Let's see... one elite Jonin, four Special Jonin, sixteen elite Chunin..."
Sitting on the stretcher and swaying back and forth, Qi silently grumbled as he assessed the strength of the Sunagakure Ninja.
They had left the grassland and entered a forest. The Sunagakure Ninja seemed to have known their route from the start. Qi had never seen them stop to discuss which way to go.
Though everything seemed meticulously planned, Qi could hardly imagine this group actually killing Minato—unless you counted their elite Jonin, Tsang Yeh.
"Could their village have sent them here to die? What's the point of bringing so many Chunin? This isn't a war. They're no use against Minato..."
His gaze swept over the Sunagakure Ninja around him. Qi concluded that in a one-on-one fight, with no restrictions on their methods, he and Kakashi stood a good chance of killing any one of the elite Chunin.
To be fair, these people were strong. On the battlefield, they'd be a pack of grim reapers. But they weren't going to war, and Minato could easily kill everyone except Tsang Yeh. He could take most of them out in a single exchange.
Space-Time Ninjutsu was one of the most powerful branches of ninjutsu. Konoha had existed for more than sixty years, and must have trained tens of thousands of ninja, counting both the obvious and the less obvious. Yet only four people had mastered this art: the Senju brothers, Uchiha Madara, and Namikaze Minato.
Aside from serving as meat shields and dying, Qi couldn't think of any use for these elite Chunin—or even the Special Jonin...
Maybe... they really had come here to die? To hold Minato back?
The thought sent a shiver down his spine... Twenty elite ninja... If that was really the plan, and with the hostages on their side, Minato might actually get killed...
To be honest, Qi didn't know much about Minato's strength. In the original story, he'd only appeared as someone who was already dead. Orochimaru was different. That freak had shown off his monstrous abilities time and again. Qi was certain that even if everyone else in the Shinobi World died, Orochimaru probably wouldn't.
Still, thankfully, his body had almost recovered. Pretending to be dead all this way hadn't been for nothing. At least he wouldn't be a burden to Minato later. As long as those Special Jonin didn't attack, he believed the four of them could protect themselves. Besides, he suspected those guys would be Minato's first targets—and the first to die.
On their side, Ling was a medical ninja and lacked proper combat ability, but even Obito was a capable fighter. Qi had never seen Obito fight, but as far as he knew, Obito was like Naruto: the type to gradually build up his strength early on. Obito had awakened with two two-tomoe Sharingan, which was enough to make a whole lot of Uchiha feel ashamed.
Among the Uchiha Clan, a three-tomoe Sharingan made someone a top-tier fighter. Having two Sharingan with two tomoe each already put someone in the middle ranks. Plenty of ordinary Uchiha ninja trained for years and never got any further than that...
In that respect, Obito really was worthy of being Uchiha Shisui's brother. He was impressive. Unfortunately, he'd been unlucky enough to die at the hands of the Rock Ninja. Otherwise, the Uchiha Clan would have given him special attention after he returned to the village...
Qi knew how difficult it was to train a bloodline ability. He'd spent eight years developing the Yuki Clan's Ice Release before it became useful. With this sort of thing, where you started often determined a great deal.
"We should be just about there. Everyone, stop."
Just as Qi was thinking wildly about how he could get the other three out of trouble if things went bad, Tsang Yeh gave a quiet call from up ahead.
"There are signs of a battle here. Everyone, take the time to recover your strength. Once you're ready, we'll move in. Keep an eye on those brats!"
"Yes, sir!"
At Tsang Yeh's command, the Sunagakure Ninja immediately sat down where they were, drank water, checked their gear, and began recovering from the journey.
"Sir, if they're still fighting when we get there, should we..."
A Sunagakure Ninja sitting near Tsang Yeh seemed to realize something. He stopped what he was doing.
"After all, we and the Rock Ninja..."
"The Yellow Flash deserves to die, but those Rock Ninja aren't any better!"
Tsang Yeh rubbed his chin, a flash of hatred in his eyes.
"We'll see what's happening. If the two sides are still fighting, we'll take out the Yellow Flash first. If not, heh, we'll kill whoever's left alive."
"Understood!"
The Sunagakure Ninja gave a sinister chuckle, then fell silent.
"You've joined forces with the Rock Ninja?"
Neither of them had lowered their voices, so Qi had heard them. He wasn't an idiot; he could tell what they meant.
"Join forces with those filthy pigs? Why would we?"
Tsang Yeh shot Qi a glance.
"Brat, just lie there and rest. Don't try anything funny, or you won't live to see another chance."
"So there are Rock Ninja up ahead, right?"
Qi ignored the pointless embellishment. He just had a nagging feeling that the situation they'd run into on this mission wasn't a coincidence.
"There are corpses of Rock Ninja, brat. You should keep quiet."
Tsang Yeh put the Kunai he'd just finished wiping back into his pouch. Then he looked at Qi with an ill-intentioned glint in his eyes.
"Or are you enjoying lying there too much?"
Damn it, so that was it. How had he gotten dragged into this again...
Having gotten the information he wanted, Qi very "sensibly" shut his mouth. He didn't need to ask anything else.
It was all clear now. Whether it was their capture, or the fact that Tsang Yeh and his men hadn't killed them and had openly admitted to having allies.
Maybe he shouldn't have asked that question. Great, now he was caught up in another mess...
"Alright, we don't have much time. Is everyone ready?"
Tsang Yeh looked at Qi, whose face was grim and whose eyes were blazing with fury. Satisfied, he turned to his subordinates.
"Move out. Stay alert and be ready to fight at any moment!"
He'd accomplished what he wanted. Now all that remained was to kill Namikaze Minato.
But before turning away, he glanced back at Qi and gave a pleased smile.
"This brat catches on pretty quickly, heh..."
Qi had indeed guessed correctly. Tsang Yeh had never intended to kill them. Running into the White Fang's son had been a pure coincidence. He might kill Kakashi in the end, but the others had a good chance of surviving.
That didn't matter now. Tsang Yeh quickly moved off in one direction without looking back, and the Sunagakure Ninja, following his orders, fell into formation and led the four hostages after him.
After traveling for who knew how long, the clash of weapons and the rumble of explosions suddenly reached them from up ahead!