"I'm back!"
Three days before the New Year, deep into the night, Yako returned to the Tsurugetsu Tavern.
Kyoi was just about to shut the front doors when she spotted Miqū. Overjoyed, she ran up to him.
"I heard the final battle is over—the Uzushio War has ended! Miqū, did you just come back from the Uzushio front?"
Yako scooped Kyoi into his arms and nudged the door shut with his heel, whispering,
"Kyoi, you're not a spy anymore. Why are you still asking where I've been or what missions I carried out?
Right now, the only thing you should be concerned with… is receiving my undivided attention."
"Haha," Kyoi's eyes sparkled with joy. The war was over—truly over.
"'Undivided attention'? Are you sure what you're offering is proper attention?"
"I've been holding back for months just for you…"
Though in truth, Yako mentally added, not counting Chisa Kojii or Purple Cat, he had been abstaining for quite some time.
After a few minutes of passionate reconnection, Yako noticed that Kyoi had resumed training—her stamina had improved significantly.
Just the way he liked it.
Purple Cat, focused as she was on Yamanaka secret arts, still lacked in the physical department.
—
The next morning, Yako headed straight to the ANBU base in the Forest of Death.
He had learned from Yellow Dog that the ANBU downsizing wouldn't happen until after the New Year. All surviving ANBU would get to enjoy a peaceful holiday.
Until then, there would be no major assignments.
Yako finally allowed himself to relax.
He slipped out of ANBU quarters and made his way behind the Hokage Rock, into the dense woods.
After sending out Shadow Clones to scout the area and waiting a good thirty minutes, he confirmed the coast was clear.
He then performed a Summoning Jutsu.
With a puff of smoke, two Giant Pandas—one large, one small—appeared before him.
Yako turned to the larger one.
"White Porcelain, stay here and summon me back tonight. White Glaze, head back to the Land of Rain and reverse summon me there."
White Porcelain's ears perked up. "Are you going to visit our Giant Panda Clan's bamboo grove? Wonderful! I've been meaning to bring you there to check on our habitat. If we ever face danger, maybe you can help us."
Yako's true purpose was to visit Yuka, but with things moving this way, he agreed.
"Sure. Let's visit your grove first."
White Porcelain turned to White Glaze. "Glaze, go ahead and reverse summon Fox. He's a Konoha jonin—very strong."
White Glaze nodded. "I'll go now. I'll summon him right away."
Moments later, Yako felt the tug of a summoning contract activating—he was being reverse summoned from a distance.
"Porcelain, stay well hidden," he said.
"Don't worry. I can enter deep stone-hardened stasis—completely indistinguishable from rock."
Yako let himself go limp and responded to the pull of the reverse summoning.
With a swirl of white smoke, he vanished from the forest.
—
In the blink of an eye, he reappeared in the far southwest of the Land of Rain.
A lush emerald bamboo forest stretched before him. Light rain misted the air, the scent of bamboo leaves fresh and invigorating.
Among the thickets stood raised bamboo huts, perched on stilts.
As soon as Yako appeared, dozens of Giant Pandas emerged from the huts, gathering on their platforms to curiously observe the visitor.
The Giant Panda was a species of summoning beast once contracted by the Animal Path of Pain in the original lore.
This bamboo forest held over sixty of them.
White Glaze explained from the side,
"Lord Fox, Lord White Porcelain is our clan chief. We Giant Pandas have long hidden in this grove, wishing to avoid involvement in shinobi wars.
A little over a month ago, a young woman entered the forest and used powerful sealing techniques to form a summoning contract with us.
Now, you're the second person to do so.
Chief Porcelain says we can't hide here forever. Sooner or later, shinobi will come. We might as well start learning what they're like.
Lady Yuka didn't ask much of us—only taught us Summoning and Reverse Summoning."
Yako asked, "Porcelain said you wanted my help if you ever faced danger. Who's your greatest enemy?"
White Glaze fell silent, simply staring at him.
"Alright, I get it. Your number one enemy is shinobi. Who's number two?"
White Glaze finally replied,
"Yellow-Throated Martens. They're swift, cunning ninja beasts who specialize in Clone Techniques.
We Giant Pandas are durable but slow. When we encounter martens, we can't catch them—and we can't outrun them.
Their teeth are razor-sharp and always find their way into our joint gaps. Those parts can't be hardened."
Yako lifted White Glaze's arm. His bicep and forearm were coated in a ceramic-like layer of hardened stone.
But the elbow, wrist, and armpit joints were unprotected, likely for mobility.
Yako asked, "Do you know any jutsu?"
"We have innate Hardening Arts—body hardening, ground hardening, bamboo hardening. We usually turn hardened bamboo into weapons," White Glaze explained.
"Chief Porcelain also knows the Bamboo Needle Technique—he shoots sharpened bamboo like senbon needles."
"Sounds like Porcelain is quite capable. Let's go. I want to see what kind of beast made even him so worried."
White Glaze looked nervous but, reassured by the presence of a Konoha jonin, led the way.
Not long after leaving the grove, Yako turned his head—he had caught a flicker of movement in the underbrush.
"A Yellow-Throated Marten just spotted us."
Seeing White Glaze tense up, he added,
"Relax. It's just a ninja beast."
White Glaze corrected him,
"Not one. A pack."
They reached a clearing. Yako stopped advancing.
"This spot's good. I'll handle them here."
At the edge of the clearing, a long, sleek Yellow-Throated Marten emerged, nearly a meter in length.
Yako frowned. This was it? It looked small. How strong could it possibly be?
Until twenty more emerged, slipping from the shrubs like shadows.
Now it was starting to look problematic.
Each marten arched its back—and then, to Yako's surprise, every one of them used the Clone Technique.
"Careful!" White Glaze warned. "Those clones are solid—they can break bones!"
Shadow Clones?
These martens had mastered the Shadow Clone Technique. Who on earth had taught them? Which ninja had made a contract?
In the shinobi world, many beasts had been altered by chakra. The stronger ones even developed their own civilizations.
Over fifty martens rushed Yako and White Glaze at once.
They weaved and swapped positions as they charged, making it impossible to distinguish clones from originals.
White Glaze gripped his bamboo staff tightly, silently praying that the ninja beside him could defeat them.
"Earth Release: Earth Longspear!"
Yako slammed both hands into the ground. Spikes erupted everywhere—over a hundred earthen spears sprang from the soil.
The martens were agile, dodging through the onslaught with disturbing grace.
Some clones were skewered and dispelled. Others were pierced but didn't vanish—real bodies, bleeding.
No wonder Porcelain had trouble with them.
A few martens even crunched down on the earthen spears with their powerful teeth, shattering them and continuing their charge.
"You should step back now."
White Glaze obeyed immediately, retreating.
One marten broke through and bit down hard on Yako's ankle.
Its fangs shattered instantly.
That wasn't a clone—it was one of the real ones!
Yako weaved a single hand seal—Self-Binding Curse Mark!
Chains of cursed script burst into the air, binding every marten in range.
The rest turned and fled.
The clones popped. Yako had captured eleven real martens.
White Glaze rushed over, slamming his bamboo weapon down to finish one that still twitched.
His expression lit up with satisfaction.
"Young Stone Pandas fear martens the most. Many of our kin have died to those fangs."
Yako nodded. "I see now who your enemies are. I'll spend the next few months helping you train methods to counter them."
White Glaze's black eyes sparkled.
"I'm going to visit Yuka today," Yako said. "Head back to the grove for now. I'll come find you when training begins."