Koi Chisa lifted her hand, wanting to say something more, but Yagami's figure had already vanished completely.
She hated it—hated how weak she was. Every night she was exhausted early, worn out by him, never once noticing Yagami's true identity.
She should have guessed it long ago.
Yagami wasn't some wandering shinobi.
How could a vagrant know such an obscure field as hydraulic power generation?
But… was Yagami truly a member of the Hidden Rain ANBU?
Was the name Yagami even real?
A large group of samurai and Koi Chisa's attendants caught up from behind.
Seeing that Chisa was uninjured, her attendant let out a relieved breath.
"Milady, please return to Kyoto. The Hidden Leaf has assigned guardian shinobi there. The Leaf is at war with the Hidden Sand—anywhere outside Kyoto is far too dangerous."
"Fine. We'll return—and finish the foundation ceremony."
"Eh? We're still continuing the ceremony?"
"We are!" Koike Chisa rubbed her reddened eyes, gaze firm.
"The hydroelectric station is essential to Kyoto of the Land of Rivers. It must be completed.
Even in wartime, the daimyo's family must maintain basic dignity.
Kyoto cannot fall into darkness—cannot return to the Warring States, lighting candles at night.
Send word to the Leaf's guardian shinobi. We need at least one stationed at the dam. Construction must not stop."
Her attendant saw she was resolute and had no choice but to dispatch samurai with the message.
Several hours later, the dam's foundation ceremony began again.
Koi Chisa stood on the platform, looking at the workers—now only half their original number. She lowered her gaze to the blueprint Yagami had drawn by hand, then spoke:
"Honored nobles, craftsmen—Kyoto's Hydroelectric Power Station Foundation Ceremony will now officially begin.
The hydroelectric station is one of the daimyo's most important projects and will resolve the electricity shortage caused by the lack of coal…"
...
Yagami and the White Sheep Squad circled around the border of the Land of Rivers, then followed the southern edge back toward the forward base.
He first checked on the Purple Cat Squad and the Flower Deer Squad. Fortunately, in the half-month he was gone, neither squad had lost anyone.
Both squads had been assigned monitoring tasks within the base.
Leaf shinobi were pitiful in their own way—Lord Third didn't trust them and maintained constant surveillance.
Yagami entered the tent of the unit commander, Yellow Dog, and reported:
"Commander, the two noble targets—the Left Guards General and the Deputy Minister of the Imperial Court—had anticipated the risk of siding with the Hidden Sand.
One stayed inside Tenshu Castle, the other in the Imperial Council Hall. Neither left their strongholds.
I had no choice but to take extra time, lure them out of Kyoto, disguise myself as Hidden Rain ANBU, and successfully eliminate them—without causing major property loss or casualties in the Land of Rivers.
The daimyo has no grounds to direct his anger at the Leaf."
Yellow Dog nodded, skimmed the mission scroll, and said, "Well done, Fox."
He set the scroll aside and picked up another.
"There's a new mission. More troublesome. It'll be yours."
Yagami sighed inwardly—so this was war. Not even a breath to rest. One mission followed another.
Or perhaps it was simply that he had lingered too long in Kyoto, and Yellow Hound's squad now had a pile of missions waiting.
Taking the scroll, Yagami read the contents. The mission was to rescue a captured chūnin of the Shimura Clan during a prisoner exchange.
Prisoners were rare in shinobi wars. After over half a month of fighting, the Leaf had five captured, and the Sand had four.
The Sand proposed an exchange.
But the problem was—after the Leaf captured Sand shinobi, they immediately sent them to the Land of Earth, to Root operative A… better known as Orochimaru's laboratory.
Orochimaru was severely short of test subjects.
When Orochimaru conducted experiments, he liked to take at least fifty subjects at once for controlled comparison.
He was far too ruthless—that wasn't experimentation. It was a survival lottery.
With the Leaf holding no prisoners, a normal exchange couldn't proceed—thus ANBU had to infiltrate the prisoner exchange and retrieve the target themselves.
Yagami asked, "Commander, the scroll says the objective is the Shimura chūnin. What about the other four?"
"As many as you can save."
"Oh, I see," Yagami replied. "So… optional."
Yellow Dog nodded.
Fox always understood quickly.
"The Shimura chūnin rushed recklessly to complete a mission and was captured. He must be recovered."
Yagami asked, "Why did he rush in the first place?"
A shinobi of the Shimura Clan—half aristocracy in the Leaf now—had no need to gamble his life like that.
Yellow Dog answered:
"He has an older cousin working as a strategist in the command tent. During a conversation, the cousin let something slip—something he shouldn't have.
The deputy commander, Hatake Sakumo, and the overall commander, Clan Chief Rokkaku, had a disagreement over one issue. They never reached a conclusion.
Hatake Sakumo suggested that during this Land of Rivers campaign, the front lines should test an evaluation-based promotion system.
For chūnin squad leaders:
— Complete 2 A-rank missions and 20 B-rank missions, and the command staff will recommend promotion to Special Jōnin.
For special jōnin squad leaders:
— Complete 2 S-rank missions and 20 A-rank missions, and the command staff will recommend promotion to Jōnin.
After hearing this rumor, that Shimura chūnin wanted to jump ahead by accomplishing a very difficult A-rank mission. He rushed in and was captured."
Such clear, measurable promotion criteria—no ordinary shinobi could resist.
Even Yagami felt tempted.
Since becoming an ANBU squad captain, he had completed:
— 1 S-rank mission
— 3 A-rank missions
— and several B-rank missions.
Kato Dan's death had been rated S-rank internally within ANBU.
The assassination of the two nobles in the Land of Rivers was rated A-rank.
The Nine-Tails transfer and seal protection—where he guarded the Uzumaki Princess under Yellow Dog—was also rated A-rank.
The investigation of the Hidden Sand at the Kichikō Mountain Range in the Land of Rain was another A-rank.
Earlier missions as a regular member—such as the Whirlpool Country mission and the Battle of Ushigashi Mountain—counted mostly as B-rank due to his smaller contribution.
According to Hatake Sakumo's proposed evaluation system, he wasn't yet at jōnin level—but the goal was clear.
As long as he kept completing missions, he would eventually reach it.
He would have the right to attend jōnin meetings—becoming part of the village's true elite.
"Commander," Yagami asked, "has this evaluation rumor spread widely?"
"No. Just a disagreement inside the command tent. And that Shimura chūnin deserved his misfortune—he shouldn't have been prying into command secrets."
After leaving the commander's tent, Yagami went to understand the overall war situation.
The Land of Rivers conflict remained unstable.
The Hidden Sand had deployed more than 3,500 shinobi, while the Leaf's forward base had only 2,000.
Puppet masters could control several puppets—each effectively fighting like two or three men.
The Leaf was sustaining simultaneous wars with both the Land of Earth and the Land of Rivers, while also watching the restless Hidden Mist.
Since the Third Mizukage died in Whirlpool Village, the Hidden Mist had been unable to agree on a Fourth Mizukage. Internal conflict was fierce, Elder Genshin was ruling temporarily.
ANBU intelligence suggested the Mist was preparing a war against the Leaf to divert its turmoil outward.
If things went badly—
the Leaf might be forced into a three-front war.