Yagami received a mission report, but he wasn't in any hurry.
The chase ahead was complicated.
Uzumaki Kushina was at the front, followed by two squads of ANBU.
Behind them were the Hidden Cloud ninja, who wanted to seize Sealing Scroll.
There were roughly three battalions of Cloud ninja.
If Yagami moved too quickly, he might run into them head-on — and wouldn't even know how he died.
Outside the capital of the Land of Whirlpools, Yagami came across a battlefield.
The ground was littered with corpses — Cloud ninja, ANBU, and five particularly striking bodies that bore both the emblem of the Land of Whirlpools' Daimyō and the crest of the Uzumaki Clan.
The Daimyō's guardian ninja were dead.
They had been strong. The area within ten meters around them had no other corpses — meaning they'd been exhausted to death by Cloud ninja's long-range attacks.
Yagami created a shadow clone, which began searching through the bodies.
Some of his clones died after triggering traps hidden in their ninja pouches.
After spending quite some time, Yagami found 300,000 ryō and three explosive tags.
"These ninjas really don't like carrying anything good… so stingy."
He continued onward, passing through more than a dozen battlefields of varying size, and gathered another 100,000 ryō.
Now he had a total of 1.1 million ryō — a small fortune.
Even an S-rank mission paid only around one million.
With this kind of money, he could live it up once he returned to Konoha.
As he approached the border of the Land of Fire, Yagami became more cautious.
The Cloud ninja wouldn't dare enter the Land of Fire easily — there were too many Konoha intelligence squads inside.
Climbing to the top of a mountain, Yagami used his binoculars to scan the surroundings.
And then he saw it.
Down on the distant slope, the Cloud ninja had nearly surrounded two ANBU squads.
Behind them stood Shimura Danzō, holding Uzumaki Kushina by the arm.
All the summoning beasts — the White Heron, Yatagarasu, and the Giant Hawk — were gone.
Kushina looked like a frightened little bird, trembling in Danzō's grasp.
There wasn't a single Uzumaki ninja or summon left around her.
Even facing encirclement by the Cloud ninja, Danzō showed no fear.
His other hand was pressed against the Sealing Scroll of Eddy Village.
That scroll contained every sealing art and forbidden technique of the Uzumaki Clan — an invaluable treasure.
Even from afar, just seeing that scroll made Yagami's heartbeat quicken.
Danzō's face was dark and his eyes filled with hatred as he glanced at Kushina.
It wasn't Kushina he resented — it was Kato Dan.
After obtaining the Uzumaki Clan's sealing scroll, Danzō had planned to learn its secrets first.
However, Kato Dan had used his Spirit Transformation Technique to traverse a thousand miles and possessed Kushina's body, speaking through her lips to warn Danzō that he was watching everything.
Beside Kato Dan stood the Senju Clan's leader — Senju Rinki.
With Kato Dan monitoring him, Danzō couldn't even look through the scroll he'd taken.
The Senju Clan still held great power, pressing down on Konoha's upper council.
There were many jōnin among them — and Kato Dan, an elite jōnin who had mastered a forbidden jutsu, was one of their most talented.
He was also Tsunade's lover, loyal to the Senju Clan to the core.
Many of Danzō's previous schemes had been thwarted by Kato Dan.
The Spirit Transformation Technique was too absurd — it allowed Kato Dan to observe countless corners of the ninja world and even possess people from miles away.
Just thinking of Kato Dan made Danzō's expression grow darker.
Yagami rushed down from the mountain — not because he wanted to join the fight, but because in the forest behind him, he saw a large number of Leaf ninja approaching.
Reinforcements had arrived!
The Hidden Leaf and Uzumaki clan were allies — there was no way Leaf would abandon them.
Yagami leaped quickly down the slope toward the side of the battlefield.
From a distance, he could see the prominent figures leading the reinforcements.
The Third Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen, had personally taken command to aid Uzumaki.
Alongside him was Koharu Utatane from the upper council.
