At this moment, Uchiha Yuan was indeed hesitating about whether to teleport in directly.
The Mist ANBU had already lost one of his arms. Yuan thought that, with the advantage of his weapon, it might not be impossible to kill this guy.
But after all, the opponent was a Jōnin—and an ANBU at that. If he acted rashly, the enemy might seize an opportunity to kill him in one blow.
Just as Yuan was hesitating, Hyuga Asana and Yamanaka Kagetsu arrived.
Kagetsu linked the three of them mentally. Yuan asked in the shared mental space, "You're done over there?"
"Yeah, the enemy was a sensory-type ninja, just average Chūnin level. I could've handled him alone," Asana said.
"If it weren't for Kagetsu saying he wanted some training and dragging things out, I would've finished it earlier."
"I see."
"How's it going on your end?" Asana asked.
"I was up against a Jōnin. I'm almost out of chakra—probably only enough to cast two more jutsu. But he's in bad shape too. I disabled one of his arms, so he shouldn't be able to form hand seals now.
"You came just in time. That guy is behind the third tree ahead on the right. Asana, confirm his position with your Byakugan. Kagetsu, use your Mind Transfer Technique to take control of him. I'll go in and finish it."
"Got it," Asana replied and activated her Byakugan.
With feedback from their mental link, Kagetsu confirmed the Mist ANBU's position and immediately activated the Mind Transfer Technique.
The Mist ANBU was hiding behind a tree, gripping a kunai tightly and fully focused on guarding against a sneak attack from Yuan.
But Yuan and the others were communicating mentally, so he had no idea they had arrived.
Kagetsu unexpectedly released his spiritual energy and took over the Mist ANBU's body, forcing him to drop the kunai.
Clink— The moment the kunai hit the ground, Yuan used Body Flicker to appear in front of the Mist ANBU.
Kagetsu, upon seeing Yuan, immediately exited the ANBU's body.
The ANBU's awareness returned just in time to see the dazzling flash of a blade.
Whoosh— The blade gleamed, and the Mist ANBU's head flew into the air. The tree he was leaning against was also cleaved through.
Yuan exhaled in relief after confirming that the ANBU's corpse didn't dissolve into water or explode with lightning.
"Finally done!"
"Well done! You actually took down a Jōnin. Looks like you three can hold your own even without me," said Shibi Aburame, who had just finished off the other Mist ANBU and walked over.
"Sensei, you're exaggerating. We're still far from that level," said Kagetsu.
"And really, it was all Yuan. By the time we got here, he had already disabled that Mist ANBU's ability to form hand seals," Asana added.
"Okay, okay, enough with the compliments," Yuan said, stepping out of the forest.
He was covered in blood, chakra almost completely depleted, and in very poor shape—probably weak enough for even a Genin to take him down.
"Sensei, I think I need to rest a bit before continuing the mission," Yuan said.
"Then rest for an hour. Even if the Mist nin realize something's wrong here, it'll take them 2 to 3 hours to get here.
"Plus, since we wiped out this ANBU squad, there's likely no information leak," Shibi said.
"Sensei, why didn't the Mist assign more guards here? Or place someone stronger like a member of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen?" Asana asked as she helped Yuan sit down.
"Asana, you're underestimating the Mist ANBU. This ANBU squad—two Jōnin and one Chūnin sensory-type—wouldn't be easy for most elite Jōnin to defeat.
"Sure, a few elite Jōnin could take them down, but it would take time. And if they focused solely on escaping, even those elite Jōnin might not be able to stop them.
"How many elite Jōnin are there on the Bear Country front?
"Besides, Konoha usually sends recon teams for infiltration missions. The Mist knows this well—these teams usually consist of three Chūnin.
"Our team—a Jōnin with three Genin—wouldn't be seen as a threat. It's the standard setup for fresh ninja school graduates.
"Even if the sensei is an elite Jōnin, it wouldn't be enough to handle an ANBU squad like this.
"Also, the key reason is that after their last big defeat, the strength gap between the two sides isn't as wide as before.
"Even with the Fourth Mizukage and 20 ANBU, they can't overpower us with sheer strength.
"To win this war, the Mist has to go all out. Powerhouses like the Seven Ninja Swordsmen wouldn't be kept in the rear," Shibi explained.
Asana fell into thought after hearing this. Kagetsu nodded as if half-understood.
Yuan wasn't really listening. He'd taken a military ration pill and was focusing all his effort on recovery.
An hour later, Yuan was mostly back in shape.
Shibi ordered the team to move out again. First, they would place some explosive tags on the rear side of the mountain, then circle to the front.
The four quickly climbed to a point about 20 meters from the summit. Yuan had used his "Perception Reveal" and confirmed this was the weakest part of the mountain—placing tags here would be twice as effective with half the effort.
Although the Hyuga's Byakugan couldn't directly detect mountain weaknesses like Yuan's ability, they could still determine where the rock was thinnest.
So Asana had chosen this area as well, and the four of them placed 200 explosive tags there.
As night fell, they crossed over to the other side of the mountain and placed the remaining tags.
To ensure the mission's success, Yuan even used half of the explosive paper he'd obtained from the text game earlier.
From the game's descriptions, these papers seemed about as powerful as standard explosive tags.
But considering how tough those sheep characters from Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf were—especially the protagonists—Yuan figured these papers might be even stronger than regular tags.
So he stuck the explosive paper at the weak points and covered them with tags.
Once everything was in place, Shibi ordered the group to retreat—he would stay behind to detonate the explosives.
Yuan responded, "Sensei, you and Asana retreat with the others. I'll handle the detonation."
(To Be Continued...)