Shiroji sensed the contract chakra. His short, thick paws weaved a series of hand signs as he unleashed the Reverse Summoning Jutsu.
"Sorry for the trouble, Shiroji. You can head back for now."
Yagami quickly rushed back to the vicinity of his squad. He gathered the four Team Leaders and shared the intelligence he had gathered.
"The Hidden Stone outposts all follow a similar layout. At a distance of 200 meters from the fortress, they've set up an Earth Tremor Barrier. Any vibration, whether on the surface or underground, is transmitted to the Barrier Squad inside. The fortresses are mostly four stories high: the top floor holds the Commander's office and meeting rooms; the third floor houses the critical Barrier Squad and the lookout room; the first and second floors are living quarters for the garrison."
"I am now going to teach you a sealing formula I developed called the Earth Tremor Dampening Seal. All Earth Style users should learn this. You can use it to rapidly approach the fortress. Remember, all frontal assaults are feints. Do not linger in battle. Once you've caused enough damage, retreat immediately."
Ram and the others were astonished. They hadn't expected their Squad Leader to actually develop a sealing technique specifically targeted at the Hidden Stone's barriers. With this seal, they could pass through the barrier undetected, plant explosive tags at the base of the fortress, and blast openings in the walls.
When ordinary ANBU members first join, they often don't know the full scope of a mission; they simply execute orders, leaving no room to leak sensitive intel. As time passes and bonds form between the leader and the members, betrayal becomes rare. Yagami and his team had survived several wars together. They had learned jutsu from Yagami and used him as a sparring partner for both taijutsu and ninjutsu. Their loyalty to the ANBU, and specifically to Yagami, was growing.
Through over a year of observation, Yagami knew that the teams led by Ram and Deer were the most loyal to him. Members like Teal Duck, Antelope, and Brown Bear from Ram's team, and Leaf Monkey, Gorilla, and Horned Ox from Deer's team, shared a deep battlefield bond with him. In such a dangerous mission, the fact that Yagami taught them a specialized sealing art in advance was not lost on them.
As for the Hippo and Yak teams, as long as Yagami remained Yellow Dog's man, there were no issues for the time being.
After teaching the Dampening Seal to the Earth Style users, Yagami left the squad with Purple Cat and headed toward his target, Outpost B.
At the agreed-upon time, Yagami spotted the Stone's messenger birds. The feints by the four teams were working. Two Stone units left the fortress to reinforce the neighboring outpost under attack.
"Purple Cat, wait here. I'll bring out a significant corpse for you to read."
Stone Jonin were powerful and difficult to take alive. Having a member of the Yamanaka clan like Purple Cat was convenient; she could extract intel from a fresh corpse.
Yagami moved swiftly, closing in on the fortress. When he reached the 200-meter mark, he wove hand signs, and the Earth Tremor Dampening Seal spread across his body. With the seal's protection, he sank into the ground using the Earth Substance technique.
Yuka Uzumaki truly was a genius; the seal worked perfectly. He slipped under the fortress walls and emerged inside. Having seen the floor plans in his "previous life," the interior layout was crystal clear to him. With two units gone, the internal defense was sparse.
Walking up the stairs to the second floor, Yagami waited at the stairwell door for five seconds. Exactly five seconds later, the two Stone ninja on the second floor moved from the lookout window at the end of the hall to their next station. Yagami timed it perfectly, slipped past them, and continued to the third floor.
At the third-floor landing, Yagami used the Self-Curse Binding Seal to lock down two Stone ninja and crushed their throats from behind. Pacing through the empty corridor, he stopped outside the Barrier Room. Inside, three barrier ninja were focused intently on the glowing seal arrays.
"Who do you think attacked the neighboring outpost?"
"The Cloud signed a ceasefire with us. Could it be a stalling tactic?"
"Likely. Those Cloud ninja are all muscle-brained warmongers."
As they spoke, they suddenly found they couldn't move. The Self-Curse Binding Seal held them fast. Following three muffled cracks of breaking windpipes, the Barrier Squad was neutralized. Among the three, one wore a mask; Yagami swapped clothes with him, disguising himself as a Stone ninja.
He looked up at the ceiling, positioning himself directly beneath the Commander's desk on the floor above. At this moment, the Stone Commander was undoubtedly handling the logistics of the attack on the neighboring fort.
Inside the office, the Commander was busy writing on a scroll. Suddenly, he felt a disturbance beneath his feet! A dark figure erupted from under the desk, lunging for his throat. The Commander reflexively pressed his thumb against the end of his fountain pen, using it as a makeshift weapon to stab downward.
The pen stopped abruptly inches from the intruder's arm. Sealing formulas spiraled up his own limb. Someone was using a powerful sealing art to paralyze him?
Yagami frowned slightly. This Stone Jonin was strong. Under his fierce resistance, the Self-Curse Binding Seal flickered with instability. The weakness of the seal was its inability to hold a same-level opponent for long.
However, Yagami's hand had already closed around the Commander's throat.
*Snap!*
Yagami twisted his neck, killing him instantly. So far, everything had been done in silence; the fortress was still unaware of the infiltration. Yagami climbed out from under the desk and stood behind the corpse. He wrapped a bandage around the Commander's neck to hide the wound and put a pair of sunglasses on him.
Once the disguise was set, he stood directly behind the body.
Shadow Possession Jutsu!
This was his first time using the secret technique he had obtained from Meika Nara back in the Land of Wind. Yagami's shadow connected to the shadow of the Commander's corpse. The body moved, mirroring Yagami's movements perfectly.
With the Commander's corpse in front and Yagami disguised as a Stone ninja behind, they walked toward the door. He opened it, and the two moved into the corridor in single file. An assistant happened to be walking toward them.
"Captain! A messenger bird brought a new scroll!"
The Stone Commander waved his hand, signaling the assistant to take the scroll into the office. The assistant walked past, feeling slightly confused. Why was the Barrier Squad Leader following the Commander so closely? Had something gone wrong with the barrier?
The Commander walked down the stairs. When Stone ninja greeted him, he simply nodded without speaking, until they reached the ground floor entrance. He waved his hand again, signaling the guards to open the gates. The guards complied immediately, assuming the Commander and the Barrier Leader were heading out to check a technical fault.
Once outside, the two walked slowly at first, then picked up the pace, eventually breaking into a run. One guard watched their departing backs and remarked, "The barrier must be in serious trouble for the Commander to be in such a hurry."
"Yeah, but that Barrier Leader is a real brown-noser. Look at him, mirroring the Commander's every move. Is he really imitating him even at a time like this?"
"Maybe that's why he got promoted to Team Leader. It's a skill. Learn from it."
A few minutes later, the guards exchanged confused glances. The Commander and the Barrier Leader had left the barrier's range entirely and were heading toward a distant ravine.
"What should we do?"
"Is something wrong?"
"It feels wrong, but I can't put my finger on it."
"Where is the Captain going? Is he coming back?"
Five minutes later, the Commander's assistant rushed down and saw the open gates. "You idiots! Where is the Captain?"
The guards stammered, "The Captain and the Barrier Leader left together. Maybe there's an emergency mission?"
"The Captain and the Barrier Team Leader are missing! Four people were found dead inside the fortress! You two morons—you're so stupid you belong in the Hidden Stone Museum!"
***
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