At Konoha's border.
The endless forest finally gave way to a plain that stretched beyond sight.
Minato and Kakashi waited quietly beside a river.
Before long.
A golden light suddenly flashed in the air.
Uchiha Shingen appeared within it.
"You went back to clock in at the Police Force again, didn't you?!"
"What kind of weird obsession is that?!"
Kakashi found Uchiha Shingen's behavior increasingly baffling.
There was no shortage of eccentric ninja, but most had a clear reason for their behavior.
Some wanted to vent their bloodlust, others to ease the burden of killing, while others, like Tsunade, simply enjoyed the thrill of gambling.
But Uchiha Shingen's peculiar habit of returning to the Police Force to clock in every day was a first for Kakashi.
Minato considered it for a moment before saying, "Perhaps Shingen is just testing the Flying Thunder Formation Technique's maximum teleportation range."
"From what we've seen so far."
"Although the Flying Thunder Formation Technique sacrifices the Flying Thunder God's activation speed, its range is almost identical, if not greater."
"It might not offer much in combat, but its strategic advantages are still obvious."
"Perhaps once we return to Konoha, we could have the village's Jonin who've tried learning the Flying Thunder God give the Flying Thunder Formation a try."
Kakashi nodded, his eyelids drooping.
He accepted Minato's explanation.
After all, surely clocking in couldn't actually make someone stronger?!
If that were how Uchiha Shingen worked, he wouldn't need Shadow Clones to train.
With the team assembled, Minato wasted no more time and set off again with Uchiha Shingen and Kakashi.
The journey to the Land of Iron was long, and the weather grew steadily colder.
After all, the Land of Iron was buried in snow year-round. Besides its bitter climate, its terrain was extremely steep,