A quiet forest path, three figures walking under the filtered sunlight peeking through the dense canopy.
Yuri's voice trembled, yet there was a newfound firmness in it, as though the weight of survival had forged a stronger spirit within her. "Oh… once again, thank you for saving my life." Her voice still wavered with the lingering fear, but her eyes shone with quiet determination.
"I don't know how I might repay you," she added, looking between the two men.
"No need for that," Eric replied flatly, his voice devoid of emotion. "Those guys were not very pleasant to look at. So I removed them."
Tony, who had been silent for a while, gave a light chuckle. "We're mainly not from around here. If you can lead us to a settlement, that would be enough help."
His tone was soft, almost careful—an attempt to lift the heavy atmosphere that had settled like fog since the earlier incident. He glanced sideways at Yuri. Her face still wore a pale, nervous expression. Understandable. Eric, being Eric, always turned colder and more guarded when strangers were around. That didn't help the vibe.
Tony sighed. The gloomy silence clung to them. He tried once, twice, to start light conversation, maybe even a joke. But without anyone else joining in, it turned out to be a lonely and futile endeavor. In the end, he gave up and walked quietly alongside them.
Suddenly, that silence shattered.
Two figures darted through the trees with frightening speed. They landed a few feet ahead of them, coats fluttering like shadows. Both wore long black trench coats and featureless animal masks that concealed their entire faces.
Tony looked at Yuri, this guy might really a big villain secretly, he sighed.
Eric watched them carefully, narrowing his eyes, if he remembers carefully, they should be Anbu, the assassination force of five great ninja village, as for which one, he cannot tell.
ANBU, a specialized, elite unit of ninja who perform covert operations, including assassination and espionage, directly under the command of the village's Kage.
For remaining unknown, and causing trouble to the whole world, all of the Anbu almost were the same outfit, so people cannot tell, which village did it.
One of the masked figures stepped forward. His voice was deep, clearly altered by some technique. "We are Konoha Anbu. We are here to take back the girl from the Uzumaki clan—by order of Uzumaki Kushina."
Before Eric could reply, Tony stepped up, eyeing them with curiosity, like examining rare zoo animals. "Wow. Alive ninjas. First time I've seen any that aren't bleeding to death up close."
His amused tone clearly made the two masked men uncomfortable. One of them interrupted quickly. "Uzumaki, come with us."
Tony turned to Yuri. "Hey, are these guys your friends or something?"
Yuri had already taken shelter behind Eric, peeking out from behind him. "No," she said softly, her voice tinged with fear.
Tony raised an eyebrow, then turned back to the masked ninja. "Hey, ugly bastards, you're clearly scaring the lady. Maybe send someone a bit more charming next time. Someone who looks like me, maybe. She might follow you then."
The lead ninja glanced at Yuri again, clearly hoping for a different answer. But all he saw was indifference in her eyes. With a subtle signal, he alerted his companion.
As for why the are wasting time with them, there are clearly a purpose, they are naturally not Anbu but Root agents under Danzo, and usually they wouldn't waste words with strangers. But their mission was clear—retrieve the girl. Preferably alive, and if can without using force, They had hoped using Uzumaki Kushina's name would earn cooperation. After all, Kushina was once the heiress of the Uzumaki clan.
They can kill the two arrogant guys later. You know, just seeing them, even a revel ninja will run away in first sight, but those guys just ignore them, even if they have trained for many years to control their emotion but still felt humiliated.
That meant only one thing.
Eliminate the witnesses. Then take the girl.
Tony, still running his mouth, failed to notice the murderous gleam in their eyes.
The lead ninja moved.
In the blink of an eye, he was inches away from Tony, a blade at his throat. If he had been just a couple centimeters forward, he would have been dead.
Tony swallowed hard. "F-Fuck!" he stammered, jumping back two steps. "You almost gave me a heart attack!"
In a mix of panic and fury, Tony slapped the masked ninja's face repeatedly. The masked man didn't move. Didn't even react. It was like he was frozen.
And indeed, he was.
Eric stood behind him, his arm raised slightly. Both of the Root agents were under his psychic control. Not even Madara could resist it, let alone these guys.
He glanced at Tony, who was drenched in sweat. The arrogant inventor had been too confident since arriving in this world. Eric had let this happen to teach him a little lesson. This world was dangerous. And no, he wasn't going to babysit him all the time.
Tony muttered, still shaken, "What should we do with these guys?"
But before he could finish the thought, Eric calmly broke both their necks with a small flick of his fingers.
Tony blinked. "Seriously? You couldn't wait a second?"
Eric gave him a look.
"I mean," Tony added, gesturing to the corpses, "we could have asked them some questions. Gotten some info."
Eric gave him a look. "These guys wouldn't talk. Not to us. Not to anyone. Even if they wanted to."
He turned to the corpses, stepping forward slowly. He extended a hand, palm down.
A strange energy radiated from him.
His voice was low.
"Don't worry about it. I can make dead people talk again."
A moment passed.
Then came the single word that twisted the air:
"Arise."