"Zhaoyang?"
Jinghang, who'd just been about to drift off, shot upright in bed, instantly wide awake. He snatched the telegram out of Xuechi Gaojin's hands.
Zhaoyang—one of the Ten Heavenly Stems, and the oldest among them. Back in the Second Kazekage Samon's era, Chiyo, then head of ANBU, had gone through hell and high water to plant this deep-cover agent in Takigakure. Even after Rasa took over as head of Intelligence, Zhaoyang was the only "old-school operative" he insisted on keeping.
And for good reason. Planting a spy in Takigakure was just as hard as infiltrating Kumogakure—maybe even harder. The village was sealed tight, never letting outsiders in. Their people spoke with a distinct low-pitched accent, their writing was just different enough to stand out, and even the smallest slip could get a spy exposed. Infiltration was nearly impossible.
Back in the day, when the First Takikage, Kōrō, led Takigakure to dominate the central lands—swallowing up the Land of Grass and separated from the Land of Wind by only the Land of Rain—it put the Second Kazekage on edge. He needed intel, and Chiyo, as ANBU Captain, gave her deputy Ebizō a death order: get a man inside Takigakure, no matter what.
Ebizō nearly scratched his scalp bald before coming up with the perfect "peach replaces plum" plan.
First, they targeted a Takigakure chūnin with a simple background and no complicated relationships. They dug up every last detail—body type, looks, life story, handwriting, even his most obscure ninjutsu quirks. Then, in Sunagakure, they found someone with a near-identical build and face, and put him through full-body transformation.
Facial reconstruction, vocal cord surgery, even fingerprints were altered with special techniques. The "replacement" memorized the original's life and connections backward and forward, mimicked his handwriting flawlessly—so well that, short of a DNA test, even the guy's mother couldn't tell them apart.
Just training that one agent took three years.
Finally, they had a Wind Country merchant assign the Takigakure chūnin a mission. As soon as he crossed into Wind Country, Sunagakure ANBU ambushed and killed him. The "counterfeit" agent took his place, returned to Takigakure, and slipped seamlessly into the village.
From then on, he fed Sunagakure a steady stream of crucial intel about Takigakure. One report—"Takigakure faces east, not west"—let the Second Kazekage redeploy his border forces and crush an internal rebellion.
But times changed. After the Takikage's seat passed from Kōrō to Kōrō's successor, Takigakure stopped expanding, and the deep-cover agent's value faded.
Sunagakure itself moved from Samon's era into Jinghang's, ANBU was renamed the Intelligence Department, and the torch passed from Chiyo to Rasa. During the handoff, Chiyo made it clear: all the other deep covers could be recalled, but the Takigakure agent was irreplaceable—he was the only one who'd ever succeeded.
After the Second Shinobi World War, Jinghang launched the "Heavenly Stems" project to cultivate a new generation of elite spies. Rasa, after much thought, kept the "old spy" and folded him into the new program.
Jinghang had agreed instantly, giving him the codename "Zhaoyang" (of the Gui element). During the second Five Kage Summit, Rasa made personal contact, completed the handover, and equipped Zhaoyang with a new miniaturized secret radio—reconnecting the intelligence line.
So, for Zhaoyang to send an urgent coded message now could only mean one thing: Takigakure was about to make a move.
As a member of the "Tailed Beast Club"—the ninja world's most notorious "sixth man"—Jinghang couldn't take this lightly.
"You can go," he told Xuechi Gaojin, dismissing him.
Once alone, Jinghang reached under his pillow and pulled out a book. The cover showed a masked ninja cradling a child, with four elegant characters: "The Golden Fish Eagle Chronicles."
Ever since the "Meat Bun Plan" had blown Jiraiya's "Tale of the Gutsy Ninja," that old codebook was compromised and useless. The new one was this "Golden Fish Eagle Chronicles"—a classic by the legendary Warring States novelist Sanyotei Shi. The story of the famed Kirigakure Saizō and his loyalty to his young lord was so revered among ninja that nearly everyone owned a copy. This edition, published by the Hourglass Group right before the war, was beautifully printed, affordable, and beloved by collectors. No one would ever suspect it was a codebook.
Jinghang grabbed a pencil and began cross-referencing the pages with the telegram, painstakingly translating the message himself. The further he read, the brighter his eyes became. By the last word, he slapped the desk in delight.
"Well, well—fishing for minnows and caught a turtle! What a lucky break. I was just looking for an excuse to deal with you, and you deliver yourself to my doorstep. Kakuzu, my man, looks like I get to make good on my promise. Someone! Bring the Third Raikage here—I have urgent business to discuss!"
The Third Raikage stared at the intelligence report, confusion written all over his face.
"Is this intel for real?"
Jinghang grinned. "Big brother, have you ever seen me joke around when it comes to military intelligence?"
"What's Takigakure thinking? Did they lose their minds, coming at us now?"
Jinghang shrugged, "They're not alone. They brought 8,600 ninja with them. Together with Konoha, that's over twenty thousand."
"So what? We're rotating troops anyway—together we'll have over thirty thousand. The only ones getting the short end are the guys expecting to go home—they'll have to wait a few more days. Damn, that's a buzzkill," the Raikage muttered, waving his sleeve in annoyance.
Jinghang waved it off. "No big deal. Hand out extra pay, explain the situation—they'll understand. It's just a few more days. What really worries me is something else."
The Raikage raised an eyebrow. "What?"
Jinghang's tone turned serious. "Takigakure brought a tailed beast. Konoha's got the Three-Tails, and now the Seven-Tails joins the party. That could get messy."
The Raikage nodded. "Should we call Yugito back?"
Jinghang nodded. "Not just her—if we can, let's bring one more."
The Raikage frowned. "Didn't your village's old monk swear off war?"
Jinghang smirked. "The old monk won't come, but there's still the young monk. Worth a shot."
Just then, a ninja rushed in. "Kazekage-sama! The leader of Amegakure—Pain—is here to see you!"
Jinghang burst out laughing. "Now we're talking! Show him in!"
Suddenly, he turned to Xuechi Gaojin, as if remembering something. "Quick! Send a message to Kakuzu—tell him, the time for revenge has come!"
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