Minato's Team 8

"Kurenai, Shizune, are you all right?" Having recovered, Shunren returned to the meeting place.

He looked around and saw that yesterday's battlefield had already been cleaned up.

Making the two girls clean up the corpses wasn't a pretty sight.

Kurenai and Shizune both looked awful, but neither threw a spoiled young lady's tantrum. They were both smart and naturally understood why Inoichi had made them do it.

"Hmph! Keep your unnecessary worries to yourself," Kurenai said, putting on a tough front. "Whatever Shunren can do, I can do too!"

Shizune, on the other hand, looked conflicted. "Sorry, I'm still not used to these things..." she said quietly.

"I see." Shunren made no comment on either Kurenai's or Shizune's reaction. As he saw it, the two girls were still young, so it was only natural for them to resist it or be unused to it.

"By the way, where's Inoichi-sensei? Hasn't he come back yet?"

"Inoichi-sensei, he..."

Before she could finish, all three suddenly fell silent.

Inoichi's voice came directly into their minds...

The three exchanged glances and immediately understood that Inoichi was sending them a message from a distance.

"Emergency! We've received an urgent message from the village. It's an A-Rank Mission! Shunren, Kurenai, Shizune, this mission is too dangerous for you, so you may now choose whether to participate."

Inoichi's message was brief, but the words "A-Rank Mission" alone were enough to make anyone hesitate. Shunren and the other two all paled; clearly, they knew exactly what such a mission meant. Escorting merchant caravans and subduing bandits, missions that did not involve fighting ninja, were C-Rank Missions. B-Rank Missions involved fights with individual ninja. A-Rank Missions reached the scale of group battles involving multiple ninja.

Shunren and the others were merely rookies who had just become Genin. During one little C-Rank Mission, a moment of carelessness had nearly cost Kurenai and Shizune their lives, let alone an A-Rank Mission.

"I'm going!" Kurenai said through clenched teeth. "I'm a Konoha Ninja!"

Shizune cast aside her earlier timidity and said with a resolute look, "Team 9 is a unit. If our teacher is going, how can we back down?"

"Inoichi-sensei, I still have many questions about Sensory Techniques that I'd like to ask you." Reason told Shunren he shouldn't take part in the A-Rank Mission before them, but Kurenai and Shizune had both insisted on going, so he had no reason to back down alone. Besides, Inoichi had taught him everything he knew, and Shunren had taken that kindness to heart.

"Good! Since you're all that determined, follow me! The situation is urgent, so I've already gone on ahead. The location is the Land of Fire's northwestern border. I'll send you the mission details once I've put together the information we have so far!"

Team 9 set out!

A short while later, Inoichi transmitted the information into Shunren's and the other two's minds. The mental link then broke, probably because Inoichi had picked up his pace and moved out of the Mind Transmission Technique's range.

Shunren narrowed his eyes slightly and thought, Has what was bound to come finally come?

Mission rank: A

Mission type: Reinforcement

Mission summary: While patrolling the northwestern border, Konoha's Team 8 discovered signs of enemy ninja activity. An investigation identified the enemy as Stone ninja, and they were numerous. The team requested reinforcements from the village.

A nation's shinobi village had sent a sizable ninja force to invade another country. The situation was undeniably serious, especially since the enemy were Stone ninja from one of the Five Great Shinobi Villages, and this was a sensitive time when undercurrents were surging through the Shinobi World. Whether this was merely a military provocation by the Stone ninja or an act of war was still unclear.

The Konoha Team 8 carrying out the border patrol consisted of Kakashi Hatake, Obito Uchiha, and Rin Nohara. Their Jonin leader was Minato Namikaze.

After receiving Minato's request, the Konoha authorities immediately mobilized a ninja force, but distant water could not put out a nearby fire.

As it happened, Konoha's Team 9 was nearby on a mission to subdue bandits, so Konoha ordered the Jonin Inoichi Yamanaka to reinforce them ahead of the others. Inoichi's excellent intelligence-gathering abilities would also allow him to quickly collect information from the front lines. ...

A small village on the Land of Fire's northwestern border.

"I'm going to take a look at the Land of Earth's border. You continue the patrol." Even knowing full well that large numbers of ninja were active on the Land of Earth's border, he still said he would venture alone into the enemy's rear to gather intelligence. This was Konoha's Yellow Flash, Minato Namikaze!

"Then I'm going with you, Minato-sensei!" Obito was a newborn calf unafraid of tigers; he still didn't truly understand how serious the situation was.

Kakashi, standing nearby, said coldly, "For a ninja, a superior's orders to a subordinate are absolute!"

"You're always going on about orders this and orders that, Kakashi!" Obito said in protest.

Kakashi glanced at Obito with contempt. "Those who don't obey their mission are trash."

Obito was about to flare up. "You-!"

"All right, you two, stop arguing." Rin continued to act as the team's mediator. Being attentive, she knew how dangerous it would be for Minato to infiltrate enemy territory now, and she said worriedly, "Minato-sensei, isn't it too dangerous for you to go on a reconnaissance mission alone?"

"Thank you for your concern, but please have faith in your teacher." Minato smiled faintly. Then his tone changed, and he said gravely, "While I'm away, command of the team will go to Kakashi..."

At that, Obito immediately shouted in protest, "What? How can you make this guy the captain?"

"Because I'm a Chunin, and you're a Genin," Kakashi said coldly.

"I... I'll become a Chunin soon too, just you wait!" Obito was momentarily at a loss for words, but he still stuck his neck out and shouted.

Minato watched them with concern, but the situation was urgent, and he had no other choice. He said gravely, "In any case, that's an order! Kakashi, I'm giving you the authority to make independent judgments based on the circumstances."

"Yes, sir," Kakashi replied, still like a machine.

Seeing how rigid Kakashi was, Minato was deeply worried. Kakashi had become a Chunin at a young age, and his talent and strength were beyond reproach. He was also composed and measured, with the makings of a great general, but the problem was that his thinking was too rigid, and he easily got stuck in a rut.

Obito was even more worrying. He was impatient, reckless, and impulsive. Though he was talented too, he lacked experience and tempering.

Rin was thoughtful and meticulous, and she had recently learned basic Medical Ninjutsu, allowing her to handle logistical support well. With her there, she could at least keep the conflict between Kakashi and Obito under control. But the problem was that, as a kunoichi, Rin was seriously lacking in the combat strength to protect herself. If anything happened to her, Team 8's teamwork would fall apart in an instant.

Minato's only hope now was that the reinforcements Konoha had sent would arrive as soon as possible.