SWNOVELXO Chapter 63: The Spear-Wielding Egret
With the Rat Squad cutting off his path in the Land of Grass and Yellow Dog's Division closing in from behind, the noose around Senju Haku tightened.
Byakugan users had already caught glimpses of him, but the crafty Haku had slipped through once again.
Yako waited patiently. He needed to do something—anything—to buy time until next month.
As Haku slipped further ahead, the Kitsune Squad was dispatched as well.
They moved away from the main force, and Yako kept calculating the distance between them and the sensory-nin in the division.
Purple Cat thought they were straying too far, but she didn't question it—she followed Yako's lead.
Once they had moved several kilometers beyond the Hyūga's detection range, Yako assigned each of his three subordinates a direction to search on the small mountain.
Once alone and secure, Yako performed the hand seals and summoned his messenger beast.
A spear-wielding egret, the size of a forearm, perched on his shoulder.
His heartbeat raced.
If he had miscalculated, and a Hyūga had seen him summon a spear-wielding egret, his only option would be defection.
He tied Yellow Dog's full pursuit intel to the bird's leg and let it fly, skimming just above the ground.
Yako had made this particular egret his personal comms summoning beast.
Deep within the forests near the Land of Grass border, Senju Haku hid inside the abdomen of a freshly killed giant bear, feeling the corpse slowly cool around him.
It was a tracking countermeasure he'd developed himself. Standard sensory jutsu rarely detected someone hidden like this.
He even used medical ninjutsu to keep gutted animals alive longer.
He had been dodging Konoha's pursuit for over ten days now.
That alone was something to be proud of.
Haku suddenly thought of his teacher, Yakuchi.
Had his sensei felt proud of him?
Yakuchi had charged the Senju compound head-on to buy him time.
They'd tried contacting more Senju, but by the next dawn, the compound was swarming with ANBU.
Almost every Senju now had ANBU watching them.
Yakuchi had said: instead of focusing on the compound, they should take the truth to the frontlines, to the Senju stationed there.
Especially to the young clan heir, Senju Nawaki. If he learned the truth behind the Uzumaki massacre, he wouldn't stay silent.
Yakuchi-sensei was probably dead by now.
Before leaving the village, he had written the truth on a scroll and hidden it near a lake he often visited with his cousins.
No telling if anyone would find it.
ANBU's grip on the village was terrifying.
Haku's mood turned dark.
That first night back in the village—he should have told his father everything he'd seen.
Ever since his father's retirement, Haku had kept things from him, not wanting to burden the old man.
The towering tree of his childhood had become just another weary, mundane villager.
The man he had once idolized had become an annoying elder.
Haku knew he would die.
And before dying, he found himself missing that annoying old man so damn much.
His teacher was gone. His father was old. His mother's clan was annihilated.
Then—through a slit in the bear's abdomen—he caught sight of a white bird.
His eyes lit up.
Could it be that even the heavens couldn't bear the fate of the Uzumaki, and were offering him a sliver of hope?
He crawled from the bear's guts, covered in blood and gore, entrails hanging over his shoulder.
The egret saw him—and recognized him.
Haku had seen a similar bird beside Uzumaki Yuka in the Land of Grass. The egrets recognized him too.
He spotted a paper tied to its leg.
It held detailed intel on the pursuing ANBU division: Yellow Dog, a Fire Release specialist; two Hyūga ANBU, one Inuzuka, and two Aburame.
That many sensory types in one unit.
And Nawaki himself was surrounded by a full ANBU squad, waiting to ambush Haku.
Haku's eyes lit with burning determination once more.
Who had sent this intel?
With it, he could plan more effectively.
He must reach Nawaki!
Yako returned with his squad to Yellow Dog.
He glanced at the Hyūga, then the commander—no killing intent.
Good. He hadn't been exposed.
Casually, he reported that his squad had failed to engage the target.
Days passed.
The moon waned and waxed, and Yako noted with satisfaction how Haku, while strong, wasn't exactly clever.
He had dragged Yellow Dog's unit from the Land of Grass to the Land of Hot Water, then back again.
But still—he wasn't brilliant.
Once again seizing a rare opportunity, Yako summoned the egret.
Haku, hiding near a lakeside, saw the bird approach again.
This time, there were two notes tied to its leg.
He read the first:
A suggestion—Nawaki was too heavily guarded. Haku could never reach him directly.
But he could use his life to create an opportunity.
He wasn't the only one trying. Uzumaki Yuka and other survivors were working behind the scenes too.
The second note was blank.
Haku understood immediately.
He would be the distraction. The egret would carry his plan to Yuka.
She would act during the chaos he created.
Haku quickly drafted a plan, bit his finger, and wrote it in blood on the blank note.
The egret vanished in a puff of smoke.
Haku knelt, pressed his fingers to the ground, and activated the Senju sensory technique.
"One squad and one team nearby… four shinobi in total. One is an elite jōnin with Fire Release."
"My plan is…"
Half an hour later, Yellow Dog's division arrived at the lake, finding only a dead crocodile.
Following its blood trail, they could see the direction Haku had escaped.
Yellow Dog said:
"Haku is an expert in Senju sensory techniques. He might also know our intel.
The direction he's fleeing in leads straight to the forward command post in the Land of Grass.
He's been running for twenty days—he might be at his limit and planning one last desperate move.
Move out! After him!"
———
The full moon hung like a silver platter, its light like frost.
The next full moon had arrived—and Yako finally breathed a sigh of relief.
He'd survived the month. Lucky.
Now the forward command post drew near. Haku's final stand was imminent.
And Yako's opportunity… was coming.