God of Slaughter, Cheater, Zoo?

Minato Namikaze moved at incredible speed, weaving through the forest as the shadows of trees on either side blurred and raced backward.

Since Tōka wasn't a ninja, he simply reached out and grabbed him by the scruff of the neck, like carrying a little chick.

Tōka wore a look of deep reluctance, but his own life was at stake...

So, he decided to endure it for now!

A gentleman takes revenge even after ten years—we'll ride the donkey and read the songbook, just wait and see!

Night fell like a giant net, slowly pulling the whole sky together from all directions, carefree and unrestrained like splashed ink.

The crescent moon hung like a hook, summer insects chirped crisply, and a few scattered stars flickered alongside the cold moon.

Suddenly, Tōka noticed something was wrong.

The Land of Fire had the most fertile land among the five great nations.

Dense forests, lush green fields, countless plants blotting out the sky and covering the sun.

From the trajectory of the meteor's fall, combined with gravity, through Archimedes' principle, then factoring in Newtonian mechanics, substituting the distance between the moon and Earth...

Tōka guessed...

He had landed in a forest on the western side of the Land of Fire, facing the direction of Sunagakure from Konoha.

Therefore, he reached a conclusion!

If he wanted to go to Konoha, he should head east!

And right now, Tōka looked up at the night sky—the eternal North Star hung directly overhead.

Minato Namikaze was carrying him straight to the vertical left of the North Star, racing westward!

Gulp...

Tōka swallowed a mouthful of saliva, unable to help feeling nervous.

What did this guy want to do?

Pretending to let him off, taking him into the village, but actually...

Taking him to some fertile land to silence him?!

"Calm down, calm down!" Tōka warned himself inwardly, analyzing the current combat strength of both sides.

Even a hundred Tōkas wouldn't be enough for one Minato Namikaze to kill.

But he couldn't figure out why this yellow-haired guy wanted to kill him!

Just as Tōka's imagination ran wild, Minato had already carried him to the forest at the border of the Land of Fire.

Faintly, he could hear the howling wind of a sky full of yellow sand beyond the forest not far away.

"That's..." Tōka was jolted awake by the sound of the wind and sand swirling. He squinted to look.

Ahead, on a high ground about a hundred meters away, a large camp was stationed.

Tōka's expression shifted slightly. He discreetly glanced at Minato's profile.

This Minato Namikaze wasn't taking him back to Konoha, but instead bringing him to the Konoha camp stationed at the border.

What exactly did he want to do? Use him as cannon fodder on the front lines?

Suddenly, Minato Namikaze's voice rang out, cutting through Tōka's thoughts.

"Thinking about how to escape?"

Minato smiled gently, his sunny expression looking to Tōka like a grinning demon baring its fangs.

His heart sank. Was he seen through? This despicable guy!

But Tōka wasn't thinking about how to escape—he was thinking about how to get rid of Minato Namikaze.

If he remembered correctly, the Third War was the Yellow Flash's battle that made his name.

That battle was between Konoha and Iwagakure of the Land of Earth, at the Kannabi Bridge.

By now, Minato should have already learned the Flying Thunder God Technique.

Escape from a cheater?

No chance at all!!

As the thought flashed through his mind, Tōka's restless heart instantly calmed down.

"You cheater!"

He spat out in displeasure, then lowered his head and said nothing.

"Cheater?" Minato was slightly stunned, chewing on the word. He didn't quite understand what it meant.

But Minato knew Tōka was cursing him.

"You're quite a lively little one. I hope you're still this lively in a little while."

Minato's words fell, and with a flash like a gust of wind, he vanished from the spot.

When he reappeared, both of them were already inside the Konoha Main Camp.

"Lord Minato, this kid?" The Night Patrol Guard was startled by Minato's sudden appearance, but immediately asked after recognizing who it was.

"I'm taking him to see Sakumo-senpai." Minato said with a smile.

"Understood!" The Night Patrol Guards dispersed at once.

But when Tōka heard the name "Sakumo," his face suddenly darkened.

Minato took two steps, then noticed the kid behind him still standing frozen in place.

He turned around with a puzzled look, asking Tōka, "What's wrong? You look terrible."

"Sakumo? Could it be that Sakumo Hatake?" Tōka hesitated, then forced himself to ask with feigned calm.

Only he didn't realize his own voice carried a faint tremor.

Sakumo Hatake, Konoha's White Fang—better called Konoha's Killing God!

The White Fang slaughtered men like butchering pigs and dogs; in the Second War, he annihilated the Sunagakure Shinobi to the last man.

The name "Killing God" was built on countless rivers of blood and mountains of corpses.

Even the puppet master and Kage-level Grandmother Chiyo's son and daughter-in-law had died at Sakumo Hatake's hands in the Second War.

This guy actually, actually...

