Shinnosuke hearing this immediately began making plans, "Owl support me with ninjutsu attacks, Rabbit take over Butterfly at the right moment, Butterfly attack the seal with all your strength, just stunning him is enough." all of them nodded and got to work.
Holding the target's arm in a locked position using the whip, Ren yanked it forward with force. Shinnosuke didn't miss the opportunity and he stepped in and released a close-range Water Bullet with pinpoint accuracy. The shot hit directly on the target's back, sending a visible wave of shock through the body.
But the rogue barely reacted.
Instead of stumbling forward, the target snarled, eyes still unfocused and crazed, and pulled hard, this time trying to drag Ren toward him. Ren didn't let it happen. He poured chakra into his feet, anchoring himself to the ground and counter-pulling the target toward himself. The impasse left the cursed man locked between the two forces.
Shinnosuke and Owl didn't waste a second. They began launching ninjutsu one after another, fireballs, wind blades, and lightning darts all hammering at the rogue's back. Each attack chipped away at the cursed body's resilience. Though no single jutsu made visible damage, the repeated impact began having an effect.
The rogue's feet skidded on the ground now, his shoulders hunched. He began twisting and jerking, trying to shake off Ren's whip.
Ren, seeing this, timed it perfectly. He released the whip.
The rogue, caught off-balance from his own momentum, stumbled backward. That split-second instability was all they needed.
Rabbit acted immediately. Her Shadow Possession Jutsu linked from behind, locking the rogue's limbs in place. Though sweat dripped from her forehead as she held the jutsu, clearly it was taxing but she gritted her teeth and kept him down.
"Now!" she shouted.
Ren didn't wait.
He leapt into the air and quickly opened the First Gate, flooding his muscles with enhanced strength and chakra. Mid-air, he flicked his wrist, snapping out the retractable bo staff from his sleeve. It extended fully, and with all the power coursing through his limbs, he swung it like a hammer aimed directly at the top of the rogue's spine, where Rabbit had identified the seal's weakness.
CRACK.
The bo staff landed clean.
A shriek followed that was loud and unnatural. The cursed man howled and convulsed, the cursed chakra marks rapidly retracting along his skin. His limbs burst free from Rabbit's shadow hold, and his fist shot out, punching Owl in the chest and sending him flying across the field.
But the outburst was short-lived.
The cursed seal's mark fully withdrew. The grotesque protrusions from the man's body dissolved into smoke, and his facial muscles relaxed. His eyes rolled back as he collapsed, unconscious.
Ren rushed in immediately, placing sealing tags across the man's body. He didn't stop at a few, instead, he plastered him with over a hundred, especially along the spine and limbs. Then, as an extra measure, he pulled out a chakra-suppressing chain and tightly bound the man. To finish it, he layered a second set of seals over the chain itself.
By the time he was done, the rogue looked like a fully-packaged threat containment case.
The rest of the team moved to resume their assigned roles. Shinnosuke approached the noble to ensure his safety and extract statements. Deer began healing Owl, who had taken the brunt of the last punch. Rabbit stayed kneeling beside the restrained man, observing the man more clearly now that there was no threat, her eyes were calmly watching the seal, ensuring no resurgence.
Ren meanwhile quickly returned to retrieve the unconscious observer, the man in the patched lab coat who had been watching the whole fight earlier. He hauled him back with a few binds of chakra string and explained the situation to the team.
Shinnosuke nodded as he returned. "Good. Mission complete. Owl, carry the researcher. I'll take the target."
Owl stood despite the previous injury. "Understood." He hoisted the unconscious researcher onto his back with practiced ease. Ren followed behind Shinnosuke as they moved back toward the Leaf in tight formation.
~
Behind them, once the clearing was empty, a new figure emerged from the shadows.
A tall man with pale skin and slitted yellow eyes stepped into the moonlight. He flicked his tongue out, surveying the battlefield.
"Hmm... it's still unstable," Orochimaru murmured, seemingly amused. "I'll have to sacrifice some power for a little more control."
