Junlin asked cautiously, "Then... that assassin who was eating just now..."
"Oh, it's fine. We can leave him alone for now," Silver Moon said nonchalantly.
After a brief discussion, they left together.
Unable to turn down his Older Brothers' enthusiastic invitation, Junlin followed them toward the forest around the Memorial Stone in Konoha Shinobi Village.
Meanwhile.
The "Dopey Youth" who had been wolfing down food outside the restaurant earlier walked slowly through a dark alley, carrying his unfinished takeout.
He wound his way through turn after turn, seemingly very familiar with Konoha's streets.
Before long, he had passed through the village's key areas and reached the forest outside.
The vast forest held many hidden corners that the Heavenly Eye Technique could not see.
The man approached a hollow in a towering tree and set his takeout container on the ground.
After looking around, he casually formed hand seals.
-"Release!"
Had Junlin been there, he would have discovered that the fellow he had dismissed as an idiot was wearing the same expression as his two Older Brothers.
The seal was undone.
The surroundings seemed to change, yet also seemed unchanged.
The previously unremarkable tree hollow now revealed an entirely different scene.
A man on the verge of death appeared amid the weeds and moss.
His face was identical to that of the man who had undone the seal.
However, the man on the ground had jutting cheekbones, a haggard face, and sunken eyes.
His entire body was buried underground, with only his head exposed.
The ground surrounding his head was covered in strange symbols-the spell markings of a seal.
They covered the ground and the trees.
The man who had just arrived with the food container crouched down and said with a grin, "Well now~ You must be starving, huh?"
As