"I'm back!"
Late at night, three days before the New Year, Yōkō returned to the Tsurugetsu Izakaya.
Kyōi was closing the izakaya's door when she suddenly spotted Kōji and ran over happily.
"I heard the final war, the Land of Whirlpools War, has ended! Kōji, did you just return from that battlefield?"
Yōkō picked Kyōi up, used his heel to shut the door, and whispered:
"Kyōi, you're not a spy anymore, why are you still asking where I've been and what missions I've done.
The most important thing for you right now is to receive my... 'imparting of all I have to offer'!"
"Haha." Kyōi's eyes sparkled. The war was over, finally over. She said, "Imparting all you have to offer? Is your 'all' a proper 'all'?"
"For you, I've been holding back for several months..."
Yōkō thought to himself, if you don't count the times with Koishi Chisa and Purple Cat, I really have been holding back for months.
After investigating for over ten minutes, Yōkō discovered that Kyōi had been training again; her stamina had improved significantly.
This suited Yōkō's appetite just fine.
Purple Cat was too focused on the Yamanaka secret techniques; her physical stamina was still somewhat lacking.
The next day, Yōkō arrived early at the Anbu base in the Forest of Death.
He learned from Yellow Dog that the Anbu streamlining would happen after the New Year. All surviving Anbu members would have a comfortable New Year's holiday.
There would be no major Anbu operations before the New Year.
Yōkō relaxed completely.
He left the Anbu and went to the dense woods behind the Hokage Rock.
Using a shadow clone to scout the surroundings and waiting for half an hour to confirm no one was around, he performed the Summoning Technique.
He summoned two Stone Pandas, one large and one small. Yōkō said to Hakuji:
"Hakuji, you stay here and summon me back tonight. Hakuyū, return to the Land of Rain first and perform the Reverse Summoning to bring me there."
Hakuji said, "Are you going to our Stone Panda clan's bamboo forest? Great! I was just thinking of asking you to visit our home and see how we live. If our Stone Panda clan ever faces danger in the future, you can help us."
Yōkō actually wanted to see Yuka, but since Hakuji mentioned it, he agreed: "Alright, let's go see your bamboo forest first."
Hakuji said to Hakuyū beside him, "Hakuyū, you go perform the Reverse Summoning for Fox. Fox is a jōnin of Konoha, very strong."
Hakuyū nodded and said, "Then I'll go back first and perform the Reverse Summoning right away."
Before long, Yōkō felt a stirring in the contract; a summoning animal somewhere was using the Reverse Summoning on him.
Yōkō said, "Hakuji, you must be careful and hide well."
Hakuji said, "Don't worry, I can perform deep petrification, becoming just like a rock. It's very hard to detect me."
Yōkō relaxed his body and responded to the Reverse Summoning.
In a puff of white smoke, Yōkō disappeared from the depths of the forest.
The next instant, Yōkō appeared far away in the southwestern part of the Land of Rain.
Before him was a dense, emerald-green bamboo forest.
A light drizzle fell, the bamboo leaves were fresh, the stalks verdant—the environment here was quite pleasant.
Within the bamboo forest were many elevated bamboo huts built on stilts.
Noticing an outsider's arrival, many Stone Pandas emerged from the huts, standing on the platforms and looking curiously at Yōkō.
Stone Pandas, the summoning animals originally contracted by Nagato's Animal Path.
In this bamboo forest, the population of this summoning clan exceeded sixty.
Hakuyū explained nearby: "Lord Fox, Lord Hakuji is our clan leader. Our Stone Panda clan hides deep in the bamboo forest; originally, we didn't want to get involved in the wars between shinobi.
Over a month ago, a young woman entered the bamboo forest and formed a contract with us using powerful sealing techniques.
Lord Fox, you have now become the second contracted shinobi of our Stone Panda clan.
Leader Hakuji said that our clan cannot hide forever in this remote bamboo forest. Sooner or later, shinobi will find us, so we might as well try to understand them.
Lord Yuka hasn't asked us to do much, just taught us the Summoning Technique and the Reverse Summoning Technique."
Yōkō asked, "Hakuji said you wanted my help when you face danger. Do you have any natural enemies?"
Hakuyū didn't speak, just stared at Yōkō.
"Okay, I get it. Your primary natural enemy is shinobi. What's the second one?"
Hakuyū said: "Yellow-throated Martens. A type of summoning beast that's incredibly fast and skilled in the Clone Technique.
