Between the Land of Waves and the Land of Fire lay a narrow strait, so narrow that a suspension bridge could cross it.
Although it was closer to the Land of Fire, the mission assignments for the Land of Waves had always been given to Uzumaki Village.
After crossing the strait and entering the Land of Fire, Captain Yellow Dog sent someone to find Yoru.
Captain Yellow Dog sized him up from head to toe, then said, "The Brown Bear Squad only has you left. Your current strength isn't enough to serve as a squad captain. I'll assign you to the Black Chimp Squad."
Yoru nodded. He observed the Black Chimp Squad Captain—tall, extremely burly, clearly very strong in taijutsu. He wondered what abilities could be extracted from the captain.
He had already obtained the Shadow Clone Technique from Captain Antelope and the Body Flicker Technique from Captain Brown Bear. The Anbu were full of valuable skills.
Arriving at the Black Chimp Squad, the captain first allowed Yoru to operate alone.
Yoru was a small squad captain; he couldn't easily be transferred to other squads. The other squads were already severely understrength and unwilling to give him a member.
The squad continued moving forward.
As they progressed, the surrounding water mist grew denser.
"Captain Black Chimp, is this natural fog, or…?"
"This is the Land of Fire. Even if Mist ninjas show up, we have absolute confidence in defeating them."
Yoru turned to look at the remaining soldiers—they were barely holding on. He couldn't understand where the Black Chimp Captain's confidence came from.
Uzumaki Yuka had summoned the giant spear heron, ready at any moment to carry Uzumaki Kushina away.
The atmosphere grew increasingly tense.
In the dense fog, visibility was only two or three meters.
Yoru adjusted his mask to avoid vision being limited by the eye holes.
He could see the trees two meters away; beyond that, everything was a white blur.
The damp mist made him feel uncomfortable all over.
Suddenly, a slicing sound came from behind!
His scalp tingled. Instinctively, Yoru lunged forward.
A kunai brushed past his hair and embedded itself into a tree trunk across from him.
Yoru quickly adjusted his stance on the ground and turned to watch the thick fog behind him.
But in the fog, he couldn't see anything.
This time, the Mist ninjas weren't using silent killing techniques for close combat—they were harassing from a distance with kunai.
With visibility of only two or three meters, reacting to the kunai visually was impossible.
Hearing was far more reliable than sight.
Screams echoed around—those were Uzumaki ninjas hit by the kunai.
Compared to them, Konoha Anbu were tougher. Even if impaled like porcupines, they remained silent.
Boom!
This time, it wasn't a matter of toughness—the Mist ninjas started using explosive tags!
Mist Village, mostly water ninjas, had brought precious explosive tags. They were desperate.
In an explosion, one Anbu ninja was engulfed in fire and smoke, collapsing before Yoru.
The death was gruesome—everything below the thigh blown away, the broken leg revealing splintered bones.
At that moment, Yoru suddenly felt a chill.
It was a gust of wind.
Then! A terrifying wind pressure!
Yoru couldn't think of anything else; he pressed tightly against a tree behind him.
The tree across from him wasn't sturdy enough—it was broken by the wind and was about to fall on him.
Yoru quickly formed hand seals and sank into the ground.
When he emerged again, the dense fog had completely dissipated.
One wind jutsu had scattered hundreds of meters of thick fog?
The less sturdy trees around had been blown down.
Yoru looked into the distance and saw Shimura Danzo, who had just finished forming hand seals.
Danzo had come with two assistants to provide support.
Heavens.
Shimura Danzo brought such a sense of security.
Danzo stared at a group of Mist ninjas in the distance.
Bizan Jūzō and Munashi Jinpachi of the Seven Ninja Swords, upon seeing Danzo arrive, turned and left without a word.
Danzo glanced at two half-depleted, battered Anbu squads but gave no order to pursue.
The Anbu leapt from the chaotic tree stumps behind them to stand behind Danzo.
Captains Yellow Dog and Blue Sparrow stood behind Danzo, waiting for his instructions.
The Uzumaki ninjas also arrived.
The Sealing Squad Captain expressed relief: "Minister Danzo, I didn't expect you to personally come to the rescue. Only you in all of Konoha could handle the large-scale fog set up by the Mist ninjas."
Danzo nodded and looked at Uzumaki Kushina: "Princess… this doesn't look like the Jinchūriki—did you fail?"
The Sealing Squad Captain nodded: "There were many Mist ninja scouts around the wild Three-Tails. We sacrificed many, yet couldn't seal the Three-Tails."
Yoru stood behind the Anbu, pretending to rest, half-crouched.
Through the silhouettes, he saw Danzo clench his fist, knuckles white.
It seemed Danzo wasn't as calm as he appeared—he was furious.
His expressionless face hid his emotions—before he exploded in rage, no one could tell.
If Uzumaki Kushina became the Three-Tails' Jinchūriki, all of Konoha's arrangements regarding the Nine-Tails would be nullified.
The Nine-Tails was a cornerstone of Konoha. Uzumaki Village's secret operation almost caught Konoha off guard.
For several seconds, Danzo remained silent.
No one dared speak.
The young Kushina hid behind Yuka. She felt this middle-aged man was terrifying.
Danzo slowly spoke: "The remaining two Anbu squads will continue escorting Princess Uzumaki back to Uzumaki Village."
With that, Danzo turned and left with his assistants.
Yoru was puzzled. Konoha was determined to secure Kushina—why not take her now?
Could it be they wanted her to willingly come to Konoha?
The two Anbu squads continued forward, escorting Princess Uzumaki to the Uzumaki Peninsula.
Along the way, Uzumaki Yuka carefully observed the Anbu, always able to spot Fox precisely.
She quickly averted her gaze to avoid detection.
Fox hid exceptionally well, blending seamlessly among the Anbu ninjas.
If the Anbu squads still had more than 40 members, Fox could have hidden even better.
The Senju clan chose high-quality spies.
Near Uzumaki Village, a giant spear heron appeared above the village.
The enormous bird screamed overhead, frightening Yuka's small spear heron on her shoulder.
"Don't be afraid, that's our village-protecting summon. It won't harm you."
When the Uzumaki ninjas arrived at the village gates, the Anbu did not enter. After a brief farewell, they departed.
Yoru exhaled in relief.
They had been out too long—he wanted to return to the village, and ideally, not go out again.
Outside was too dangerous—he wanted to go home.
Leaving Uzumaki Village, Yoru noticed something was off.
Captain Yellow Dog had brought the Anbu to a high mountain near the village.
The four Anbu squad captains formed a barrier jutsu.
A transparent barrier enveloped the mountaintop.
From the outside, it still looked like the mountaintop, but the four captains disappeared, becoming invisible.
Anbu ninjas entered the barrier, one by one vanishing inside.
An invisible barrier?
Yoru also entered the barrier.
Captain Yellow Dog began assigning tasks to the squad captains. The Black Chimp Captain gathered three small squad leaders, including Yoru.
"Three shifts—use telescopes inside the invisible barrier to monitor Uzumaki Village!"
Yoru was assigned the first shift.
Hiding behind a rock, he used a telescope to watch Uzumaki Village, not far away.
——
The full moon hung like a silver plate, moonlight like white frost.
Yoru awaited the full moon night.
Three days later, Danzo, with a full Anbu squad, also entered the invisible barrier.
Danzo's advisors remained inside for several days, exceptionally patient, sitting quietly on the rocks, calm and collected, waiting for something unknown.
All Anbu within the barrier were under Danzo's watch, growing increasingly tense.
It seemed the great calamity for the Uzumaki clan was unavoidable.