He chuckled to himself, a strange glee surfacing in his expression.
"I wonder" his voice dragged, eyes gleaming unnaturally. "What would Ren-kun look like with the seal?"
The corners of his mouth twitched and a weirdly ecstatic expression formed on his face.
"Ahh. First Itachi-kun and now Ren-kun," he whispered, licking his lips, an eerie thrill in his voice. "So many delightful prospects... I want them all."
With another quiet chuckle, he dissolved into the shadows.
~~~
The return trip took just as long, two and a half days at ANBU pace. Even while carrying two extra bodies, the team didn't reduce their speed. Once in the village, the rest of the team split to file their field reports. Shinnosuke and Ren diverted toward the command base, both carrying their assigned prisoners.
Once inside, Shinnosuke gave a quick debrief to Yoru, who was already waiting.
Yoru listened in silence, eyes locked on the target bound in chains and tags.
Without looking up, he waved his hand. A masked ANBU appeared immediately.
"Call the T&I head," Yoru ordered. "Tell him to bring two of the Yamanaka rogues."
The ANBU disappeared without a word.
Ren looked up, eyebrows slightly raised. "Commander, rogue Yamanaka exist? I thought most of the clan was loyal."
Yoru nodded slowly. "Some are idiots," he said flatly. "They don't understand that their bloodline's only value outside this village is as a lab sample. The moment they lose the Leaf's protection, they're just raw material."
Ren understood. It aligned with what he already believed, bloodlines were a liability without the village's shield or own personal power. A powerful clan's member going rogue wasn't bold, it was suicidal.
Minutes later, the door opened.
Inoichi Yamanaka, head of the T&I department, walked in, his features composed but stern. Beside him was a younger Ibiki Morino, not yet the infamous head of torture, though the early signs were there with some scars already crossing his face. Behind them were two dull-eyed Yamanaka, rogue shinobi who had been reconditioned to serve as mind-readers for the most sensitive cases.
Inoichi scanned the room. "So, who is it this time that you didn't trust the regulars with?"
Yoru answered without missing a beat.
"Orochimaru."
The room grew still for a second. Inoichi's eyes narrowed.
"I see." He didn't ask more questions.
He raised a hand and motioned to the rogues. The two figures moved forward like machines, each stepping in front of one of the prisoners. One faced the chained-up man with the seal. The other stepped toward the unconscious researcher.
Yoru's voice was calm but firm.
"Start with the researcher."
The rogue nodded once, then placed his palm gently against the researcher's forehead. His eyes glowed faintly as chakra pulsed outward in a barely-visible ripple.
Everyone else stood still, waiting for the result.
Ren crossed his arms, silently watching the process with narrowed eyes. He had no idea what they'd uncover, but anything related to Orochimaru wasn't going to be simple.
~
A minute passed in tense silence before the rogue Yamanaka finally spoke in a flat, emotionless tone:
"There is no presence of Orochimaru in his memories. The man is just a regular chunin from Hidden Waterfall who experienced a blank period in his memory. From the moment his memory returned, he was following this man."
He pointed toward the bound test subject, continuing, "He only observed, noted a few details. No conscious contact or communication with Orochimaru exists."
No one responded immediately, but Inoichi stepped forward. Without hesitation, he placed his hand on the researcher's head, his chakra flowing calmly as he verified the statement. After a few seconds, he nodded.
"It's likely Orochimaru used a high-level genjutsu to erase all traces of himself. The researcher was probably used as a remote observer with his memories altered temporarily."
Yoru nodded in response, offering no verbal reply. Then, without a word, he gestured toward the bound man, the former test subject who had been subdued by Ren.
The second rogue Yamanaka approached him without hesitation. He extended his hand and placed it over the prisoner's head. For a second, nothing happened—then the room tensed.
Black seals began to rapidly expand from the prisoner's skin, snaking their way up the Yamanaka's arm. Within seconds, his entire body was covered in seal patterns.
