Scouting Out the Enemy

Kurenai and Genma were quickly healed by Rin. Gentle and considerate, Rin even wrapped Kurenai's hand in a bandage and tied it into a pretty bow.

Seeing that Kurenai had a bow, Genma was naturally pleased. But it seemed he had suddenly been misunderstood, and as a result, he got one tied on him too...

Still, the bow seemed quite secure, and it was not really a problem. Once he ignored it, it remained perfectly convenient.

While treating them, Minato had not forgotten to draw a formation on the ground for everyone, carefully arranging their positions.

Seeing that Kurenai and Genma's injuries had been healed, Minato immediately gave the order.

"Alright, the scouting team will take the lead, while the support team follows behind. Everyone, move out!"

As Minato's words fell, the eight of them immediately departed in their assigned formation.

The scouting unit charged ahead in a wedge formation, and the support unit did the same, merely keeping a greater distance from the scouts.

The two teams moved at incredible speed and soon reached the woods near Rainbow Mist Mountain.

Minato made a gesture to halt, then turned around.

"The scouting team will gather intelligence with me. The support team is to remain on alert at all times. The moment you see an emergency signal, come provide support immediately."

"Yes!"

Once the order was given, Obito and the others did not advance another step, while Genma's group continued toward Rainbow Mist Mountain.

Since their opponents were ninja, scouting was naturally not a task for the weaker members. Yet even for those with considerable strength, they could still encounter extremely dangerous situations.

Thus, at the moment he left, Genma turned back and gave Kurenai a long look. By chance, he saw her reluctant, worry-filled gaze as well.

That was enough~

No longer lingering over it, Genma steadied his emotions and walked with even greater resolve.

They soon arrived at the foot of the mountain. All four began to move covertly, slowly drawing closer, but before long, Minato stopped them from advancing again.

"Though the mountain is large enough, we are already at the maximum sensing range of ordinary sensory ninja. We cannot go any farther. Next, we'll need less conspicuous Summoning Beasts to gather intelligence. Roku, you'll join us as well."

After speaking, Minato bit his finger and used Summoning Jutsu. The masked man called "Roku," who was actually Kakashi, did the same.

Two clouds of smoke appeared and vanished, revealing eight Summoning Beasts before them.

More precisely, four toads and four dogs.

Upon seeing the dogs, Genma became even more certain that the white-haired masked man was Kakashi.

"Yo, there sure are a lot of people. Roku, what do you need us to do?"

A short-legged dog standing atop the other dogs looked at Kakashi with a grin.

"Minato, what's this for? Why didn't you summon my older brothers?"

A completely crimson toad wore a resentful expression, making Minato scratch his head awkwardly.

"Gamachū, sorry about that. Since we need to scout, I need you youngsters who haven't reached adulthood yet to help out. But if you run into danger, make sure you return to Mount Myōboku immediately~"

Gamachū lowered his head, then turned to the three other toads that had been summoned behind him.

"If you encounter danger, make sure to run right away. Understood?"

"Yes!!"

The three little toads answered in unison, their voices tinged with excitement.

Seeing that there were no problems on Gamachū's side, Minato turned to Kakashi's dogs. Having witnessed the conversation between Minato and the toads, Pakkun, the shortest-legged one, stood up.

"We understand too. Just tell us exactly how you want us to scout!"

"Alright. You'll split into pairs and scout from four directions: east, south, west, and north..."

As he spoke, Minato drew a diagram for the Summoning Beasts and assigned the teams.

Once the arrangements were complete, the four Summoning Beast teams headed toward Rainbow Mist Mountain.

The four people left behind remained alert to their surroundings at all times.

After quite a while, the scouting teams finally returned, but the situation was far from encouraging. Only half of them had made it back.

It seemed that toads were not suited for scouting. Only Gamachū had returned; the rest were all dogs.

Those who had returned were not in good condition either. Some had bumps on their heads, while others had wounds on their backs. All of them looked on the verge of tears.

"What did you find? Gamachū, you go first."

Gamachū glanced at Minato, who had asked the question, and said dejectedly, "The mountain is packed with traps. I had to flee before even reaching the mountainside. But I found a stream. Maybe the Iwayado Toad can take you up through it~"

Minato rested a hand against his chin. After pondering for a moment, he looked toward Pakkun and the other dogs. "What about your side? Was it more or less the same?"

Pakkun nodded, then spat out several scraps of cloth. "Unexpectedly, we picked up the scent on these pieces of fabric, and it leads all the way to the mountaintop. Judging by the differences in style and color, there may be fifteen people. We don't know whether they're enemies..."

"Fifteen people..." Minato stared at the scraps of cloth, his brow furrowing.

"It feels like there are more women's clothes. The women were supposedly kidnapped by Mountain Bandits, so they probably aren't enemies."

Kamise Yushi, who was also staring at the cloth scraps, voiced his analysis, giving Genma something to think about.

"Could they have been left there deliberately? Or perhaps the people who were taken up there once tried to escape?"

"Left there deliberately? Would people who were captured even have a chance to leave these on the mountain?"

Kakashi, who had remained silent all this time, asked doubtfully.

