Ahead, the Rat Squad was blocking the way in the Land of Grass; behind, Captain Yellow Dog's battalion closed in pursuit.
The encirclement was growing tighter and tighter.
The Byakugan scouts had already spotted traces of Senju Hai, but the cunning ninja had managed to slip away once again.
Yoru waited patiently for an opportunity, he needed to stall for time, at least until next month.
When Senju Hai fled farther away, the Fox Squad was dispatched as well.
Separated from the rest of the force, Yoru constantly calculated the distance between his team and the sensory ninjas of the main battalion.
Purple Cat felt they were straying too far but said nothing, she simply followed the Fox's lead.
Once they were several kilometers beyond the range of the Hyūga scouts, Yoru sent his three subordinates in different directions to search a nearby hill.
The three climbed from three separate routes.
After confirming that he was absolutely safe, Yoru formed hand seals and summoned his messenger beast.
A small, forearm-sized Spear Heron appeared and perched upon his shoulder.
Yoru's heart was pounding fast.
If he'd miscalculated the distance and the Hyūga of the main battalion saw him with the Spear Heron, he'd have no choice but to defect.
He tied the battalion's intelligence report to the heron's leg, then ordered it to fly low and close to the ground.
The Spear Heron was Yoru's personal summoning beast, used exclusively for secret communication.
In a forest near the border of the Land of Grass, Senju Hai hid inside the belly of a recently killed giant bear, feeling its corpse slowly grow cold.
This was a hiding method he'd devised himself, ordinary reconnaissance jutsu would never detect a ninja concealed like this.
To prolong his concealment, he would even use medical ninjutsu to heal the disemboweled beasts, keeping them alive longer.
He had been on the run from Konoha's pursuers for over ten days now.
Such endurance was something to take pride in.
Senju Hai suddenly thought of his teacher, Yachi.
Would his teacher be proud of him?
To draw attention away from him, Yachi-sensei had charged straight into the Senju compound.
Hai had wanted to contact more Senju clansmen, but by dawn the next day, after Yachi was attacked, the Anbu presence around the compound had multiplied.
Almost every Senju in the village was being watched.
Seeing no way forward, Yachi-sensei had proposed doing the opposite, instead of focusing on the Senju within the village, pass the truth to those fighting on the front lines.
Especially to the young clan heir, Senju Nawaki. Once he learned the truth about the Uzumaki clan's annihilation, he would never stay silent.
Yachi-sensei… must be dead by now, Hai thought.
Before leaving the village, he'd written the secret down on a scroll and hidden it by the lake he and his cousins often visited.
He wondered if his cousin would ever find it.
The Anbu's control over the village was simply too strong.
Hai's mood grew heavy.
If only he had confessed everything to his father that first night back in the village.
Ever since his father's retirement, Hai had avoided worrying him, rarely speaking about his missions.
The man who had once been a towering hero in his childhood now seemed like nothing more than a weary middle-aged villager.
The father he once idolized had become a nagging old man.
Senju Hai knew he was destined to die.
And before that end came, he found himself missing that "annoying old man" more than ever.
His teacher was dead, his father was old, and his mother's kin, the Uzumaki, were gone.
Just as despair took hold, Hai noticed movement through a gap in the bear's belly, a white bird, gliding silently through the night.
His eyes lit up. Could it be that even the heavens pitied the fate of the Uzumaki and had sent him hope?
He crawled out of the bear's belly, covered in blood and filth, entrails still hanging from his shoulder.
The Spear Heron spotted him, and recognized him.
Hai had seen the same kind of bird before, beside Uzumaki Yuka in the Land of Grass. The heron clan knew him.
On its leg, he found a note.
It listed all the details of the pursuing Anbu battalion, Captain Yellow Dog, skilled in Fire Release; two Hyūga, one Inuzuka, and two Aburame operatives.
So many sensory types among them.
And in addition, an Anbu squad was stationed near Senju Nawaki, waiting like hunters for Hai to come to them.
Reading the note, Hai's fighting spirit blazed once more.
Who sent this to me?
With this information, he could now plan more effectively.
He had to meet the young clan heir!
Yoru returned with his squad to Captain Yellow Dog's side.
He glanced at the Hyūga scouts, then at Yellow Dog himself, no killing intent in either.
It seemed he hadn't been exposed.
Acting casually, he reported that his squad had failed to locate the target.
Days passed. The moon waned from half to crescent, then waxed back to half again.
Yoru thought to himself, Senju Hai was strong indeed, dragging Yellow Dog's battalion in circles from the Land of Grass to the Land of Hot Water and back again.
But… still not clever enough.
When another rare chance arose, Yoru summoned the Spear Heron once more.
Senju Hai, hiding by a lakeside, saw the white bird again.
Two slips of paper were tied to its leg.
He opened them one by one.
The first note contained a proposal:
The young Senju heir is heavily guarded, you'll never reach him directly.
But you can use your life to create an opening.
You're not the only one trying to reach Nawaki, Uzumaki Yuka and the other survivors are moving too.
The second note was blank.
Hai immediately understood.
He was to draw the Anbu's attention, the heron would then deliver his movements to Uzumaki Yuka.
Yuka would use the chaos he created to approach Nawaki.
Hai quickly devised a battle plan, bit his finger, and wrote it on the blank scroll in his own blood.
The Spear Heron dissolved into a puff of white smoke, contract released.
Crouching, Hai pressed his hand to the ground and began sensing vibrations.
"There's one squad and one platoon nearby, four full Anbu teams in total, and one elite Fire Release user among them.
My plan is…"
Half an hour later, Captain Yellow Dog's battalion arrived at the lakeside hideout, and found only a dead crocodile's carcass.
Following the trail of its blood, they could see the direction Hai had fled.
Yellow Dog said,
"Senju Hai is a master of the clan's sensory techniques, and it seems he also knows our formation details.
Look at the path he's chosen, straight toward the forward command camp in the Land of Grass.
We've hunted him for twenty days; he must be exhausted, preparing for one last desperate stand.
After him! Don't let him escape!"
The Yellow Dog battalion resumed the chase.
The full moon hung like silver, its light pale as frost.
At last, another month had passed.
Yoru let out a quiet sigh of relief.
He'd survived through it, lucky enough to make it this far.
And now, as they drew closer to the front-line command post, Senju Hai's final, desperate struggle was about to begin.
And with it, Yoru's own opportunity.