Purple Cat, waiting in the distance, saw Captain Fox return with a corpse.
"Purple Cat, process the body immediately to ensure we can extract intel later. Once you're done, we're heading out to reinforce the other four teams."
"Understood," Purple Cat replied. "The Yamanaka clan has secret techniques that can preserve the memory sectors of a corpse's brain for an extended period."
After she processed the body, the two moved swiftly toward the other outpost.
"Purple Cat, the secret technique you used—it looks similar to a sealing art?"
"I'm not sure where the clan obtained it recently, but we have new sealing methods that better preserve brain tissue."
Yagami thought to himself: 'When a whale falls, everything else thrives.' After the extinction of the Uzumaki clan, the level of sealing arts across the shinobi world had visibly risen. The Cloud's development of Jinchuriki had clearly jumped a level, becoming a stable weapon for their decisive battles against the Stone.
When Yagami reached the outpost where Deer and the others had staged their feint, he saw thick smoke billowing from the fortress from a distance. The battle was over, and there was no sign of the four ANBU teams nearby. Yagami assessed the battlefield; the combat intensity hadn't been extreme. After bombing the fortress, the four teams had retreated rapidly.
Yagami changed direction, heading toward the pre-arranged rendezvous point.
Beneath a waterfall in the northern reaches of the Land of Valleys, Yagami waited for his squad. The abundant rain of the Land of Rain flowed southeast into the rivers of the Land of Rivers, and northeast into the lakes and waterfalls of the Land of Valleys. The waterfall roared nearby.
While Purple Cat read the corpse's memories, Yagami scanned the horizon, hoping for his team's safe return. Before long, several paragliders appeared at the edge of his vision. Seeing the number of gliders, Yagami breathed a sigh of relief. It seemed there were no massive casualties.
The paragliders landed, and the four Team Leaders stood before Yagami.
"Report your battle status and losses."
The leaders reported in sequence. The diversion had been very successful; the Earth Style ninja had utilized the Earth Tremor Dampening Seal to reach the foot of the fortress walls without being detected. They planted explosive tags and blasted a section of the wall. After feigning an internal assault to draw the enemy's attention, the Earth Style users retreated quickly.
Two members were lost during the escape. The prepared paragliders had descended from the sky—some dropped explosive tags to harass the Stone ninja, while others picked up the retreating Earth Style users. Two gliders even managed to recover the bodies of the fallen ANBU to prevent information leaks.
After leading the Stone ninja away, the enemy grew increasingly disorganized. Targeting isolated Stone units, the teams managed to capture several prisoners. Ram had used his rinkaichū to infiltrate the prisoners' bodies, taking control of them so they couldn't commit suicide or move.
Yagami nodded repeatedly. Through the baptism of war, the judgment and strength of Ram and the others had improved significantly. To complete such a dangerous feint with only two casualties was a feat.
Purple Cat finished reading the intelligence and wrote it into a scroll. Yagami looked it over, and his eyes immediately landed on one term: Version 2 Transformation (Partial Tailed Beast State)!
In the Stone Jonin's memory, the Two-Tails Jinchuriki of the Hidden Cloud, Ryūjin, had arrived at the front lines. She had entered a Partial Tailed Beast State on the battlefield and attacked the Stone with Tailed Beast Bombs. During the fight, Ryūjin remained conscious and focused, avoiding any friendly fire—a fact that had shocked the Stone high command.
The two Jinchuriki of the Hidden Stone, Han and Roshi, would lose their sanity and attack indiscriminately if they drew too much Tailed Beast chakra. The Stone ninja actually feared Han and Roshi; whenever they fought, the Stone troops would have to help suppress the Tailed Beast afterward, often resulting in deaths.
Ryūjin's performance proved that a Jinchuriki could perfectly control Tailed Beast chakra. The garrison ninja had seen the dark brownish-red chakra cloak; ordinary kunai and explosive tags were useless against it. After the battle, Ryūjin ended the transformation, and aside from some skin burns, she showed no abnormalities.
This Stone Jonin had participated in the entire battle against Ryūjin, leaving behind invaluable first-hand intelligence: what level of attack the Jinchuriki ignored, and what attacks she chose to dodge.
"The mission is a success," Yagami declared. "We return to the village!"
It took over ten days to reach the Hidden Leaf. One reason for a ninja's low income was the sheer amount of time spent traveling; a round trip to the Stone border took nearly a month.
Back at the ANBU base, Yagami handed the mission scroll to Vice Commander Yellow Dog.
"Commander Yellow Dog, we have obtained reliable intelligence. The Hidden Cloud's sealing arts have improved significantly. The Two-Tails Jinchuriki, Ryūjin, can enter a Version 2 state while remaining conscious. She doesn't need a large force to suppress her chakra after battle; she can withdraw safely on her own. This scroll contains a detailed record and first-hand battle accounts."
Yellow Dog nodded, reading the report carefully. "Come with me to see the Hokage. The Cloud's sealing level is worrying. Facing a Jinchuriki who can fire Tailed Beast Bombs with a hundred-meter blast radius at will—how are we supposed to fight that?"
"Lord Yellow Dog," Yagami added, "Purple Cat, Ram, and Deer performed excellently. Purple Cat's extraction of the brain intel saved us from difficult interrogations. Ram and Deer executed the dangerous feint perfectly, escaping from five Stone units. Their judgment, execution, and combat strength have all reached the requirements for Special Jonin. Regarding their S-rank mission credit and recommendation?"
"I agree to recommend them," Yellow Dog replied, not wanting to refuse his top Squad Leader. "Let's report the Jinchuriki intel to the Hokage first. You fill out the materials today. I'll have Black Ant, Golden Eagle, and you—three Jonin—officially recommend Purple Cat, Ram, and Deer for promotion."
"Yes, Commander."
"Why are you calling me Commander? I'm the Vice Commander. Call me Vice Commander."
"I know I should call you Vice Commander, Commander. Speaking of which, Commander, do you have any thoughts about taking another step up?"
"What, you want to be a Commander-level Vice Commander now?"
"Commander, I think you could go all the way and become the Fourth Hokage. That way, I wouldn't have to be a Vice-level Commander; I could just be the Head of ANBU. What do you think?"
Yagami had served under Yellow Dog for a long time and suspected he was Hiruzen Sarutobi's eldest son, the father of Konohamaru. Joking about him becoming the Fourth wouldn't make him angry; it would make him secretly happy. The Senju clan produced two consecutive Hokage; why couldn't the Sarutobi clan?
Yellow Dog thought to himself: 'The Senju brothers as Hokage, and the Sarutobi father and son as Hokage—wouldn't that be a fine story?' But aloud, he said, "Fox! You're crossing the line! Our primary task is to serve the Hokage. Fourth Hokage? How could I have such ambitions?"
"Commander, your voice is shaking. Are you smiling under that mask?"