The trap

The three kids graduated smoothly in the end, with Taiichi personally applying to the Fourth Hokage; even the process went very quickly.

Of course, the village's assessment is still necessary, but to be able to defeat Nine-Tails, even if Nine-Tails holds back, is not something an ordinary assessment ninja can handle.

The three little ones passed the test smoothly, which was much easier than the three of them fighting the Nine-Tails.

On that very day, the three finally obtained their long-awaited Ninja ID and Konoha Headband, becoming true Genin.

The three of them became Genin together and were naturally assigned to the same team, with Jonin being the Taiichi who led the team.

The sudden Genin of three new genin in the household is certainly a joyous occasion.

Overjoyed, Tsunade and led her entire group in a grand procession toward Q's Barbecue Restaurant.

Lady Tsunade paid for the entire meal.

The kids were happy, and everyone else was just as excited. Q's Barbecue wasn't cheap; even the most hardcore ninjas only dared to splurge occasionally.

Tsunade sat at one corner of the large table, watching the lively crowd, and picked up her wine cup to drink alone.

Taiichi then walked over and sat down next to Tsunade. Seeing that his teacher's wine cup was empty, he picked up the wine pot and filled it for her.

"Shouldn't we invite Lord Orochimaru along? Drinking alone is so boring."

Tsunade, picked up her wine cup and drank it all in one gulp.

"What do you know, you brat who's never even drunk a drop? I'm drinking alone, that's the feeling I'm after."

Taiichi picked up the wine pot again and continued to fill the wine cups.

"Yes, yes, you're absolutely right."

Taiichi curled his lip, but inwardly he thought, "What a stubborn mule. What you call drinking alone is more like loneliness."

Tsunade, as if her eyes had grown a ruler, precisely grasped Taiichi's micro-expressions. She slammed her wine glass on the table and said unhappily, "You brat, are you thinking about something rude?"

"Ah, how could that be?"

Taiichi turned his head away guiltily, looking at the three little ones laughing and joking, as if their laughter could cover up the embarrassment on his face.

Just then, a joyful shout came from outside, finally pulling Taiichi out of his guilt.

"Taiichi, I didn't expect to run into you here again."

It was Might Guy who spoke, and standing next to him was Kakashi, whose eyes were shining brightly.

"Yes, three disciples graduated early and became Genin. I brought them out today to celebrate."

Taiichi turned around, pointed to the three little ones in the crowd, and explained with a smile to the two of them, "You two, did you just finish training and come back?"

Before Kai could reply, Kakashi quickly took over the conversation.

"Yeah, I've been exercising all morning, and I'm really hungry."

Taiichi glanced at Kakashi with amusement, knowing perfectly well what he was thinking.

He's trying to get revenge for the time he was tricked last time.

Taiichi's lips curled up almost imperceptibly, and a smile immediately bloomed on his face. He stepped forward and pulled the two of them inside, not forgetting to greet them as he did so.

"Then what are we waiting for? Come in and eat together! It'll be more lively with more people."

Kakashi's face stiffened, instinctively sensing that something was amiss.

Taiichi is generous, but he won't treat his friends to a big meal in a daytime setting. However, there will definitely be no shortage of minor squabbles among them.

The fact that they agreed so readily this time suggests there's likely a trap involved.

Before Kakashi could refuse, he and Guy had already been pulled to Tsunade's side by Taiichi.

"Teacher, it's Kakashi and Guy. They just happened to be passing by, so I invited them to join us for a meal."

As he spoke, Taiichi turned to Kakashi and Guy, his face beaming with smiles.

"This meal is on the teacher, so please don't be shy."

Kakashi could only laugh awkwardly, his eyes gleaming with rage as he looked at Taiichi.

Kai, on the other hand, was quite happy and bowed to Tsunade to express his gratitude.

The arrival of the two brought the atmosphere to a new climax.

Kakashi and Guy are both well-known ninjas in Konoha, and they both participated in the Third Shinobi World War. Their experience is far beyond what the three young Genin, who have just been promoted to genin, can compare to.

The three of them surrounded Kakashi and Guy, chattering away and asking them a lot about their experiences as ninjas.

Kakashi and Guy did indeed share a lot of their experience with them, but these experiences were carefully selected, representative, and very interesting, which made the three little ones exclaim in admiration.

However, Taiichi's lips curled up even more.

Enjoy yourselves now, but you'll see tomorrow how boring doing quests really is.

The next day, the three little ones' official ninja career officially began.

