Uzumaki Princess

This time, Brown Bear Squad Commander again sent Yagami to capture a Cloud Ninja Squad Leader alive.

In his previous life, Yagami had ambushed the Cloud Ninja with Exploding Tags. He remembered where the Cloud Ninja Squad Leader landed after jumping and planted a second Exploding Tag trap there.

Having the advantage of knowing the plot sure was convenient.

This time, the Cloud Ninja Squad Leader fell into the second Exploding Tag trap. Coughing blood, he struggled to rise while leaning on his ninja blade.

Yagami fought the Cloud Ninja one-on-one.

He drew his short sword instead of a Kunai.

He had not used a sword much before, but now that he held one, it felt like an extension of his arm, moving exactly as he wished.

Clang!

The two ninja blades collided, producing a crisp metallic ring.

The Cloud Ninja Squad Leader was startled. It was not because this Anbu ninja was especially strong, but because the Anbu ninja's movements were exactly the same as his—even their speed was identical.

They exchanged three consecutive strikes, each ending evenly matched.

The Cloud Ninja Squad Leader felt as if the other side could see through every move he made.

Yagami secretly rejoiced. The gap in their swordsmanship had been erased, putting them back on the same starting line.

Ninja blades were more powerful than Kunai and better suited for fighting ninjas like the Cloud Ninja, who possessed both speed and strength.

As time passed and they constantly changed techniques, the Cloud Ninja Squad Leader grew weaker and weaker. The injuries caused by the Exploding Tags became increasingly severe.

He felt as though he had encountered an Uchiha ninja.

Every slash he made was seen through by his opponent.

Yagami's swordsmanship had completely copied the Cloud Ninja Squad Leader's. The system's reward was related to his previous death.

Two minutes later, the Cloud Ninja Squad Leader could no longer hold on. Yagami slashed his wrist.

The Cloud Ninja's ninja blade fell to the ground.

After severing the Cloud Ninja Squad Leader's wrist and ankle tendons, then breaking both his arms, Yagami hoisted him over his shoulder and headed for the shore to find the squad commander.

Quite a few troublesome things happened along the way.

At first, the Cloud Ninja Squad Leader refused to behave, bouncing on Yagami's shoulder like a shrimp. Yagami had no choice but to stab a Kunai into his lower back.

Later, blood began to spill from his mouth, and he tried to kill himself again. Yagami had no choice but to stuff something into his mouth.

While traveling, Yagami looked up at the moon.

The full moon hung like a silver plate, its light like white frost.

He had another chance to revive.

Yagami spent considerable effort delivering the Cloud Ninja Squad Leader to the shore.

When Brown Bear Squad Commander saw Fox carrying someone back, he once again felt validated in his judgment.

An Anbu who constantly completed missions was the best kind of Anbu.

Fox's performance had far exceeded expectations. Completing a live-capture mission made him one of Brown Bear's most capable subordinates.

"Bane Cat, interrogate this Cloud Ninja Squad Leader with Fox. Find out what they came to the Land of Waves for."

"Understood, Squad Commander."

Bane Cat was the captain of another squad.

Yagami followed along, wanting to see how Captain Bane Cat conducted an interrogation.

After watching for a few minutes, Yagami turned halfway aside.

Compared to his own method of severing tendons, Captain Bane Cat was far more professional.

The Cloud Ninja Squad Leader twitched and groaned continuously. Unfortunately, his mouth was stuffed, so he could not make much sound.

Under the torture, the Cloud Ninja's eyes became bloodshot, as if he had come down with Red Eye.

Yagami casually brought up another topic. "Captain Bane Cat, you have three squad members. Give one to me."

"Captain Fox, I value my companions second only to the mission."

"Valuing them is valuing them, isn't it? Give me one, and I'll value them for you."

The two bargained back and forth, but Bane Cat would not budge and refused to give Yagami a squad member.

Yagami was a captain without a squad. He had no one to help gather intelligence or draw enemy fire.

The interrogation continued from noon until night, then from night until midnight.

