chapter 15: Decision

After leaving Danzo's office, Bai Shi didn't waste a moment and immediately returned to his room to prepare.

As he carefully wiped the kunai in his hand, he fell into deep thought.

He was contemplating whether he should distance himself from ROOT. Undoubtedly, this solo mission presented an excellent opportunity.

Although he had yet to remove the 'Tongue Curse Root Eradication Seal' from his body, Danzo cannot control or kill him from afar.

Thus, he could to some extent completely ignore that binding.

After all, his mind was not affected by any other curse sealing techniques, and he had no loyalty to Danzo; hence, the 'Tongue Curse Root Eradication Seal' could not exert its maximum effect.

However, he needed to consider whether he could evade ROOT and Konoha's pursuit after his defection.

Over the past four years, he had clearly recognized the abilities of ROOT ninjas.

These ninjas lurking in the shadows were far from ordinary, and with his current abilities, it would be difficult to evade their search.

This meant that once he ran away, he couldn't just hide away in some corner. He would have to face their pursuit head-on.

Additionally, he had to contemplate the leak issues that would arise if things got out of hand.

One could imagine that once his Wood Release was exposed, it wouldn't just be Konoha that would come after him; he doubted that other ninja villages would not set their sights on him as well.

At that point, could he even survive?

It's important to note that while Konoha's ninjas might hold back during their pursuit, it was guaranteed that ninjas from other villages would not.

They might kill him with all means at their disposal, driven by the thought that if they couldn't have him, then no one else should.

At that point, he would be in real danger.

"Ah! What an enticing thought!"

Bai Shi sighed lightly, the image of Danzo's sinister face flashing through his mind.

He couldn't help but admit that Danzo's earlier demeanor had truly unsettled him.

After all, he was just an ordinary young man in his past life, suddenly thrust into this world. Although he appeared calm on the surface, deep down, he did harbor a bit of fear towards Danzo.

Otherwise, he wouldn't have grown suspicious simply because Danzo's actions exceeded his expectations.

"Forget it, ultimately, it's a matter of insufficient strength; I should wait a while longer."

Using the reflection of the kunai, Bai Shi looked at his still youthful face in this life and made his decision.

In any case, it wouldn't be long before the ninja world fell into chaos, at which point opportunities would abound. Now was the time to be cautious.

Moreover, with the 'system' assisting in evolution, his growth speed was rapid, and lying low for a year or so would only benefit him, not harm him.

With this resolution, Bai Shi no longer lingered on the thoughts, sheathed the kunai in his tool pouch, donned his mask, and left the room.

---

**Land of Fire.**

**Eastern Region.**

On a cliff, Bai Shi gazed into the distance, a sea of greenery stretching out before him.

Looking at the dense forest below, he felt a sense of peace wash over him.

After a long time, he withdrew his gaze and turned around, only to see the sunset resembling blood, the sky painted bright red—a splendid scene just before nightfall.

Just observing such scenery enabled Bai Shi to understand why other ninja villages coveted Konoha's territory.

Consider the Land of Wind: vast stretches of yellow sand, where people could only huddle on the few meager oases, their survival resources gravely lacking.

Then there's the Land of Earth, arid and rain-scarce, with borders lined with rocky mountains, making the transportation of goods extremely difficult, leading to a hard life for its people.

As for the Land of Lightning, it is full of mountainous hills, causing many places to be covered in ice and snow year-round, resulting in harsh living conditions. Naturally, its people yearned for the spring-like climate of the Land of Fire.

On the contrary, the Land of Water, due to its isolation, relying on surrounding islands for support, allowed its people to live relatively well, hence the intent of invasion is not as apparent.

"Why am I even thinking about all this?"

Shaking his head, Bai Shi spread his arms and leaped off the cliff.

As he watched the forest growing closer and felt the wind whooshing past his ears, Bai Shi wanted to let out a long howl to vent his pent-up emotions.

However, a long-standing habit made him suppress this out-of-character thought.

Boom~

With a faint sound of a mechanism, a gliding device suddenly appeared on his back, slowing his descent.

Controlling the wings behind him, Bai Shi glided over the expansive forest and eventually disappeared into the jungle.

---

**As the sun sets and the moon rises.**

Time quickly advanced to nighttime.

Somewhere in the woods, Bai Shi sat cross-legged, quietly recovering the physical strength and chakra he had expended during his journey, surrounded by silence.

The night gradually deepened.

At some point, Bai Shi suddenly opened his eyes, his nose twitching as if he had caught a whiff of something. "That scent seems familiar…"

This déjà vu sensation made Bai Shi tense up. He sniffed carefully again but still couldn't ascertain the source of the smell.

Normally, an average person would be stumped here, but Bai Shi was different.

He closed his eyes again, relaxed his body, dulled his sense of touch, and sealed off his hearing. What followed was a significant enhancement of his sense of smell.

This was a little trick he discovered while developing **[Enhanced Senses]**.

The principle was simple. Normal people process information through their five senses; if one or two of those senses were suddenly restricted, their attention would shift to the remaining senses, resulting in an enhancement of those senses.

This was akin to how the hearing of the blind is usually better than that of sighted individuals.

However, Bai Shi's **[Enhanced Senses]** was even more extreme.

At this moment, concentrating all his attention on his sense of smell elevated the effects of his originally level III **[Enhanced Senses]** to nearly level IV.

In an instant, all sorts of smells around him flooded into his nostrils.

"Ugh, that's the smell of rotting flesh, that's the smell of a rat, that's maggots, that's a beetle, that's ants…"

Bai Shi quickly discerned the various smells in an attempt to find the source of the scent he had noticed earlier.

Thanks to the extensive training over the past four years, his mind was filled with a vast array of scent information, allowing him to quickly eliminate many similar smells.

Finally, the familiar scent reappeared, and this time it was clearer than before. At that moment, he finally understood why it felt so familiar.

It was none other than the scent of parasitic bugs, or more precisely, it should be the parasitic bugs on Aburame Ryoma.

He had smelled it once during the last mission and found it useful, so he had remembered it.

He never expected it would come in handy.

At this moment, a wave of fear arose within Bai Shi. He could easily guess the other party's intentions without needing to think too hard.

Such sneaky behavior could only imply one thing: they were spying on him.

"Danzo!"

Bai Shi cursed Danzo in his heart a thousand times, gritting his teeth. If he had been a little careless during the day, he might have exposed himself.

Even if he completed the mission, after returning, he would likely not enjoy any good consequences.

"Calm down! Stay composed!"

Bai Shi reminded himself this in his heart. After a while, he finally opened his eyes again, and his gaze was now completely calm.

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