Illegal Encounters After Running Away (3)

"What? Kushina disappeared?"

News of the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki's disappearance was delivered to the Hokage through the fastest and safest channels. By the time it reached Minato Namikaze, who was carrying out a classified mission in the direction of Iwagakure, more than half a day had already passed.

Given the priority of the matter, Minato Namikaze immediately abandoned his mission and used Space-Time Ninjutsu to appear before the Third Hokage as quickly as possible.

"She didn't disappear. She was teleported away from the battlefield." In the Hokage Office, the Third Hokage still had his pipe clenched between his teeth, and his expression carried a hint of concern.

Had sending Kushina to the battlefield truly been a mistake? But who could have expected that she simply did not want to return to Konoha, and that Tsunade had covered for her?

"In any case, you're the only one who can find her quickly, Minato. Go to the Land of Wind immediately. Find Kushina as fast as possible, and once you do, you must bring her back to Konoha at once," the Third Hokage ordered.

Hopefully, nothing had happened to Kushina.

Well, compared to Kushina, Hagoromo was only a secondary concern—or perhaps no concern at all.

"I understand." Minato Namikaze nodded, then vanished from the office in the blink of an eye.

After several teleports, Minato appeared before Tsunade with almost no time wasted.

Yes, with the Flying Thunder God Technique, Minato Namikaze could freely travel between battlefields.

But this was not Minato's usual way of traveling. Using the Flying Thunder God for extremely long-distance teleportation placed a considerable burden on his body, but this was no time to worry about such trivial matters.

He was deeply, deeply worried about Kushina's safety.

"Minato, you're here."

The battle here had only just ended. The sudden appearance of someone made everyone extremely tense, but once they saw who it was, their tense expressions immediately relaxed.

"Tsunade-sama, what exactly happened? Where is Kushina?" Minato asked bluntly. Even the Yellow Flash could become quite anxious at times. As long as one was human, there would always be moments of irrationality.

"This is what happened..."

Tsunade did not waste words. She briefly explained the battle from the previous night to Minato Namikaze.

"Hagoromo did it? His judgment at the time wasn't bad." Minato said this because Hagoromo's judgment had indeed been correct. Kushina needed to be taken away from the battlefield then, but unfortunately, he could not use Space-Time Ninjutsu and could only leave in such a crude manner.

"I roughly understand the situation now. I don't think Kushina is in danger. Once I arrived here, I could sense the Flying Thunder God formula I left on her. I'll go take a look now."

As soon as Minato finished speaking, he flew away again without even waiting for Tsunade's reply.

The teleportation range of the Flying Thunder God was related to the chakra consumed with each use. Generally speaking, the farther the distance, the more chakra it consumed. But once a certain limit was exceeded, no matter how much additional chakra was used, the teleportation distance would not increase by even a single meter.

The same applied to Minato's ability to sense the formulas he had left behind. If they were too far away, he could not sense them.

That was why Minato had only sensed the formula he left on Kushina after arriving at this command center.

He vanished from the command center, then appeared in a rather strange space.

"The Land of Rain?"

Minato Namikaze instinctively judged the coordinates of his location, then saw Kushina.

"Kushina? Are you all right?"

Fortunately, Kushina appeared to be unharmed.

"Minato?"

In the relatively quiet surroundings, Kushina was startled by Minato's sudden appearance and sudden voice.

"Can't you give some warning before appearing next time? If I hadn't recognized your chakra, I would've attacked you just now."

People could be frightened to death by other people. Minato was certainly incomparably fast, but his appearances often startled others. Even Kushina, who knew him best, was occasionally startled by him.

Minato immediately gave a wry smile. That really was not something he could do.

"You weren't injured, were you?"

"Injured? No, but I used up too much chakra suppressing the Nine-Tails again earlier. Compared to me, though, Hagoromo..."

"How is Hagoromo?" To the Konoha Hokage and the higher-ups, finding Kushina was the highest priority, while Hagoromo was merely incidental. To Minato, Hagoromo was likewise nowhere near as important as Kushina. Still, Hagoromo was a Konoha ninja and Kushina's student, so Minato could not simply ignore him.

"I still don't know how Hagoromo is. We may have been separated when we arrived here. Even with my sensing ability, I still haven't found him. But he was badly injured on the battlefield before, so I'm a little worried about him. This space feels strange to me. It doesn't seem very safe."

Minato sighed inwardly. Judging by Kushina's tone, there was no way she would leave alone and abandon Hagoromo under these circumstances.

"I'll send you back to Konoha first. Leave finding Hagoromo to me." Still, he made his suggestion.

"How are you going to find him? We've never been here before, and we don't even know the terrain. Your sensing ability is clearly inferior to mine... I'll search for Hagoromo. He's my student. I can't just abandon him at a time like this."

Minato inwardly thought, Just as expected. Still, they were within enemy territory. It would be best to find Hagoromo as quickly as possible and leave as soon as they could.

After thinking for a moment, he said to Kushina, "Wait here for a little while. I'll be right back, and then we'll search for him together."

With that, Minato left the region with its strange terrain once more. He intended to return to the command center, explain the situation to Tsunade, and report that Kushina was safe so that Konoha would not worry too much.

Minato quickly made his report, then hurried back just as quickly.

Why was he in such a rush? Because he did not dare guarantee Kushina's patience. If he delayed even slightly, Kushina would definitely act before him.

"You're too slow, Minato!"

Even so, Minato Namikaze still received Kushina's complaint. In truth, he could guarantee that less than five minutes had passed from the time he left until he returned.

"I came back as quickly as I could. I had to explain everything properly to Tsunade-sama." Though he still had to explain himself, Minato felt no resistance to it. After all, people often had more than enough patience for the ones they loved.