In the latter half of the night, Bane Cat came to Brown Bear Squad Commander's side, panting heavily as he reported the interrogation results.

"What?" Brown Bear Squad Commander's voice was full of shock. After thinking for a moment, he said, "Go find the Captain Commander immediately and report our intelligence."

The nearby Cloud Ninja squads were all a diversion.

The Cloud Ninja's true objective was to hold a high-level meeting between Kumogakure and Kirigakure on the other side of the Land of Waves.

Kumogakure and Kirigakure had formed an alliance!

During the Shinobi World War, an alliance between any two sides would make things extremely difficult for Konoha.

The Brown Bear Squad could not wait for the other team. They set out overnight to find the squad leader.

Wearing a yellow dog mask, the squad leader listened to Brown Bear's report and signaled for the communications ninja to contact Anbu Headquarters immediately.

Yagami was far from the Yellow Dog Squad Leader and had no idea what method the squad used to contact headquarters.

Red signal flares shot into the sky one after another—the Anbu's highest-level assembly order.

Every Anbu member who saw the flares had to assemble immediately.

Two undermanned Anbu squads, depleted by casualties, rapidly headed toward the northeastern part of the Land of Waves.

The atmosphere was extremely grim. The Anbu had abandoned their original mission, which meant the new situation was more troublesome and took higher priority.

"Quick! We have to make it in time!"

The Brown Bear Squad Commander told his three Squad Leaders:

"Uzu Hidden Village failed to seal the Three-Tails, and Kirigakure sabotaged the sealing operation.

Using this as a pretext, Kirigakure declared war on Uzu Hidden Village.

Based on the intelligence we gathered, Kumogakure may declare war alongside them.

Princess Kushina of the Uzumaki Clan is being pursued by Mist Ninja.

We must protect Princess Kushina. She must never fall into Kirigakure's hands."

The Nine-Tails Jinchuriki was about to be replaced, and Konoha desperately needed a new Jinchuriki.

For the sake of the new Jinchuriki, Shimura Danzō had personally come to Uzu Hidden Village, only to be rebuffed.

For the sake of Sealing Jutsu, the Anbu had secretly seized the Uzumaki Clan's Sealing Scrolls in the Land of Waves.

The Anbu had received a death order: they had to protect the Uzumaki Princess at all costs.

That princess possessed the greatest talent for sealing and was a natural-born Jinchuriki—the second Nine-Tails Jinchuriki chosen by Konoha.

On a beach along the eastern coast of the Land of Waves, the Konoha Anbu finally spotted the Uzumaki Ninja.

More than thirty Uzumaki Ninja guarded a little girl at the center.

The Uzumaki Princess had red hair, the color of a tomato, and looked to be around seven or eight years old.

At that moment, she watched in terror as one of her cousins died before her.

Facing the Uzumaki Ninja were two groups of people.

One consisted of over a hundred Mist Ninja who had just landed, while the other was made up of Cloud Ninja circling around the flank, preparing to encircle the Uzumaki Ninja.

The Yellow Dog Squad Leader gave the order: "At any cost! Protect the Uzumaki Princess!"

The Yellow Dog Squad moved to stop the Mist Ninja, while the other squad went to block the Cloud Ninja.

One Anbu after another charged forward.

Yagami realized that, among all the Squad Leaders, he was the only one with no one behind him.

He was both captain and member, alone and outnumbered. So it was perfectly reasonable for the reefs to slow him down, right?

The two squad leaders at the very front were at least jonin-level.

Their Fire Style instantly covered half the beach.

"Fire Style! It's the Konoha Anbu!"

The Uzumaki Ninja cried out in delight.

They were Uzu Hidden Village's allies!

The Mist Ninja stood by the sea, surrounded by water, making it easy for them to use Water Style.

Water dragons collided with flaming blasts, kicking up countless clouds of white mist.

The Yellow Dog Squad Leader shouted, "Uzumaki Ninja! Take Princess Kushina and leave quickly!"