A Lesson

"Whoosh—"

A morning breeze gently swept across the field, dispersing the dust in the air and rousing everyone present.

What had just happened in that split second had been far too shocking. Everyone on the field had fallen silent, staring in stunned disbelief.

"Tap!"

A blond young man stood before the Konoha group, gripping a strange Kunai in his hand as he remained slightly on guard.

His blue eyes stared gravely at where Kakuzu had fallen as he quietly asked the Konoha group behind him, "Is everyone alright?"

Hearing his words, everyone finally snapped out of their daze. Captain Dajiu looked at him and suddenly cried out in surprise, "Y-You're Lord Jiraiya's disciple, Minato Namikaze, aren't you?!"

His words startled the Konoha ninja slightly. Minato nodded gently, a guilty expression appearing on his face as he said softly, "The village is severely short on available manpower right now. I'm sorry I arrived a little late."

Hearing that, the Konoha ninja all relaxed slightly. As expected of Lord Jiraiya's disciple—he was so mild-tempered. They hurriedly replied, "It's alright, we understand. But we only managed to survive until now thanks to Lord Nawaki."

Only then did Minato have the time to look around.

His eyes turned toward Nawaki, who stood to one side, with a puzzled look as he thought to himself.

Tsunade-senpai's younger brother...

Wasn't he following Aizen before...? But judging from the current situation... it seemed he was fighting against the people from Las Noches for the sake of Konoha's ninja.

Nawaki remained silent and said nothing.

In the distance, Ulquiorra watched the suddenly appearing Minato. A faint glint flashed imperceptibly through his dark green pupils as he thought to himself.

He appeared on the field without any warning. Was that a spatial ninjutsu performed through the Kunai...?

At that