Tobirama Senju had left.
His departure left Yujin truly heartbroken, to the point that he felt regretful for a long time afterward.
In Yujin's eyes, it wasn't just Tobirama Senju leaving—it was as if a living "Book of Seals" had abandoned him. Unfortunately, Tobirama ultimately belonged to the Senju clan, and Yujin couldn't monopolize him for personal use for too long.
Over the next month, the camp remained peaceful and uneventful.
No other ninjas accidentally intruded upon the area. Taking advantage of this rare tranquility, Yujin devoted nearly all of his energy to training in new jutsu.
He had to admit—Tobirama's guidance had been incredibly helpful. After mastering Water Release techniques, Yujin's combat style became far more versatile. His offensive capability improved, and his overall combat effectiveness rose significantly.
Thanks to Tobirama's detailed instruction in Water Release, Yujin had essentially mastered the beginner-level water-style jutsu he had been learning during the past month.
His mastery of the Rasengan had also reached what he considered a "twelve-year-old Naruto beginner level"—meaning he could use it in combat with the aid of a shadow clone.
That was already impressive. Advancing further with the Rasengan would prove much more difficult.
Aside from that, Yujin hadn't neglected his fundamental training. However, compared to his progress in ninjutsu, his basic physical training yielded very little.
His chakra quality and quantity had barely improved. It wasn't even a case of putting in twice the effort for half the result—it was worse than that.
This was largely due to the limitations of his bloodline. Counting on hard work alone was almost hopeless. Yujin could only place his hopes on a White Zetsu encounter—wishing he might one day have a once-in-a-lifetime meeting with one of them.
That day, after finishing his training, Yujin began to seriously consider whether it was time to leave the primeval forest.
On one hand, his strength had reached a decent level. As long as they didn't run into a large-scale conflict or an unexpectedly powerful enemy, the group had at least some means of self-preservation.
On the other hand, winter was approaching. Their supplies would only become more and more limited, and the cold would soon become a predictable but dangerous enemy. In such a situation, continuing to hide passively in the depths of the forest was clearly a bad idea.
But just as he was about to make a decision, a few startled cries from his clansmen interrupted his thoughts.
Yujin turned toward the source of the noise and saw two people running toward him in a panic.
"Captain! There's news from another clan member!"
"It's Chihori! We've found Chihori's summoning beast!"
Maybe they were flustered, or maybe just excited—someone had mistakenly addressed him as "clan leader" instead of "captain."
But this wasn't the time to fuss over details. Yujin quickly followed the two men, and they soon led him to a large tree not far from the camp.
There, a small ninja dog lay on its side. Its body was covered in horrific, deep wounds. It was in very bad shape, breathing fast and shallow.
"Just moments ago, one of the sentry ninja on duty spotted it and recognized it as Chihori's summoning beast from the Yujinmiya clan. After reporting it to camp, everyone confirmed its identity," one of them quickly explained.
This summoning dog was named Beiji—even Yujin recognized it.
"Can it be saved?" Yujin asked.
The poor dog had clearly been attacked while escaping. Its journey here must have been long and brutal, which only made its success all the more remarkable.
Still, it had fulfilled its mission.
No one answered Yujin's question—because the answer was plain to see. The dog had no chance of survival.
Yujin approached it, crouched down, and gently stroked its head.
Beiji seemed to recognize his scent. It struggled to raise its head and pressed its nose against Yujin's palm.
Then, it uncurled its tongue and spit out a small scroll.
Yujin picked it up and unrolled it. On it was a set of coordinates.
"It's a message from Chihori," Yujin said with certainty after reading the scroll.
The message was written in Morse code—a cipher he had taught to some of his clan members.
"Chihori? Is it really Chihori?"
"There's only a coordinate... What does that mean?"
"Isn't it obvious? It's a call for help."
"It's a distress signal, no doubt about it. Chihori's still alive."
"So... what should we do?"
This question brought a sudden silence over the confused crowd. Even if Beiji had delivered Chihori's cry for help... were they even capable of mounting a rescue?
One by one, the group turned to Yujin.
He said nothing. He simply pressed his palm against Beiji's head. Unknowingly, the dog's breathing grew fainter and fainter.
A nearby ninja had been fumbling to bandage Beiji's wounds, but his hands gradually stopped moving.
Beiji's chest no longer rose and fell. Its life had completely faded.
"Let's head back. We'll bury Beiji here... properly," Yujin said.
It was a bit ironic—in these chaotic times, the death of a ninja dog often moved people more deeply than the death of a person.
…
"Captain, this might be a trap set by an unknown enemy... At the very least, we can't rule that out."
Back at the camp, everyone began discussing the potential rescue.
Naturally, they all wanted to save their clanmate—but they couldn't afford to lose their heads. The risks involved in this situation couldn't be ignored.
"The cipher isn't foolproof. If Chihori was placed under a genjutsu, then it's possible the code was compromised," another ninja added.
"Don't forget—it's been months since we lost the village. This call for help... it's come rather late."
When their village was overrun, most of their people were slaughtered. A few managed to escape in scattered directions. If anyone besides the people at this camp had survived, they should've sent word long ago.
"Maybe they've only now been able to reach us."
Maybe it wasn't that they didn't want to contact them—but rather, that they couldn't. That was also a possibility.
Most of the group seemed reluctant to respond to the distress signal—it raised too many suspicions.
But Yujin knew that their words didn't match their hearts. Their emotions were at odds with their logic.
Humans are emotional creatures. The harsher the circumstances, the more precious certain bonds become.
Yujin raised his hand to stop the ongoing debate. He signaled for silence and then said:
"No matter what, this message really came from Chihori. We can't pretend we didn't see it."
"I've made my decision... we're going to launch a rescue mission."