Returning to the Anbu tent, Yagami spent the latter half of the night opening Shinmei's mission scroll.
As a squad leader, Shinmei had received a mission to scout the maritime supplies at Shapo Port in the Land of Wind.
Shapo Port was the only port in the Land of Wind, located in the southeast corner of the desert, not far from the Land of Rivers.
The Land of Wind was scarce in iron ore and needed to import it from the Land of Lightning.
Shapo Port was a key reconnaissance target for the Hidden Leaf; squad after squad was sent there, leaving no piece of intel ungathered.
During the execution of the mission, Shinmei and his two Genin students were sacrificed, while a Chunin named Nara Mi survived.
There seemed to be no issues in the scroll, mainly because the scroll was written by the sole survivor, Nara Mi.
The dead cannot speak.
It was just like a fatal brawl; it was always the person who died who supposedly started the fight.
The survivor of a fight would never admit they struck first; they would insist they were the victim and only fought back in self-defense.
The mission appeared normal: Shinmei's squad encountered two Hidden Sand squads, including an elite puppet master. The squad was overwhelmed, and only Nara Mi made it out alive.
Yagami then gathered the recent mission logs of his own unit.
During the poisoning mission, the Flower Deer squad had followed him, while the Purple Cat and White Ram squads went on other assignments.
The missions of those two squads had nothing to do with Shinmei and did not go to Shapo Port.
If Shinmei had died at the hands of the Anbu, perhaps it was done by the other two units, the Hippo Unit or the Yak Unit.
Yagami did not have the authority to access the mission details of the other units.
Yagami looked at the name Nara Mi; perhaps Hatake Sakumo was overthinking it. It might not have been the Anbu, but this Nara Mi.
The Anbu were investigating Sakumo's followers, but Shinmei was only a Chunin—he hadn't reached the level where he needed to be "purged."
The next day, the Jonin in charge of the equipment department, Nara Umeka, entered Yellow Dog's tent.
Nara Umeka's first glance was toward the Fox standing behind Yellow Dog. She spoke:
"Commander Yellow Dog, our Clan Head requests Fox's presence."
Yellow Dog nodded and said, "Alright, let him go."
Nara Umeka's Clan Head was the front-line Commander-in-Chief, Nara Shikaku.
"Hmm?" Yagami looked at Commander Yellow Dog, then at Nara Umeka, and quickly said.
"Commander, I am an Anbu ninja. Didn't you teach me yesterday that the Anbu must have Anbu missions and maintain an Anbu stance?
I am loyal only to Lord Hokage. Please believe me, Commander, I truly do not know why the Commander-in-Chief is calling for me."
Yellow Dog paused for a moment and then said, "This is an order. Go see the Commander-in-Chief, and follow his arrangements."
Acting as if he were completely bewildered, Yagami followed Nara Umeka out.
He knew, of course, that this wasn't a test; it was a matter of different rules for different people.
Yesterday, when he went to see Hatake Sakumo, Yellow Dog gave him a lecture because he was worried he would join Sakumo's side.
Today, since he was going to see Nara Shikaku, Yellow Dog couldn't wait for him to leave.
Inside the Commander-in-Chief's tent, Nara Shikaku was alone.
Nara Shikaku said:
"Fox, next, I will issue a mission to you through Yellow Dog.
You need to assist the equipment department in secretly manufacturing 200 paragliders.
Nara Umeka is the Jonin in charge of the equipment department; your job is to coordinate with Umeka."
Yagami nodded and said, "Understood. Once Commander Yellow Dog officially assigns the mission, I will immediately cooperate with Jonin Nara Umeka."
Nara Shikaku noticed that this Anbu seemed to have become a bit stiff. Wasn't he quite active last night when reporting the poisoning mission and demonstrating the paraglider?
Yagami waited outside the Commander-in-Chief's tent. Nara Umeka wanted Fox to start work as soon as possible, but Fox acted as if he were deaf.
It wasn't until Yellow Dog's assistant, an Anbu wearing a butterfly mask, delivered the mission scroll that Fox finally followed Nara Umeka away.
Nara Umeka seriously doubted if this wooden-faced Anbu was truly the inventor of the paraglider.
Upon arriving at the equipment department, Yagami saw one of the paragliders had been disassembled.
Both paragliders had been given to the village, and Nara Umeka had taken one apart.
Yagami's eyes suddenly shifted. Among the several Nara ninja in the tent was Nara Mi, the survivor from Shinmei's squad.
He hadn't expected to run into Nara Mi here.
Yagami instantly felt energized, thinking that being sent to do this menial chore wasn't a waste of time after all.
Nara Umeka said, "Unit Leader Fox, although we can make new paragliders by following this one, I still hope you can explain the principles to make it easier for me to make improvements."
Yagami thought to himself: your tone is a bit arrogant.
He looked around, found a blackboard, drew several diagrams, and said:
"The key to the paraglider lies in the canopy that provides lift.
The canopy consists of an upper wing surface, a lower wing surface, and dozens of ribs regularly distributed along the span.
The upper and lower surfaces have different curvatures, resulting in different air flow speeds and wind pressures, which provide lift for the canopy..."
Yagami grew more surprised as he spoke; Nara Umeka understood everything and took notes from time to time.
Had she already stayed up all night researching and experimenting to grasp the key of the paraglider?
The ancestral brain capacity of the Nara clan was indeed larger than others.
After finishing his explanation, Yagami rested to the side, observing Nara Umeka.
Nara Umeka had two braids, a clean-cut face, and intelligent eyes.
She frowned at times, looked enlightened at others, and added to her notes frequently.
After ten minutes or so, Nara Umeka looked up and asked some questions about the control lines.
Yagami answered them one by one.
Nara Umeka was extremely surprised that an Anbu ninja would know so much strange and specialized knowledge.
The Ninja Academy taught basic physics for calculating things like kunai drop, but it didn't teach complex theories.
Aerodynamics, flow velocity, and pressure were a bit beyond the scope for most ninja.
The equipment department moved quickly, and within a week, they had produced 200 paragliders.
Looking at the rows of backpacks, Yagami estimated that a large-scale mission was imminent.
...
The full moon was like a silver plate.
A new full moon cycle had finally arrived.
Yagami entered Commander Yellow Dog's tent and found the Hippo Unit Leader there as well.
Commander Yellow Dog spoke.
"Fox, you and Hippo will serve as Anbu Observers to participate in the high command's surprise raid.
Two hundred paragliders and 400 ninja will fly over the Sand's defensive lines, heading straight for Shapo Port to destroy their ships and supplies."
Yagami asked in confusion, "Anbu Observers?"
"Yes," Yellow Dog said.
"In addition to executing Lord Hokage's orders, the Anbu has another responsibility: gathering intelligence for the Hokage.
To be the Hokage's eyes, gathering intelligence on enemy villages, as well as intelligence within our own village.
This mission is critical.
You and Hippo will disguise yourselves as ordinary Leaf ninja, join the raid, and record the results.
The performance of the civilian ninja has been too good lately; the village is a bit suspicious.
Hatake Sakumo led the previous large-scale missions, where many civilian ninja performed exceptionally well and were granted many ninjutsu.
This time, Commander-in-Chief Nara Shikaku will personally lead the team and command the raid.
The two of you will separate, each joining a squad as an ordinary ninja, to complete the observation mission and record the performance of the civilian ninja."
Yagami thought to himself. sending two Anbu Observers is a double insurance policy to prevent the high command from being deceived.
***
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