Didn't die???

"If you mean Sakumo Hatake-senpai, he's inside there." Minato assumed Tōka was just shocked by Sakumo's reputation and was very excited.

"Let's go. Don't keep Sakumo-senpai waiting."

No wonder, no wonder! The Land of Fire's border had Sunagakure massing heavy forces, about to break in.

Jiraiya, Orochimaru, and Tsunade—none of them were here. Even Minato Namikaze had left the camp.

So the one holding down the Konoha Main Camp was someone even fiercer!

Tōka followed Minato expressionlessly, his face grim to the extreme. Kakashi should be a chunin by now, right?

Wasn't Sakumo Hatake supposed to be dead?

Or had he remembered wrong?

Tōka's inner turmoil was nothing like his calm exterior. One cheater like Minato Namikaze was already enough.

The Legendary Sannin were formidable, but each had major flaws!

Orochimaru would desert during the Third War, Jiraiya would leave to chase after him, and only Tsunade would remain.

And Tsunade likely had hemophobia by now; her presence on the Sunagakure battlefield was just to counter Grandmother Chiyo's poison.

The so-called "Gambling, Pervert, and Snake" Sannin posed little threat to Tōka at present.

But facing a Konoha Sakumo Hatake who was even more broken than a cheater, Tōka really wanted to turn tail and run right now, this instant.

"Sigh, not realistic." That thought only stayed in his head.

Before he knew it, Tōka had followed Minato to the main tent of the Konoha Main Camp.

Minato reached out and lifted the curtain. A bright cluster of light spilled out, and Tōka felt his vision flash.

He instinctively looked up.

Sure enough!!

Sakumo Hatake—and at his peak.

His killing intent was completely contained within, hidden in the intangible. From a distance, he looked like a nobody in a Ninja Vest.

Aside from that striking silver-white hair, Sakumo Hatake had not a trace of a strong aura about him!

"Minato, is this the kid?"

Sakumo Hatake's perception was immense; he had already sensed them when Minato and Tōka were twenty paces from the tent.

"Yes, senpai." Sakumo Hatake naturally knew that Minato's group had gone to investigate the Falling Stone Rain.

But the intelligence report was too bizarre to believe.

Even now, seeing Tōka in person, Sakumo Hatake still felt dazed.

A human kid who popped out of a rock?

How interesting. Sakumo Hatake grinned.

Seeing Sakumo Hatake's smile, Tōka felt his scalp crawl.

Though the man's smile was kind, to Tōka it was more terrifying than a ghost.

"Inoichi, are you ready?" Sakumo Hatake spoke calmly, as if talking to the air.

Before his words faded—

Whoosh whoosh whoosh!!

Three black figures appeared at once, landing in the tent in an instant.

Inoichi Yamanaka with his ponytail, Shikaku Nara with his pineapple hair, and Choza Akimichi, built like a small mountain.

One of Konoha's formidable combat forces, the Ino-Shika-Cho trio!

Each of them possesses the strength of a jonin or even an elite jonin, and together they can handle a Kage-level opponent.

Seeing the three appear so abruptly, Tōka's face showed little surprise.

Among ninja, sudden and unpredictable movements are the most ordinary display.

This is merely the Body Flicker Technique among the advanced Three Transformations—far inferior to Minato Namikaze's Flying Thunder God!

What truly unsettled Tōka was Sakumo Hatake's earlier words.

Inoichi Yamanaka, prepare what?

What are they planning?

The Yamanaka clan's secret techniques: Mind Body Switch Technique, Mind Body Disturbance Technique, and so on.

Suddenly, as if hitting on a crucial point, Tōka's heart leaped.

The Yamanaka clan's secret technique—Mind Reading Technique!!

No need for any device, it directly reads the target's thoughts.

Tōka narrowed his eyes, sizing up Inoichi Yamanaka. At this moment, Inoichi was still young, only in his twenties.

He wondered how much of the Mind Reading Technique Inoichi had mastered.

"It's ready, Sakumo Hatake-sama." Inoichi Yamanaka said in a deep voice.

"Then proceed." Sakumo Hatake nodded slightly, signaling Inoichi to act as he saw fit.

Receiving the order, Inoichi Yamanaka turned and walked toward Tōka.

His hands formed a seal in front of his chest, a gesture like guarding his heart—the hand signs used for secret techniques sometimes weren't the basic twelve.

A pair of pupils that seemed to see through the mind locked onto Tōka.

A bead of cold sweat slid down Tōka's temple. He felt nothing at all, not even knowing if the other's technique had already activated.

Time seemed to stand still as everyone remained motionless in place.

Shikaku Nara and Choza Akimichi of the Ino-Shika-Cho trio stood to Inoichi's left and right respectively.

