Yagami ascended to the second-floor guest rooms and located the one where Nara Umeka had previously stayed.
Using Earth Style: Underground Projection Fish Jutsu to pass through the wall, Yagami caught the scent of cheap perfume.
A pair of disheveled lovers lay on the bed.
Ignoring them, Yagami searched the room for codes. He ran his hand along the underside of the table and, sure enough, felt several indentations. Leaning down to look, he confirmed they were Nara clan symbols.
Soon after, he located the second and third sets of codes in other corners of the room.
It was a tedious process; he had to reorder the three sets to decipher the actual message.
Just then, the woman on the bed woke up.
"Why is there another man! What do you take me for? You didn't say there'd be a third person!"
The woman scratched the man's neck with her nails, leaving bloody welts.
The man woke up groggily. "What other man? It's just me."
"Don't lie! He's right there in the room! If I hadn't noticed, was he going to crawl into bed too?"
"What are you talking about!"
"Pay up! Stop sleeping! Give me more money first!"
They both looked around the room, but it was empty.
"You've gone crazy for money, there's no one here."
The woman grumbled sheepishly; her eyes must have played tricks on her, thinking she saw someone else in the room.
After leaving the inn, Yagami found White Sheep Squad and led them to the location indicated by the codes.
The destination was the town's only lumber mill. Near the mill, White Sheep found a new set of codes.
The message indicated that Nara Umeka had already moved on to the next town.
Yagami was puzzled. Nara Umeka was being pursued deep behind enemy lines; instead of hiding securely in one place, why was she constantly moving?
They traveled to the next town, but again, they only found codes near the lumber mill and no sign of her.
Following the trail, they arrived at a third town. Once again, near the local lumber yard, White Sheep found codes. This time, the message finally stopped pointing toward another town.
Inside the lumber mill, Nara Umeka was currently posing as a timber merchant. Her acting was superb; the mill owner didn't suspect her identity in the least.
She was waiting in the yard for her goods to be loaded onto a cart. However, her eyes frequently drifted toward a different shipment nearby.
"Boss, is that high-grade Yellow Ironwood? Who has the deep pockets for such a large shipment?"
Yellow Ironwood was a premium material for puppet shells—hard, durable, and highly malleable.
The mill owner replied:
"Yellow Ironwood is known as the 'Nail Killer'; even thin nails won't go in. All the Ironwood near this town was bought out by a major merchant. I heard that merchant has backing from the Hidden Sand."
Nara Umeka had obtained the intelligence she wanted.
Crucial intel is often hidden in the details. Back when she was a strategist in the Hokage Building, she had analyzed an interesting trend: whenever the demand for rice balls delivered to the Forest of Death increased, it proved the Anbu were preparing for a major operation.
Anbu ninja didn't eat soldier pills when they were at base; thus, rice balls wrapped with meat or fish became their favorite extra meal. She called it the "Anbu Rice Ball Coefficient"—the more rice balls, the harder the mission.
She had told Clan Head Shikaku about this observation, and he had praised her while warning her never to speak of it outside, as it involved Anbu secrets.
Now, forced deep into the Land of Wind and fleeing for her life, the sight of two carts of Yellow Ironwood led her to judge that the Hidden Sand might be planning a major military venture—specifically one involving puppeteers.
Hidden Sand puppets were typically built with steel skeletons and shells of hardwoods like Yellow Ironwood. Based on the abnormal sales, she suspected the Sand was organizing a military gamble centered on their puppeteer units.
Nara Umeka's mind raced, though her face remained neutral. She said, "Yellow Ironwood is so expensive. I wonder when I'll have the capital to join that trade."
The moment the words left her mouth, the sand on the ground suddenly burst open.
The spray of sand obscured her vision as a kunai with a purple-tinged tip lunged toward her abdomen.
Umeka leaped back instantly, narrowly dodging the poison-tipped strike. Upon landing, she immediately began forming hand signs, intending to use her Shadow Secret Technique to trap the pursuer and find an opening to escape.
However, the sound of breaking air came from behind her.
Two snake-like puppets erupted from a pile of timber behind her. Poisonous blades extended from the snakes' mouths, aiming straight for her back.
Umeka turned, wanting her shadow to strike backward to seize the shadow of the snake puppets.
But she was a step too late.
She only managed to trap one snake. The other was moving at extreme speed and was unavoidable. she watched helplessly as the kunai lunged toward her shoulder.
Clang!
Following a crisp metallic ring, Umeka saw a large hand pressed against her shoulder. The poison blade of the snake puppet had struck that hand.
Against that reddish-bronze back of the hand, the tip of the kunai snapped off.
"Copper Fox?"
She hadn't expected Shikaku to send Copper Fox to save her. Copper Fox was a rising star on the Land of Rivers battlefield, his fame growing daily.
Pushing against Umeka's back, Yagami said, "Follow me."
White Sheep had located the puppeteer hiding in the shadows and was launching a fierce attack to buy the others time to escape.
The Leaf party fled quickly. Following behind Copper Fox, Nara Umeka felt a wave of relief, knowing she was finally safe.
Once they escaped the town, Yagami said, "Let's go, Jonin Umeka. We'll return to the camp as quickly as possible."
However, Nara Umeka shook her head.
"No. Right now, there is something more important than our lives. The anomaly in the Yellow Ironwood market concerns the movements of the Sand's elite puppeteers. I suspect the Hidden Sand is sending a large force of elite puppeteers to launch a surprise attack on our front-line troops. We must track the flow of this wood to determine their gathering point and direction of travel."
Most Leaf ninja possessed a strong sense of martyrdom. When faced with danger, their first thought wasn't flight, but dying for the village.
Umeka's choice surprised Yagami, significantly changing his impression of her. He had previously assumed she was a pampered elite of a great clan, but he hadn't expected her to have such courage.
'Where did she get this bravery? Wait... did I give it to her?'
After a slight hesitation, Yagami said, "Fine. You formulate the investigation plan. We will be responsible for protecting you."
He couldn't go against the Leaf's political grain.
Nara Umeka was quite certain the Anbu would follow her lead and didn't find it surprising.
The group hid outside the town and waited for a long time until a camel caravan appeared. Over twenty camels left the town, each laden with five heavy logs of Yellow Ironwood.
After following the caravan for several days, Umeka noted, "The stamina of those merchants is incredible. They don't look like ordinary civilians at all; they're likely ninja in disguise."
Yagami, meanwhile, was calculating the time.
In the middle of nowhere, with no town in sight, he couldn't let this month's gacha go to waste. Who should he choose for the draw?