After half a month of intensive training, the three members of Team Minato had made a qualitative leap in strength.
Uchiha Obito had grown much stronger, Nohara Rin's ninjutsu had improved rapidly, and Hatake Kakashi's swordsmanship had become even sharper.
More than that, the three of them had undergone a complete change in spirit.
Over the past half month, Team Minato had fought six battles in total.
Four times, they had stumbled upon Sand Ninja by chance. The other two times, Sen Chisato had used the Perception Technique to locate the enemy, then led them straight to them.
From skirmishes to ambushes to pursuit battles, Team Minato had experienced it all.
During those six battles, neither Namikaze Minato nor Sen Chisato had intervened carelessly. Instead, they had stayed hidden, ready to step in if needed.
After every battle, Namikaze Minato and Sen Chisato reviewed their performance, picking apart everything from their initial decisions to the mistakes they had made in combat.
After one battle after another, the three had gone from fighting separately and relying on their individual strength to solve every problem, making all kinds of mistakes along the way, to becoming more cautious, carefully planning their actions, and working together in battle.
Uchiha Obito was no longer so reckless and had become much more composed; Nohara Rin had a clearer understanding of her role in the team; and Kakashi had at least begun to fit in, realizing how important his teammates were and no longer treating himself like a lone wolf.
They still had a long way to go before they could become a well-rounded team, but at least they were starting to look like one.
As they made their way through the forest, with the rising sun at their backs, Sen Chisato brought up the rear, keeping his eyes on Uchiha Obito and releasing killing intent from time to time as part of his "desensitization" training.
Whenever he felt the killing intent, Uchiha Obito's heart would tighten, but his pace never faltered.
After so many days, he had gotten used to the killing intent. He would no longer be intimidated when facing an enemy.
Now, all he could think about was when they would run into another enemy, so he could show off what he had learned and make a good impression on everyone.
He was imagining himself defeating all the enemies, earning Namikaze Minato's praise, winning Sen Chisato's approval, getting a grudging compliment from Kakashi, and catching Rin gazing at him with admiration, when a voice suddenly sounded behind him:
"If you spotted an enemy right now, what would you do?"
Still lost in his daydream, Obito hadn't come back to his senses. The answer drilled into his head came out without a second thought. "Warn my teammates and quickly hide."
"What if the enemy hasn't noticed you?"
"Confirm their numbers, strength, and condition."
"What if their numbers are within your ability to handle, but you don't know how strong they are?"
"Then we try to catch them by surprise first!" Uchiha Obito answered confidently, his smile growing brighter.
They had done this sort of question-and-answer routine many times over the past few days. Sen Chisato always asked questions when he least expected it. Getting the answer right was fine, and not knowing it was fine too, but if he dared to make something up, he would definitely get punished.
Luckily, he had memorized the answers to most of the questions by now. He had taken who knew how many beatings to learn them.
As for the last question, he hadn't been asked it before. But Kakashi had answered that way last time, and he had made sure to memorize it then, down to the last word!
Heh, let's see what excuse you can come up with to torment me this time! Uchiha Obito grinned to himself.
Then he heard an emotionless verdict: "Wrong answer!"
Sen Chisato sprang over his head in an instant and launched a swift kick at him, moving so fast he couldn't react.
Thud!
The powerful blow slammed into his stomach. Uchiha Obito doubled over and flew backward, crashing heavily to the ground.
Clutching his stomach, Uchiha Obito struggled to his feet and shouted angrily, "Damn it, what did I get wrong?!"
But Sen Chisato didn't even bother answering. He turned and started "pestering" Kakashi instead.
Seeing that, Uchiha Obito grumbled to himself and started walking again.
Nohara Rin sighed and shook her head. She slowed down to walk beside Obito. "Obito, you started spacing out after eavesdropping on Kakashi's answer yesterday, didn't you?"
"Huh?" Uchiha Obito looked at her in surprise. "Rin, how did you know?"
"Because Chisato said that answer was wrong." Nohara Rin looked exasperated.
"But I don't see what's wrong with it," Obito said, still unconvinced.
"Chisato said that an ambush is fine, but you have to set a trap first. If it works, great. If it fails, you can still lure the enemy into the trap and improve your chances of winning," Nohara Rin explained earnestly.
"When we ran into enemies before, we never made things this complicated." Obito looked thoroughly put out.
"Chisato explained that too. In the past, we were under a lot of time pressure during missions, and Minato-sensei was there to back us up, so we could afford to be 'rough' about how we handled things... Minato-sensei is very busy, after all."
"But we can't do that anymore. The war is getting worse, and Minato-sensei will only get busier. He may even leave us to take on dangerous missions, with no time to keep training us." A trace of worry crossed Nohara Rin's face.
"Th-then what are we supposed to do from now on?" Hearing this so suddenly, Obito, who was usually carefree, was completely unprepared and began to feel anxious.
"Most likely, Kakashi will lead us on missions from now on," Nohara Rin said.
"What?!" Obito couldn't accept the idea. His whole face scrunched up.
Nohara Rin sighed. "Minato-sensei and Chisato said that Kakashi has made great progress in his leadership, planning, and execution skills during this time. He's already capable of leading a team."
"Besides, if another ninja joined the team, they might disrupt the chemistry Team Minato has developed. So they decided to let Kakashi lead."
"But Kakashi's only a Chunin. How can he be team leader?" Obito was furious. He just couldn't accept Kakashi.
Nohara Rin rolled her eyes at him. "Obito, did you forget? Chunin can be team leaders."
In fact, most ninja teams were led by Chunin. Only special teams or teams of young prodigies were led by a Jonin who served as both captain and instructor.
Thinking about how he was still a Genin and wasn't even eligible to be considered, Obito clenched his fist in frustration and vowed, "Hmph! Just you wait. I'll train hard, surpass Kakashi, and make Minato-sensei choose me as team leader!"
"Then you might not get the chance," Sen Chisato suddenly said. "At least, not right now."
Obito froze. He looked up and saw that Namikaze Minato and the others had already stopped.
"What's going on?" Obito and Nohara Rin hurried to catch up.
They were standing at the edge of a cliff, with a lush forest stretching out below.
Namikaze Minato pointed ahead. "We've reached the border between the Land of Rivers and the Land of Fire."
"That means this sweep mission is almost over," Sen Chisato added.
"Huh?" Obito looked disappointed. "Does that mean..."
Kakashi and Nohara Rin also looked reluctant to leave.
The mission was over, which meant they would have to part ways with Sen Chisato, and their special training would come to an end.
They hadn't spent much time together, but they could clearly feel how much Sen Chisato had helped them improve.
They hadn't even had a chance to thank him, and now they were about to part. It had all happened so suddenly.
Sen Chisato curled his lips, about to speak, when he suddenly sensed something.
He closed his eyes and concentrated on sensing it. Then he said to Obito, "Looks like you have one last chance to prove yourself."
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