Continue the Mission

"Lady Kushina?"

Kushina's three companions were also somewhat stunned. What was going on?

When had Kushina created a Shadow Clone? How had they not noticed at all?

The Akatsuki members surrounding the four Konoha ninja were equally puzzled.

They had not noticed any other ninja outside the perimeter just now. How had this Kushina clone appeared inside the encirclement? Could it really have been the Shadow Clone Kushina had just created?

When Kushina Uzumaki saw that Minato Namikaze had arrived, she finally let out a breath of relief.

What she had feared most was that Minato Namikaze would not arrive in time. Now that he was here, she felt a little more secure.

"Grab my hand!"

After Kushina held out her hand to her other three companions, they decisively grabbed on. Minato Namikaze did not hesitate either, placing a hand on Kushina's shoulder. The four of them and one Shadow Clone instantly vanished from Akatsuki's encirclement.

To avoid seeming too absurdly powerful, Minato did not teleport them very far away.

"Let's go. The mission target hired Akatsuki, a rogue ninja organization that includes Orochimaru. We need to revise our plan. It would be best to postpone the mission."

Although Kushina had not gathered intelligence in the Ninja World herself, she still possessed the necessary understanding.

For example, Anju had specifically told her to keep an eye on Akatsuki. During the war between Kumogakure and Iwagakure, Akatsuki had even served as Iwagakure's mercenaries.

Their strength was formidable, and their counter-reconnaissance abilities were so powerful that ten thousand Iwagakure shinobi had penetrated deep into the Land of Lightning, coming within a hundred kilometers of Kumogakure before being discovered.

Now that Akatsuki had appeared in this mission, it clearly could not be treated as an easy assignment.

What Kushina failed to notice was that her three companions were even more interested in her Shadow Clone.

They kept asking Kushina how she had learned Flying Thunder God, and they were also puzzled as to why she had not used the Flying Thunder God Technique earlier.

What could Kushina possibly say?

She did not know Flying Thunder God. The one who knew it was Minato Namikaze's Chakra.

"Alright, everyone. We're still in the Land of Rain and haven't left the danger zone, so let's retreat first."

Anju, inside Kushina's Sealing Space, knew that the rain in the Land of Rain was mixed with Deva Path Pain's Rain Tiger at Will Technique. If Pain wanted to find them, he truly could do so.

Thus, Anju immediately reminded Kushina to keep retreating.

They could not remain exposed in a dangerous area.

Kushina was not overly worried about this. With Minato around, they could quickly retreat using Flying Thunder God. Being able to advance to attack and retreat to defend was the proper path.

Anju was also desperately eager for Kushina to leave from within her Sealing Space.

"Kushina, this mission is too dangerous. I suggest you return to Konoha and abandon it."

"Anju, as a ninja, I can't abandon a mission just because it's dangerous. That would cause serious problems for the ninja village's reputation."

Kushina rarely talked back to Anju.

Anju naturally prioritized survival for his own sake, but Kushina was different.

For Naruto, and for the Uchiha who trusted her, she had already begun considering the Hokage election. If she wanted to compete for Hokage, she truly could not abandon this mission.

Anju could not help cursing the Third Hokage for being shameless.

He would use any means necessary against the younger generation. He had assigned such a dangerous mission to a Hokage candidate, making it impossible for the candidate to give up.

After all, the mission requirements for the Hokage election allowed mission failures, but not abandoned missions.

If even the Hokage abandoned missions, what would clients think?

It was as if the Third Hokage had openly told her: either complete the mission, or give up the mission and withdraw from the Hokage election.

Was that even a choice?

Anju was helpless as well.

He was not Kushina. He could only provide Chakra to Kushina and Minato Namikaze; beyond that, he could not interfere.

He could not possibly fall out with Kushina too. Otherwise, Anju would truly become Kushina's pet fox.

"Minato! Can you secretly enter the city, kill the mission target directly, and bring him back?"

Anju transmitted his voice to Minato Namikaze. He had already done all he could to persuade Kushina.

"No. The mission is to recover the property. Killing that noble is easy, but finding his assets is the key."

