The Earth-Style Rising Spears had weakened. There was a chance; they could fight.
Using the Water Formation Wall to block the line of sight, Yōkō formed the hand seals for the Shadow Clone Technique.
The Iwa-nin Jonin now knew the Fox Anbu had the ability to travel underground. Using the Fish in Earth Reflection Technique again would be less effective.
Therefore, Yōkō prepared to assault forcefully, coordinated with his Shadow Clone.
The Water Formation Wall fell, and two Yōkōs charged out, one on the left, one on the right.
One leaped high, bringing his ninjato down in a fierce slash.
The other moved in an arc, attacking the Iwa-nin Jonin's side with a horizontal slash.
The Iwa-nin Jonin glanced up and down, deciding the one recklessly jumping in the air was a Shadow Clone feint, while the one approaching on the ground was the real body.
The Fox Anbu mastered the Earth Clone, a rogue-like substitution technique that required contact with the ground to perform.
The Fox Anbu wouldn't give up the high fault tolerance advantage of the Earth Clone.
The Iwa-nin Jonin kept watching the Fox Anbu's feet, trying to catch the signs of the Earth Clone being cast.
Earth-Style Rising Spears shot forth again.
This time, their speed was noticeably much slower.
The Iwa-nin Jonin was severely wounded in the abdomen, his spleen ruptured. Holding on until now, he was at the end of his strength.
Yōkō's reaction speed was fast; he nimbly dodged several Earth-Style Rising Spears and closed in on the Iwa-nin Jonin's side.
A horizontal slash with the ninjato!
The Iwa-nin Jonin had encountered the Cloud-Style Sword Technique before when fighting Kumo-nin.
He was wary of the Fox Anbu changing his move. When blocking with his armored vambrace, he positioned it slightly high, ready to protect his throat at any moment.
However, the Fox Anbu's blade didn't change direction, heading straight for the Iwa-nin Jonin's waist.
The Iwa-nin Jonin thought, This Fox Anbu is truly cunning, mixing truth and falsehood, hard to predict.
He moved his arm down. The ninjato struck the vambrace with a loud clang, sparking metal sparks.
Wrong!
The Iwa-nin Jonin suddenly realized the force transmitted through his arm felt wrong, too weak.
How could a taijutsu-specialized Anbu have only this much strength?
Could it be that the Fox Anbu had given up the powerful A-rank Earth Release: Earth Clone and was the one jumping down from the air?
The ninjato came down in a slash.
Before the Iwa-nin Jonin's other armored arm could block, it struck him between the eyebrows.
Die!
Two Anbu squads, at the cost of 5 lives, had taken down one Iwa-nin Jonin.
To be precise, it was 6 lives, as Yōkō had already died once.
Did Yōkō's life not count?
The fight over, Yōkō panted heavily, quickly backing away, afraid the Iwa-nin Jonin might have some last-ditch, mutually destructive jutsu.
Only when the Iwa-nin Jonin fell to the ground with a heavy thud did Yōkō relax.
He immediately turned and ordered:
"White Ram! Don't rush to find the Black Gorilla Squadron Leader yet! Use your Byakugan to find the enemy's main force! The large force that broke through the border must be nearby!"
White Ram, wounded in the abdomen by an Earth-Style Rising Spear and bleeding, quickly activated his Byakugan, searching the surroundings.
Soon, a look of terror appeared on his face.
"Fox! The Third Tsuchikage, Ōnoki! He's leading at least 300 Iwa-nin! At least 6 Elite Jonin! One of them has a chakra level comparable to the Tsuchikage's.
They're two kilometers away! 10 o'clock direction!"
Hearing this, Yōkō's mind was shaken.
This was bad. The Anbu secretly leaking the news of Uzumaki Mito's funeral had actually attracted the Third Tsuchikage himself.
Yōkō hurried to find the Black Gorilla Squadron Leader. He discovered the Leaf Monkey Squad had been wiped out, and the Black Gorilla Squadron Leader was lying on the ground, one leg broken by an earth jutsu, bent at a terrible obtuse angle, twisted outward.
Not bothering to set the broken leg, Yōkō helped the Black Gorilla Squadron Leader up.
Bone fragments were deeply embedded in the flesh, causing Black Gorilla to tremble in pain.
