Yōkō returned to the previous full moon night.
Yakushi Nonō was demonstrating the 'Hip Narrowing' aspect of her disguise secret technique.
So tight.
Amidst Yōkō's 'broken halberd sunk in the sand' – a metaphor for his failed attempt or setback – he and Yakushi Nonō reached a Deep Alliance.
A very deep Deep Alliance, no longer the state of mutual utilization from before.
Clearly, Yakushi Nonō was quite satisfied with this depth.
After seeing Yakushi Nonō off, Yōkō finally looked at his reward.
[Mochizuki's Arc activated!
The host has only one resurrection opportunity per month, reviving on the previous full moon night upon death.
Reward: One lottery draw opportunity:
1 - B-Rank Nin-Taijutsu: Lightning Sword Technique;
2 - Storm Release Kekkei Genkai (Average);
3 - B-Rank Lightning Release: Lightning Body Flicker (Proficient).]
The first option, B-Rank Lightning Release: Lightning Sword Technique, was eliminated first by Yōkō.
He didn't need such a close-combat taijutsu. He had many offensive methods, and the Lightning Sword Technique wouldn't bring him significant improvement.
The second option, Storm Release Kekkei Genkai.
This ability was indeed very rare.
Darui in the original story possessed the Storm Release Kekkei Genkai and performed quite well in the Fourth Great Ninja War.
He had tested Darui's Storm Release. It was rare enough, but its power was average.
Rarity also meant Yōkō would find it difficult to purify the Storm Release Kekkei Genkai to a sufficiently refined level. In the long run, this Kekkei Genkai was rather mediocre.
His collection of fragmented Six Paths-related Kekkei Genkai was sufficient; he'd pass on Storm Release.
The third option, B-Rank Lightning Release: Lightning Body Flicker.
The Lightning attribute was Yōkō's 5th attribute. His speed of refining Lightning Release chakra wasn't as fast as Earth and Water. Using Lightning Release as a main offensive method wouldn't be smooth.
But using Lightning Release as an auxiliary ability was quite excellent.
The Lightning Body Flicker would greatly enhance his minor identity, White Ghost.
The minor identity White Ghost already possessed the Silent Body Flicker Technique. If he added the Lightning Body Flicker on top of that, the minor identity's Body Flicker ability would be tremendously upgraded.
Assassination, covert kills, strike successfully once, then vanish instantly – this was the ability White Ghost needed most urgently.
Yōkō chose the third option, B-Rank Lightning Release: Lightning Body Flicker (Proficient).
Many Kumo-nin mastered the Lightning Body Flicker. He could try his luck finding another Lightning Body Flicker expert to 'draw a prize' from, perhaps even raising it to Mastery.
Mastery-level jutsu were all great treasures.
Yōkō formed a single hand seal and tried it out.
Lightning Release chakra gathered at his calves and feet, the chakra stimulating his muscles and nerves, allowing them to accumulate powerful force.
He instantly sprang from his original position, quickly appearing in the distance.
After experimenting for over ten minutes, Yōkō roughly figured out the characteristics of this technique.
This technique was based on the taijutsu Body Flicker Technique, replacing the ordinary chakra gathered at the feet with Lightning Release chakra.
Stimulating specific chakra pathways and muscles allowed the legs to possess greater explosive power.
Using this jutsu, he quickly returned to the main camp. Yōkō once again informed Hatake Sakumo that he had interrogated the location of the Kumo-nin camp.
This time the location was very precise, no longer just a general area.
"Sakumo-sama, I have extreme confidence in my interrogation techniques and can guarantee the accuracy of the intelligence. The Kumo-nin camp is definitely in that valley."
Several staff officers secretly clicked their tongues.
The ANBU squad captain was a top representative of Konoha's dark ninja. Under the squad captain's interrogation techniques, bones could be finely crushed and then kneaded piece by piece back into the flesh.
The thought alone made their scalps tingle.
Seeing Fox so determined, Hatake Sakumo immediately said, "Good! We'll launch a surprise attack on the Kumo-nin command post!"
Hatake Sakumo and Yōkō led the team – the White Ram Squad and three elite squads – straight towards the cloud-shrouded valley.
Reaching the base of the valley, Hatake Sakumo made the same decision: they could not rashly enter the valley. The four squads climbed up the mountain on the west side of the valley.
