Blood spilled from Yashamaru's chest once again.
If he hadn't reacted fast—if his evasive movement hadn't been clean and textbook—he would've died right there.
But Hikaru had no intention of letting him off the hook.
The moment Yashamaru slipped past the stab, Hikaru's follow-up was already there—his heel.
Chakra surged through his leg.
The kick landed squarely in Yashamaru's abdomen.
"Gah—!"
Yashamaru couldn't hold it in. He spat a mouthful of blood and went flying, crashing hard into the tree behind him.
BOOM!
The trunk couldn't withstand the impact. It snapped with a roar, folding down in a collapsing mess of wood and leaves. Yashamaru slumped against the broken base, struggled for half a breath… and his eyes rolled back. He dropped unconscious.
Hikaru exhaled quietly.
Under his mask, the faint red pigmentation around his eyes faded away—Sage Mode released.
His heightened perception confirmed it immediately: Yashamaru was truly out. No Substitution. No last-second trick.
And honestly, Hikaru preferred it that way.
In real combat, taijutsu was the core. Ninjutsu was often support—unless you had a clean, fight-ending technique.
That was an ANBU lesson written in blood:
don't throw flashy jutsu unless you're certain it's worth the cost.
Especially not when your chakra pool was a joke.
"Captain," Kakashi said as he finally stepped out, landing lightly nearby. "Are you alright?"
"I'm fine." Hikaru gave a small smile. "Relax."
Truthfully, Hikaru had known Kakashi was watching from the sidelines the entire time. And he didn't mind.
Sometimes not acting created more pressure than acting ever could.
Back in his previous life there'd been a famous line: the most terrifying moment of a nuclear weapon wasn't after it launched—it was when it sat on the launch rack.
A clenched fist did the same thing.
The fear it created was often stronger than the punch itself.
Kakashi's presence, silent and ready, weighed on Yashamaru far more than any rushed interference would've.
Besides, Hikaru didn't need help.
Yashamaru's little "trick" had been obvious once Hikaru saw the pattern.
Every time those kunai clashed with Hikaru's blade, Yashamaru was feeding Magnet Release chakra into the metal, trying to leave a trace—enough to seize control of the weapon and turn it into a killing blow.
And he did succeed.
He just didn't realize Hikaru had already read him like a book.
Once the magnetic chakra on the blade reached a usable threshold, Hikaru quietly swapped in a Shadow Clone and a Substitution. His real body slipped away, waited, and watched Yashamaru proudly "activate" his setup.
Then Hikaru struck from behind.
Clean. Efficient. ANBU.
Kakashi stared at the unconscious Sand ninja. "So… this really is Yashamaru? The Fourth Kazekage's wife's younger brother?"
"If the intel is accurate." Hikaru nodded. "And if it is… we just hooked a big fish."
A big fish, and a massive headache.
Live captives were almost always more valuable than corpses—intelligence extraction, bargaining leverage, political trade… the list went on.
But ANBU had a nasty habit: they came with a built-in self-destruct.
Hikaru had only just started grinding through sealing techniques. He didn't have the skill to lock down someone's chakra completely.
"Captain," Kakashi said after thinking for a while, hesitating slightly, "what if we use a sedative? Keep him unconscious the whole way back—then we can deliver him to Konoha."
"You've got that kind of drug?" Hikaru blinked, genuinely surprised.
"No." Kakashi shook his head. "But… isn't that the sort of thing ANBU carries on missions?"
Hikaru let out a tired sigh. "I don't know what you think ANBU is, but you're giving us too much credit."
Yes, some ANBU relied on poisons and chemicals.
Hikaru wasn't one of them.
Most enemy ANBU he faced either died—or he disengaged before things got messy. Capturing one alive, intact, and useful?
This was an exception.
And if the man weren't Yashamaru—if he didn't carry the value of being Rasa's in-law—Hikaru would've sent him to the Pure Land already.
With another quiet sigh, Hikaru dropped into a seated position against a nearby tree, mind turning over options.
And then—
Something shifted inside his head.
A cold, mechanical voice echoed through his consciousness.
"Special-property plant detected. Analyzing."
Hikaru froze.
He knew that voice far too well.
Over the years, whenever it spoke like that, it meant one thing:
either he'd stumbled across a seed type he'd never obtained before, or something higher-grade than what he already had.
His cheat was oddly "considerate"—it didn't keep pinging him for plants he'd already harvested unless they were upgrades. And Hikaru hadn't even been actively searching.
A few seconds later, the voice returned.
"Analysis complete. Seed acquired: Advanced Earth Release Seed."
Hikaru's eyebrows lifted.
Wind Release?
That was new.
Up until now, he'd only pulled two elemental chakra seeds: Earth and Water. Everything else had been base physical seeds, chakra capacity seeds, and—by sheer luck—his Sage-related seed.
Fire. Lightning. Wind.
He'd never hit any of them.
And now… here it was.
A Wind Release chakra seed.
The corner of Hikaru's mouth rose into a slow, genuine smile beneath the mask.
Maybe today wasn't just a lucky capture.
Maybe it was a lucky day.
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