The brand-new Fox Squad first entered the Land of Grass and then headed north into the Land of Valleys. It took over ten days for the Fox Squad to reach the northeastern border of the Land of Earth.
The Hidden Stone Village and the Hidden Cloud Village had signed a ceasefire agreement before the end of the year. At this moment, the border of the Land of Earth still bore many scars left by the war. There were abandoned villages, desolate terraced mountain fields, and a dwindling population of animals. During the war, ninjas would catch any edible animal nearby to supplement their protein.
Yagami ordered the four teams to fan out, each searching for the massive craters blasted out by Tailed Beast Bombs. Each of the four Team Leaders was someone Yagami claimed to value most, and as a result, they were all brimming with fighting spirit.
Soon, the Ram Team was the first to find a target. Ram was quite proud; when it came to reconnaissance, his rinkaichū were still slightly superior.
Yagami stood beside the deep crater and instructed Purple Cat to record the findings.
"Core explosion zone, approximately 200 meters in diameter, depth about 3 meters. Impact zone, approximately 800 meters in diameter; trees and rocks destroyed by the shockwave. Based on this chakra scale, it is suspected to be a Tailed Beast Bomb released by a Tailed Beast in its complete form. The Tailed Beast's chakra volume is staggering, at least a dozen times that of an ordinary Jonin."
Yagami said with lingering fear, "If you got hit by a Tailed Beast Bomb like this, wouldn't you be covered in black and blue bruises?"
Purple Cat looked up in confusion. "Huh? Black and blue bruises? Do I need to record that sentence too?"
"Don't record that."
If they only obtained data on the explosion radius of the Tailed Beast Bomb, the high-level officials would surely be disappointed. If the entire Fox Squad mobilized only to investigate an explosion range, it would be completely insufficient.
Yagami said, "Everyone, switch to Hidden Sand ANBU equipment. We need to obtain more intelligence from the Stone ninja and capture prisoners at the same time. Switching to Sand equipment is so we can use paragliders to escape in an emergency. It is common knowledge that the Sand imitated our paragliders. Whether they believe it or not doesn't matter; at least it gives our Hidden Leaf Village an excuse to deny involvement."
After changing into the Sand equipment, Yagami studied the map. On the border of the Land of Earth, there was a Hidden Stone outpost fortress every 30 kilometers. These outposts were garrisoned by at least one brigade of Stone ninja. These outposts formed the outermost defense of the Land of Earth.
Low and mid-level Stone ninja wouldn't know much critical intelligence; the valuable ones were the Stone Jonin. The outposts were equipped with sensory ninja and barrier ninja. It would be too difficult to infiltrate silently and kidnap the commanding Jonin.
Yagami looked at two specific outposts and made his decision.
He said to his team members, "This is the first major mission since our squad was formed. It must be completed perfectly. My tactic is to make a feint in the east while attacking in the west."
"Ram, Deer, Hippo, Yak—your four teams will be responsible for a diversionary attack on Outpost A. You must make a huge commotion to force the nearby outposts B and C to send reinforcements. I will take advantage of the void to infiltrate Outpost B, capture or kill their Commander, and secure the corpse. In this tactic, your four teams will face great danger. You must be careful; with the Stone reinforcements, you will be facing several Stone units. You must fight spectacularly but also manage to escape. Deer, bring out our paragliders; they will have a miraculous effect. The Stone ninja have never seen such high-end ninja tools."
Ram and Deer were both very excited. Such a dangerous mission, and if successful, they would capture a Stone Jonin and obtain key intelligence—this mission looked a bit like an S-rank. Wouldn't there be hope for promotion to Special Jonin?
Ram said, "Please rest assured, Captain. It's not like we're being asked to storm a main fortress of the Hidden Stone. We can handle a diversionary attack and escape."
Deer also said, "We can definitely do it!"
Yagami thought to himself, 'I know you can do it, but the question is how many will survive.' He didn't want the newly formed squad to suffer massive casualties in its first mission.
Yagami said, "This mission is very dangerous. We must prepare plans and drills. For the next few days, we will hide in the Land of Valleys, find an area with similar terrain, and conduct secret rehearsals."
The area where the Land of Earth and the Land of Valleys met had terrain similar to the loess plateaus of his previous world. Under the erosion of rainwater, the plateau was crisscrossed with gullies and many mountain ravines. The four teams practiced how to use the ravines for a quick retreat and how to use paragliders in the latter half to rapidly disengage from combat.
...
The full moon was like a silver plate. Yagami had once again waited for a new full moon. On the afternoon of the 20th, Yagami separated from his four teams.
Perhaps the New Year had been too leisurely and comfortable, for Yagami's heart had actually softened. He wanted Ram and Deer to become Special Jonin, yet he feared casualties in the squad. No, he had to adjust his mindset; these four teams were just consumables to complete the mission.
Yes, consumables. He couldn't worry excessively about his subordinates; completing the mission came first.
Yagami spent half a day reaching the vicinity of Outpost B. He hid in the yellow soil, watching the fortress from afar. Thick rammed earth bricks formed a circular, multi-layered fortress. There were many small round windows on the fortress for observing the outside.
The reconnaissance range of a Hyuga Jonin reached an exaggerated 3 kilometers. Other than them, most sensory ninja were like Ram, with a sensory range between several hundred meters and 1 kilometer. Yagami hid 1 kilometer away, thinking it would be great if he could get a Byakugan to fix the weakness in his scouting abilities.
In the latter half of the night, Yagami saw two consecutive messenger birds fly into the outpost. The actions of Ram and the others had taken effect; the outpost under diversionary attack had sent a plea for help to this fortress.
Not long after the messenger birds entered the fortress, two more flew out toward the Hidden Stone Village to report the news of the attack. Two messenger birds flew in different directions as an added layer of insurance to increase the success rate of the intelligence transfer.
The heavy gates of the outpost opened, and two units of ninja left the fortress. It seemed the Stone Commander judged that two units were needed for reinforcement.
Once the two units were far away, Yagami began his infiltration. At first, the infiltration was very smooth; he got within 300 meters of the outpost without being discovered. When he reached 200 meters outside the fortress, Yagami suddenly felt an unusual chakra fluctuation.
A barrier! The outpost's barrier had been triggered! A sharp alarm sounded inside the fortress.
The infiltration had failed.
Yagami pondered whether he should storm this outpost. If he stormed an outpost, the Hidden Stone Village would surely send out a massive pursuit force. This place was over ten days' journey from the Hidden Leaf; with the Hidden Stone's formidable strength, they might not be able to escape back.
In this full moon cycle, he still had a chance for revival. Yagami thought to himself that this life should focus on spying for intelligence; he would actively die in the fortress and formulate a perfect infiltration plan in the next life.
After making his decision, Yagami charged forward while weaving hand signs, using the Water Severing Wave with all his might. A stream of water shot out, instantly piercing through a hundred meters and shattering the highest round window.
Water bodyflicker!!
In the next instant, Yagami followed the water stream and appeared inside the highest room. The Stone Commander was stunned; a Sand ninja had suddenly appeared before him?
***
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