"Maybe, as Genma said, someone forced the captives to do something, and the captives dropped these pieces of cloth while the Mountain Bandits weren't paying attention. They say there's quite a lot of Ninja Relief Grass on the mountain, and the mountain is also covered in symbiotic plants that can trigger dense fog. That can't be a coincidence."

Kamise Yushi frowned.

After hearing the three of them analyze the situation, Minato lowered his head and looked down.

"Gamachū, is that really the case?"

"Yeah, there do seem to be plants like those. They don't look wild."

Hearing Gamachū say that, Pakkun, whom Minato's gaze swept over, hurriedly added.

"We've got them on our side too."

Minato sighed. "So there's still no solid intelligence. Looks like we can only rely on Iwayado Toad."

As he spoke, he performed the Summoning Jutsu again and summoned a tiny yellow toad.

"Huh! Minato, didn't you say you were taking us inside? Why is it such a small toad?"

Kamise Yushi, who did not know Iwayado Toad's abilities, twitched at the corner of his mouth.

"Ha, don't worry. It can fit all four of us. It's one of the few toads with spatial abilities~"

"Oh, o... okay. So how do we get inside?"

Seeing that Kamise Yushi still looked unconvinced, Minato placed a hand on his shoulder. "Gamachū, take Iwayado Toad to that stream later. The ninja hounds have worked hard, so they can head back first. Genma and Roku, hurry and put your hands on Yushi's shoulder."

At Minato's words, Genma placed his hand on Yushi's shoulder without hesitation. Kakashi followed right after him.

The scenery around them suddenly blurred, and the forest turned into countless fleshy walls.

Seeing the four disappear, the ninja hounds vanished one after another. Gamachū began leading Iwayado Toad toward the stream they had discovered earlier.

The four of them rode within Iwayado Toad and traveled upstream, slowly making their way up the mountain.

On Rainbow Mist Mountain, quite a few people patrolled back and forth in front of a wooden enclosure that resembled a camp.

But the camp was at a fairly high elevation, and the temperature near the mountaintop was low. Before long, two men hurriedly left the patrol.

A man with a scar on his face came behind a tree and hurriedly began undoing his pants.

The other man, thinner and rather sleazy-looking, ran to the stream and did the same as Scarface.

"Huh, isn't that a toad? This should be fun~"

A smile curled across the sleazy man's lips as he aimed his stream of urine at the toad.

What he did not expect was for the toad to suddenly speed up. Not only did it foil his vile amusement, it leaped directly behind him.

Since he was at a critical moment, the sleazy man could only let it go. The toad had already run past him, and he could not turn around.

The toad that had nearly been bullied quietly came up behind the man. Its mouth gradually widened, and it spat out a special kunai. Genma recognized it as a Flying Thunder God Kunai capable of Space Ninjutsu.

The sound of urination gradually weakened. After a brief shudder, the sleazy man wore a satisfied smile, fastened his pants, and prepared to leave.

"Urgh~"

The sleazy man suddenly grunted, then vanished in a flash of golden light.

"Tanaka, Tanaka~" Scarface called out at that moment. When he received no response from the sleazy Tanaka for a long while, suspicion appeared on his face. "He clearly came this way. That sleazy bastard always likes polluting the water source, so why is he nowhere to be seen?"

Because he was looking into the distance, Scarface overlooked the toad with puffed cheeks. After he passed by, the toad quietly followed him again, hopping along as it spat out kunai.

"Tanaka~ Tana... urgh~"

Scarface's voice abruptly cut off. Like the sleazy Tanaka, he vanished.

The two men were now inside Iwayado Toad's stomach, gradually facing a choice between life and death.

Before long, faced with Kamise Yushi's gleaming blade, the sleazy Tanaka trembled and gave in. Scarface also quickly abandoned his resistance.

According to the two men, there were twenty-two women in the camp, fifteen ordinary Mountain Bandits, and six ninja.

The Mountain Bandits naturally posed no threat. The greatest threat was undoubtedly the six ninja.

The two men then spoke over each other, revealing everything they knew about the six ninja.

After several rounds of cross-checking, the four of them tentatively concluded that among the six ninja, two were jonin and four were Chunin.

According to the two Mountain Bandits' descriptions, those ninja all had one thing in common: they wore Kirigakure forehead protectors, though each had been slashed across once.

It was hard to imagine that Rogue Ninja from Kirigakure would come to a place like Rainbow Mist Mountain and become Mountain Bandits.

Perhaps calling them Mountain Bandits was not quite appropriate, but choosing Rainbow Mist Mountain as a base was indeed baffling.

But there was no use dwelling on those questions, because the disappearance of the two Mountain Bandits would sooner or later be noticed.

They had to begin the battle early.

After listening once more to the two Mountain Bandits' description of the patrol, Minato and Kamise Yushi each created a Shadow Clone and transformed them into the two Mountain Bandits, sending them out of Iwayado Toad's stomach to buy time.

After doing that, Minato vanished in a flash and suddenly appeared beside Rin, startling her.

"Mi... Minato-sensei, you're back?"

Minato nodded. "Yeah. Everyone, we'll have to engage the enemy ahead of schedule."