Suddenly, he felt an intense heat on his hand, so hot that his fingers began to emit white smoke.

  “Ah!” The spy screamed, using all his strength to pull his hand away.

  But Shirohebi’s five fingers were locked tightly around his wrist.

  Shirohebi slowly lifted his head, his gaze cold. “Guess why I wasted my time talking to you earlier?”

  The spy’s throat made a gurgling sound.

  Shirohebi pushed his palm forward, rolling up the spy’s sleeve and exposing his abdomen, letting the spy see his hand and the kunai.

  The kunai had turned a brilliant gold, its handle radiating an intense heat that burned the spy’s palm severely.

  But the kunai hadn’t harmed Shirohebi one bit!

  “Gold is soft, not suited for weapons, especially when heated…” Shirohebi casually rubbed the spy’s forearm through the sleeve.

  “You bastard!” The spy pulled out another kunai with his free hand, slicing through his sleeve before pulling his hand away with a jerk, dropping the heated golden kunai to the ground.

  As the spy, clutching his right hand and retreating further away, Shirohebi tossed the short-sleeve shirt aside.

  “Did you think I expined that to you for fun? Now that you’re running, isn’t it the perfect moment for me to strike?”

  “What?” The spy’s pupils dited. Immediately, he felt an unbearable itch above his right arm, like something was crawling under his skin. “Shit!”

  It was the explosive cy Shirohebi had slipped into his sleeve when he grabbed his wrist.

  Then, when rolling up the sleeve, Shirohebi had acted like he was showing off his abilities, but in reality, he had secretly pushed the cy towards his forearm.

  The act of rubbing the spy’s forearm through the sleeve had seemed a little perverse, but in fact, it was just Shirohebi shaping the cy.

  The spy tried to reach into the torn sleeve to pull out whatever was crawling, but it was too te.

  Shirohebi raised two fingers, his smile soft, but the coldness in his eyes showed no amusement.

  Boom. The spy’s right arm exploded, tearing his half-sleeve into tatters.

  Blood sprayed from his shoulder as he crashed to the ground.

  Shirohebi threw the kunai he had prepared while speaking, not even needing to aim. He was confident in hitting a falling target.

  Boom. The spy’s body exploded in a cloud of smoke, and a broken piece of wood fell to the ground.

  “Oh? You used the substitution jutsu? Did you make the seal just before the explosion…”

  Shirohebi pinched his chin and shook his head with a smile. “Never mind.”

  He picked up the mask that had fallen earlier, pced it back on his face, and carefully adjusted it using a mirror from his ninja tool pouch.

  “By the way, I didn’t expect that after less than five months of officially debuting, Iwagakure already knows my name. I thought those idiots with rocks for brains wouldn’t wake up until they were at death’s door.”

  Shirohebi turned and walked a few steps before suddenly stopping.

  “Oh right, this substitution wood is pretty good. It not only contains chakra, but it even bleeds.”

  He turned his head, smiling through the mask, but his eyes held only a cold, murderous intent.

  Boom. The substitution wood exploded in smoke, and the spy y there, weak.

  He had indeed used the substitution seal just before the explosion, but it wasn’t the usual five-seal substitution jutsu. It was a single-seal transformation jutsu.

  “You… you did this on purpose, talking, deying… to make me bleed… you despicable person…”

  “Ninja business? How can you call it despicable? It’s strategy, strategy.” Shirohebi chuckled.

  “Say what you will, but I recognize you now!”

  The spy’s face darkened with fury and hatred, his eyes bloodshot as he stared at Shirohebi.

  His voice was heavy with resentment.

  “I remember your ability. I won’t be wrong. I don’t know how you control Iwagakure’s explosive cy, but…”

  “You’re not some white snake, you’re… the Ghost of Uzumaki Vilge! It was you who killed the Second Tsuchikage…”

  “Konohagakure dares to hide a monster like you? Just wait… wait for the day when you and Konoha are destroyed by the Four Great Shinobi Vilges!”

  Shirohebi rolled his eyes and turned to leave, casually ruffling his hair.

  “The Ghost of Uzumaki Vilge? Come to think of it, this guy used to have red hair…”

  “He actually managed to defeat the Uzumaki cn’s spirit. Though he was weak, it looks like I’m even stronger than I thought.”

  “Third time’s the charm, huh? I have so many titles. How many messes has the original owner left for me to clean up?”

