"Hmph, hmph, I... I won't stoop to your level..."
Having failed to touch Kakashi's clothes despite his best efforts, Obito gave up the Obito, plopped down on the grass of the training field, and glared angrily at Kakashi hadn't even shed a drop of sweat.
"It's already this late, why hasn't our new captain arrived yet? Has something happened?"
Lin, who had witnessed the entire chase, finally spoke up to express her concerns when the two finally stopped.
"Who knows? Maybe he's Obito, otherwise how could he have such a poor sense of time?"
Looking up at the sun, which was already high in the sky, Kakashi squinted and raised his hand to shield his eyes from the glaring sunlight.
"I wonder who the captain is. I wonder if they'll assign us a Chunin?"
Obito muttered to himself.
"Oh, everyone, is everyone here?"
As the three remained silent during their long wait, an Ice Mirror suddenly solidified between them, and Kazashiro's voice emanated from within it.
Kakashi, Obito, and Rin: "???"
Stepping out of the Ice Mirror, Kazashiro looked at the three people standing there in a daze and mentally gave himself a thumbs up for his well-thought-out entrance.
That's right, Kazashiro was deliberately late.
When he learned that one of his teammates was Obito, the notorious tardiness king, Kazashiro decided to use magic to defeat magic. You're late, aren't you? Then I'll be even later than you!
"Hey, Kazashiro, what brings you here?"
Seeing Kazashiro dressed in standard Konoha Jonin attire, Obito's mind hadn't quite caught up yet. He happily got up from the ground and went to Kazashiro's side to ask him what he wanted.
"You idiot Obito, can't you see? Kazashiro is our new captain."
Kakashi moved off the wooden stake and walked up to Kazashiro.
"Huh? Really?!"
Upon hearing this, Obito became excited, his smile growing even brighter as he eagerly sought confirmation from Kazashiro.
Kazashiro glanced at Obito, who was as excited as a husky, and his lips twitched.
Why does this kid seem so excited to team up with me?
I'm really against it, okay? What if I'm not watching you closely enough and you get hit by falling rocks again?
But...
His gaze swept over Kakashi, Rin, Obito before finally settling on the Konoha Gate not far away. Kazashiro pulled out the scroll Hiruzen had given him. "Well, Kakashi is right. From today onwards, I will replace Minato as the captain of Team Seven. That's all!"
The sudden attack on Iwagakure forced Hiruzen to recall Jiraiya, who had been assisting Orochimaru, to serve as the commander against Iwagakure.
This left Jiraiya very distressed.
In the battle against Kirigakure, Mitokado Homura was in command, Orochimaru was in charge of tactical planning, and I only needed to be a vanguard. In my spare time, I could even brainstorm the plot for the third part of the Story of the Snow Woman no Tales.
Speaking of which, the Story of the Snow Woman is selling really well; the revenue from just one book is equal to the total revenue from all of my other works combined.
Now, he's facing a headache from the Iwagakure command situation. Forget about gathering materials; he'd be lucky if the enemy didn't gather them himself.
These days, Jiraiya is even terrified when he goes to the toilet, fearing that the Iwagakure guys might suddenly pop out of the ground and give him a good beating, which would be truly a nightmare.
Fortunately, his best disciple Minato, was sent by Hiruzen, and even Fugaku Uchiha brought his four-year-old son to the battlefield, which made Jiraiya feel a little better.
"Getting bogged down in a war of attrition is clearly disadvantageous for us, given that the enemy's numbers far exceed ours."
Fugaku's voice rang out, interrupting Jiraiya's recollection.
Standing before the map, Fugaku pointed towards Amegakure: "The Stone Ninja are attacking us from both the Land of Rain and the Land of Grass, making our already weak forces even more stretched. It's unrealistic to fight against two enemy invasions with our current numbers. I propose we concentrate our forces and eliminate one of the Stone Ninja."
At this time, Fugaku was much more active than when he stayed in the village.
At the village's high-level meeting, Fugaku, as the Clan Head of the Uchiha Clan, had only one option to express when facing Hiruzen and Danzo: "Yes."
As for Jiraiya the Uchiha, Fugaku was free to express his own views.
After all, Jiraiya had something on Fugaku's hands.
"We don't need to worry too much about Amegakure Hanzo of the Salamander isn't a good-tempered person; he wouldn't allow the Iwagakure army to cross the border freely."
Jiraiya, who knew something about Hanzo of the Salamander, told Fugaku not to worry. He said that Hanzo of the Salamander, feeling threatened, would soon take action against the Iwagakure troops from the Land of Rain.
Of course, if Hanzo of the Salamander and Ōnoki team up, then pretend I didn't say anything.
"There aren't many Stone Ninja crossing the border from the Land of Rain, Fugaku. You and your clansmen will take care of these enemies."
Based on the available intelligence, Jiraiya decided to hand over this small Stone Ninja force to the Uchiha brought by Fugaku to deal with.
"Yes." Fugaku was not discouraged by the rejection of his proposal, and agreed as usual.
Seeing that Fugaku had no objection, Jiraiya stood up from his seat. "In that case, let's begin today's battle."
There was one thing Jiraiya didn't tell everyone present: Hiruzen had dispatched a small team to sabotage the Kannabi Bridge, a crucial supply route for Iwagakure.
Throughout the entire Iwagakure front, only Jiraiya knew about this.
A few days later.
Kazashiro led his squad and quietly infiltrated the battlefield.
To avoid attracting attention, the group deliberately chose a secluded and rugged path.
"Konoha ninjas? Only four brats? Looks like we Stone Ninja have really been underestimated."
Hidden in the bushes, the Mahiru was on a solo reconnaissance mission when it happened to discover Kazashiro and his group.
"Hey, Kazashiro."
Kakashi, who was walking at the front of the group, suddenly stopped.
"Um."
Seeing Kakashi's expression, Kazashiro immediately told the others to take cover, and then began to sense the number of enemies in front of them.
"We've been discovered? It doesn't matter, they've already entered my territory."
The Mahiru, having already deployed Shadow Clone all around, revealed a confident smile, preparing to take the initiative and eliminate the group of brats before it.
"Let's keep that female ninja to gather information. Hmm? Where did that cold wind come from?"
Before the Mahiru could make a move, information about the killing of numerous Shadow Clone instantly entered the mind of the main body.
Wow, that's fast! How is that possible?
Almost instantly, the ten Shadow Clone positioned on the outermost edge were all destroyed.
On the other side, seeing that Kazashiro had already made his move, Kakashi also jumped out of his hiding place and quickly moved towards the direction of the Mahiru. In his hand, a ball of lightning was emitting a sharp cry.
"I'll use this guy to test my newly developed Ninjutsu!"
"So fast!"
Drawing his Ninja Blade from his back, and seeing Kakashi already charging towards him, Mahiru seized the opening Kakashi had created due to his excessive speed and was about to unleash a slash.