"Pick up the pace, or I'm leaving you behind."
Several figures raced through the forest. It was Soji and his group.
After their battle with Minato Namikaze yesterday, they had gone to rest early.
The next day, as soon as dawn broke, they got up and began their journey back to the village.
Running at the front was the most impatient one among them, Uchiha Homura, and he was also the one urging them on.
"Homura, do you really need to be in such a hurry? At our current pace, we should arrive in half an hour at most," Soji said helplessly, well aware of Homura's impatience.
"Hehe, Homura probably just wants to get back to the village sooner so he can eat Ichiraku Ramen," Kushina Uzumaki teased.
"It's been more than half a year since we last returned to Konoha for supplies. I wonder how the village is doing... and when Jiraiya-sensei will be back."
Jiraiya had been gone for two years since they joined the Ninja World War, and Minato Namikaze was deeply worried because there had been no news of him.
"Don't worry, Minato. With Jiraiya-sensei's strength, as long as the Kage-level powerhouses from the other villages don't make a move, he won't be in danger. Even if he encounters a Kage-level opponent, Jiraiya-sama can still retreat safely," Kushina Uzumaki reassured Minato Namikaze.
Hearing Kushina Uzumaki's reassurance, Minato Namikaze smiled and nodded.
Though he was still worried, Minato also felt that she made sense, so he said nothing more.
Half an hour later, they finally saw Konoha's towering gates.
Filled with excitement, they entered one after another.
The ones guarding Konoha's gates were not yet Izumo Kamizuki and Kotetsu Hagane. Those two were still infants barely over a year old.
"Halt! Who goes there? Stop where you