tsunade, bending over and gently patting her back.

"Cut off his head, destroy the body, and let's go." Lin Chuan had already sent his signal, hoping Tsunade and Shizune would notice it. After giving Terai his orders, he turned and left the private room through the hole in the wall.

Terai swung his blade, sending a head flying high into the air. He wrapped it in a plastic bag, then threw a packet of powder onto the corpse. The instant the powder exploded, flames engulfed the headless body and burned fiercely. He then left the private room through the hole in the wall as well.

After witnessing such a bloody scene, Shizune could only take Tsunade away from the pleasure district. While Tsunade was vomiting, she noticed something unusual about the kunai at her feet and immediately picked it up. Shizune led her to the lakeside to breathe the cool air, and only as she watched the rising sun did Tsunade finally calm down and recover from her hemophobia.

At that moment, Shizune handed Tsunade a cup of hot water. Taking the kunai Tsunade handed her, she asked curiously, "Lady Tsunade, what is the ANBU Training Class?"

"It's Danzo's Root." Holding the cup of hot water, Tsunade finally resolved the doubt in her heart. If it was the ANBU Training Class, then it was no surprise. Those two children were not ANBU at all; they were Danzo's Root ninjas.

Danzo had a history of gathering children and training them from a young age. That was why there were ANBU so young, sent out to carry out a mission to hunt down a rogue ninja.

"Root? What kind of place is that? Those two children are only ten, right? Doesn't the Third Hokage stop it?" Shizune was somewhat surprised to hear about Root. She had left Konoha with Tsunade when she was very young and truly had not known that the ANBU had such a place.