The Land of Waves and the Land of Fire were separated by a narrow strait — narrow enough that a single bridge could span across it.
Even though the Land of Waves was geographically closer to the Land of Fire, all missions in the region had long been under the jurisdiction of the Hidden Eddy Village.
After crossing the strait and entering the Land of Fire, Captain Yellow Dog of the Anbu called for Yagami.
He looked Yagami up and down, then said,
"Since you're the only one left from Captain Brown Bear's squad, but your strength isn't enough to lead a team yet, I'll assign you to Captain Black Ape's squad."
Yagami nodded. He took a moment to size up Captain Black Ape — tall, broad, and clearly a taijutsu specialist. Yagami couldn't help wondering what kind of ability he could extract from him later.
He had learned the Shadow Clone Jutsu from Captain Antelope, and Body Flicker Technique from Captain Brown Bear.
The Anbu were truly treasure chests of good abilities.
When Yagami arrived at Black Ape's squad, the captain simply ordered him to act independently.
As a small team leader, it wasn't appropriate to be mixed into other sub-squads, and with heavy casualties everywhere, none of the other teams wanted to share their few remaining members.
The column pushed on.
But as they walked, the mist grew thicker and thicker.
"Captain Black Ape, is this natural fog, or…?"
"This is the Land of Fire. Even if the Hidden Mist sent people here, we can defeat them," the captain replied confidently.
Yagami glanced around at the battered survivors of their combined forces and silently wondered where his captain got that confidence from.
Nearby, Uzumaki Yuka summoned her giant Spear Heron, ready at any moment to carry away Princess Kushina.
The tension grew heavier by the minute.
In the dense fog, visibility dropped to just two or three meters.
Yagami adjusted his mask to widen his field of view.
He could still see a tree two meters away, but beyond that — nothing but a sea of white.
The dampness in the air made his whole body feel clammy.
Suddenly, a sharp whoosh split the silence!
A cold warning prickled down his spine — Yagami dropped forward instinctively.
A kunai grazed his hair and buried itself in the trunk ahead.
Rolling on the ground, Yagami quickly adjusted his position and turned to face the direction of attack —
but the fog swallowed everything.
This time, the Mist ninja weren't using the Silent Killing Technique up close.
They were harassing from range — throwing kunai from within the mist.
With only two meters of visibility, dodging by sight was impossible.
Better to rely on sound.
All around, screams echoed — cries of wounded Uzumaki ninjas struck by kunai.
The Konoha Anbu, in contrast, stayed silent even when impaled like porcupines.
Their discipline was terrifying.
Boom!
That time, silence didn't matter — the Mist ninja had switched to Explosive Tags!
For a village of water-style specialists like the Hidden Mist, using such rare explosive tools meant they were desperate.
In the fire and smoke, an Anbu ninja fell at Yagami's feet — his lower legs blown clean off, bone shards jutting from the stumps.
A miserable way to die.
And then—
Yagami suddenly felt a chill.
A breeze.
Then a terrifying pressure of wind!
He didn't have time to think — he pressed himself tight against a thick tree behind him.
A thinner tree in front of him snapped in half and toppled toward him.
Yagami quickly formed a hand seal and sank underground.
When he resurfaced, the mist had been completely blown away.
Just one Wind Release had scattered hundreds of meters of dense fog.
Even the thinner trees had been flattened by the gale.
Yagami looked ahead — and saw the man who had just lowered his hands from a completed jutsu seal.
Shimura Danzō.
He had arrived, flanked by two assistants.
Yagami almost felt relieved.
Never had Danzō's presence felt so safe.
Danzō's pale eyes, with shrunken pupils, fixed coldly on the group of Mist-nin ahead.
When the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist, Jūzō Biwa and Jinpachi Munashi, saw that Danzō himself had come, they turned and fled without hesitation.
Danzō glanced at the two battered Anbu divisions — their survivors little more than half-dead men — but didn't order a pursuit.
The Anbu rose silently from the shattered forest and gathered behind him.
