Minor Matters, Kumogakure Enters the War

The Land of Rivers, Konoha Camp, Central Command Tent.

At this moment, Jiraiya, Minato, and Shikaku were all in the tent. Judging from their positions, it was clear that Minato had come to report on the mission.

When Taiichi strode in, Jiraiya saw him.

"Taiichi, you've only just learned this Ninjutsu and you already want to go on a mission? Shouldn't you rest a bit more?"

Minato and Shikaku also looked over. Could the Ninjutsu they just learned be the Spirit Transformation Technique? They learned it so quickly!

Seeing the surprised expressions on Minato and Shikaku's faces, Jiraiya smiled but didn't explain. After all, this involved Taiichi's secret, and it wouldn't be good for him to say too much.

However, Taiichi was in no mood for jokes at this moment. He said with a serious expression, "Jiraiya- sensei, have you heard about the rumors circulating in the Camp regarding my title?"

"The White Reaper?" Minato interjected, looking at his junior brother with a strange expression, unable to reconcile the title with him.

"Yes, that's it." Taiichi nodded to Minato, then continued, "I've heard there's some talk that if you encounter me, you can abandon your mission. Jiraiya- sensei, Sunagakure is up to no good!"

Jiraiya, Minato, and Shikaku exchanged glances, all with smiles on their faces. But seeing that Taiichi was indeed looking anxious, Jiraiya had no choice but to suppress his smile.

"Taiichi, aren't you overthinking this? Although this claim did come from Sunagakure, I had someone investigate, and the Kazekage did indeed issue such an order. It's all just a coincidence." Jiraiya comforted Taiichi, telling him not to worry too much.

"Don't worry, Taiichi, it's not just you, I've got the Yellow Flash too," Minato chimed in, quite pleased with his new title.

Taiichi looked at Minato in surprise. "Yellow Flash"? Minato got this title so early? Shouldn't he have earned it on the battlefield against Iwagakure?

However, considering Minato's blond hair and the way he darted around when using the Flying Thunder God, it's not surprising that he had this title. It's so vivid and lifelike, much more believable than my own "White Reaper".

However, Taiichi quickly realized what was happening and almost got carried away by Minato.

"But, Jiraiya- sensei, don't you find it strange that this is spreading so fast? It's more like the Sunagakure is deliberately pushing it!" Taiichi continued to explain, believing that Jiraiya could understand, and that was all he could say.

He couldn't just say directly that he didn't trust the higher-ups in Konoha and was worried that they would be jealous of his abilities and discard him after he had served his purpose.

"Alright, alright, I'll have someone suppress this claim, at least to prevent people from discussing it so much in the Camp. I really don't understand you. Some people want to be famous but don't even have the chance, yet you have the opportunity but push it away."

Jiraiya seemed extremely reluctant as he spoke, then abruptly changed the subject, asking the same question again, "You didn't come just for this, did you?"

Taiichi was also bewildered by Jiraiya's thought process, and then remembered that he did have other things to ask.

"Master Jiraiya, my training is finished. If there are no special missions at the Camp, I will continue with my previous tasks."

Jiraiya glanced at Shikaku beside him and saw him shake his head slightly, so he knew that there really wasn't any task that Taiichi had to complete.

"You should make the arrangements yourself, but your top priority is to ensure the smooth operation of the Medical Camp."

"Yes, absolutely no problem." With that, Taiichi turned to leave, but before departing, he reminded Jiraiya, "Sensei, don't forget to control the rumors."

Jiraiya's face darkened. Was he really that unreliable?

Minato, who was standing nearby, saw this, smiled, took a few steps forward, and pulled Taiichi away, saying, "Come on, I want to go see Kakashi and the others too. I think I saw them in your tent earlier."

Seeing Taiichi being dragged away by Minato, Jiraiya, turned serious, revealing an unprecedented solemnity.

"Lord Jiraiya, what's wrong?" Shikaku asked knowingly. "Are you really worried?"

Jiraiya glared at Shikaku with annoyance. He didn't believe Shikaku couldn't see through it. Even Taiichi could see through the scheme, so how could they not have thought of it?

But what can they do about this? It's a blatant conspiracy, a test of human nature. Even if you know about it, there's nothing you can do about Sunagakure.

The key point is that this scheme could actually succeed in Konoha. Otherwise, how did the White Fang rumor incident happen last year? Do they really think these high-ranking officials are fools?

