Someone from the Anbu

Gua was dumbstruck.

Fuck!

I was already being so careful!

I didn't make a sound, and you still predicted where I'd be?

I'm reporting him for cheating!

In his previous life, Gua had hated video game cheaters more than anything!

Whoosh-

Clang!

A kunai flew over and lodged in a tree trunk not far in front of Gua.

Gua: ?

What the hell...

Gua really couldn't compliment the technique of the black-clad man above him.

Even he, an elementary school kid, could throw more accurately.

This wasn't just missing the target. This was taking a kunai and sticking it into the head of an exam proctor five hundred miles away.

If this were an exam, they'd throw you out on the spot!

But then Gua realized something was wrong.

The man hadn't thrown aimlessly!

Where that kunai had struck, a figure slowly emerged from the surface of the tree trunk like liquid.

Gua: ?

I thought you'd missed!

Who knew there was another target over there?

And who might you be, buddy?

Gua took a closer look. That man... he didn't recognize him...

But!

He recognized the mask on the man's face.

It was a white mask decorated with swirling, animal-like patterns.

The Anbu!

That man was actually from the Anbu?

Gua's heart tightened.

He looked back at the man in the treetop.

Black clothes, a black face covering-one glance told him, That's not a good guy!

Good and bad were clear at a glance!

But-

This has nothing to do with an elementary school kid like me.

Gua decided to slip away while neither of them was paying attention.

Whoosh-

The black-clad man threw another kunai.

At that very moment, the "Anbu" moved!

Clutching his injured right hand, he barely dodged it and started running.

In an instant, the situation went from hide-and-seek to a deadly chase.

Gua took the opportunity to make a break for it too.

Thud, thud, thud!

Gua stopped trying to hide his footsteps and sprinted.

It wasn't that he was scared out of his wits. It was that the "Anbu" was running straight toward him!!

And with him came the black-clad man pursuing him.

Fuck my life!

Why are you chasing me?

You're not seriously expecting a six-year-old to beat the boss for you, are you?

Gua cursed inwardly, but he didn't dare slow down.

Luckily, he'd kept Taijutsu running for the past two months. As he sprinted, he felt that even if Bolt were here, he could give him a run for his money!!

There was no helping it. When people ran for their lives, they always unleashed astonishing potential.

Gua actually left the "Anbu" far behind him, and naturally, the black-clad man was even farther back.

Gua kept running at a steady rhythm.

He knew he couldn't let his steps get out of rhythm. Once they did, he wouldn't be able to run as fast.

Things could easily go wrong.

If he fell, he'd really become dinner delivered right to their door.

Gua didn't want to become dinner, so he had to run.

He ran until he saw the firelight, saw that man, and saw Itachi there.

Hearing Gua's hurried footsteps, Shisui rose from beside the fire, and Itachi turned to look toward Gua too.

Shisui didn't think there would be any danger here.

At worst, a porcupine covered in quills might chase you and jab you a couple of times. As long as you ran fast enough, it would have trouble catching you, because porcupines were stupid and couldn't climb trees.

You just had to find a chance to hide up a tree, and it couldn't jab you in the butt anymore.

But when he saw Gua, he froze.

He realized he'd been wrong.

Gua might really have run into danger. He'd never seen Gua run this fast.

"Gua!"

Shisui reached Gua in two leaps and grabbed him. "What happened?"

Gua breathed in steady gasps.

"There are Shinobi."

At the word "Shinobi," Shisui's eyes tightened slightly, and he looked deeper into the woods.

He heard the dull sounds of Shinobi leaping through the forest.

Clang, clang, clang!

Those were the sounds of kunai striking tree trunks.

Shisui pulled Gua back to Itachi's side. Realizing it wasn't safe here, he prepared to take Gua and Itachi away first. They were still children.

Whoosh!

A figure leaped out of the woods.

Shisui paused in surprise. The man was wearing an Anbu mask.

"Someone from the Anbu?"

Shisui temporarily abandoned his plan to retreat with Gua and Itachi. He pulled them behind him, took two kunai from his weapon pouch, and placed one in each boy's hand.

"Protect yourselves. If anything goes wrong, you two run."

"Okay!"

Gua tightened his grip on his kunai.

Itachi said, "We won't leave you behind, Shisui."

Gua: ?

Dude, leave me out of your showboating.

If things get dangerous, I'm leaving Shisui behind and running.

"With the Anbu involved, this is probably going to be difficult to handle. You won't be able to help by staying."

"But..."

Itachi still wanted to argue.

"No buts. Stay where you are for now. I'll go see what's going on with that Anbu."

Shisui cut Itachi off, left them with those instructions, and went forward alone.

Just then, another man emerged from the woods.

It was the black-clad man who had been chasing that Anbu.

The injured Anbu clutched his wound as he staggered toward Shisui.

"You're Shisui, right? I'm from the Anbu. I ran into a spy who infiltrated the village, and now he's trying to finish me off!"

When the injured Anbu reached Shisui, he couldn't hold on any longer and collapsed.

Shisui hurried forward and checked the Anbu's wounds.

Two kunai had struck his right arm.

There were also burns from Fire Release on his chest. His other wounds were minor scrapes from passing through the woods and weren't dangerous.

Nor were they fatal.

This Anbu really is pretty weak.

Shisui thought to himself.

He couldn't even handle injuries like these. Shisui really didn't know how the Anbu selected their members.

But with a spy in front of him, there was no time to discuss that. In this situation, only Shisui could step up.

Even though he'd only just graduated.

He wasn't even a jonin yet.

Still, he was quite confident in his abilities.

"Who are you?"

Shisui stood in front of the injured Anbu, facing the black-clad man.

A vicious gleam flashed in the black-clad man's eyes. "A little brat like you had better stay out of this."

Shisui's eyes turned cold.

"So you're not interested in talking this out?"

Meanwhile.

In the woods, on a tree trunk hidden in shadow.

Kakashi stood there wearing an Anbu mask, quietly watching the scene below.

"Shisui Uchiha..."

"He's already graduated, yet he's still making such basic mistakes..."

A trace of displeasure appeared in Kakashi's dark eye.

Mistakes like this could get teammates killed!

And right now, Shisui was acting as this team's captain.

If anything happened to him, the two weak teammates behind him would both die because of his mistake.

Kakashi was now wondering who had let Shisui graduate!

Below.

Just as Shisui and the black-clad man faced off, ready to fight, the "Anbu" behind him suddenly pulled a kunai from his wound and stabbed viciously toward Shisui's back.