After leaving the large tent, Sora went to his own tent.
As an Anbu Captain, he had confidential work to handle and naturally needed a private space.
On the table lay the intelligence reports organized by his subordinates.
Of course,
As a temporary office, it certainly wouldn't store too much classified intelligence.
Sora skimmed through it briefly and didn't see any reports sent back by his subordinates regarding the behind-enemy-lines sabotage work.
This was also normal.
The Konoha's Ninjas on the other side were no pushovers. The village's Anbu naturally couldn't infiltrate military strongholds as easily as he did, then solve all problems with a single Shakkaho.
Under normal circumstances, even an elite team of Anbu composed of four Jonin would need to spend a lot of time gathering intelligence, infiltrating secretly, carefully completing the mission, and also designing a foolproof retreat route in advance.
Add to that the inevitable bloody combat, if everyone were as simple and direct as Sora, Kirigakure probably wouldn't have enough Anbu's Ninjas to send, no matter how many they had.
'My combat power still isn't strong enough. Right now, I can barely handle Kage-level Ninjas like Jiraiya, but if I encounter Gundam-type opponents, it might become troublesome…'
Sora was also pondering.
With his current setup, he was quite capable against humanoid Kage-level Ninjas. Firstly, he could use skills without hand seals, making combat efficiency very high.
Secondly, his Zanpakuto could cut through iron like mud, with terrifying armor-piercing capability.
Both of these made Sora's combat ability extremely strong.
Just like in the previous battle, if he had used kunai or ordinary swords, it would have been impossible to sever Hizashi's arm so easily.
Remember, with Chakra enhancement, a Jonin's physical prowess was already abnormal. Even a close-range pistol shot couldn't harm them, so how could their arm be easily severed?
It was only because Hyorinmaru's sharpness far exceeded imagination, easily breaking through Hizashi's defense, that the fight ended before it even began.
But these two advantages would become somewhat useless when facing Gundam-type Kage-level, or even Super Kage-level opponents.
For example, the Eight-Tails' Jinchuriki Killer B, the Nine-Tails' Jinchuriki, Uzumaki Kushina, or even Super Kage-level beings like Madara or Hashirama.
Relying solely on a Zanpakuto in Shikai, it would probably be difficult to inflict fatal damage on these Gundam-type Ninjas.
'Raikoho, Goryutenmetsu, even Kurohitsugi… I need higher-level Kido to deal with the inevitable planetary-scale battles in the future…'
'Or…'
'A powerful Zanpakuto's Bankai!'
Sora looked down, his right hand gently stroking Hyorinmaru. As the strongest Ice-Type Zanpakuto, if he could achieve Hyorinmaru's Bankai, he probably wouldn't have to fear combat power at the level of the Nine-Tails.
Of course-
Having a touchstone like Jiraiya, Sora was quite satisfied with his current situation.
At least with Hyorinmaru in hand, he could undoubtedly exert Kage-level combat power.
This was already sufficient in the Third Great Ninja War.
'I hope the arrival of Hyorinmaru will bring me better luck, triggering more special missions…'
Now, Sora had realized that the rewards from survival missions only ensured he didn't die.
If he truly wanted to reach the peak of life, he needed to find ways to trigger more special missions.
Creak~
Just as Sora was lost in thought, the wooden door of the tent was suddenly pushed open.
Then, he saw a charming young woman with reddish-brown long hair peeking her head into the tent, looking around.
After seeing that Sora had no obvious injuries, the tension in her almond-shaped eyes instantly faded for the most part.
"Sora!"
"Repelling Jiraiya!"
"You stole the spotlight again this time!"
The young woman entered the tent. She lifted her fair, small face, her voice dripping with disdain yet unable to conceal her envy.
As she spoke, she deliberately pulled down her blue kimono slightly, revealing a pale, rosy-hued secret.
"Terumi Mei, you could be a bit more of a tease."
Sora glanced up at the young woman who had entered and said flatly, "As for the Jiraiya matter, if you're capable, you can go for it too. At worst, next time we encounter him, I'll stand by and watch you go show off against Jiraiya."
"It's just that by then…"
"I hope you don't get beaten until you flee helter-skelter, disgracing the village."
As he spoke, Sora's gaze also subtly swept over the girl's secret, once, twice.
'This talent…'
'Was not bad.'
Although it still fell short of the level of a [Doujinshi Queen] like Tsunade, it was certainly much better than well-known 'airports' like Uzumaki Kushina or Nohara Rin.
'Hah, men~'
Mei rolled her almond-shaped eyes, seemingly quite satisfied with Sora's reaction. She then pulled the collar of her kimono back up, casually dragged over a stool, and sat down opposite Sora.