The last rays of the setting sun quickly sank below the horizon, and the dark curtain of night shrouded the world.
The moon in the sky gave off a hazy glow, barely enough to let people see in the darkness.
Xia Yan and a group of Anbu hid inside the entrance to a secluded cave outside Konoha. Standing beside him was an old acquaintance-Weasel.
Weasel had once been his teammate in the First Division, as well as his first opponent during the selection for Captain of the Third Battalion.
They had not seen each other for some time, yet they had met again on this mission. It really was quite interesting.
"Nightingale Captain, it looks pretty quiet tonight," Weasel said with a smile at Xia Yan, his tone friendly. "No trouble, no fighting. This is nice."
"Indeed. For Shinobi on guard duty like us, boredom is best." Xia Yan nodded in wholehearted agreement, then smiled as well. "Trouble is what really gives us headaches."
That was what he said, but Xia Yan knew perfectly well that tonight would probably be anything but peaceful.
After all, he had not stopped Kakashi and warned him not to say anything careless. Especially after work, he could hardly follow Kakashi everywhere, so the likelihood of him uttering those fatal whispers had never been low.
Besides, back then, Xia Yan had made neither decisions nor preparations, and he had not possessed the tremendous strength he had now.
Still, however he looked at it, things had already reached this point. He had no choice but to see them through.
He had spent a month getting himself into peak condition. Meanwhile, Jingu Hiroshi had also more or less mastered the technique for undoing the Reaper Death Seal.
With preparations on both fronts, Xia Yan could not exactly