Racing Against Failure

That familiar feeling came from his flying knives.

Thinking back, his flying knives must have already made contact with space.

That was why they could appear without a sound.

After all, once he launched a flying knife, it might not be able to pierce through space yet, but it flew right along the walls of space.

That made it almost invisible, impossible to see with the naked eye.

Even so, after coming into contact with the Space Transfer Technique, Ye Yuexin had gained some unique insights into the nature of space.

"Are you spacing out? We were able to deal with them so quickly thanks to your help." Seeing Ye Yuexin standing there without moving, Minato Namikaze smiled and asked with a slight furrow in his brow.

He really was so considerate. With those words, he had immediately shared the credit with Ye Yuexin.

After all, Ye Yuexin had done little more than provide support.

"Ah, sorry, Captain." Minato's words brought Ye Yuexin out of his thoughts, and he immediately apologized.

"Go get Ebisu and the others."

"Oh, right." Ye Yuexin felt rather awkward for spacing out at a time like this, and immediately ran over to Might Guy.

Meanwhile, Minato Namikaze tied up the unconscious man wearing an Iwagakure Forehead Protector.

Before long, Ye Yuexin returned with the other two.

It looked like their chakra had mostly recovered; their steps no longer seemed unsteady.

But Ye Yuexin was nearly out of chakra.

He had already used up most of it traveling such a long distance, and then he had fired a concentrated A-rank Wind Release technique infused with chakra.

His chakra had been drained completely.

He could feel the exhaustion weighing on him constantly.

When they arrived, Minato Namikaze immediately said, "Ebisu, you're up."

Ebisu seemed familiar with this sort of thing. He answered and walked over to the Rock Ninja.

After forming three hand seals, he made a sword-finger with one hand, closed his eyes, and slowly pointed it at the Rock Ninja's forehead.

Ye Yuexin guessed what it was: a special ninjutsu for reading someone else's memories.

It must be the mental secret technique of his clan that Ebisu had mentioned earlier.

But it seemed to consume a lot of chakra. In just a short while, beads of sweat had already formed on Ebisu's forehead.

Suddenly, Ebisu's tightly shut eyes flew open.

"Damn it, we've been tricked!" He lowered his sword-finger and panted.

Those words made Ye Yuexin and Minato Namikaze's hearts sink.

It looked like there really was a much larger scheme at play.

"What happened?" Minato Namikaze immediately asked. The most important thing now was to understand the situation as quickly as possible so they could decide what to do.

That made their time even more limited.

At Minato Namikaze's urgent question, Ebisu immediately replied, "From his memories, I found out that these men were only bait."

"The real assault team is at the border of Sunagakure. We've been tricked."

"It'll take at least two days to get from here to the border of Sunagakure. They've already decided to break through in one day."

"What's more, they've gathered eighty rogue ninja. Besides four elite Iwagakure jōnin, there are also two missing-nin from the Land of Water who seem to be jōnin. Most of the rest are Genin, with a few Chunin mixed in."

At those words, Ye Yuexin noticed Minato Namikaze's breathing grow rapid.

It really was a devastating bombshell.

Almost all the ninja had gone to the battlefield. Now, this force was planning to attack the Land of Fire's border defenses.

With the defenses they had there now, they certainly wouldn't be able to hold out against a force like this.

The surrounding villages would be in danger, and, more importantly, this would have a huge impact on Konoha.

It wasn't just that Konoha might become a laughingstock among the other villages.

The Land of Fire's daimyo would lose even more faith in Konoha. Future missions and financial support for the village could both be cut back significantly.

No one could bear such a loss.

They would become sinners in the eyes of the entire village.

As the leader of this mission, Minato Namikaze would bear unavoidable responsibility, regardless of whether the information the village had provided was accurate.

Given the village's way of handling things, they certainly wouldn't let the decisions of Konoha High Command be tainted.

So he could very well end up as the scapegoat.

Minato Namikaze, already an elite jōnin, understood the village's dark side all too well.

Even so, that hadn't changed his determination to become Hokage. His resolve was to change the village once he became Hokage.

He wanted it to truly become what it appeared to be on the surface. There might still be darkness, but he would bear it himself.

So now they were racing against failure, and speed was Minato Namikaze's greatest strength.

"I'm issuing new orders. Ye Yuexin, you'll lead the others and continue on to the border defense squad in the Land of Rock."

"From what I know, they've already sent some personnel from the surrounding defenses over there. You'll deliver this message and have them reinforce the Sand Ninja Defense Base."

"Then rendezvous with Team Kakashi and do everything you can to take out several of the small defense outposts around Iwagakure. Let them have a taste of their own medicine. Understood?" Minato Namikaze said, sternly and quickly.

"Understood!" Ye Yuexin and the others answered firmly.

"I'll head to the Sand Ninja side first." With that, Minato Namikaze vanished at once.

Despite the long distance, Minato Namikaze had set off using the Body Flicker Technique. He seemed determined to get there within a day.

But it was hard to say whether he had enough chakra to last.

After all, they had already been traveling for a whole day.

Ye Yuexin thought, Even if he makes it there in a day, how much chakra will he have left to fight?

Then he shook his head, realizing he was overthinking it. How could the Fourth Hokage fail?

Minato Namikaze might have been in such a hurry when he left that he'd forgotten to take the four Flying Thunder God Kunai stuck in the ground.

That worked out perfectly. Ye Yuexin had wanted to study them for a while now. He just hadn't been able to think of a reason to ask for one along the way.

So he quickly pulled the kunai out of the ground.

"I'm not familiar with the terrain here. Do you know where the base is?" At Ye Yuexin's question, Might Guy was the first to answer. "We've all been on missions here before. We know where the base is."

"Great. No time to waste. Let's hurry over there. Also, Might Guy, it's your turn to carry me this time. I'm almost out of chakra."

"Oh, sure, no problem. Get on." Hearing Ye Yuexin say that, Might Guy quickly turned his back to him.

At a time like this, there was no room for modesty. Ye Yuexin jumped straight onto Might Guy's back, and the three of them set off again.

Before leaving, Ebisu stabbed the Rock Ninja in the throat once more.

The blood on the ground was still wet, but they had no time to bury the bodies.