The news of his promotion to jōnin stirred little excitement in Ling. To him, it was merely official recognition of his existing strength. He cared more about incorporating his combat experience from the Land of Demons mission into his training, especially what he had learned from resisting highly concentrated dark energy and Mental Shock.
Konoha seemed to have returned to its usual rhythm. Ling's life settled back into a cycle of training, missions, and occasionally instructing Team 10. Now, however, most of his missions were A-rank, with the occasional classified S-rank assignment he had to carry out alone. A jōnin's duties and authority gave him access to Konoha's deeper intelligence networks and resources.
That day, Ling had just left the mission office when he came across Shizune carrying a stack of documents.
"Jōnin Ling, just the person I needed." Shizune stopped him. "Lord Hokage wants you in her office. She has a new mission for you."
Inside the Hokage's Office, Tsunade looked even more serious than usual. She pushed a document toward Ling.
"Take a look. The Anbu just sent this intelligence back from the Land of Water's border."
Ling picked up the document and skimmed it. According to the report, considerable unrest seemed to have broken out within Kirigakure recently. Members of several small and medium-sized kekkei genkai clans, as well as ninja possessing special secret techniques, had mysteriously disappeared or died. The scenes had been cleaned with exceptional care, but through sheer chance, the Anbu had detected an exceedingly faint trace of cold, sinister chakra resembling the Sacred Lord's power. Meanwhile, Kirigakure had suppressed all news of the incidents and raised its security to the highest level.
"Kirigakure... the Sacred Lord's reach has extended even there?" Tsunade tapped her knuckles against the desk. "They seem to be targeting