Chapter 5

A sudden sound of something whizzing through the air could barely be heard, but when he did hear it, he moved out of the way, though not quickly enough.

Something stabbed deep into his left shoulder. Despite the sharp pain, he continued to move away from where he had been sitting, turning around while reaching for the object that had stabbed him. Scanning the area where it seemed to have come from, he saw no one.

He could now tell that it was a kunai lodged into his left shoulder, most likely aimed at his head at first. A few shurikens came from the left instead of where he was looking, and without hesitation, he yanked out the kunai. Holding the bloodied kunai in his right hand, he attempted to deflect them but only managed to hit two.

He made a bold decision to put his already injured shoulder forward to receive the last remaining shuriken. It hurt like crazy, but the damage was contained to one area at least. Things were happening too fast, he needed a few more moments to think. This was bad, very bad.

Like an idiot, he had left his equipment behind to appear more as a civilian. Not even a hidden weapon was on him. And he wasn't sure if he could properly perform ninjutsu with the injury.

So he made yet another bold decision and ran into the nearby park where the trees were dense. While doing so, he pulled out the shuriken from his arm, knowing he would need it.

Once again, he wished he could use his Sharingan. It would have made things much easier.

Running in an erratic pattern and holding his hand onto the open wound, he assumed he had put some distance between himself and whoever was chasing him. If there was one thing Yuro knew, it was that he was quick when needed.

Climbing up the nearest tree and standing on its lowest branch, he heaved in and out, trying to think quickly. The best idea he could come up with was a gamble, but he would try it.

Uncovering his wounded shoulder, he let some blood drip onto the branch and dropped the shuriken on top.

He grabbed his dangling hand and forcefully brought them both up into the ram seal. The pain was excruciating, but he focused to his maximum because otherwise, he would die for sure. He could easily see whoever was chasing him appearing at any moment now.

'...Inmen no Jutsu.' (Hiding in Surface Technique)

—

A masked shinobi dressed in black and red clothing followed their target easily. The kid was heavily injured and left an easy-to-follow trail.

The shinobi followed from above and noticed that the kid had jumped behind a trunk, completely hiding himself. Standing nearby, he noticed no more movement. Did the kid give up and hope to hide and not be found? How naive.

With a tantō in hand, the masked shinobi jumped forward and quickly came down to where the target was hiding, moving around the trunk, swinging at…nothing?

Immediately looked around, even up and at the trunk itself, and saw nothing. It was known that the kid had gone behind the trunk and didn't go anywhere else. Looking down, there was a sign that the kid had indeed been there.

A decent amount of blood had drenched the branch below, and there was the shuriken that had hit the kid earlier. There was no sign of wires or paper bombs, nothing besides the shuriken.

The masked individual had their back to the trunk, looking down at the dropped shuriken and pool of blood. That's when Yuro put his plan into action.

Slowly, he released his technique and came out of the trunk, right above the man. Yuro held the kunai, his only weapon, in place. He struck at the man's neck.

The reaction to the sudden injury was instant, as the man moved to put distance between them, turning to swing his weapon at Yuro, but hitting nothing again.

Yuro had fallen from where he emerged from the tree to land on the ground below, utterly exhausted. The masked shinobi's hasty, uncoordinated movements on the branch caused them to slip on the blood, falling to the ground as well.

So there they both were on the ground, both losing a lot of blood, but the masked person's injury was much more severe. They both held their injuries, but blood continued to seep out regardless.

He had also lost quite a bit of blood, but he knew he wouldn't be the one to die of blood loss first. The person he was facing, however, was very resilient, still holding the tantō and attempting to get up to continue trying to kill Yuro.

'Just die already.'

Yuro also tried to get up but couldn't. His foot was broken from the fall, and he hadn't even realized it until trying to stand on it and fell back to the ground. The masked person unsteadily walked forward, occasionally coughing out blood that dripped from behind their mask.

But soon, they collapsed onto the ground yet still attempting to crawl forward. They didn't make it far before ceasing all movement.

Yuro's heart continued to thud as he breathed in massive gulps of air, laying there and waiting. Nothing happened. They were surely dead.

'Was this a Konoha Anbu?'

The mask was white with the design of an animal, and they wore black and red attire.

'Why did they try to kill me?

They shouldn't know anything about me being with Orochimaru.' But a sudden thought crossed his mind, and his heart sank. 'Root? It was them, wasn't it?'

His thoughts led to a single conclusion. Danzo. It must be him. Right now, he was partnering with Orochimaru to kill Hiruzen, the Third Hokage, and take the position for himself.

'How could I forget about Root?'

They were the only ones who could know of his existence. Even if not seen as a threat, Danzo wouldn't leave a chance for a future threat, no matter how small, to roam freely in the village.

'Can't that Sharingan-obsessed cockroach just leave me alone!?'

He was furious at both Danzo and himself. In his mind, he constantly bad-mouthed both and unsteadily got to his feet despite his injured foot.

Walking towards the seemingly lifeless body with the kunai in an intense grip, he drew back and threw the object, which stabbed into the body. No movement whatsoever.

Thinking further, it was now likely that his existence would soon be known to the Hokage and possibly to the next one, and he would be labeled a criminal. It seemed only a matter of time.

Gritting his teeth hard, he felt himself boiling over in frustration. He wanted Danzo and Orochimaru, these disgusting excuses for people, to just die already. And knowing he couldn't do that was infuriating.

He seethed more and more to the point where he lost control of himself.

Screaming to no one in particular yet everyone at the same time, Yuro fell to his knees and multiple times pulled out and put back in the kunai that he had thrown into the corpse moments before. His screams were sometimes incoherent or nonsensical, but he let it all out at the body in front of him.

Blood sprayed everywhere, on himself and the ground. Nowhere was spared. After a minute or so passed, the only sound was his heavy breathing. Yuro sat there, exhausted in more ways than one, staring up into the night sky.

The body was now completely unrecognizable. The white mask was now in pieces as well, the same as the face that had been below it.

It took him a few moments to realize that he had accidentally activated his Sharingan in his outburst. But he didn't care anymore. He didn't care if someone was watching him. He didn't care if anyone saw him. He didn't care that he was bleeding out. He just didn't care anymore.

And then, he passed out from the blood loss.