The Kumo-nin possessed some unknown sensory ninjutsu and detected the Konoha assault force in advance.
This time, Darui brought eight squads to the mountaintop.
Leader versus leader. Upon seeing Konoha's White Fang, Darui instantly charged forward.
Yōkō, meanwhile, spread out with the White Ram Squad.
Seeing Captain Fox nod at him, White Ram directed the squad members to take their positions.
"Combination Jutsu! Don't hold back!"
Everyone secretly activated their Cross Seals.
In the future, the White Ram Squad would become famous for their chakra reserves and combination jutsu.
The secret of the Cross Seal could not be leaked, but having large chakra reserves wasn't particularly unusual.
White Ram had learned Wind Release: Great Breakthrough, which could quickly deliver the 'insects' (likely a metaphor for the fire jutsu or another attack) to the enemy.
The other squad members used Fire Release.
Darui had just dodged White Fang's terrifying blade aura when he suddenly felt a bright light from the side.
The mountaintop clouds blocked the sunlight, making the area originally gloomy, but it abruptly brightened up.
Five consecutive sets of Wind-Fire combination jutsu appeared on Darui's flank.
At that moment, the Kumo-nin felt as if they were witnessing an erupting volcano.
The subsequently released fire dragons were accelerated by White Ram's progressively strengthening Wind Release,merging with the fire dragons in front.
Finally, the ANBU squad created a massive Fire Release: Dragon Fire Technique over a hundred meters long and dozens of meters wide.
The scale of this jutsu wasn't shabby even among Elite Jōnin.
Faced with the terrifying fire dragon, three Kumo-nin squads struggled and leaped away.
However, no matter how high or far they jumped, they were all within the fire dragon's attack range, and were swallowed by the terrifying flames.
In just the first encounter, three Kumo-nin squads were wiped out.
The three squads didn't even get a chance to display their abilities, dying tragically in the sea of fire.
The heat wave even knocked over another Kumo-nin squad nearby.
The Kumo-nin squad leader, after rolling on the ground, scrambled up and shouted:
"They must be at the end of their rope! Extracting chakra so recklessly will definitely exhaust them!"
He led his squad charging towards Yōkō and the others.
This person still thought the ANBU squad was at a critical moment of catching their breath.
Unfortunately, the White Ram Squad's massive jutsu didn't use their own extracted chakra at all.
White Ram drew his kunai and commanded, "Don't rush. Feign weakness with taijutsu first, then find an opportunity to burst forth and eliminate another squad."
Seeing the ANBU squad and the Kumo-nin squad engaged in melee, Darui, after dodging a slash from White Fang, hurriedly shouted, "Fall back!"
Darui could tell that the ANBU squad hadn't expended much.
They were definitely not exhausted!
Darui was at a disadvantage against Konoha's White Fang. If an expert like Copper Fox finished cleaning up the Kumo-nin squads and he found himself surrounded by both of them, defeat was inevitable.
While the ANBU squad and the Kumo-nin squad were in the midst of their chaotic fight, those ANBU ninja suddenly erupted. After several consecutive jutsu, they defeated the Kumo-nin squad.
What followed was the harvest with taijutsu.
Yōkō nodded repeatedly; the White Ram Squad's performance was excellent.
He hadn't even taken action yet, and the White Ram Squad had already eliminated four enemy squads.
With the Cross Seal as their trump card, the White Ram Squad's combat power had increased dramatically.
The remaining four Kumo-nin squads were fighting the squads brought by Sakumo.
Shinma was leading one squad, and he felt everything was somewhat unreal.
Why was it that when he dealt with one squad, he couldn't resolve it quickly and even found the Kumo-nin squad quite strong?
Was the gap between him and a Jōnin really that big?
Why was the ANBU captain wearing the white ram mask so much stronger than him?
Weren't there supposed to be few ANBU Jōnin? Why was that ANBU squad's jutsu prowess so powerful?
Were Konoha's elites just that elite?
Yet Shinma was trading blows evenly with the Kumo-nin squad leader.
Just as Yōkō freed up his focus and prepared to join forces with Sakumo to deal with Darui, more Kumo-nin leaped out from the valley.
They were too close to the Kumo-nin command post. With the battle going poorly, the Kumo-nin immediately sent reinforcements.
***
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(Chapter End)