  Shirohebi walked farther and farther, leaving the spy dumbfounded.

  “He… he’s not going to kill me? What’s his pn? Is he going to use me to spread information and have the Four Great Vilges attack Konoha for him?”

  The spy’s thoughts raced, desperately trying to figure out what Shirohebi was doing. It only took a few seconds for his mind to spiral into absurd theories.

  Shirohebi wouldn’t use such a shallow method to frame Konoha. Besides, he had no reason to have any ill will toward Konoha. He was just quietly living there, minding his own business.

  “No… I need to… bandage my wounds…”

  The Iwagakure spy weakly pulled out a medical kit from his chest. It was a birthday gift from his lover, Kaede, and he had kept it on him at all times.

  That was why it hadn’t been in his ninja tool pouch and hadn’t been stolen by Shirohebi.

  “Wait for me, wait for me… once I recover, I’ll go find you, take you to Iwagakure, and marry you…”

  He carefully wrapped his right shoulder wound with the bandages from the kit, using tools to press down on the kunai still lodged in his chest. He slid his finger through the ring of the kunai, slowly pulling it out.

  Suddenly, he noticed a small pendant hanging from the kunai ring.

  It was a pale white, twisted smiley face.

  The spy’s heart chilled, and he turned to look at the direction Shirohebi had gone.

  Somehow, Shirohebi had already returned, peeking from behind a tree and watching him handle the medical kit.

  “Oh~ So Miss Kaede is your lover, huh?”

  Shirohebi’s voice was full of mirth as he walked out from behind the tree, giving a thumbs-up. “She’s beautiful. Looks quite desirable. You’ve got game, huh?”

  The spy’s face was covered in sweat, unsure if it was from the pain or from fear.

  “Don’t hurt her… please…”

  “Do you think I’ll agree to that?” Shirohebi’s tone was zy and indifferent.

  Begging a ninja for mercy? How childish and pathetic. Ninjas never show real emotions in the middle of a mission.

  This Iwagakure spy must have not prepared himself for the possibility of losing.

  “She was just deceived by me. She never truly intended to betray Konoha. She… she tried to stop me, really!”

  “Fine, I’m a soft-hearted guy.” Shirohebi shrugged.

  Before the spy could breathe a sigh of relief, Shirohebi’s voice turned cold.

  “But my mission success rate is 100%. If you want me to stop…”

  He stretched out his right hand, rubbing his thumb between his index and middle fingers. “You’ll need to give me some top-secret information from Iwagakure.”

  “I don’t know anything!” The spy’s eyes widened, his pupils shaking violently.

  “Hm?” Shirohebi’s gaze turned icy.

  “I really don’t know… she’s innocent, please… I’ll tell you all the jutsu I know…”

  The spy struggled to roll over, his right shoulder wound reopening as fresh blood soaked through the bandages.

  His eyes revealed the kind of despair only found when there is no hope left.

  It seemed he truly didn’t know any of Iwagakure’s secrets. After all, he was just a mere spy.

  Even if Iwagakure’s defection rate was the lowest among the Five Great Vilges, spies like him were often not trusted with any important intel.

  “Looks like you don’t really want to save her. Poor Miss Kaede…”

  Shirohebi turned and began to walk away. Even though he was interested in Iwagakure’s earth techniques, he didn’t want to give them the opportunity to drag him into death.

  “You’ll surely hear Miss Kaede’s screams and wails in hell, won’t you? Hehehehe.”

  The malicious ughter sent a chill down the spy’s spine.

  This cold-blooded creature was no human; it was a demon wearing a human skin.

  “Die, you monster! May you never rest in peace!” The spy screamed in agony, his wounds bursting open as he howled in anguish.

  The pendant on the kunai split into writhing maggots, crawling onto his face, burrowing into his ears, nose, and eyelids.

  “No… no… no!”

  Before he could cw the maggots away, there was a loud pop, and his head exploded, his features falling apart.

  In the distance, Shirohebi's eyes narrowed beneath his mask, and he shook his head with a touch of regret.

  He rubbed his stomach, where a faint bruise had started to form.

  Even though the kunai had turned into gold and softened after being heated, unable to penetrate the ANBU's armor...

  It still hurt like hell. His twitching wasn’t all for show.

  He'd been talking big earlier, but now that he was hurt, he thought he could just walk away in peace?

  What was that old saying again? Oh, right—revenge for a small grievance should be swift and merciless...

  That was Shirohebi's motto.