Uchiha Shinji slowly walked toward the Root shinobi's corpse, glancing down at it. He flicked his wrist, pulling back the spider silk, shaking off the blood clinging to it, and then wound it back around his wrist.
The situation had been too dangerous. If he didn't want to use his Mangekyō Sharingan, his only option was to resort to the spider silk as his trump card.
After deciding to counterattack, he discreetly attached the silk hidden around his wrist to a kunai. Then, when he threw the kunai, he quietly laid the silk along the path the Root shinobi would take to attack him.
In the dim forest light, the spider silk was nearly invisible. The Root shinobi, moving at high speed, didn't notice it until it was too late and collided headfirst into the trap.
Just then, the sound of footsteps approached. A few breaths later, Neji hurried over, his face filled with worry.
Seeing the decapitated fake "mysterious man" on the ground, Neji was shocked. "You… you killed him?"
Shinji nodded slightly. "He let his guard down and fell into my trap."
Remembering the impressive trap Shinji had set earlier during the day, Neji suddenly realized that this fake mysterious man's demise wasn't that surprising after all.
Squatting down to inspect the body, Neji asked, "Shinji, why do you think he was pretending to be the mysterious man and attacking us?"
Leaning against a tree, Shinji panted, "I don't know."
Even though the opponent was a fake, he was at least a special jonin. The brief exchange had left Shinji covered in wounds.
The only reason Shinji had managed to win was that the enemy, trying to keep up appearances, didn't use any powerful jutsu and had been overconfident. If the Root shinobi had fought seriously from the start, Shinji wouldn't have stood a chance without using his Mangekyō Sharingan.
Sasuke finally arrived at the scene.
Seeing the corpse on the ground, Sasuke, like Neji before him, was astonished. "Did the two of you take him down?"
Neji quickly clarified, "No, Shinji did it on his own."
"What!?" Sasuke looked at Shinji in disbelief.
Still leaning against the tree, Shinji waved it off. "He ran right into my trap."
Taking a closer look at the cut on the fake mysterious man's neck, Sasuke pieced together what must have happened. While he felt relieved, he also felt a wave of shame.
Despite being the one who had activated his Sharingan, he was still inferior to Shinji when it came to techniques that required dojutsu, like kunai throwing and trap-setting.
"No… I have to catch up to him!" Sasuke silently vowed.
Swish, swish.
The two Anbu who had been present earlier appeared at the scene. They glanced at the decapitated corpse on the ground, then turned their gaze to Shinji, surprise in their eyes.
To them, their Root colleague was highly skilled. Taking down an eight-year-old shinobi student should have been an easy task. They hadn't expected him to fail so miserably.
Sasuke, guessing that these two Anbu were assigned by the village to protect him, demanded, "Why are you only showing up now?"
One of the Anbu casually replied, "We just noticed."
Shinji glanced at them without saying a word. The way they had looked at him earlier, as if he were already dead, made it clear they had no intention of intervening. Now, they were only giving Sasuke a half-hearted explanation.
Sensing Shinji's gaze, one of the Anbu coldly said, "Our mission is only to protect Uchiha Sasuke."
Neji, who had been staring at the two Anbu, eventually said nothing, like Shinji. With his Byakugan, Neji couldn't see the exact details of the fight, but he could clearly sense the chakra presence. He knew, just as Shinji did, that these two Anbu had been in the forest the whole time.
Unlike Sasuke, who was still angry, Neji had already experienced this kind of situation once when he was five. So, seeing that Shinji didn't speak up, he also chose to remain silent.
Sasuke continued questioning the Anbu, "Who is this guy, anyway? He's not the real mysterious man from earlier—he's just an imposter! Why would he attack us?"
The Anbu responded, "Leave this to us. We'll investigate thoroughly."
"You'd better investigate! How can someone like him be allowed to attack freely in the village?"
After venting his frustration on the Anbu, Sasuke turned to Shinji and Neji. "Let's go to the hospital to treat our wounds."
"Let's go!" Shinji led the way toward the hospital.
Neji and Sasuke quickly followed.
Although Shinji had sustained the most injuries, both Neji and Sasuke were also wounded. The three of them looked quite battered.
Still, having defeated a formidable enemy, Neji and Sasuke no longer felt as humiliated as they had by the river earlier.
Once the trio had left, the two Anbu inspected the Root shinobi's wounds.
"It looks like his head was severed by a sharp wire or some kind of cutting tool."
"Yeah, this guy was too careless, getting caught by a trap like that. Aren't traps like these supposed to be a mandatory part of Root training?"
"The fact that Danzo-sama sent someone like this to do the job is embarrassing. It even exposed our presence."
"Exactly. It was awkward being watched by those kids!"
As they talked, the two Anbu gathered the Root shinobi's body and cleaned up the scene. After finishing, one of the Anbu remarked, "Did you notice how much those kids had grown today?"
"Well, Uchiha Sasuke is a genius, even acknowledged by the Hokage. The other two are also well-known prodigies at the academy. It's only natural they'd grow quickly. Instead of thinking about that, you should be figuring out how to report this to the Hokage."
...
At the hospital.
After all their wounds were bandaged, it was nearly midnight. The trio left the hospital and bid each other farewell.
Shinji hadn't walked far when Neji suddenly caught up to him and said, "I've been thinking. It seems like that attack was aimed at you specifically. Be careful."
Shinji smiled, "Don't worry, I survived the night of the massacre. This is nothing."
Neji nodded and then turned to leave.
Back at his apartment, Shinji drew the curtains and looked outside. By now, Danzo should have received the news, so Shinji wasn't sure if Danzo would continue to target him or back off.
However, his apartment was located in the center of the village. Even if Danzo didn't want to back down, he probably wouldn't be reckless enough to act in this area.
After confirming that no one was watching his apartment, Shinji closed the curtains and headed to the bathroom.
Once again, he checked the room carefully, making sure no one had planted any listening devices while he was away. Then, he turned on the faucet, letting the sound of running water fill the room. Biting his finger, he began forming hand seals.
Poof!
Soon, a puff of white smoke filled the bathroom.
Coalball, ever cautious, peeked out from the smoke as it dissipated.