An Unexpected Discovery

"We finally finished the mission."

With the bright moon overhead, Xia Yan stood in a secluded forest within Konoha and could not help stretching.

This mission had taken them a week in total, but most of that week had been spent traveling.

Actually carrying out the mission had taken only a few minutes, or half an hour at most.

Most ninja missions were like that. Only large-scale wartime missions might involve fighting for hours, or even days without an end.

Xia Yan had never fought in a war. Although what he had faced was no less brutal than war, he had never participated in that sort of large-scale conflict.

Besides, Anbu missions were more often bloody, dark affairs. He had no opportunity to experience battles that sent him rushing from one fight to the next.

"Good thing we didn't run into anything like that. Otherwise, with my meager chakra..."

Shaking his head slightly, Xia Yan looked at Kakashi beside him and smiled.

A few days earlier, they had captured several Sand Ninja, including Yashamaru, at the border of the Land of Grass, then considered how to bring them back.

After weighing their options, they had finally decided to bring the most important prisoner back first.

Yashamaru was undoubtedly the most important of these Sand Ninja, and the most valuable.

So Xia Yan had handed the other two Sand Ninja over to the garrison's ninja, leaving their commander responsible for assigning people to escort those two back to Konoha.

Meanwhile, Xia Yan and Kakashi had set off directly with Yashamaru, making no stops whatsoever.

They had been extremely careful along the way. After all, they had shown their faces among the garrison troops.

If there were any spies, news of their capture of Yashamaru would clearly be reported back.

That could very well bring a rescue force down on them. However skilled the two of them were, they had no desire to face an Anbu squad from Sunagakure.

Anbu would not reason with you, much less fight you openly and fairly. Using every means available was the creed of an Anbu ninja. Whatever method eliminated the opponent was the best method!

As a result, they had maintained a very fast pace throughout the journey, and Yashamaru had suffered considerably along the way. It could be said that he had not spent a single moment conscious.

Every time he showed even the slightest sign of waking up, Kakashi or Xia Yan would knock him out.

With a sensory ninja like Xia Yan present, they would never give him a chance to feign unconsciousness and then seize an opportunity to use some jutsu to destroy himself.

Exhausting as it was, this approach was the surest and safest.

After two or three days, they had finally brought Yashamaru back to Konoha. Only after handing him over to the Anbu stationed at the village's side gate had both of them breathed a sigh of relief.

Their achievement had also rather shocked the captain of Xia Yan's unit, who had received word in advance and was already waiting there.

Yashamaru was certainly no ordinary opponent. He was extremely difficult to deal with, and as a longtime adversary of the Konoha Anbu, there was no way the captain would not know him.

Yet such a troublesome fellow had actually been captured and brought back by these two kids.

Their achievement could only be described as truly incredible!

"By the way, Kakashi." After properly relaxing, Xia Yan turned to look at Kakashi. "Two days off. Do you have anything in mind?"

"I don't know yet, but time off doesn't really mean much to me anyway." Kakashi shook his head. He looked utterly indifferent to having a break.

Xia Yan glanced at him, then could not be bothered to say anything more. Kakashi really was unwilling to let himself be idle these days.

Whenever he had nothing to do, his thoughts would inevitably run wild. Only a constant stream of missions allowed him to concentrate and stop thinking about other distracting things.

For instance, not long ago, Kakashi had been pursuing a ninja when, at the moment he used Chidori to finish his opponent, he had experienced an auditory hallucination.

It had been Rin's warm voice calling to him, echoing in his ears. That hallucination had left him unable to thrust his Chidori forward. Had Might Guy not arrived in time, Kakashi would probably have been in serious trouble.

But at the thought of Rin, Xia Yan could not help raising his eyebrows. He seemed to know what he should do now.

"Time off is meant to let you recover. Don't waste this hard-earned chance to rest."

Xia Yan spoke gently, then raised his head to look at the bright moon in the sky.

"Come to think of it, although it's a little late, we should still have time."

"We?" Kakashi paused, then asked with some curiosity, "Captain, is there another mission?"

"Yes, we're going to the Heroes' Cemetery." Xia Yan nodded lightly.

"It's been a long time since I last saw those old friends and classmates of mine.

"Although it's a little late now, and we won't be able to find a flower shop.

"But we're Anbu. Perhaps the darkness of night is the best time for us to act."

"The Heroes' Cemetery?" Kakashi withdrew his gaze. "Night is the best time for the Anbu... I understand, Captain."

Kakashi did not object. With his mask off, he was Kakashi, a Konoha ninja. With his mask on, he was White Fang of the Anbu.

Although he did not like that code name, and it did not seem to serve much purpose either, once he made a move or someone saw that Sharingan of his,

his identity as Kakashi was essentially exposed. He was the only one in the entire Shinobi World who had successfully acquired a Sharingan, after all.

In the past, Kakashi had always paid his respects to Rin and Obito as a Konoha ninja. This time, he intended to do so as a member of the Anbu.

Although the essential difference seemed small, those two identities actually represented two different mindsets. He wanted to try facing Obito and Rin with the mindset of an Anbu.

Xia Yan's earlier words still lingered in his ears.

With a destination in mind, the two of them set off. This time, however, neither picked up the pace, and they headed there at a normal speed.

They would not be in any danger inside Konoha, and the journey back had left them both very tired.

But as they walked, both suddenly frowned at the same time, because they could clearly sense several chakra signatures faintly tracking them.

They were traveling through the woods, and this stretch of forest was extremely secluded. Almost no one ever came here.

How could the sudden appearance of so many chakra signatures here fail to draw the attention of two Anbu?

Without exchanging a word, Xia Yan and Kakashi both went on alert, their hands slowly settling on their weapons.

But unlike Kakashi's straightforward vigilance, Xia Yan wore a somewhat peculiar expression. He had activated his sensory ability as soon as he discovered those chakra signatures.

Only then did he notice that there seemed to be a great many sealing formulas around them, and these seals were entirely designed to thwart sensory ninja!

In all of Konoha, there really were not many people capable of doing something like this.

"Could it be that I've run into those people?"