This time after his revival, Captain Brown Bear once again sent Yagami to capture a Hidden Cloud squad leader alive.
In his previous life, he'd ambushed the Cloud-nin using explosive tags, remembering exactly where that captain had landed after jumping. This time, he buried a second explosive tag right there.
Having foreknowledge really was convenient.
Sure enough, the Cloud-nin captain was blown up by the second trap. Coughing blood, he propped himself up on his sword with trembling hands.
Yagami closed in, facing him one-on-one.
Instead of a kunai, he drew a short blade.
He rarely used blades before, yet the moment his fingers wrapped around the hilt, it felt like an extension of his arm—an effortless, natural flow.
Clang!
Their swords collided, ringing sharply through the air.
The Cloud-nin captain froze—not because this masked ANBU was particularly strong, but because his every move mirrored his own. The same stance, the same swing, even the same speed.
They exchanged three consecutive strikes, evenly matched each time.
The Cloud-nin could feel it—his every motion was being read.
Yagami's heart surged with quiet excitement. The gap in swordsmanship was gone; they were now fighting on equal footing.
A ninja blade hit harder than a kunai and was far more suited to battling Cloud-nin who combined both speed and power.
As time passed and they exchanged blows, the Cloud-nin's movements grew sluggish. The injuries from the earlier explosion worsened with every motion.
He felt like he was fighting a member of the Uchiha—every attack read, every strike countered.
Yagami's sword style had completely copied his opponent's. The "reward" from his previous death had clearly been tied to this.
Two minutes later, the Cloud-nin captain could no longer hold out. Yagami's blade flashed, slashing across the man's wrist.
The enemy's sword clattered to the ground.
Yagami swiftly cut the tendons in both wrists and ankles, disabling him completely, before slinging the man over his shoulder and heading for the shoreline to find his captain.
The journey wasn't smooth.
At first, the Cloud-nin captain thrashed wildly on Yagami's shoulder like a flailing shrimp. Yagami had to stab a kunai into his lower back to make him stop.
Then the man tried to bite his tongue and kill himself, forcing Yagami to stuff something into his mouth.
As he continued along the road, Yagami lifted his head and glanced at the moon.
The full moon hung like a silver disc, the moonlight pale as frost.
He smiled faintly. Another chance to revive secured.
After a great deal of effort, Yagami finally dragged the Cloud-nin captain to the beach.
Captain Brown Bear looked at the fox-masked ANBU carrying a prisoner and once again felt pleased with his decision.
An ANBU who completed missions one after another—those were the best kind.
The "Fox" had far exceeded expectations, completing a live capture. He was becoming a reliable subordinate.
"Wildcat," Brown Bear ordered, "interrogate this Cloud-nin with Fox. Find out why they've come to the Land of Waves."
"Yes, Captain."
Wildcat was another squad leader.
Yagami followed along, curious to see how Wildcat handled interrogations.
After a few minutes of watching, Yagami turned away slightly.
Compared to his own crude tendon-cutting methods, Captain Wildcat was far more professional.
The Cloud-nin twitched and groaned through the gag in his mouth. His bloodshot eyes bulged, veins crawling across them until they looked diseased.
Yagami casually struck up a conversation. "Captain Wildcat, you've got three subordinates, right? How about giving me one?"
"Captain Fox," Wildcat replied flatly, "I value my teammates. Almost as much as I value the mission itself."
"Yeah, yeah, we all value them. Give me one, and I'll help you value him."
They haggled for a while, but Wildcat refused to yield.
Yagami was a one-man squad—a captain with no team. No one to scout, no one to draw enemy fire.
The interrogation dragged on from noon till night, and from night until midnight.
By the latter half of the night, Wildcat staggered over to Captain Brown Bear, breathing hard as he delivered the results.
"What?" Brown Bear's voice was laced with disbelief. After thinking for a moment, he said grimly, "Go to the division commander immediately. Report this intelligence."
The nearby Cloud-nin squads were just distractions.
Their true objective was on the far side of the Land of Waves—a secret high-level meeting between the Hidden Cloud and the Hidden Mist.
The Cloud and the Mist were forming an alliance.
In the midst of the Shinobi World War, any two factions joining forces would spell serious trouble for the Leaf.
Captain Brown Bear didn't even wait for the other squad. He led his men through the night to find the division commander.
The commander wore a yellow dog mask. Upon hearing the report, he signaled the communication-nin to contact ANBU headquarters immediately.
Yagami stood too far away to see how the contact was made.
Moments later, red signal flares shot up into the sky—ANBU's highest-level summons.
Every ANBU who saw them was required to assemble at once.
Two understrength ANBU divisions moved swiftly toward the northeast of the Land of Waves.
The atmosphere was heavy. Abandoning their previous missions meant the new situation was critical—top priority.
"Move! We must reach them in time!"
Captain Brown Bear barked to his three squad leaders, "The Hidden Whirlpool failed to seal the Three-Tails. Their sealing ritual was disrupted by the Mist.
"The Mist has used this as an excuse to declare war on the Hidden Whirlpool.
"And now, with the information we've gathered, the Cloud may join them as well.
"The Uzumaki Princess—Uzumaki Kushina—is being hunted by Mist-nin as we speak.
"We must protect her at all costs. She must not fall into their hands."
The Nine-Tails' host was about to be replaced, and the Hidden Leaf urgently needed a new Jinchūriki.
For that reason, even Shimura Danzō himself had come to the Hidden Whirlpool—only to be turned away.
Meanwhile, ANBU had been secretly hunting for the Uzumaki clan's sealing scrolls throughout the Land of Waves.
Now, under direct orders, the ANBU's mission was clear: protect the Uzumaki Princess at all costs.
She possessed unmatched sealing talent, born to be a Jinchūriki—the chosen successor as the Second Nine-Tails host.
At the eastern shore of the Land of Waves, the Leaf's ANBU finally spotted a group of Uzumaki ninja.
Over thirty Uzumaki surrounded a small girl at their center.
The princess had bright red hair like a ripe tomato, only seven or eight years old.
At that moment, she stared in terror as one of her cousins fell dead before her eyes.
Across from them stood two enemy forces.
One—over a hundred Mist-nin, newly landed.
The other—a detachment of Cloud-nin, circling to cut off the Uzumaki's retreat.
"Protect the Uzumaki Princess at all costs!" ordered Captain Yellow Dog.
His division charged toward the Mist, while the other moved to intercept the Cloud.
The ANBU surged forward.
Yagami noticed that he alone had no team behind him.
Being both captain and squad member had its downsides. Still, if he was a bit slower because of the rocks underfoot... that was reasonable, right?
Ahead, the two division commanders—both at least jonin level—unleashed massive Fire Style jutsu, setting half the beach ablaze.
"Fire Style! It's the Leaf ANBU!"
The Uzumaki shouted with joy.
Their allies had arrived!
But the Mist-nin stood on the water's edge—perfect terrain for them.
Water Dragons clashed against fireballs, erupting into thick white steam that blanketed the shore.
"Uzumaki! Take Princess Kushina and run!" Captain Yellow Dog roared through the haze.
***
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