The Mission to End the War?

"You guy, seriously."

Moving rapidly through the forest on the way to the Land of Grass, Haori cast a helpless glance at the visibly excited Might Guy behind him.

For a moment, he found it hard to keep a straight face.

When he saw Might Guy at the mission assembly early this morning, he knew things had gone south.

As expected, Namikaze Minato had assigned Might Guy to his team.

Although people experience joys and sorrows, and being a workhorse is just part of life, if you can't stop it, you might as well watch the show—that's fine too.

But when it involves yourself, that's not a good thing at all.

"Didn't you say your teammates hadn't been decided yet?"

Might Guy shrugged nonchalantly and said with a smile.

"We're good friends, aren't we? Since you didn't have a teammate yet, and we had good coordination back in the Land of Whirlpools.

So, I applied for this mission to the Hokage yesterday. I put in quite a lot of effort before he finally agreed."

I'd rather you stayed in Konoha, smoking and staring at the sky, enjoying life one day at a time!

Haori glanced at Might Guy. It wasn't that he was worried about Might Guy getting hurt, but rather that he was worried Might Guy would drag him down!

Back in the Land of Whirlpools, he had witnessed Might Guy's ninja skills and strength.

He was reliable and quite good—an excellent ninja.

But this guy had a problem: his emotions were easily stirred, which often turned a stealth mission into a head-on confrontation.

Could this be the reason why Danzo's Root didn't dare to recruit him?

"Alright, let's talk about the mission at hand."

Just then, the third member of the team spoke up.

"This mission is likely not simple.

Deploying so many teams at once, combined with cover from the front lines allowing us to enter behind enemy lines from different sectors.

I'm afraid it's not as simple as just raiding supply routes."

This person wore dark goggles, and his hair stood up just like Kakashi's.

However, his hair was black; he was Yamashiro Aoba, a classmate of Haori and Might Guy.

Yamashiro Aoba was a very capable ninja, skilled in Fire Release and summoning crows.

For a moment, Haori even wondered if he was from the Uchiha clan.

Furthermore, he possessed a very unique ability in the ninja world—the power to infiltrate another person's mind and read their thoughts without any equipment!

It was likely because of these abilities that he was drafted for such an important mission.

And since Haori had rotated into his squad back in the Land of Whirlpools, they were now grouped together.

Come to think of it, Haori really owed him some thanks.

It was that specific team-up that allowed Haori to complete a side quest.

It enabled him to siphon certain Yin Release abilities from Aoba, successfully upgrading his Sharingan.

"Aoba is right; this mission is indeed not simple."

Haori nodded, his expression turning incredibly serious.

"I even suspect that the true purpose of this mission is to end this war!"

"End the war?"

Upon hearing this, Might Guy immediately became excited.

"If we can end the war, that would be truly wonderful!"

Give me a break, your focus seems to be in the wrong place, doesn't it?

Haori and Aoba exchanged a look, both feeling a bit deflated.

Their intention was simple: they wanted Might Guy to stop being so hot-headed.

With such a dangerous mission, they needed to be careful, yet Might Guy's focus was entirely on the war ending.

However, Aoba also glanced at Haori—even if you want to warn Might Guy, don't exaggerate so much, right?

"Guy."

Shaking his head, Aoba helplessly turned his gaze toward Might Guy, as he understood his personality well.

"What we mean is that this mission is extremely difficult and exceptionally perilous."

"So, we hope you can stay calm."

Haori nodded. He was now starting to wonder if the reason they let such a hot-blooded guy join the operation was because he actually fit the requirements of this mission.

"Haori, do you have any thoughts?"

Aoba stopped paying attention to Might Guy and turned to ask Haori directly.

"I do have a few immature thoughts, indeed."

Haori replied casually while continuing to move forward.

He knew exactly what the specific mission was this time, and he was currently considering only two things.

First, how to survive on this battlefield where everything is bursting with vitality and competing for growth.

Second, how to accumulate his own reputation during this mission.

If there were no main quest and his teammates were just two extras.

Then Haori would absolutely find a way to hang back on the border between the Land of Grass and the Land of Fire.

You don't burn incense in normal times, but expect me to go hard when trouble hits?

In your dreams!

Namikaze Minato's mission would definitely succeed; wouldn't Haori just need to "dip in and out" to ambush a few supply teams to count as completing the mission?

If his extra teammates got hot-headed and threw their lives away, that would be even better!

But the problem was, his teammates now were his "upright and unyielding" old classmates.

And since he had a main quest, he absolutely could not do that.

On one hand, his persona in Konoha could not collapse.

On the other hand, if he wanted to "replace them," he needed reputation.

Uchiha Fugaku was born in Rome, while he was born a pack mule; they couldn't be compared.

If he wanted to reach the top, he had to grind his reputation up!

Therefore, the priority for this mission was to survive, and the secondary goal was to complete it beautifully and farm reputation.

Since that was the case—

"I said just now, I suspect this mission is very likely about ending the war."

Haori glanced around and spoke in a low voice.

"Furthermore, Aoba is right; this mission isn't as simple as just letting us ambush supply teams.

After all, we already did that in the Land of Whirlpools, and we even won because of it."

It was precisely by using this tactic that they threw Kirigakure into chaos in the Land of Whirlpools, eventually leading to the collapse of Kirigakure after the Konoha army pressed in.

However, after Haori finished speaking, he glanced at Might Guy, and Aoba also reached out to pat Might Guy on the shoulder.

If it weren't for Might Guy's father dealing with the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist who were handling the rear, the war in the Land of Whirlpools might not have ended so easily.

"Iwagakure will likely learn their lesson, so our mission will become even more difficult."

Haori withdrew his gaze and continued.

"It's not that they will remain indifferent, but their reactions will be faster.

However, Iwagakure has another serious problem: the Third Raikage died at their hands."

The Third Shinobi World War was a chaotic free-for-all, and Konoha was beaten in turns precisely because of its unique geographical advantage.

But while Konoha was taking a beating, other villages were also weighing the pros and cons; Iwagakure and Kumogakure already had a grudge, so naturally, they couldn't just do nothing.

And now that a Kage had died, the hatred was naturally even deeper, and the Fourth Raikage, having lost his father, had fixed his gaze entirely on Iwagakure.

Now, Iwagakure had to face pressure from both Konoha and Kumogakure.

"So, is what we need to do now to delay them as much as possible?"

Aoba reacted immediately and asked in a low voice.

"That is indeed true, but it is not just that."

Haori shook his head and revealed a smile.

"If we can cut off their supply line, even if only for a few days, don't you think the war would be over?"

Haori's words stunned both Aoba and Might Guy, and the next moment, they both showed expressions of pleasant surprise.

That's right, Iwagakure was already in such a state; if their vital supply line were cut off.

"So, this mission..." Aoba asked with some excitement.

"For this mission, the team led by Jonin Namikaze Minato is the main force."

Haori had been waiting for this moment; meeting the admiring gazes of Might Guy and Aoba, he could finally spout some nonsense.

"Our mission is to cause the greatest amount of destruction while staying alive, so that we can continuously pin down those enemies!"