"Sigh, having such outstanding disciples isn't always a good thing. As a master, you have to worry so much, especially when you have more than one such outstanding disciple. It's truly a headache!"

Shikaku stared speechlessly at Jiraiya. This guy was just showing off, wasn't he? Damn it, what a jerk!

Outside, Minato pulled Taiichi's arm and walked towards his tent, muttering, "That Obito guy hasn't been training properly since he awakened his Sharingan. I need to give him a good talking to this time."

"Senior Disciple Brother Minato, you've gone to the wrong place. They're no longer in my tent; they've all gone to cultivate," Taiichi quickly explained, while simultaneously trying to break free from Minato's grasp.

Then, Taiichi recounted the events to Minato in detail Minato listened with a heavy sigh, lamenting that he, as a mentor, had failed in his duty.

"Let's go check out their training area; we can't just ignore it."

Seeing Minato about to pull him again, Taiichi quickly followed. Looking at Minato's ever-smiling face, Taiichi couldn't help but ask, "Senior Disciple Brother Minato, aren't you worried at all?"

"What are you worried about?" Minato was taken aback, turning to look at Taiichi. "You're still talking about the title!"

"In this kind of situation, all we can do is focus on improving our own strength. The teacher will naturally take care of the rest. Besides, you don't really think the teacher can't see through the Sunagakure's plan, do you?"

Minato patted Taiichi on the shoulder, "Don't worry, Jiraiya- sensei is more reliable than we thought."

Taiichi was taken aback. It turned out that everyone else was a shrewd person, while he was the only fool, worrying about this and that. Minato was right when he said that improving one's own strength was the key.

If you had the power of Senju Hashirama, you wouldn't need to worry about any schemes or tricks. You could just sweep through everything, whether they were from outside the village or inside. Anyone who dared to challenge you would be wiped out.

Having figured all this out, Taiichi felt refreshed and invigorated. Even his mental energy, which had been slightly weak due to the surge, had become much more solid, which was truly gratifying.

Seeing that Minato seemed to Taiichi his words, and his whole demeanor changed, Minato was also happy. He cared a lot about this junior brother, both in terms of strength and friendship, and he didn't want Taiichi continue to be troubled by this matter.

Taiichi activated his Chakra Perception and instantly located Kakashi and the others training in the grove. Without delay, he led Minato directly there.

At this moment, Kakashi, Obito, and Rin were each engaged in their own training. It's worth mentioning that they all created Shadow Clone to train together.

It's no wonder they're working so hard. With someone by their side who's mastered Shadow Clone, they can't afford to ignore it. The fact that they've only started using Shadow Clone to train now shows that they've taken Minato's advice to heart.

When Taiichi and Minato arrived, they saw Kakashi and Rin each creating a Shadow Clone, practicing Ninjutsu together.

Obito was more impressive; he created two Shadow Clones. While his main body trained his body, the two Shadow Clone practiced Fire Style and Chakra Control, and they did a pretty good job.

Minato watched for a while and gained a general understanding of the three's skill level, and he also had some ideas about their future training.

Kakashi is the strongest, and he has already reached the level of Special Jōnin. His family's swordsmanship and Lightning Style techniques are both top-notch. As long as he trains step by step, he can be his sparring partner and see if he can bring out Kakashi's potential.

Obito's gap is quite large, mainly because his foundation is too poor. The next step is to refine his foundation.

Finally, there's Rin, but this girl intends to develop in the direction of Medical Ninja, so I don't have many good connections with her.

Minato glanced sideways at Taiichi, who was smiling as he watched the training session. Minato slapped his forehead. How could he have forgotten about this master? He should have gone to him to learn Medical Ninjutsu.

As if sensing Minato's gaze, Taiichi turned his head and looked at Minato blankly. "What's wrong? Why are you looking at me like that?"

"Taiichi!" Minato scratched the back of his head, a little embarrassed, and said, "You see, Rin wants to learn Medical Ninjutsu, shouldn't you do something for her?"

Good grief, so they're really after me. They've got some serious ideas.

However, this is just something I can joke about. I should still help him if I need to, since he's a good friend.

"So you're just practicing Medical Ninjutsu? I think Rin's Taijutsu is pretty bad too!" Taiichi reminded her.

Minato glanced at Rin in the arena, who was practicing Ninjutsu, but without a teacher, the effect was obviously not great. "Alright, your main body stays here to practice Taijutsu, Shadow Clone will follow you."

