Senior and Junior Brothers

With the Three Ninja Swords no longer holding him back, Yoru had no trouble retreating.

Keeping Kyokko active and using Shunpo all the way, Yoru encountered the Kirigakure reinforcements at the border in less than half a day and successfully rendezvoused with them.

The team was led by elites from the Kaguya Clan and the Terumi Clan. Yurui, Yumi, Mangetsu, and Yukiko had also come along. Seeing that Yoru was safe and sound, they all breathed a sigh of relief.

However, upon learning that the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist had been completely wiped out, the many ninjas present still found it unbelievable.

Although they had already received word, only four had been dead at the time, with three still alive. Yet now, the remaining three had died as well, inevitably dealing a blow to Kirigakure's morale.

Yoru had no solution for that. In the original story, Might Duy had kicked the Seven Ninja Swordsmen into the Auspicious Trio.

He had not expected that his appearance would not only fail to steer the plot in a better direction, but would even erase the Auspicious Trio.

Still, it was not as if Yoru's side had gained nothing. He did not elaborate on the specifics of the operation, merely returning to the frontline camp alongside the support team.

"That concludes the entire course of this mission and the reasons for its ultimate failure, Yagura-sama."

Inside the Kirigakure camp, Yoru reported to Karatachi Yagura, the camp's overall commander. At the same time, he handed over all four Ninja Swords he had brought back.

Upon learning that all Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist had perished and that three of the Seven Ninja Swords had been lost, Karatachi Yagura's expression did not change much. Instead, he gave Yoru a firm nod.

"You did very well, Yoru."

"You successfully killed Yamanaka Inoichi, the Clan Head of the Yamanaka Clan; Hizashi Hyuga, the younger brother of the Hyuga Clan Head; Nara Shikaku, known as Konohagakure's brain; as well as an elite of the Nara Clan. Those are already outstanding results."

"Furthermore, you successfully awakened Hyoton. That is undoubtedly even greater news."

"However, I need you to give a more detailed report on that Eight Gates ninja."

"That ninja was very unusual, a taijutsu specialist from Konohagakure."

After pondering for a moment, Yoru said in a low voice, "Konohagakure does not currently place much importance on taijutsu, nor has it developed it very deeply. Naturally, there are very few practitioners devoted solely to taijutsu. I believe there should only be one person capable of opening all Eight Gates. Otherwise, if Konohagakure only needed a few Eight Gates suicide warriors, they could probably sweep through the Five Great Nations and would not have remained bogged down in this war for so long."

"Of course, there may be hidden experts. But based on the intelligence I obtained from Jiraiya, they were also extremely shocked by Might Duy's strength. Therefore, I predict that Konohagakure currently does not have a second Might Duy."

"That makes sense, but we cannot rule out the possibility that Konohagakure will begin cultivating such taijutsu experts."

Hearing Yoru's explanation, Karatachi Yagura nodded in agreement. At last, a smile appeared on his childlike face. "The strength to crush the Seven Ninja Swordsmen alone is truly terrifying. Fortunately, he is already dead."

"Yoru, although the Seven Ninja Swordsmen's plan to assassinate Jiraiya failed completely, your plan to draw Konohagakure's attention succeeded. You also killed quite a few of Konohagakure's pillars, and successfully brought back four Ninja Swords. This has given us tremendous room for our upcoming strategic deployments."

"I will report everything you have done to the Third Hokage... I imagine it will not be long before you receive Mizukage-sama's commendation. But before that, the frontline still needs your strength."

"Naturally, Yagura-sama." Yoru nodded slightly.

He did not care about authority within ANBU. If he was not mistaken, the Third Mizukage was already under Madara's control. Who rose and who fell was merely a matter of Madara's word.

Rather than waste time worrying about power, he might as well complete a few more missions and earn some Points.

"The Seven Ninja Swords are indispensable to Kirigakure's combat strength. Fortunately, you brought back four of them..." Yagura looked at Yoru and suddenly said, "How about this? I'll give you the authority to decide what happens to these four swords."

"This..."

Yoru's words stalled. Beneath his white mask, his brows furrowed slightly as he failed to understand Yagura's intentions.

The importance of the Seven Ninja Swords to Kirigakure went without saying. Their boost to combat power was one aspect, but more importantly, they carried prestige and status.

The original Seven Ninja Swords had been distributed directly by the Third Mizukage. Their wielders had all been either Kirigakure higher-ups or renowned experts.

Yet Yagura was not sending the Ninja Swords back to Kirigakure. Instead, he intended to keep them here under the pretext of urgently needing combat strength, and even hand their disposition over to Yoru. For a moment, Yoru could not gauge Yagura's attitude.

Recruitment?

Or raising him up only to bring him down...

The white mask concealed Yoru's expression perfectly. After a brief silence, Yoru chose the safer response.

"Everything shall be decided by Yagura-sama."

"You brat."

Yagura laughed helplessly. His face looked even younger than Yoru's, almost like that of a child, yet it showed a helpless expression. "I trust your judgment. Whether it is Mangetsu, Yumi, Yukiko, or the others, they are all good people. So I will leave the task of distributing the Ninja Swords to you."

"Yes, Yagura-sama."

"All right, all right. We are senior and junior brothers, after all. There are no outsiders here now, so you do not need to be so restrained around me." Yagura smiled. "Oh, right. Terumi Mei has arrived as well and is currently handling intelligence work. When she heard you were trapped in danger, she insisted on going to support you, but I stopped her."

"Now that all Seven Ninja Swordsmen are dead, many positions among the higher-ups have opened up. Handing over all those duties will be quite troublesome..."

"With Senior Brother here, those matters obviously won't be a problem," Yoru said softly.

"You really are..."

Watching Yoru's departing figure gradually leave the tent, the smile on Yagura's childlike face slowly faded.

"He infiltrated Konohagakure's logistics base alone, killed Nara Shikaku while facing Konohagakure's Jonin forces and one of the Three Ninja, Jiraiya, then covered Hozuki Mangetsu's retreat... And now he has escaped an assassination attempt by an elite team led by Jiraiya..."

Yagura looked toward a Scroll at his side. It contained all the information on the members of Jiraiya's team. Whether it was Jiraiya, Uchiha Fugaku, Aburame Shibi, or Hizashi Hyuga, every one of them was a top-priority target of Kirigakure's attention.

Yet Yoru had not only escaped such a high-level assassination attempt, but had also counter-killed his enemies while bringing back four Ninja Swords!

Such strength was beyond what ordinary Jonin—or even elite Jonin—could achieve.

"However, now that he has awakened Hyoton, those Yuki Clan people probably will not ignore such a top-tier genius."

"Yuki Yoru and Terumi Mei... Teacher's eye for talent is as sharp as ever..."