Minato Namikaze and Sakumo Hatake, though appearing casual—one standing, one sitting—had their killing intent locked onto Tōka.

If he dared to make a single move, he would face the combined thunderous suppression of all four.

In an instant, he would be torn into several pieces!

This was a layer of protection for Inoichi, who was performing his secret technique, and more so a deterrent to keep Tōka from acting rashly.

A brat who crawled out of a falling meteor, especially at such a sensitive time.

Konoha was being extremely cautious.

Even for an escort, they had dispatched Minato Namikaze, who possessed Kage-level strength.

Though the physical age of his past and present lives spanned over a thousand years, the mental age of both lives was only around thirty.

Facing such a powerful lineup, it would be abnormal not to feel pressure.

The oppressive atmosphere weighed on Tōka, making it hard to breathe.

Those who don't know fear aren't human—they're monsters.

Tōka's delicate little face was slightly pale. He pressed his lips tightly together, despite feeling nothing at all...

Drip...

A crystal-clear bead of sweat slid down and fell to the floor, splashing into a tiny spray of droplets.

No one knew how long passed...

Tōka felt like he could barely endure it anymore.

Suddenly, a low exhale sounded like heavenly music.

"Hah!" Inoichi Yamanaka let out a deep breath of stale air, simultaneously withdrawing the hand seal at his chest.

Everyone's gaze shifted from Tōka to Inoichi.

The atmosphere grew even heavier!

At this moment, Tōka was extremely weak—even facing Shikaku Nara and Choza Akimichi alone would be a struggle.

Let alone the two Kage-level powerhouses standing by!

"Inoichi, did you find anything?" Sakumo asked.

"I searched everywhere, it's all blank." Inoichi said with a puzzled look, also letting out a slight sigh of relief.

Tōka was like a pure white sheet of paper, like a newborn infant—spotless and flawless.

Except for one name—Tōka.

Inoichi Yamanaka had only seen those two characters in Tōka's heart; nothing else was found at all.

"All blank, huh?" Sakumo Hatake repeated Inoichi's words flatly.

The atmosphere in the tent relaxed instantly.

The oppressive weight that had pressed down like Mount Tai vanished in a flash, leaving the air as it was before.

Yet Tōka felt it was now countless times more refreshing; the feeling of having narrowly escaped death left him somewhat drained.

A night breeze rose, slipping through the tent's curtain and sweeping in.

It brushed against Tōka's back, sending a chill of cold straight through his spine.

Only then did he notice that, at some point, the clothes on his back had been soaked through with cold sweat.

"His name is Tōka—I only saw those two characters." In the end, Inoichi added one more remark.

Sakumo Hatake gave a slight nod and raised a hand, waving it.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!!

Countless sharp sounds of wind rang out beyond the tent, and black shadows vanished into the air in an instant.

Tōka's pupils sharply contracted—it turned out that from the moment he entered the tent, the area had been filled with Anbu!

Anbu were forces directly under the Hokage's command, their full name being: the Assassination and Tactical Special Unit.

"They think that highly of me." Tōka silently composed himself, not letting anyone see the change in his expression.

Since the Anbu had withdrawn, it also signaled Sakumo Hatake's attitude toward Tōka.

Inside the tent, Minato Namikaze and the Ino-Shika-Cho trio also relaxed their tension; maintaining such a high level of focus was extremely draining.

Everyone stood still like wooden posts, while Tōka kept his head down and chose silence.

All were waiting, waiting for the decision of Sakumo Hatake, who was stroking his forehead in thought.

"Minato, send him to the village." In the end, Sakumo Hatake decided to send Tōka to Konoha.

A six-year-old brat who hadn't even cultivated any Chakra.

He didn't even qualify to be sent to the battlefield as cannon fodder—it would only add another corpse to their own side.

"Yes!" Minato neither opposed nor approved of Sakumo Hatake's decision; he was simply carrying out a mission.

Only then did Tōka truly breathe a sigh of relief.

He was grateful—grateful that his body didn't possess a single shred of Chakra.

Tōka knew that if he had the strength of a Genin right now, he would definitely be sent to the battlefield as cannon fodder.

Unlike other ninja villages, Konoha rarely sent Genin into battle as cannon fodder.

But it wasn't that they never did—it was just extremely rare for them to send their own village's Genin into the fray.

A stray like Tōka, appearing out of nowhere, was the prime candidate for cannon fodder.

The night was cool, and the countless stars twinkled brightly.

After walking out of Sakumo Hatake's tent, Tōka finally felt that even the night could be so beautiful.

"Let's go." Minato patted Tōka's shoulder, signaling him not to overthink things.

Since he had been confirmed as no enemy, Minato's attitude toward Tōka had done a complete one-eighty.

"Heh, then let's go." Tōka grinned, following behind Minato as they walked off into the distance...

That first night was unforgettable.