Under Taiichi's leadership, the team took on their first task: sowing seeds.

That's right, it's about helping villagers grow grain.

The three children were stunned. No one had told them that Konoha had such a mission.

The three looked at Taiichi with puzzled expressions, hoping for an explanation.

"That's perfectly normal. A large portion of Konoha's D-Rank Mission are these kinds of missions."

"There are many?"

"Or this type?"

Exclamations rang out; the three little ones seemed to have already foreseen their future lives, which consisted of either farming or weeding.

"What's so surprising? All ninjas have gone through this process step by step. The most important thing for a ninja is not to be overly ambitious."

Taiichi seized the opportunity and gave the three little ones a good talking-to. This kind of opportunity wouldn't come often; every time he gave them a lesson, it would be one less chance, so he had to cherish it.

Fortunately, all three were sensible children, and since this was their first mission, the novelty of becoming ninjas hadn't worn off yet, so they were still very interested in carrying it out.

Then----

The second task: to clear the riverbed. The three of them were somewhat looking forward to it.

The third task: repair the house. The smiles of the three gradually faded.

The fourth task: to drive away the birds. The three remained calm.

The fifth task: Find the cat. The three looked distressed.

On a new day, Taiichi, beaming, led three frowning little ones to the Mission Hall, where an Anbu Ninja had been waiting for some time.

Upon seeing Taiichi arrive, he immediately turned and walked towards him.

Upon seeing this, the three children's eyes lit up instantly. They were all too familiar with this scene; countless times, it was members of the Anbu who came to their teacher to carry out special missions.

The three exchanged a glance, each seeing a glint of excitement in the other's eyes. Several days of tedious D-Rank Mission had completely extinguished their initial enthusiasm for becoming ninjas; they needed some high-difficulty missions to rekindle their passion.

For the passion of ninjas.

"Lord Taiichi, the Hokage-sama needs to speak with you."

Taiichi glanced at the Anbu in front of him, then turned to look at his three disciples behind him.

"Teacher, you should go quickly. The Hokage-sama's affairs are important; don't let us delay things."

Jiangtai's words were so pleasant to hear; she was sensible and knew what was important. Even the aura of "keep away" that usually emanated from the Anbu seemed to have faded considerably.

Taiichi knew exactly what they were up to; he'd done all that himself back in the day.

He raised one hand, forming a Ram Seal, and a Shadow Clone immediately appeared beside him.

"The Hokage's affairs are important, and your missions are equally indispensable. Today, my Shadow Clone will lead you. I will come to find you after things are settled here."

Jiangtai's smile froze instantly, but he couldn't bring himself to object.

Taiichi watched as the three little ones were taken away by Shadow Clone before following the Anbu out.

The Hokage's Office.

Not only were Hiruzen Sarutobi the Third Kazekage Hokage) and Minato Namikaze the Fourth Hokage) present, but Taiichi also saw an unexpected person.

The Fourth Raikage A, appeared in Konoha without warning. What was even more surprising was that he didn't bring his Shadow Guard Unit, nor even his secretary.

"Lord Raikage, you truly possess... commendable courage!"

Taiichi gave the Raikage a thumbs up; this guy really wasn't afraid to risk his life in Konoha.

"Hmph, you, Taiichi, dare to enter our Kumogakure alone, so why shouldn't I dare to come to your Konoha alone? Do you think your Konoha intends to keep me here?!"

Taiichi chuckled twice and then fell silent. If he were the Hokage, he might have actually kept the Fourth Raikage alive.

Unfortunately, the current Hokage is Minato Namikaze.

"Ahem." Minato coughed lightly, interrupting the brief exchange of banter between the two. He looked at Taiichi and gestured to the Raikage, "The Raikage has come secretly this time to discuss with us how to jointly deal with the Akatsuki."

"That's right. Now, of the Nine Tailed Beasts, except for the Eight-Tails and the Nine-Tails, the others are all in the hands of the Akatsuki. Their next move will definitely be aimed at our two villages."

In my opinion, instead of passively defending ourselves, living in constant fear of Akatsuki attacks and causing chaos in the village, we should take the initiative and find a way to wipe out Akatsuki in one fell swoop.

"A good idea." Hiruzen Sarutobi a drag of his cigarette. "I just don't know if Cloud Village has already tracked down Akatsuki. Actually, we've wanted to wipe out Akatsuki for a long time, but we've been struggling to find them."

