The hall fell into a deathly silence.
Rin's face had gone pale, her empty gaze fixed on the corpse sprawled on the floor.
Just moments ago, Drake and Sarutobi Shinnosuke had only been exchanging barbed words — and now… it had ended like this.
"That was the Third Hokage's son…"
Anko screamed internally, on the verge of breaking down.
She might act fearless on the surface, but even she would never dare kill someone of that status.
And Drake?
One wrong sentence — and he had punched straight through the man's chest.
"I… I can't move…"
Yugao clutched Anko's arm, her voice shaking as her legs trembled violently.
If Rin hadn't been trembling even more, she would have already collapsed.
"I didn't see anything… I didn't see anything…"
In the corner, Yamato pulled his manual over his face, mumbling to himself, before turning to face the wall completely.
Only Kakashi remained relatively composed.
He glanced at the corpse once, then walked straight up to Drake.
"What's the next step?"
No fear. Only calm calculation.
If his own father could be driven to death by the upper brass, then the Hokage losing a son meant little to him. Compared to that injustice, this almost felt… balanced.
Drake tapped his chin thoughtfully, utterly unbothered.
"Hand me a kunai."
Kakashi passed it over without hesitation.
Drake scanned his teammates, then smiled.
"Alright. Time to deepen Team Nine's bonds again."
Their expressions froze.
Clearly, Drake planned to have them all stab the body — binding everyone into the same boat.
No one dared resist. No one wanted to become the next body on the floor.
Even Yamato, still facing the wall, whispered weakly,
"D-Drake… I really didn't see anything…"
"Yamato," Drake said gently, "if you don't stab him, I'll stab you instead."
"…Understood."
One by one, they stepped forward and stabbed the corpse, leaving multiple wounds to ruin any single fatal mark.
When it was done, Anko swallowed hard.
"So… what do we do with the body?"
Drake pondered for a moment.
"Have Yamato use Wood Release and bury it underground."
"Me?!" Yamato froze.
But halfway through his panic, he realised what Drake was doing — dragging him deep into this mess so he could never betray them.
Before he could reply, Anko suddenly pulled out a porcelain vial, eyes lighting up.
"I have a better idea! Orochimaru gave me this before he defected. It's venom from a corrosive serpent. Just one drop can melt a corpse completely."
Drake considered it briefly, then nodded.
"Do it."
Drip… drip…
The liquid splashed onto the body.
Sizzle—!
Black smoke erupted violently, accompanied by a thick stench of blood and rot.
Everyone froze.
Anko went pale.
"I… I didn't know it would smoke like this!"
In moments, the hall filled with choking fumes and a nauseating metallic smell.
"We're done for…" Rin whispered, her face as white as paper.
"How do we get rid of this smell and smoke?!"
"We don't have any Wind Release users," Kakashi muttered grimly.
Panic threatened to spiral out of control.
Then Yugao looked toward Drake.
"You have a plan, right…?"
He hadn't panicked. Not once.
"Of course," Drake replied calmly.
"Kakashi, clean only our traces. Don't touch anything else."
The words struck Kakashi like lightning.
If they cleaned everything, it would look staged.
Leaving selective traces would make the scene more believable.
Moments later, once the basic cleanup was finished, Drake spoke again.
"Everyone move to the exit."
Kakashi formed seals.
"Shadow Clone Jutsu!"
A clone remained inside the base while the others slipped out.
As the heavy stone gates closed, Kakashi released the clone, but his expression remained tense.
"This still isn't perfect," he said.
"We were officially sent to the ANBU base today. Once Shinnosuke's disappearance is reported, we'll be the first suspects."
Drake chuckled softly.
"We never entered the base. We waited outside the whole time."
He glanced sideways at Anko.
"By the way… that venom. It's snake poison, right?"
"Y-Yeah…"
He sighed theatrically.
"How tragic… Orochimaru actually infiltrated the ANBU base and murdered the commander…"
The realization hit them all at once.
Their eyes lit up.
Only Anko looked horrified.
"You're blaming Orochimaru?!" she hissed.
Drake shrugged lazily.
"He's already a traitor. What's one more crime?"
Kakashi let out a slow breath, admiration clear in his eye.
"Drake… when it comes to schemes and manipulation, no one in the shinobi world can match you."
Far away, somewhere unknown — Orochimaru sneezed for no apparent reason.
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