Minato Namikaze was troubled as well. He knew Kushina's situation was difficult, especially since he had encountered an enemy he struggled to handle. Neither his Sealing Jutsu nor Flame Sun Courage could inflict significant damage on that enemy.

Or rather, he was being countered.

Unless he could use the Flying Thunder God Technique, he had no way to deal with that ninja who used attraction and repulsion.

Elsewhere, Orochimaru and the other three were also frustrated. The duck that had already been cooked had flown away. Their encirclement had been completed, yet the other side used Flying Thunder God to escape with everyone. Who could accept that?

At that moment, a Pitcher Plant Monster appeared nearby. "Wait here. The leader will arrive soon."

The four were not particularly surprised. Their targets had entered the Land of Rain, and the bounty was so high that Akatsuki would naturally handle it seriously.

Soon, six Pains in red cloud black background cloaks arrived from the sky.

"It doesn't matter that this ambush failed. They have not left the Land of Rain, so we can prepare another net.

"Also, these scrolls are specifically designed to counter Space-Time Ninjutsu. They were provided by the client. Once Kushina Uzumaki is surrounded, place these scrolls nearby to restrict the enemy's use of Space-Time Ninjutsu to escape."

At that moment, Orochimaru picked up a scroll. After examining it for a few moments, he immediately recognized which ninja village had made it.

Orochimaru recognized one type of raw scroll material produced only by Konoha, and some of the markings also bore Konoha's commonly used character habits.

This was difficult to avoid. After all, every ninja village had different techniques, and their scroll-making quality varied. The raw materials and craftsmanship they used also differed.

Orochimaru had served in Anbu under the Third Hokage, joined Root, and conducted human experiments. He had extensive experience dealing with scrolls.

"Leader, Kushina has the Flying Thunder God Technique. Once she senses something is wrong, she may leave immediately. We may not be able to surround them. The moment they discover us, they'll flee."

"Don't worry. Zetsu will conceal your presences."

After Pain spoke, Zetsu nodded to show that he understood.

"Go."

After Pain spoke, Orochimaru and the others nodded and chased after them into the distance.

Konoha.

Hokage Office.

The four elders gathered once more.

"Hiruzen! Root urgently needs funding. Damn Akatsuki is demanding far too much!"

Shimura Danzō bluntly demanded an increase in funding.

"Danzo, don't go too far. Akatsuki raised their price because you had conflicts with them before. I already forced the price down, and we even had to include quite a few scrolls."

Mitokado Homura was unwilling to indulge Danzo anymore. He had been the one to make contact with Akatsuki this time, because Danzo could not show his face.

Even so, Akatsuki had still demanded an outrageous price. Fortunately, they had offset part of it with a large number of scrolls. Otherwise, the payment would have been even more absurd.

The most critical issue was that Shimura Danzō had a conflict with Akatsuki, so Akatsuki had added an additional charge.

Utatane Koharu was displeased as well.

After all, those scrolls had been taken from her. They had originally been meant to deal with the Masked Man, but now they had all been given to Akatsuki. She would have to make new scrolls again.

"Danzo, where are your spies in the Land of Rain? Why is there not even the slightest intelligence from the Land of Rain? We can't even find out what's happening now. I think Root's funding needs to be reduced!"

Sarutobi Hiruzen was also deeply dissatisfied. Several times he had asked Danzo, only for Danzo to say that he had no intelligence regarding the Land of Rain.

"After the Third Shinobi World War, it became impossible to establish an intelligence network in the Land of Rain. Perhaps the Demigod in the Land of Rain has some other methods."

Danzo defended himself. "Besides, maintaining that network would be expensive. I don't know why the Demigod did this, so things have remained peaceful until now."

"So there is no Konoha intelligence network in the Land of Rain?"

"That's right."

"Hmph. Danzo, I'll settle this matter with you later. For now, let's begin the meeting."

"Uchiha..."

The four elders continued their meeting. Regarding the situation in the Land of Rain, they all felt they could relax a little. Since Akatsuki had taken the money, they would do the job.

Without intelligence, there was no point in discussing it further.