Yagami also saw many members of the Senju Clan, each wearing the family crest on their uniforms.
Even the clan head, Senju Rinki, had come.
He was the son of the First Hokage, Senju Hashirama, and Tsunade's father.
At this time, Tsunade had yet to earn the title of one of the "Legendary Sannin." Most of her fame came from being both the "Princess of the Senju Clan" and a disciple of the Third Hokage.
Standing closest to Senju Rinki was his favored son-in-law — Kato Dan.
"Uncle!"
When Uzumaki Kushina saw Senju Rinki, her eyes lit up. She struggled to pull her hand free from Danzō's grasp.
Danzō glanced at Rinki and then at Kato Dan.
Rinki frowned slightly.
What was Danzō trying to imply?
Danzō had no choice but to release Kushina, allowing her to run into Rinki's arms.
Rinki gently embraced her, patting her back to comfort her.
"Uncle! The Hidden Mist and Hidden Cloud attacked the village! The clan head and the Third Mizukage died together — the village is gone!"
"What? The village… destroyed?"
"What?! The Third Mizukage is dead?!"
Senju Rinki and Koharu Utatane each cried out in shock.
The news was beyond belief.
Eddy wasn't a small village — it housed thousands of Uzumaki clan members, as well as minor clans and trained civilian ninja.
The total number of ninja exceeded three thousand, ranking it among the top villages below the Five Great Nations.
Moreover, the Uzumaki had massive summoning beasts and near-unbreakable sealing techniques.
No village dared to claim they could defeat them easily.
Sarutobi Hiruzen and Koharu exchanged glances — their eyes filled with both relief and sorrow.
Relief, because Leaf had secured its next Jinchūriki.
Danzō had successfully brought back the Uzumaki princess and the clan's sealing scroll.
And the death of the Third Mizukage meant one less powerful enemy on the eastern front.
But sorrow, because the fall of an allied village was still a tragedy.
Hiruzen waved his hand, signaling all the Konoha ninja behind him to charge forward and eliminate the remaining Cloud forces.
Then he walked toward Kushina, his tone filled with regret.
"I'm sorry, Princess Uzumaki. The Mist and Cloud completely cut off our intelligence network. We mobilized two thousand ninja to aid Uzushiogakure… but we were still too late."
What could Kushina say?
Leaf had sent thousands of shinobi — their effort couldn't be called small.
But late was still late. Everything was over.
Senju Rinki's face turned pale.
Many of his clan's relatives had lived in Uzushiogakure.
Kushina called him uncle, and he called the Uzumaki clan head uncle as well.
His mother, Uzumaki Mito, was the sister of the Uzumaki clan head.
There were nieces and nephews, sons-in-law, and countless kin there.
Eddy Village wasn't just an ally — it was family.
Intermarriage between clans ensured the purity of kekkei genkai, but it also increased the risk of hereditary disease.
The Uzumaki were the Senju's most important marriage partners — their union kept the bloodline strong and prevented illness.
Without the Uzumaki, what would become of the Senju?
Two thousand Leaf ninja launched their attack.
The three battalions of Cloud ninja didn't even have time to flee — they were slaughtered within minutes at the border.
Senju Rinki turned toward Shimura Danzō.
"Advisor Danzō, hand over the Sealing Scroll. Kushina is still young — I'll keep it safe for her."
Danzō looked at Kushina.
This was the crucial moment of transferring the Nine-Tails' Jinchūriki.
He didn't want her to feel resentment toward him now.
After a brief pause, he reluctantly handed the scroll to the Senju Clan.
Meanwhile, Yagami found Captain Yellow Dog and reported everything that had happened to Black Ape Squad.
After hearing it all, the captain didn't make the decision himself — instead, he took Yagami to see Advisor Danzō.
Anything involving the Uzumaki elders would have to be decided by Danzō personally.
As they approached Leaf's upper command, Yagami could already hear the fierce argument between the Senju Clan head and Koharu Utatane echoing from within.