Chapter 137: Dangerous Situation
IMPORTANT: For every 30 POWER STONES there will be an extra chapter!
Ye Zi made it back to "Ishigō's" home without incident. It was a small apartment in an inconspicuous stone building. Opening the door, the narrow entrance revealed a single pair of slippers. After changing into them and walking down the short hallway, he entered the combination living room and kitchen area, with a small bathroom in the corner. The apartment was small but clean and simple.
Ye Zi surveyed the surroundings, drew the curtains to block out most of the light, and sat on the bed to rest. He had no plans to leave until deep into the night to avoid exposing his identity.
After sitting quietly for several hours, a sudden knock on the door broke the silence. Ye Zi's eyes snapped open, and he glanced toward the door where the knocking continued.
He hesitated for a moment before choosing to ignore it.
"Ishigō, I know you're in there!" a sharp female voice called out after the knocking stopped.
Ye Zi raised an eyebrow at the sound but remained indifferent.
"The teacher wants you to meet at the training ground. If you don't show up soon, your genin status will be revoked," the sharp voice continued.
Ye Zi's eyes grew colder, and he felt a wave of irritation. According to the memories he had absorbed, the voice belonged to one of "Ishigō's" teammates—someone his age who was particularly cruel. She often lured Ishigō to places under various pretexts, only for him to be subjected to "friendly" sparring with another teammate.
Although Ishigō harbored resentment, his limited abilities left him unable to fight back.
The teacher's summons were sometimes real, sometimes fake, and it was always the teammates who delivered the message. Their squad leader indulged this behavior, as those with less talent like Ishigō were not given much attention. According to the squad's unspoken rules, a weak member was often included in a team to balance out the stronger ones.
Ishigō knew that the squad leader would have preferred him to die on a mission. It wasn't just that Ishigō was incompetent, but also that his personality clashed with the values of Iwagakure.
After a moment of silence, the girl outside grew impatient, and the knocking became banging.
Ye Zi stood up and walked to the entrance. Through the door, he imitated Ishigō's voice and said, "I'm not feeling well. Tell the teacher I won't be coming."
The knocking stopped immediately, and the girl's voice now dripped with scorn. "Suit yourself."
With that, the sound of footsteps echoed as she walked away.
The fact that she left so quickly suggested that this time, the summons might have been real. But there was no way Ye Zi would go. As for the threat of losing his genin status, it was irrelevant. The only potential concern was the squad leader coming to the house directly, but based on Ishigō's memories, that was highly unlikely. Ishigō had essentially been abandoned.
Ye Zi returned to the bed and patiently waited until midnight. After eating a little, he prepared to leave.
He didn't change back into his original form and remained in Ishigō's identity.
The streets were deserted in the dead of night. There were no lights, no sounds of insects—just a haunting, eerie silence.
Ye Zi opened the door and, with a leap, vanished into the darkness.
Infiltrating an enemy village, especially Iwagakure—a place that would love nothing more than to capture and kill him—meant one misstep could lead to overwhelming danger. Ye Zi had to be extremely cautious.
At times like this, his sensory abilities proved invaluable. Relying on his keen senses, he carefully navigated the dark village, avoiding the patrolling Iwa-nin, heading toward the location marked on the map Danzo had provided.
The target location was in the basement of the Tsuchikage's office building, the most dangerous and heavily guarded place in the village.
He made his way through the village without incident, eventually arriving near the Tsuchikage's office. Hiding in a dark corner, Ye Zi silently observed the imposing stone building, bathed in dim moonlight.
There were several strong chakra signatures inside, indicating that the guards stationed here were all quite powerful.
He mentally mapped out the guard positions and took into account Iwagakure's proficiency with Earth Release techniques. Infiltrating unnoticed would be nearly impossible.
"Infiltration carries too much risk of detection. A frontal assault? No, that's suicide. I'll have to take them out one by one... As long as I'm fast enough, I should be able to avoid drawing attention."
After careful deliberation, Ye Zi decided his only option was to take out the guards individually, then infiltrate the underground vault and eliminate the final defenders in one swift strike.
Given Ye Zi's abilities, the mission was challenging but not impossible. In fact, aside from Konoha's White Fang, few could pull off a mission like this.
With his plan set, Ye Zi targeted the first guard. Like a shadow in the night, he slipped into the blind spot and swiftly entered through a window. Landing silently, he made only the faintest of noises.
Even though the sound was nearly imperceptible, in the quiet of the stone building, it was amplified, and the nearby Iwa-nin immediately noticed.
Perhaps because no one had ever dared to infiltrate Iwagakure so boldly, or perhaps because it had been quiet for so long, the Iwa-nin didn't sound the alarm. Instead, he moved to investigate. The moment his eyes caught sight of Ye Zi crouched near the window, they widened in shock, but before he could react, a flash of white light filled his vision.
Shhk!
The sound of a blade slicing through flesh rang out.
Ye Zi pressed the tip of his blade into the Iwa-nin's back and covered his mouth with one hand.
The Iwa-nin's expression turned to terror as he tried to struggle, but his strength quickly drained away, and his eyelids grew heavy.
Ye Zi carefully lowered the body to the floor. There was no time to dispose of it—he had to keep moving. After swiftly eliminating several more guards, he reached the vault and used Lightning Release to enhance his speed, killing the two guards stationed there in an instant.
Once inside the vault, Ye Zi lit a small torch and scanned the room.
His expression quickly darkened—the room was completely empty.
Realizing the situation, he turned to leave without hesitation. But just then, an elderly voice echoed from outside, penetrating the walls and reaching Ye Zi's ears.
"Earth Release: Rock Pillar Prison!"
Rumble!
The ground shook violently, nearly throwing Ye Zi off balance. His expression turned grim.
He could sense the office building being surrounded by a powerful chakra, and more chakra signatures were rapidly converging on the area.
He... was surrounded.
"To infiltrate this place with such skill, let me guess—are you Konoha's White Fang, or perhaps Little White Fang?" the thick voice continued. "But it doesn't matter who you are. Killing either one of you tonight would make me smile for a month."
Ye Zi's expression grew more serious as his mind raced for a solution.
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