Even so, Black Gorilla felt happy inside.
He had thought that the Fox and White Ram Squads, encountering another Iwa-nin Jonin, were surely dead. He never expected Fox not only to be alive and kicking but also able to come rescue him.
Fox, whom he had focused on cultivating, had helped him tremendously several times now.
"Squadron Leader! White Ram saw the Third Tsuchikage, Ōnoki!"
Black Gorilla's heart tightened. It was the Third Tsuchikage who had come?
He immediately made a judgment, moving his arm off Fox's shoulder and standing on one leg:
"Fox! You and Purple Cat are uninjured. Don't worry about anything else. Return to Lord Danzo immediately and report the important intelligence we've discovered!"
Yōkō looked at the wounded Squadron Leader Black Gorilla and White Ram, then nodded.
Compared to the intelligence, Black Gorilla and White Ram's lives were insignificant.
Tonight's battle concerned the Nine-Tails transfer seal, one of the village's foundations.
After placing Black Gorilla and White Ram together, Yōkō and Purple Cat quickly headed towards Ushiga Mountain.
He hoped the two could survive. Black Gorilla had treated Yōkō well, and Yōkō was willing to remain an obscure Anbu member under his command.
If Black Gorilla survived, Yōkō could easily explain where he obtained the A-rank Earth Clone jutsu.
With a different squadron leader, it would be harder to fool them.
After running over 20 kilometers, they finally saw Ushiga Mountain.
At the foot of Ushiga Mountain was a deep valley, its entrance guarded by Anbu ninja.
"Emergency intelligence!"
The guarding Anbu, hearing it was emergency intelligence, did not block them, watching as Yōkō and Purple Cat entered the valley at full speed.
Danzo, seeing from afar Anbu members leaping through the trees, rushing towards him at top speed instead of moving quietly on the ground, slowly stood up from the tree stump.
This indicated the intelligence was urgent; not a half second could be wasted.
Arriving near Danzo, Yōkō first located the Yellow Dog Battalion Commander with his eyes.
The Yellow Dog Battalion Commander signaled that reporting to him first wasn't necessary and directly brought Fox to Danzo's side.
"Lord Danzo! We've discovered over three hundred Iwa-nin! The leader is the Third Tsuchikage, Ōnoki! 9 o'clock direction, 20 kilometers away from here, fifteen minutes ago!"
Danzo's face, stiff from years of expressionlessness, showed a surprised look.
It was Ōnoki?
Flight capability, the top-tier Dust Release Kekkei Tōta of the shinobi world, cunning, tenacious, extremely difficult to deal with.
Yōkō watched Danzo carefully, wondering if Danzo regretted actively informing spies about Uzumaki Mito's death date.
They had really screwed up this time. He hoped his own life wouldn't be the price for Danzo's ambition.
Danzo disappeared from the rear of the valley using the Body Flicker Technique.
Not long after, the Third Hokage, Senju Rinoki, Tsunade, Kato Dan, and others all left the valley and came to the front.
The Third Hokage saw Yōkō and waved him over: "Fox, report on what your squadron encountered."
The Third Hokage remembered Fox's name. Fox had appeared in Anbu reports several times, had a high mission success rate, and his strength was steadily growing, becoming a core member of the Anbu.
Both the Yellow Dog Battalion Commander and the Black Gorilla Squadron Leader valued Fox highly.
Yōkō briefly described their encounter, focusing mainly on what White Ram observed with his Byakugan.
"Hokage-sama, the Third Tsuchikage is leading the team, 5 ninja battalions, 300 Iwa-nin. White Ram said there are at least 6 Elite Jonin at the front of the enemy formation, one of whom has a chakra level comparable to the Tsuchikage's.
The enemy's peripheral scout squads are all led by Jonin.
They are moving fast, and even the weaker ninja at the rear aren't slow, indicating they have just rested and can engage in battle at any time."
Sarutobi Hiruzen nodded and said, "You've done well."
Yellow Dog led Fox and Purple Cat to step back, and the several higher-ups began formulating tactics.
Yōkō looked at the shape of the moon, feeling somewhat melancholy.
The moon was still in its waning phase.
He had already died once this full moon cycle. What should he do in the upcoming major battle?
...
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(End of Chapter)