Minato's Decision

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"I see... I have a rough understanding of what happened." The man with blond hair and blue eyes, known as the Yellow Flash-Minato Namikaze!

Minato was Team 8's supervising Jonin. Kakashi, known as Konoha's number one genius, was one of his students, and Minato himself was powerful enough that, even though Team 8 was a newly formed rookie squad, Konoha felt comfortable entrusting them with the B-Rank Mission of patrolling the border.

The sharp-eyed Minato discovered traces of ninja activity at the border. Confident in his considerable skills, he ventured alone into Stone Ninja territory to gather intelligence.

After tracking and investigating them repeatedly, Minato did discover unusual movements among the Stone Ninja. He promptly attacked a lone Stone Ninja and interrogated him, but, unexpectedly, the Stone Ninja Minato had captured alive detonated the Explosive Tags on his body without a word. If Minato hadn't been quick on his feet, he would almost certainly have been caught in the blast.

An opponent who would defend his intelligence to the death was worthy of admiration. That was Minato's first impression. Then he went to catch a second one, who also blew himself up. Feeling even more admiration, Minato went after a third, and he blew himself up too. At that point, Minato sensed something was wrong. It wasn't that he looked down on the Stone Ninja, but if every one of them were so brave, Konoha wouldn't have kept them firmly under its thumb in every major war. There had to be some trick to it.

Having failed to gather any intelligence, Minato returned to rejoin Kakashi and the others, and learned that the Stone Ninja Explosion Corps had infiltrated the area.

Team 9's reinforcements had arrived, but their supervising Jonin, Inoichi Yamanaka, had gone down.

"Inoichi fell into a Genjutsu trap?" Minato was clearly quite surprised. What level of Genjutsu could ensnare someone versed in secret Yin Release techniques?

While Minato pondered, Shunren suddenly spoke up. "Minato-sensei, please give the order to let us escort Inoichi-sensei safely back to Konoha."

Kakashi glared at him from the side and said coldly, "Watch your words. Minato-sensei is commanding the team now. Superiors give orders to subordinates. Since when do subordinates give orders to superiors?"

"What did you say?!" The hot-tempered Kurenai flew into a rage. "Are you saying we should just stand here and watch Inoichi-sensei lie there like this?"

Obito chimed in. "Yeah, he's worried about his teacher. Kakashi, what you said was too heartless..."

"Rules are absolute!" Kakashi remained as rigid as ever.

Shunren couldn't be bothered to argue with him and simply turned his gaze to Minato. He knew the man would definitely make the right choice.

"You have a wonderful relationship with your teacher." Minato smiled faintly and said gently, "The mission isn't over yet, but we can't just stand by and watch a comrade die. So, from now on, we'll have to split up. Obito, Rin, and Kurenai, you three will escort Inoichi back to Konoha for treatment and report the situation here to Lord Hokage."

"Huh? Why us? Shouldn't our friends from Team 9..." Obito asked, puzzled.

"Obito, I believe you can protect them and bring them back to Konoha. Rin knows Medical Ninjutsu and can stabilize the wounded person's condition for the time being. Kurenai, I hear you're a Genjutsu ninja, so I'm counting on you for medium- and long-range support," Minato explained.

Obito's face immediately lit up. "Don't worry, Minato-sensei! I'll complete the mission!"

Kurenai looked at Shunren and Shizune, then nodded solemnly, indicating that she would protect their teacher.

"That settles it. Let's split up!"

Shunren narrowed his eyes slightly. Clever as he was, he could hear the true meaning behind Minato's orders.

Faced with the Stone Ninja's strange movements, they clearly couldn't retreat. Moreover, after they had taken out the Stone Ninja's Explosion Corps, the Stone Ninja were bound to react strongly. Thus, they had to leave enough fighting strength at the border.

Team A,

Escort Inoichi back to Konoha and report the latest situation here to the village. Obito had a special status as a member of the Uchiha Clan and couldn't be allowed to die here so casually.

Kurenai's Genjutsu was good, but she didn't have much Chakra and lacked the means to protect herself. Staying behind would only mean getting in the way.

Rin knew Medical Ninjutsu and was needed to keep Inoichi's condition stable.

Team B would stay behind to deal with the Stone Ninja's actions.

Kakashi went without saying; he was the only Chunin among them. He was staying because they needed his fighting strength.

Shunren: from the mission report just now, Minato also knew he possessed special combat abilities. He was staying because they needed his fighting strength.

Shizune had no special status and no particular abilities. She could be used as cannon fodder.

That was Shunren's analysis of Minato's thinking, and it stirred something in him. In his previous life, Minato Namikaze had been a character he loved: sunny, handsome, and capable. But now that he had actually met him, Shunren understood that even Minato, known as the sunny little angel, had a decisive side.

Shunren didn't hate Minato for it. He knew that these were qualities a decision-maker needed, and the orders Minato had just given were also entirely correct.

It was just that his perfect impression of Minato had changed.

This was reality.

Iwagakure, the Tsuchikage's bunker.

"Can someone tell me what's going on?!" The short old man was unleashing a terrifying fury.

"Lord Tsuchikage, Gari led his squad into the Land of Fire without authorization and attacked a civilian village. They were then wiped out by Konoha Ninja who arrived after hearing the news. Uh... Lord Tsuchikage, wasn't that your order?"

"Huh? Do you think I'm so old that my eyes have gone dim? Why would I attack a civilian village for no reason? If we're going to attack, we should attack a camp where Konoha's forces are stationed!" Wily old fox that he was, the Tsuchikage quickly suppressed his anger and said in a low voice.

"Could this be a Konoha plot? Did they deliberately stage the village massacre, then use it as an excuse to attack our Explosion Corps?"

"That would be an act of war!" the Tsuchikage said calmly. "According to the spy I planted in Konoha, they aren't fully prepared for war yet. Besides, given Hiruzen's current character, this village massacre doesn't seem like his handiwork."

The Tsuchikage was no fool. He had already begun to sense that someone was deliberately trying to drive a wedge between them and Konoha. Though invading Konoha was part of the Stone Ninja's grand strategy, they weren't fully prepared for all-out war at present either. He said in a low voice, "In any case, there must be something suspicious about this. Send word to the forces at the border: tell them not to act rashly for now. They're to investigate the cause before deciding what to do."

"Report! Lord Tsuchikage, terrible news!"

"Why all this commotion? What happened now?"

"Jonin Kurogane falsely claimed to be acting on your orders and led five armored units from headquarters into the Land of Fire!"