Taiichi gave him a thumbs up, making Minato even more embarrassed.

Seeing that Taiichi didn't object, she directly called out, "Rin, have your Shadow Clone learn Medical Ninjutsu from Taiichi, the rest of you come with me."

This shout brought Minato and Taiichi to the attention of everyone who was immersed in their cultivation.

A flurry of pleasantries followed, and then Taiichi led Rin's Shadow Clone away from the grove.

After all, where else in the entire Camp can you find better conditions for learning Medical Ninjutsu than the Medical Camp?

"Taiichi, I'm troubling you again." Lin whispered from the side. He had been able to intern at the Medical Camp before thanks to Taiichi's help, but he gradually stopped studying because he was busy with missions.

It wasn't until he was chased down last time that he realized not only was his Medical Ninjutsu lacking, but his Taijutsu Ninjutsu were also mediocre. That's when he made up his mind to start training again.

"No matter what, it's always good to improve yourself. The situation is relatively calm now, so we should seize this opportunity to improve ourselves. Otherwise, when the time comes, it will be too late to regret it."

As a friend, this is all Taiichi can do.

After taking Lin to the Medical Camp and checking Camp everything was normal, he left a Shadow Clone with Lin while his main body Flying Thunder God Technique, heading directly to the Land of Wind, which would be his main battlefield for the foreseeable future.

Just as Taiichi was stirring up trouble in the Land of Wind, on the other side of the Ninja World, in the Land of Lightning, in the Kumogakure, a similar major event was taking place.

"Karui, how are the preparations for the attack on Sunagakure going?" In the Raikage's Office, a burly man with a bronze complexion asked his secretary while holding a dumbbell in one hand.

"Everything is ready, we can depart at any time." Karui answered without even looking at the documents, but after a moment's hesitation, she asked the question that had been bothering her, "Lord Raikage, is it appropriate for us to travel such a long distance to attack the Land of Wind?"

"What's there to be afraid of? We're not declaring war directly; we're just taking advantage of their conflict with Konoha to plunder some resources." The Raikage said nonchalantly, "Those damned sand rats from the Land of Wind, relying on their monopoly on several rare resources, have been arbitrarily raising prices. I'll teach them a lesson they won't forget!"

After hearing this, Karui could only sigh. The Land of Wind's behavior was indeed ugly. Relying on the fact that they had several mineral resources that the Land of Lightning couldn't do without, they raised prices every now and then and broke contracts time and time again. The Raikage and the village's higher-ups had long disliked them.

Now that we've got the chance, let's give them a good beating and settle all our old and new scores.

"Lord Raikage, shouldn't we investigate the report from the ninja who escaped from the Land of Wind? Having such powerful ninjas stationed in the Land of Wind is a threat to any attacking forces."

Karui continued to fulfill her duties as secretary, filling in any gaps in the Third Raikage's knowledge.

"Don't worry about it. With Ai and Killer B there, even if they can't win, they can escape back without any problem."

The Sunagakure is the same; they have such powerful ninjas, yet they don't send them to the front lines to fight against Konoha. Instead, they stay in the country. I don't know what they're thinking."

The Third Raikage switched hands and continued lifting weights, as if this was his true passion.

However, Karui couldn't respond to that. Sunagakure naturally had its Sunagakure considerations; perhaps they were guarding against someone like their own Raikage.

As the Third Raikage's final order rang out from the Raikage Building, a surprise attack force, already assembled and led by the new generation of the AB Duo, officially set off for the Land of Wind.

Their primary objective this time was naturally to plunder the resources of the Land of Wind, especially the several mineral deposits they coveted. Their secondary objective was to damage the Land of Wind's rear as much as possible and weaken their war potential.

The ultimate goal of this great war is obvious to everyone: the fertile lands of the Land of Fire. During this period, Sunagakure, Iwagakure, Mist Village, and even the smaller ninja villages are naturally rivals of Cloud Village.

The Cloud Village would be more than happy to weaken these opponents before victory arrives, especially the Sunagakure. They are scattered all over the country, and even if they are attacked, they cannot fight back. So of course, they will seize the opportunity to cut them down to death.

Having identified their operational objective, the team headed directly to a coastal city in the Land of Lightning, from where they boarded a ship and set sail.

This trip was quite a long journey for them, as even by sea they had to cross multiple countries. This was why Karui repeatedly confirmed whether to proceed; it was simply too far, and the time spent on the road alone would take almost half a month!