Death of the Sunfire

With a flash of movement, Sen Chisato landed and turned back.

Looking at the few stragglers who had already lost the will to fight, Sen Chisato lost the desire to continue.

He tossed the three special kunai he had been carrying aside and plopped down onto the ground.

After that outburst, he finally felt much better.

Just as he thought this, he suddenly realized something: those twenty-some ninjas had been pulverized into dust by him, to the point where not even a corpse remained.

"...What a waste!" After holding it in for a long time, Sen Chisato suppressed the urge to curse and let out a helpless sigh.

Atop the cliff, the three members of Team Minato stared with wide eyes, their jaws nearly hitting the ground.

Coming to his senses, Uchiha Obito rubbed his eyes vigorously, turned his back to the cliff, and sat down on the ground, bracing himself with his hands as he stared blankly at the sky. "I must be seeing things!"

Nohara Rin clutched her hands to her chest, feeling as if her heart were about to jump out.

She instinctively turned her head and blinked. "Huh? Where is Minato-sensei?"

"Down there." Kakashi turned to find a path and headed down the cliff. "Let's go, it's time to rendezvous."

"Oh, right." Nohara Rin immediately followed.

Uchiha Obito scrambled to catch up. "Hey, wait for me!"

By the time the three of them jogged over, they saw Namikaze Minato complaining incessantly to Sen Chisato.

"You could have just finished them off easily; why did you have to make me do it?"

"That's one thing, but what about my other Flying Thunder God kunai?"

Namikaze Minato stood with his hands on his hips, looking helpless.

Sen Chisato sat cross-legged on the ground, lowered his head, pointed forward, and then moved his arm smoothly from side to side. "They're probably still in the forest... somewhere?"

"Are you sure?" Namikaze Minato asked with a wry smile.

He could naturally sense the Flying Thunder God markings on those kunai. If they were still on the surface, it would be fine; he could easily retrieve them.

But those kunai were nine-to-one buried deep underground!

Sen Chisato gave a sheepish laugh and pulled his hand back.

He had indeed handled this poorly.

He had been so focused on venting earlier that his two large-scale ninjutsu barrages had caused his Shadow Clones to shatter—mostly because his clones hadn't bothered to retreat, since they were just clones anyway.

Consequently, Namikaze Minato's special kunai hadn't been recovered.

Seeing Namikaze Minato's distressed expression, he offered some comfort. "Don't be angry. They're just a few kunai; if they're lost, they're lost. I'll compensate you. Besides, we can still find them."

"How?" Namikaze Minato asked, spreading his hands. He wasn't actually angry, but finding them would naturally be for the best.

Catching sight of the three members of Team Minato in his peripheral vision, Sen Chisato turned his head and shouted, "You three, come here!"

Kakashi and the others exchanged glances and hurried over.

Sen Chisato pulled out a storage scroll, opened it, and performed a hand seal.

Poof!

Smoke erupted, and three iron shovels appeared.

Tossing the shovels to them, Sen Chisato commanded, "Go, find all of your teacher's special kunai."

Scrambling to catch the shovel, Uchiha Obito looked incredulous. "Huh?"

It wasn't like they were the ones who lost them, so why did they have to do the grueling work of digging them up?

Obito looked completely unwilling.

Kakashi didn't say a word; he simply shouldered his shovel, ready to carry out the order.

Namikaze Minato quickly reached out to press down on his shoulder, sighing. "Forget it, I'll do it myself."

If he let them look, who knew how long it would take? It would be better for him to find them himself; if he could recover them, he would, and if not, so be it.

Sen Chisato glanced at the few remaining Sand Ninja corpses and shook his head with a sigh. "Oh well, every little bit helps."

He buried the corpses, gaining a small amount of chakra and proficiency in a few existing ninjutsu.

At that moment, Namikaze Minato finished his recovery.

After putting away the dozen or so special kunai, he said sternly, "Let's head back."

"Right."

Sen Chisato nodded, feeling somewhat impatient. He paused, pointed at Team Minato, and asked, "Are they coming with us?"

"We can't just leave them to travel on their own, can we?" Namikaze Minato smiled slightly, had the four of them hold hands, and then placed his hands on the shoulders of Kakashi and Sen Chisato. "Besides, I left a Flying Thunder God marking at the Konoha Base Camp before I came here."

