Yagami exhaled in relief — he was still alive.
Behind him came the cry of a heron.
He turned quickly, spotting the sharp beak of a Lance Heron blocking a flying senbon aimed straight for him.
"Don't lose focus! These are elite Mist ninja!"
Uzumaki Yuka landed beside him, her high-slit battle skirt fluttering in the wind and mist.
Her toned legs were right in front of his eyes.
For a brief, almost fatal moment, Yagami thought she looked stunning.
"Sorry," he said quietly. "Captain Brown Bear's death distracted me."
The Daimyō's Guardian ninja and Uzumaki warriors rushed in.
Dozens of chakra chains burst out, clashing and sparking against Momochi Tenzo's Executioner's Blade.
Tenzo was forced to retreat, step by step.
Out of the dense fog came even more Mist ninja.
"Go!" Yuka shouted. "Leave this to them! You and I will protect Princess Kushina!"
Yagami's eyes brightened. His mission had been to cover the retreat — now that the Daimyō's guard was doing that, leaving didn't count as abandoning duty.
He could also report the situation to Captain Yellow Dog.
Following Yuka, Yagami sprinted over two hundred meters until they finally burst free of the mist.
The view ahead opened wide.
To the side, about a hundred meters away, Captain Blue Sparrow's squad was locked in fierce combat with several Cloud ninja.
Farther ahead, Captain Yellow Dog's squad pursued Kushina's group, trying to intercept another Cloud unit.
Seeing this, Yuka prepared to rush toward the enemy to shield Princess Kushina.
But Yagami calculated quickly — he wasn't strong enough. There were too many Cloud ninja. If he charged in, he'd die for sure. He needed another plan.
"Yuka!" he called. "Princess Kushina is only seven years old — she's tiny! Your giant Lance Heron can easily carry her and fly her out of the encirclement!"
Divert the trouble elsewhere — if Kushina wasn't here, neither would the enemy be.
If Kushina died… then so be it. His own life came first.
Yuka suddenly understood. She didn't need to clash head-on with Cloud ninja — she had the air advantage now.
Flight was an extremely rare ability in the ninja world. Ninety-nine percent of shinobi couldn't fight in the air.
She summoned her giant Lance Heron, sending it soaring toward Kushina.
"Grandfather! I've formed a contract with a flying summoning beast! Let Princess Kushina escape first!"
The head of Uzushio's Sealing Corps — Yuka's sixth grandfather — brightened.
A brilliant idea.
Everyone here could die, but Kushina must survive.
Her unique physique gave her great potential to become a jinchūriki — perhaps even a perfect one.
If Kushina became a jinchūriki, Uzushio would grow as strong as Hidden Rain, which had the Seven-Tails.
Kushina was tossed upward.
The three-meter-long Lance Heron shrieked, grabbing her shoulders in its talons.
Kushina rose into the air, her crimson hair blazing brighter than any other Uzumaki's.
Yagami quickly turned toward the Cloud forces.
Just as he expected, they saw their target escaping and immediately split off a large portion of troops to chase after Kushina.
The pressure on Captain Yellow Dog's squad dropped dramatically.
After two months of fighting in the Land of Waves, only half of the squad remained — most of them wounded.
"Captain! The Daimyō's guard from the Land of Waves has joined the battle! They're holding back the Mist ninja! Captain Brown Bear has fallen!"
Yellow Dog glanced toward the thick fog in the distance. "Understood."
Two squads wiped out, and the remaining two reduced to scraps. From over sixty men, only nineteen remained.
The ANBU's casualty rate was brutal.
"Follow the summoning beast! Protect Princess Kushina above all else!"
Yagami took the rear of the formation.
One good thing — with his captain gone, he was no longer directly under orders. Unless Captain Yellow Dog commanded him personally, he was free to act as he wished.
Thanks to Kushina's small size, the Lance Heron maintained its full speed, soaring fast and light.
The situation shifted — earlier, the Leaf ANBU had been blocking the Cloud ninja, but now the formation had flipped.
At the front: Kushina and the Lance Heron.
In the middle: the Cloud ninja in pursuit.
At the rear: the Leaf ANBU.
The Cloud ninja sprinted desperately, sending squads backward to stall the ANBU.
One by one, Cloud squads fell back to cover their allies.
Yagami, hanging at the end of the ANBU line, watched carefully for an opening.
A Cloud ninja was sent flying, stumbling backward.
Yagami struck. In a blur, he used Body Flicker to appear behind the man, using the Cloud ninja's backward motion to drive his blade through the man's chest.
He withdrew the blade, vanishing again behind the ANBU line.
Nearby, Captain Black Ape glanced sideways — this fox-masked ANBU's timing was impeccable.
His own squad was suffering heavy losses. Once this mission ended, he'd have to request that this man join his team.
Through constant battle, Yagami grew more proficient with the Body Flicker Technique.
He was getting faster.
He also discovered a new trick — focusing chakra in the calves and feet before takeoff increased speed, but concentrating chakra in the legs again upon landing allowed him to halt instantly and enter a combat stance.
The battle raged from the coast deep into the Land of Waves.
Under Yuka's control, the Lance Heron deliberately flew through difficult terrain — rocky fields, swamps, mountain ridges — making pursuit harder and harder.
After destroying three Cloud squads, the enemy finally gave up.
Without the Mist's aid, the Cloud forces couldn't stand against both the Uzumaki and Leaf ANBU.
After several more hours of running, Captain Yellow Dog led the remnants into a hidden mountain hollow to rest.
Yuka was basking in praise from her grandfather, the Sealing Corps' commander — her flying summoning beast had turned the tide of battle.
With such a summon, Yuka had effectively surpassed Chūnin level, reaching the strength of a Special Jōnin.
Every now and then, she glanced at the fox-masked man sitting in the distance, resting with his sword across his knees.
If not for his warning, she wouldn't have arrived in time with reinforcements.
She had no intention of telling her grandfather the truth. "Fox" was a spy placed in the ANBU by the Senju clan — the fewer who knew, the safer.
Only those of clan head or elder status could even hint at such things.
Sending spies into the ANBU was a grave crime — one the Senju clan would never admit to.
Unknowingly, the image of the fox-masked man in Yuka's heart had changed — mysterious and reliable.
Every time she met him, he displayed something new. His Body Flicker alone was astonishing — the kind of mastery one only gained after at least two and a half years of intense practice.
"Yuka-nee, this bird is so pretty," said Kushina, standing on tiptoe to stroke the Lance Heron's long legs and smooth feathers, utterly fascinated.
"I wonder what kind of summoning beast I'll have one day. Flying must feel amazing."
Yuka smiled. "Princess Kushina, I'm sure you'll have an incredibly powerful summoning beast in the future… maybe even a Tailed Beast."
After a short rest and some soldier pills to recover strength, the group resumed their march, circling through the Land of Fire toward Uzushio.
Watching Kushina's small figure walking ahead, Yagami's chest tightened with unease.
Would he survive the coming destruction of the Uzumaki clan?
***
69 stones = 2 bonus chapters
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