Our Stone Panda clan has strong defense, but we are slow. When we encounter Yellow-throated Martens, we can't catch them and we can't outrun them.
Their teeth are extremely sharp, and they always find opportunities to bite the inner sides of our joints. The inner sides of our joints cannot be petrified."
Yōkō lifted Hakuyū's arm and saw that both the upper and lower arms were encased in hard, porcelain-like stone.
But the elbow, wrist, armpit, and other joint areas, for ease of movement, were not covered by the porcelain stone.
Yōkō asked, "Hakuyū, what jutsu do you know?"
"We instinctively know the Hardening Technique: Body Hardening Technique, Ground Hardening Technique, and Bamboo Hardening Technique. Usually, we use hardened bamboo as weapons," Hakuyū said.
"Leader Hakuji also knows the Bamboo Needle Technique, shooting sharpened bamboo like flying needles."
"Hakuji sounds quite capable. Come on, take me to see these Yellow-throated Martens. I want to know why they worry Hakuji so much."
A look of fear appeared on Hakuyū's face, but thinking of the Konoha jōnin beside him, he led Yōkō to find the Yellow-throated Martens.
Not long after leaving the bamboo forest, Yōkō suddenly turned his head and saw a black shadow flash past in the nearby bushes.
"The Yellow-throated Martens have spotted us!"
Seeing Hakuyū's fear, Yōkō said, "Don't worry, it's just a summoning beast."
Hakuyū said, "Not just one, a whole pack!"
Arriving at a slightly more open area, Yōkō stopped advancing. He would deal with the martens here.
At the edge of their vision, a one-meter-long Yellow-throated Marten slowly revealed its slender form.
Yōkō thought Hakuyū was overreacting. How strong could a summoning beast of that size be, no matter how powerful?
Then, over twenty Yellow-throated Martens emerged from the bushes one after another.
That's quite a number. This could be troublesome.
The martens arched their backs, and each one actually used the Clone Technique.
"Be careful! Those clones are also physical entities and can easily bite through bone!"
Shadow Clones?
These Yellow-throated Martens had actually mastered the Shadow Clone Technique. Who knows which shinobi who contracted them taught them that.
Besides shinobi, the shinobi world was also home to many summoning beasts altered by chakra. Powerful ones could even form unique civilizations.
Over fifty Yellow-throated Martens charged fiercely towards Yōkō and Hakuyū.
On the way, they constantly swapped positions, creating a dizzying display that made it hard to distinguish the real bodies from the shadow clones.
Hakuyū nervously gripped his bamboo stick, hoping the shinobi could defeat these martens.
"Earth Release: Earth-Style Rising Spears!"
Yōkō slammed his hands on the ground. The surrounding earth became covered in thorns as over a hundred earth spears shot up.
The martens' slender bodies proved surprisingly agile.
The earth spears pierced some shadow clones, which burst into smoke. Three or four martens impaled on the spears didn't vanish; they were gutted and bleeding.
Such agility, no wonder Hakuji finds them a headache.
The martens' hard incisors bit through the obstructing earth spears along their path and continued charging at Yōkō.
"You step back."
Hearing Yōkō's order, Hakuyū quickly retreated.
The martens closed in on Yōkō, one biting down hard on his ankle.
Hakuyū watched in horror as the marten's teeth actually shattered!
That wasn't a clone; it was a real Yellow-throated Marten!
Yōkō formed a hand seal, and all the surrounding martens were bound by the Self-Cursing Body Binding Seal.
The remaining martens saw this, turned, and fled immediately.
The shadow clones popped. Yōkō had captured eleven Yellow-throated Martens in total.
Seeing this, Hakuyū came over with his bamboo stick and smashed one of the immobilised martens to death a few times.
Hakuyū felt refreshed: "The young Stone Pandas fear the Yellow-throated Martens the most! Many of our clan's young have died under their sharp teeth!"
Yōkō said, "I understand who your enemy is now. I can spend the next few months helping you train methods to deal with them."
Hearing this, Hakuyū's small black eyes shone brightly.
"Today, I need to see Yuka. Hakuyū, you return to the bamboo forest first. I'll find you later regarding the training."
***
Dive deeper into the story with 50+ advance chapters, available now on Patreon!patreon.com/CNBLUE
If you're enjoying the novel, please consider leaving a review. Your support is crucial and helps the story grow immensely. Thank you!
(Chapter End)