Captains Yellow Dog and Blue Sparrow stood at Danzō's back, waiting for his instructions.
Moments later, the Uzumaki arrived as well.
The sealing unit's commander exhaled in relief.
"Minister Danzō, I didn't expect you to come personally. You're the only one in Konoha capable of dispelling the Mist's large-scale fog formation."
Danzō nodded, his gaze shifting toward Princess Kushina Uzumaki.
"Uzumaki Princess... you don't seem to have become a jinchūriki. The sealing failed?"
The sealing captain nodded.
"There were too many Mist scouts guarding the Wild Three-Tails. We lost many shinobi, but still couldn't complete the seal."
Kneeling slightly at the back, Yagami pretended to rest — half-crouched, silent.
Through the silhouettes, he saw Danzō's hand clench into a fist, knuckles whitening.
His expression stayed as calm as ever — that frozen, unreadable face — but Yagami could tell the man was furious inside.
If Kushina had become the Three-Tails' jinchūriki, then Konoha's entire plan to make her the Nine-Tails' host would've collapsed.
The Nine-Tails was one of Konoha's core foundations.
An unsanctioned mission by the Hidden Eddy Village had almost ruined everything.
For several seconds, Danzō said nothing.
No one dared to speak.
Even young Kushina shrank behind Yuka, trembling.
Something about this gloomy man terrified her.
Finally, Danzō spoke slowly:
"The remaining members of the two Anbu divisions will escort the Uzumaki Princess back to the Hidden Eddy Village."
Then he turned and left with his assistants.
Yagami frowned slightly.
Konoha wanted Kushina so badly — why not take her now?
Maybe they wanted her to willingly come to Konoha.
The two Anbu divisions continued onward, escorting the Uzumaki to the Land of Whirlpools.
Along the way, Uzumaki Yuka occasionally glanced back.
Each time, she found the fox-masked Anbu easily — then quickly looked away to avoid notice.
The fox hid well, blending seamlessly among the others.
If there had been more survivors, she might not have been able to spot him at all.
The Senju clan truly knew how to pick their spies.
Eventually, the group arrived near the Hidden Eddy Village.
From the sky, a massive Yatagarasu — the three-legged crow — flew overhead, its screech echoing through the air.
The shadow of its huge wingspan terrified the small Spear Heron perched on Yuka's shoulder.
"Don't be afraid," Yuka soothed.
"That's our village's guardian summon. It won't harm you."
After safely delivering the Uzumaki shinobi to the gates, the Anbu turned back.
None of them entered the village.
Yagami breathed a sigh of relief.
He'd been out on this mission for too long.
All he wanted now was to return home.
The outside world is too dangerous... I just want to go home.
But then, he realized something was wrong.
The direction they were heading — wasn't toward Konoha.
Captain Yellow Dog led the Anbu to a mountain overlooking the Hidden Eddy Village.
There, four Anbu squad captains began performing hand seals together.
A transparent barrier rose around the mountaintop.
From the outside, it still looked like an ordinary mountain —
but inside, the captains had vanished from sight.
As the Anbu walked into the barrier, they disappeared one by one.
An invisibility barrier?
Yagami stepped through — and vanished as well.
Inside, Captain Yellow Dog began assigning duties.
Captain Black Ape called over three of his team leaders, including Yagami.
"Three shifts — we'll take turns watching the Hidden Eddy Village through binoculars."
Yagami was assigned to the first shift.
Crouched behind a rock, he peered through his scope at the distant village.
...
The full moon hung like a silver plate, its light pale as frost.
Yagami waited for the night of the full moon.
Three days later, Danzō returned — this time with a full-strength Anbu division.
They too entered the invisible barrier.
Danzō waited there for days, unnaturally patient.
Sitting silently on a rock, unmoving, as if waiting for the right moment.
The atmosphere grew suffocating.
Every Anbu inside the barrier could feel it — tension coiling under Danzō's shadow.
It was clear now.
The Uzumaki clan's disaster could no longer be avoided.
***
69 stones = 2 bonus chapters
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