Then the prisoner's head exploded.
The blast was contained small but it was sudden and violent. Fortunately, the others had reacted the moment they saw the seals spreading. They were already out of range, having jumped away in instinctive synchronization.
The Yamanaka, still covered in the foreign seal markings, collapsed to the ground and began convulsing violently.
No one moved for a few moments. After a full minute with no further explosion or change, the tension in the room eased marginally.
Inoichi sighed, his face grim. "As expected of Orochimaru. He wouldn't let his secrets leak that easily."
Yoru merely nodded. The two of them began speaking in hushed tones, while Ren crouched near the fallen Yamanaka a few feet away. Quietly, he enhanced his vision with chakra and began inspecting the still-active seal patterns.
He didn't touch the man directly. Instead, he pulled a small stick from his belt and used it to carefully poke around the glowing seal lines. He rotated the man's limbs slightly, examined the neck, then used the stick to pry open the Yamanaka's mouth.
Inside, on the tongue, a distinct mark was visible, one Ren hadn't seen before.
At the sight of the mark, Inoichi's eyes sharpened. His expression hardened further, and he shot a glance at Yoru. Yoru, however, kept watching Ren with mild interest.
Ren, unfazed, looked up from his inspection. "Commander, can I study this one?"
Yoru stared for a moment, then finally responded, "Only clones. I want regular reports."
Ren gave a small nod. He wasn't going to study this one personally anyway. Without further comment, he created a shadow clone. The clone slung the convulsing Yamanaka onto its shoulder and exited to the underground facility, where Ren's other clones were already handling fuinjutsu research.
Inoichi observed this but didn't comment. He turned and gave a silent order to Ibiki, who moved to escort the remaining rogue Yamanaka away. Yoru dismissed Ren and Shinnosuke with a nod, and the two exited the command room without a word.
Once the room was empty again except for the clan head and the commander, Inoichi broke the silence.
"Is it safe to let the boy handle such seals this early?" he asked. Then, after a pause, added with emphasis, "You should know better than me, that seal on the tongue wasn't Orochimaru."
Yoru remained quiet for a few moments. Then, he finally spoke:
"It's better if he learns about them now. Both Orochimaru, and the one who made that seal will be Ren's enemies in the future. I'd rather he be prepared than caught off guard."
Inoichi narrowed his eyes. "Still, it's dangerous. That mark was-"
Yoru cut him off.
"If it were up to me, I'd have ripped him to shreds already," he said flatly. "But as long as the Third's still in power, he won't allow it. He still thinks that man is a 'necessary evil.'"
Inoichi's brow furrowed, then he sighed. "If the Fourth Hokage were alive, this wouldn't even be a discussion. We could've dealt with that cancer long ago."
Yoru scoffed quietly. "The Third is weak now. He was a different man during the war. Back then, he didn't hesitate. Now? He's grown sentimental. Every year, he's more reluctant. Keeps calling things a 'balance' or a 'price worth paying.'"
He leaned back slightly and added, "A few more years like this, and having the Third as Hokage might do more harm than good."
Inoichi didn't argue. He fell silent for a few moments, then said, "Shikaku had a talk with Fugaku Uchiha."
Yoru's eyes narrowed beneath his mask.
"Oh?" he asked. "And?"
~~~~~
{A bit of what is going on in Yoru's mind was shown for the first time, we all know who they were talking about but it's fun to keep the mysterious elements.}
{Since you guys completed the goal of powerstones yesterday double release today too and since this is the last day of the week I'll announce something for the next week.}
{If the fic gets 200 stones today, then you'll have an additional chapter on Monday, and, I'll continue to set powerstone goals for the next week just like other big fanfics (yh, I have some base now, can't continue to play with the newer ones) So yeah, 200 stones}
{If you want to, you can support me on pat-reon.}
{ h t t p s : / / w w w . p a t r e o n . c o m / Z e e n o n }
{You know what else to do}
{STONES!!!!}