"Alright, focus your attention; we're leaving." After this reminder, he immediately activated the Flying Thunder God technique.

In an instant, the figures of the five vanished from the spot.

For Sen Chisato, it was a rare and marvelous experience.

He felt like an arrow released from a taut bow, shot forth by a powerful hand, with everything in his line of sight stretching into infinitely long lines.

He knew this was space-time teleportation, a journey spanning vast mountains and rivers between the start and the finish, yet he encountered no resistance. His thoughts showed no signs of stagnation, as if he had entered a river flowing across the landscape, needing only to drift along with the current.

After a moment of disorientation, the scene before him solidified.

Looking up, he saw that they had returned to the frontline base camp.

"Truly miraculous," Sen Chisato marveled, beginning to re-evaluate the value of Namikaze Minato.

With this single technique alone, he was worthy of being specifically targeted!

For the first time, Sen Chisato placed Namikaze Minato on the same level as Uchiha Obito in his mind.

Of course, in terms of importance, Uchiha Obito still ranked higher.

After all, behind Uchiha Obito stood Uchiha Madara, and through him, one could reach the Akatsuki organization.

Feeling the strange gaze fixed upon him, Namikaze Minato felt a sense of unease. "Chisato, why are you looking at me like that?"

"It's nothing. Just don't die easily."

Sen Chisato replied casually, while silently adding to himself: If you must die, die in front of me!

Namikaze Minato froze for a moment, then broke into a brilliant smile.

Few people ever spoke to him like that.

Combined with what he knew—that Sen Chisato was a prickly person—he understood this was Sen Chisato's way of showing goodwill.

Thus, he nodded and said, "I will."

During their conversation, the group arrived outside the command tent.

Before they could enter, someone lifted the tent flap and stepped out.

Seeing this person, Sen Chisato was stunned. "Uncle Hakuba?"

Sarutobi Hakuba's expression brightened, but he quickly reined it in, a flicker of sorrow passing through his eyes. "You've returned, kid."

Sen Chisato frowned.

He had noticed the change in Sarutobi Hakuba's expression and the sorrow in his eyes.

Looking at the arm Sarutobi Hakuba had in a sling across his chest, he asked, "Your arm..."

"My arm is fine." Sarutobi Hakuba lifted it dismissively, then fell into silence.

After a long while, he let out a heavy sigh. "Hihi is dead. He died in last night's battle."

Sen Chisato opened his mouth, not knowing what to say.

This was the first time he had encountered such a thing.

Someone he knew, someone he could call an acquaintance, had died.

"Where is his body? Has it been sent back to Konoha?" Sen Chisato asked instinctively.

Burying bodies—gaining rewards—becoming stronger... this was what Sen Chisato had been doing since he arrived in this world. Five years had passed; it had become a habit.

Therefore, when faced with death, his first thought was the corpse.

But after asking, he suddenly realized that he didn't actually care that much about Hyuga Hihi's body.

"No, Hihi's body is still here."

Sarutobi Hakuba forced a stiff smile. "Didn't you say that if anything happened to us, you would handle our funeral arrangements? Hihi... he is still waiting for you."

Sen Chisato looked up, his expression indifferent. "He said that?"

Sarutobi Hakuba nodded. "It was his final wish. The Hyuga Clan originally wanted to take his body away, but Lord Orochimaru stopped them, and the Hokage agreed."

"I see." Sen Chisato lowered his eyelids. "Where is he?"

"Follow me." Sarutobi Hakuba nodded at Namikaze Minato as a greeting, then turned and walked away.

Sen Chisato followed without a word.

"Chisato..." Nohara Rin's face showed concern, and she instinctively wanted to follow, but was stopped by Kakashi.

Kakashi pressed a hand on her shoulder, watching Sen Chisato leave, and said in a low voice, "It's better not to disturb him right now."

He had experienced such things himself.

Graduating at five, joining squad after squad, constantly carrying out missions, and watching teammates die before his eyes time and again, until he joined Team Minato.

It was a pity that, at the time, he had closed off his heart and his emotions. The death of teammates meant nothing to him back then.

He hadn't expected to encounter it today.

Even as a bystander, with the deceased being a ninja he didn't even know, he felt that emotion called "sorrow."

"I'm just worried about him," Nohara Rin said, clutching her hands to her chest. "Chisato must... be very sad."