Deep in the forest, all was silent.
The Executioner’s Blade lay embedded in the ground nearby. The masked boy knelt down, first taking out his ninja tool kit and then carefully spreading it open to extract a pair of ninja scissors.
“First, I need to cut the cloth over his mouth… to let him spit out the blood…”
Holding the scissors in his left hand, he approached Zabuza’s face, cautiously bringing the blades close to his cheek to cut open the cloth covering his mouth.
“No need…”
Suddenly, Zabuza’s eyes snapped open, and he grabbed the boy’s hand with his right hand while using his left hand to pull away the cloth covering his mouth. “I can do it myself.”
“Really, you’re already awake…”
Even though the mask covered the boy’s face, the faint smile in his voice was unmistakable.
“Ugh.”
As Zabuza pulled the needles from his neck, he grumbled, “Why did you have to hit so hard?”
“Ah!”
The boy was startled by Zabuza’s rough movements and couldn’t help but frown. “Zabuza-sama, if you do that, you really will die!”
Zabuza sat up, pointing to the boy’s mask, “How long are you going to wear that thing? Take it off already!”
“This is what I used to wear…” The boy’s delicate right hand slowly moved toward the mask. “So I thought it would come in handy…”
As the mask came off, it revealed a face as beautiful as a girl’s!
He bowed his head slightly and spoke softly, “If I hadn’t intervened, you would have died.”
“But you didn’t have to hit the pressure points in my neck… Couldn’t you have just hit my body to make me feign death? It would have been safer.”
Zabuza rewrapped the cloth over his mouth. “You’re still as annoying as ever.”
“Can’t help it!” The beautiful boy smiled brightly. “I didn’t want to leave any scars on Zabuza-sama’s perfect body… Besides, the neck has no muscle, making it easier to hit the mark.”
Zabuza stood up slowly. “I suppose I’ll be out of commission for a week now?”
The boy squinted and smiled. “For Zabuza-sama, you’ll be back on your feet in no time.”
“There’s no dealing with you… Always so pure, kind, and untainted…” Zabuza actually smiled a little. “That’s what I like about you.”
“Hehe…” The boy gave another beautiful smile. “Because I haven’t grown up yet!”
He turned his head to look around. “The mist has cleared while we were talking… Next time, we’ll definitely succeed, right?”
The boy looked at Zabuza with anticipation.
“Next time…” Zabuza’s eyes turned dark. “I’ve seen through the Sharingan!”
…
At Tazuna’s house.
Kakashi, who was lying on the tatami mat, suddenly opened his right eye.
“Yeah!”
In an instant, everyone was in chaos, with Naruto and Sakura falling to the ground in fright. Sasuke, who was standing, just smirked, while Yukigetsu seemed oblivious to the situation, standing by the window, lost in thought…
“Idiot! Can’t you be quicker?” Sakura put her hands on her hips and yelled at Naruto, “We almost got his mask off!”
But Kakashi ignored them, instead sitting up with a serious expression.
The group was unsure what to do until Naruto spoke first. “Kakashi-sensei, what’s wrong?”
“Do you also feel uneasy, like we’ve overlooked something?” Yukigetsu, who had turned back, asked seriously.
Everyone was taken aback.
Kakashi covered his face with his hand, leaving only one eye visible. “Exactly! But Zabuza is clearly dead…”
Yukigetsu shrugged. “Normally, the body disposal squad would handle the body on the spot…”
Kakashi’s eyes widened. “You mean…”
Yukigetsu nodded in confirmation.
Sakura looked puzzled. “What does that mean?”
“Haven’t you figured it out?” Yukigetsu turned and frowned. “How did that masked boy handle Zabuza’s body?”
Naruto looked confused. “What?”
Sakura shrugged. “How would we know? Didn’t he take the body away?”
“Right… If he needed proof of death, he could have just processed the body and brought back the head. Why take the whole body?” Yukigetsu explained.
Kakashi frowned and added, “Also, the weapon that the hunter-nin used to kill Zabuza is suspicious…”
Sasuke suddenly had an epiphany. “Weren’t those ordinary senbon needles? You mean…”
His face turned pale with sweat dripping down. “No way…”
“Exactly!” Kakashi nodded.
Tazuna frowned. “What are you all talking about?”
“What we mean is…” Yukigetsu said sternly, waving his right hand, “Zabuza might still be alive!”
Everyone was shocked, especially Tazuna, who was sweating profusely and did not even notice when his glasses fell off.
Frantic, Naruto said, “This can’t be!”
“Kakashi-sensei, didn’t you personally confirm he was dead?” Sakura’s face turned white, struggling to accept this news. They had paid a high price to injure that guy severely. If he wasn’t dead, wasn’t all their effort in vain?
Kakashi nodded helplessly. “I did confirm it, but… it could have been a state of false death.”
Yukigetsu calmly added, “The needles that boy used, unless they hit vital points, have very low lethality… The hunter-nin squad is very familiar with human anatomy. Inducing a state of false death is not difficult.”
He rubbed his chin, recalling. “Thinking about it, first, he took away a body much heavier than himself. Second, he used needles with low lethality… It seems that boy was likely helping Zabuza, not trying to kill him.”
Tazuna wiped his sweat. “Kid, aren’t you overthinking it? Isn’t hunting rogue ninja the hunter-nin squad’s mission?”
Yukigetsu smirked. “Then I’ll just go to sleep and not protect you anymore, since the strong enemy is dead.”
Tazuna’s face twitched.
Kakashi, however, spoke seriously. “Once any suspicion arises, we must prepare before the situation becomes irreversible… That’s one of the iron rules of being a ninja.”
Everyone nodded in agreement.
“Come to think of it, it’s thanks to Yukigetsu’s reminder this time. Otherwise, we’d be in big trouble!” Kakashi remarked.
Everyone turned to look at Yukigetsu, only to find him lying on the floor, legs crossed, looking completely at ease as if the serious boy from earlier was someone else…
“What are you doing?” Kakashi asked, exasperated.
Yukigetsu had his hands behind his head and eyes closed, casually swinging his leg. “Used too many brain cells earlier, need to recover.”
Everyone: “…”
“No fun at all…”
At that moment, a child with a hat walked into the room with a blank expression.
“Inari, be polite and say hello!” Tazuna said kindly. “These are the ninjas protecting us!”
Inari looked at them with an emotionless gaze. “Grandpa, they are going to die…”
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