The Fourth Raikage A, shook his head bitterly. The entire Ninja World was searching for the Akatsuki, but they couldn't find a single trace of them.

They, the Cloud Village, had also lost the Two-Tails, so they naturally spent a lot of manpower on this, but the results were still meager.

"Now that things have come to this, I won't keep you in suspense any longer. I plan to set a trap, wait for the Akatsuki to come to us, and then we'll work together to capture Akatsuki members who dare to attack us alive."

The idea is good, but since it's a trap, there must be bait.

At this point, the only bait can be the Eight-Tails and the Nine-Tails.

The Eight-Tails Jinchuriki is Killer B, but the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki is now the Fourth Hokage.

"The Raikage is trying to use Killer B bait; Konoha will remember Cloud Village's contribution to the Ninja World."

Taiichi took the initiative to strike up a conversation, his words filled with admiration for Taiyi's selflessness.

The Fourth Raikage A was momentarily stunned by Taiichi's flattery, and after a half-second pause, he glared at him fiercely.

"Why can't we Nine-Tails Jinchuriki as bait? The Nine-Tails should be stronger than the Eight-Tails, making it a safer option for this mission."

Taiichi chuckled and glared back at Raikage without backing down.

"Does the Raikage even know who our Nine-Tails Jinchuriki is, yet he dares to say such things? Isn't he afraid of turning Konoha and Cloud Village down?"

Face."

After recalling the events, the Raikage found that he did not have any information about the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki.

Konoha's protection of its Jinchuriki was quite thorough. Apart from knowing that the first Nine-Tails Jinchuriki was Uzumaki Mito, the wife of the First Hokage, the Ninja World knew nothing about how many Nine-Tails Jinchuriki Konoha had or who they were.

Throughout the various Ninja World Wars, Konoha has never sent Jinchuriki to the battlefield. It's unclear whether this was due to the incompetence of their Jinchuriki or the lack of Jinchuriki in later stages of the war.

The Raikage had nothing to say, but for Killer B's sake, he still had to try.

He said sincerely, "Fourth Hokage, it's not that I don't want Killer B go, it's just that I think the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki is more suitable than the Eight-Tails Jinchuriki."

Minato and Hiruzen Sarutobi exchanged a glance, Hiruzen nodded, and Minato immediately understood.

"To be honest, Raikage, I am the current Nine-Tails Jinchuriki of Konoha. It's not that I didn't want to be the bait, but my duties prevent me from taking the risk myself."

Minato's words were sincere and truthful.

As the Kage of a village, especially the Kage of Konoha, Minato should not leave the village to fight unless absolutely necessary.

That would be irresponsible to the village and distrustful of the many Konoha Ninja.

Konoha has a lot to say on this matter.

The Second Hokage died in battle outside the village. Konoha was in such chaos during that time, almost falling apart.

If it weren't for Uzumaki Mito's crucial intervention at the critical moment, supporting Hiruzen Sarutobi to become the Third Hokage, Konoha would probably be gone by now.

Therefore, during the Third Kazekage's reign, aside from participating in wars in the early stages when he needed military achievements to secure his position, he primarily remained in Konoha to stabilize the rear in the later stages.

The same applies to Minato now; the Hokage should not act rashly unless absolutely necessary.

Clearly, Raikage understood this principle as well, and he opened his mouth but couldn't utter a word for a long time.

After a long while, the Raikage finally had to accept the reality— the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki was truly unable to move.

"Using Killer B bait isn't out of the question, but—"

"—The Fourth Raikage A looked at the three people in front of him, a rare hint of earnestness in his eyes, "Can you all ensure Killer B's safety!"

How can anyone guarantee this?!

Minato and Hiruzen Sarutobi looked at Taiichi; this kind of mission definitely required Taiichi's help.

Taiichi moment, and said, "I really can't guarantee that. There's always the possibility of unexpected events in any mission. I can only say that if the Tailed Beast are really extracted by the Akatsuki, as long as it doesn't take long, I'm confident I can save Killer B's life."

Return."

This was said by Taiichi; if anyone else had said it, the Fourth Raikage A wouldn't have believed a word of it.

He had never heard of Jinchuriki having their Tailed Beast extracted.

"In that case, Killer B will be in your care, Lord Taiichi."

The Raikage's words clearly indicated his agreement to the mission.

The next step is to discuss how to set up this trap.

After all, the Akatsuki aren't stupid; if it were an obvious trap, they wouldn't actually come to their deaths.

"What does the Raikage think of our Konoha's previous proposal?"