Did You Guess It

"Are you alright?"

As he cut the ropes binding the bruised and battered Konoha Ninja, Uchiha Kei simultaneously dispelled their Genjutsu and offered words of comfort.

The Iwa Ninja Jonin had ultimately fallen under the combined assault of Uchiha Kei's trio. Despite his exceptional strength, facing three ninjas, each at least a Chunin leader, proved overwhelming.

Furthermore, these three were no pushovers. After a fierce struggle, the Iwa Ninja met his end at their hands.

"Thank you, damn Iwa Ninja." The rescued Konoha Ninja expressed their gratitude to Uchiha Kei and his companions, not forgetting to curse the Iwa Ninja.

"How are your bodies?" Uchiha Kei paid them no mind, more concerned with whether these ninjas could still move. "This place is not safe. We need to leave immediately, and we have a mission."

"A mission?" The ninja blinked. "Wasn't your mission to rescue us?"

"Rescuing you was just a side task. We have our own mission. If it doesn't conflict, we can help, and you can also help us quite a bit."

Uchiha Kei unceremoniously shattered the ninja's illusion.

Rescue them?

What a joke. Firstly, Konoha was in a critical war situation and couldn't spare that many personnel.

Even Uchiha Kei, if he hadn't seen their sufficient value, wouldn't necessarily have come running.

War is that cruel. Things that seem simple in normal times become an extravagant luxury here.

Uchiha Kei didn't like this feeling, but living in this era, he had no choice.

The Konoha Ninja was taken aback for a moment, but quickly accepted Uchiha Kei's words. Clearly, he was also someone who had been fighting on the battlefield and understood Uchiha Kei's approach.

With the White Fang incident in the past, no one wanted to court that kind of taboo. As a ninja, as long as one still had value to be utilized, that was true worth.

The Konoha Ninja moved his limbs. Though weak, he quickly assessed his condition.

"I'm alright. I'm a bit weak, but the other brothers should be fine too."

The Konoha Ninja looked back at the others before truly speaking to Uchiha Kei. He wouldn't look down on Uchiha Kei just because he was a twelve or thirteen-year-old imp.

"Very good. Aya, I'll ask you to clear the path. We're leaving immediately." Uchiha Kei nodded, then looked at the Konoha Ninja. "My name is Uchiha Kei, I'm the captain of this squad. These two are Hyuga Aya and Imai Kenta. Tell us about your situation."

"Uchiha? Hyuga?" The Konoha Ninja paused, then sighed. "My name is Yamanaka Masato. Our unit was scattered, which is why we were captured. Fortunately, we weren't captured for too long. Other than being a bit hungry, we're alright."

"I understand." Uchiha Kei nodded. This was good news.

Ninjas who were just captured would typically only undergo Genjutsu interrogation, but such interrogations rarely yielded much.

So, what the Iwa Ninja would do was escort them back to their rear and then subject them to more brutal interrogation to obtain Intelligence.

Uchiha Kei tilted his head, observing the man. Clearly, this man's name had caught his attention. He was no stranger to the surname Yamanaka.

And accompanying the Yamanaka surname, there were usually other personnel, such as the Nara and Akimichi.

However, Uchiha Kei scanned the area and didn't find any pineapple-headed or fat guys. Thus, the only conclusion was that they were either dead or had escaped alive.

Of course, this had nothing to do with Uchiha Kei. Seeing that the flames from the Fire Style had slowly spread, Uchiha Kei turned around and left the area with Yamanaka Masato and the other ninjas.

Not long after they left, several Iwa Ninja squads appeared at their location.

But unfortunately, neither Uchiha Kei nor Yamanaka Masato were rookies on the battlefield.

If they were going to run, how could they leave so many traces for others to track? They weren't like those guys from over a decade later.

A single Chunin Exam could reveal how unpopular the Third Hokage was, and also how poor the quality of Konoha Genin was.

With Hyuga Aya's help, their group of nine avoided many pursuit teams and finally found a cave to hide in.

Uchiha Kei and the others were fine, but it was clear that these newly rescued Konoha Ninjas couldn't take it anymore.

Their ability to endure until now relied entirely on their strong will to survive. They truly needed to rest before they could continue.

"Kei-kun, can you tell us about your mission?" Yamanaka Masato sat on the ground, chewing on dried meat that he didn't know how many days old. To them, it was already a delicacy.

"Yes." Uchiha Kei nodded. "We rescued you because we needed your help. Now, I'll tell you our mission. Our mission is to tie down and attract the Iwa Ninja's defense forces, allowing the Namikaze Squad to complete their mission smoothly."

"Bait mission?" Yamanaka Masato was stunned for a moment, then continued chewing the meat expressionlessly. "So that's how it is. We understand. We will cooperate with you."

"That's great." Uchiha Kei nodded, scanning the atmosphere around them. He noticed that after he revealed the mission, the atmosphere in the cave had become noticeably more oppressive.

It couldn't be helped. The mission Uchiha Kei and his team had taken was, in a way, a suicide mission. However, since such a mission existed, it must have its necessity.

Namikaze Minato and the others knew this. In their opinion, Namikaze Minato's mission was probably also extremely dangerous and difficult.

However, what was fortunate was that these Konoha Ninjas were relatively 'simpler'.

Not to mention anything else, the fact that they didn't object at all after hearing this mission made Uchiha Kei feel very good.

Even Yamanaka Masato was the same. Considering his surname and the relationship between his clan and the past Hokage, it seemed that all of this was not so difficult to understand.

In the original work, the Third Hokage placed the new generation Ino-Shika-Cho under Sarutobi Asuma. It was not difficult to understand what he was thinking.

Making preparations for future generations, anyone would do it to some extent, wouldn't they? After all, not everyone was the Second Hokage.

Uchiha Kei chatted with them for a few simple words and then walked out. Vigilance was still necessary to prevent any careless person from leaving behind any traces that could lead to their discovery.

It was just that Uchiha Kei didn't expect Imai Kenta and Hyuga Aya to follow him out. Hyuga Aya, in particular, directly asked Uchiha Kei a question.

"Did you already guess what the Namikaze Squad's mission is?"