All his subordinates guarded the cave entrance while Yōkō lay beside the fire, silently sensing the changes in his body.
His platelets were very active, and the wound quickly stopped bleeding.
The wound felt numb and itchy as new tissue slowly grew.
The physiques of the Senju and Uzumaki clans gave Yōkō a bit more margin for error.
Three days later, his injury had stabilized and improved. Yōkō met with the ANBU squad members one by one.
First were the three remaining members of the Leaf Monkey Squad.
All three gave the same account: Squad Leader Leaf Monkey had been completely normal before, and they didn't know when he had been controlled.
Finding no useful information, Yōkō appointed Flower Deer as the new squad leader.
The Leaf Monkey mask seemed too unlucky; whoever wore it died, and it had nearly killed him. It was a pity about Leaf Monkey, killed by his own hand.
Changing the squad leader might change this squad's luck.
Next, Yōkō met with White Goat.
White Goat said he had kept his Byakugan active and found nothing unusual. Within a three-kilometer radius, no one was hiding.
The enemy's methods couldn't even be detected by the Byakugan.
Finally, it was Purple Cat's turn.
Purple Cat said:
"Captain, I used the Mind Body Switch Technique on Leaf Monkey at the end, trying to control him and stop him from attacking you further.
My technique failed!
There were two souls inside Leaf Monkey's body! I've never seen anything like it!"
Yōkō's expression changed as understanding dawned on him.
He had suspected that Leaf Monkey was also under Uchiha Madara's Genjutsu, just like the three Konoha ninja he saw earlier.
He had almost been misled by Uchiha Madara. The recent ANBU mutual killings and Leaf Monkey's attack on him weren't Genjutsu; they were soul-type secret techniques.
He had finally found evidence.
As far as Yōkō knew, only Kato Dan possessed such an ability.
Kato Dan, this talented subordinate of the Senju clan, seemed to have truly turned against the village.
Thinking carefully, he couldn't blame the Senju clan and Kato Dan for being extreme. The village had been extremely first, far more extreme than the Senju clan.
Five days later, Yōkō finally left the cave.
The shoulder wound had healed completely, no longer affecting his combat ability.
The enemies were too dangerous, be it Uchiha Madara or Kato Dan. He had to be fully recovered before taking action.
Outside the cave, the relentless drizzle continued, never ceasing.
Yōkō said:
"Let's return to the front-line camp, but we'll take a detour. First, detour through the Land of Fire, then return to camp. The situation we encountered here is too complex for our squadron to handle.
We were only here to complete an investigation mission, with no mandatory objective to achieve. This doesn't count as abandoning the mission."
In a cave about twenty kilometers away, Kato Dan said to his two guards:
"Today, I will use the forbidden technique once more to gather intelligence on Hanzo. Please guard me."
The two guards stood watch at the cave entrance while Kato Dan leaned against the wall.
The Fox ANBU Squadron included a Hyūga clansman.
That Hyūga ninja also participated in the Nine-Tails' transfer and sealing; he must have seen a lot of intelligence.
If he could obtain information from that Hyūga ANBU member, perhaps he could uncover the truth behind the Senju clan's heavy losses.
After forming hand seals, Kato Dan used the forbidden technique: Spirit Transformation Technique.
His soul flew out, passing through the mountain above the cave, and appeared in mid-air.
The souls of everyone around were like candle flames in the dark.
Under White Goat's direction, the Fox Squadron was detouring south, planning to enter the Land of Fire from the southern part of the Land of Rain.
Because of Leaf Monkey's previous sudden sneak attack, all ANBU members maintained some distance from each other, allowing reaction time.
Yōkō was at the rear of the group, watching every subordinate ahead.
Amidst the calm, Antelope suddenly reached into his tool pouch.
Yōkō shouted: "Antelope! Don't move! Take your hand out!"
However, the next second, Antelope's hand held five explosive tags.
"Dodge!"
The explosive tags flew in five different directions, exploding instantly.
In the series of blasts, Yōkō saw Purple Cat thrown against a nearby tree trunk, and Black Ox falling from mid-air, vomiting blood.
The Purple Cat Squad was heavily damaged.
Yōkō quickly moved forward, catching Black Ox, who was nearest to him.
Black Ox's chest was blasted, a charred mess with blackened flesh and lumps.
Just as he was about to lay Black Ox down, Black Ox suddenly raised a kunai and stabbed at Yōkō's side.
On the tree trunk, Antelope said in terror: "It wasn't me! I was just suddenly controlled!"
Kato Dan's soul had already transferred from Antelope to Black Ox!
Black Ox's kunai only struck a lump of human-shaped mud.
The soul-form Kato Dan paused. An Earth Clone?
Black Ox's kunai missed, and he instead stabbed at the ground beneath him.
Unfortunately, Yōkō didn't immediately attempt a sneak attack on Black Ox.
Seeing his counterattack fail, Black Ox looked towards Purple Cat, who was nearest.
Purple Cat was also blasted, staggering as he tried to stand.
Black Ox charged straight at Purple Cat, his movement habits completely different from before.
The kunai stopped just three centimeters from the center of Purple Cat's mask forehead.
Yōkō emerged from underground, his kunai stabbing into Black Ox's arm.
He didn't want to kill Black Ox.
However, Black Ox opened his palm, dropped the kunai, caught it with his other hand, and continued stabbing at Purple Cat.
Yōkō kicked Black Ox away.
Black Ox's chest was already severely injured from the blast, and after taking Yōkō's kick, he writhed in pain in the mud.
Antelope dropped down from the tree: "Sorry! Captain! I don't know what controlled me!"
Antelope's tone was full of apology, yet his ninja sword was aimed straight at Yōkō's throat.
Yōkō felt his scalp tingle. It wasn't that Black Ox and Antelope were particularly strong, but the feeling that anyone around him could be an enemy made danger feel omnipresent.
"Water Release: Water Formation Wall!"
A wall of water surged forth, sweeping Antelope away.
Antelope crashed into an overhanging tree trunk above, was dazed by the impact, and fell heavily to the ground.
He struggled to look up, mumbling: "Captain, I really didn't mean it."
Yōkō turned to look at Purple Cat. Only Purple Cat now could discern if someone's soul was being controlled.
Purple Cat slowly looked up and said, "Captain, I'll use the secret technique now..."
Purple Cat began forming hand seals.
Yōkō thought, even if Kato Dan controlled Purple Cat, he surely couldn't use the Yamanaka clan's secret techniques, right?
The next instant, the steel senbon hidden in Purple Cat's wrist suddenly shot towards Yōkō.
Thwack!
Yōkō reached out and grabbed Purple Cat's wrist, lifted him, and punched him in the abdomen, eliminating his ability to resist.
In the pouring rain, watching Purple Cat slowly collapse, Yōkō felt his whole body grow hot and his heart grow irritable.
Was this the pressure Kato Dan imposed on his enemies?
No one around him could be trusted; all squad coordination tactics became a joke.
No wonder Kato Dan said he wanted to become Hokage, and even a proud daughter of heaven like Tsunade strongly supported him.
An ordinary ninja squad facing Kato Dan would only be slaughtered.
If even Purple Cat couldn't be relied on, how was Yōkō supposed to face an elite Jōnin who had mastered a forbidden technique?
(Chapter End)