Disguised Infiltration of the Sand Village

The white smoke dispersed, and a toad taller than Jin appeared before everyone.

"Yo, Jiraiya, what's up? Huh? Little Minato's here too?"

"Holy crap! The toad talked!" Jin cried out. He had seen it in anime before... but witnessing it with his own eyes still sent a chill down his spine.

"Toad Tora, take out the contract scroll. This kid is signing a summoning contract with us," Jiraiya ordered.

Toad Tora wasted no words. He spat a scroll straight out of his mouth and tossed it to Jiraiya.

Looking at the scroll drenched in saliva, Jin pitifully turned his gaze toward Sakumo.

Sakumo smiled and explained, "Lord Jiraiya's summoned beasts come from Mount Myoboku, one of the three great sacred lands. For you to sign a contract with them is purely an enormous stroke of fortune!"

"Come on, kid. Consider this a welcome gift from me, the Toad Sage, to a genius who shares a name with Minato!" Jiraiya said generously.

"Uh..." Jin looked around. Seeing Sakumo's encouraging eyes and Minato's expectant gaze, he endured the pain, bit his index finger, and wrote his full name on the contract scroll—Uchiha Jin.

"Try out your new ninjutsu, Jin," Minato immediately suggested at the sight. Jin was also extremely curious what he could summon. "Boar—Dog—Bird—Monkey—Ram, Ninjutsu: Summoning Technique!"

"Bang!"

"...Big Brother Minato, let's just go..."

At the entrance to the Sand Village.

The Sand Village ninja in charge of guarding the gate stopped two strangely behaving strangers dressed in rags... a child supporting a limping young man.

"Halt. What are you here for?"

"Big brother, my brother and I are both poor people. We're from a small village. My brother's leg was crippled by Konoha ninja, and my parents were killed by Konoha ninja... Wuu, wuu, wuu, wuu."

As the child explained, he burst into tears. Seeing this, the guard hurriedly took out a piece of candy and handed it over to comfort him. "Don't cry, don't cry. Lord Kazekage has already gone to the front line to avenge your family."

"Hemu, take them inside and get them something to eat," another guard ordered, then looked at the young man traveling with the child and said sympathetically, "See if there are any medical ninja left in the village. If there are, have them treat this brother."

"Got it." The ninja comforting the child nodded, then helped the young man walk into the village.

"Did you run into any Konoha ninja on the way here?" Hemu chatted casually. The child obediently shook his head. "No. My brother and I took the back roads. We hid here and there for a month before we made it."

"It must've been hard on you two." Hemu sighed, then immediately perked up. "Lord Kazekage has personally taken the field. It'll be fine! This time, those hateful Konoha ninja definitely won't come back alive!"

"Exactly, exactly! Those hateful Konoha ninja!" the child echoed, while the young man beside him was speechless, silently thinking, Mm-hmm! Are you not a Konoha ninja? Or do ruthless people even curse themselves when they get going?

As the young man quietly formed hand seals.

"Genjutsu!"

Hemu's pupils lost focus, and in an instant, he became like a walking corpse.

"Jin, come with me." Minato dragged Hemu into a dead-end alley, then gestured for Jin to follow him.

Following their prior agreement, the two quickly found Kato Dan's location.

"Brother Kato, we meet again." Minato smiled faintly. As long as they brought Kato Dan back, the mission would be completed perfectly.

"Ah, it's Minato." Kato Dan was clearly a little surprised. He had not expected the person who came to be Minato. His gaze then fell on the child beside Minato, and he asked curiously, "And this is?"

"This is Lord Sakumo's disciple, Uchiha Jin. Jin, this is Brother Kato Dan," Minato introduced. After the three exchanged a few brief greetings, they prepared to leave the Sand Village.

But the ninja at the Sand Village entrance, seeing that his companion still had not returned, searched around and found him unconscious in an alley. Realizing something was wrong, he hurried to report it to his superior.

"Not good. The Sand Village is under lockdown!" Kato Dan looked through the window at the large group of Sand ninja below searching house by house.

Jin looked at Minato, only to see Minato calmly say, "It's fine. I have a way."

"Ninjutsu: Summoning Technique!"

Toad Tora, whom they had seen not long ago, appeared in front of the three of them.

"Senior Toad Tora, please have Sage Fukasaku use Reverse Summoning to summon us to Mount Myoboku," Minato said sincerely.

Just as Toad Tora nodded in agreement, Jin suddenly spoke up. "Big Brother Minato, can Brother Kato be summoned to Mount Myoboku together with us too?"

"..."

Minato was at a loss for words and could only look toward Toad Tora for the moment. Kato Dan, however, said indifferently, "It's fine. I'll give you the intelligence. You go back first and hand it to Lord Sakumo."

"No!" Minato shook his head decisively. "Our mission is to bring you back. If you don't return, then this mission is a failure... And! I won't abandon a single comrade!"

As Minato's words fell, the three people and one toad in the room sank into dead silence. It lasted until Toad Tora spoke. "Minato, my summoning time is almost up. Why don't you give me the intelligence, and I'll take it back to Jiraiya?"

"That's right!" Minato suddenly realized. After handing the intelligence scroll containing what Kato Dan knew to Toad Tora, he released the Summoning Technique.

As the Sand ninja's search range drew closer and closer, the three held a brief discussion and decided that Minato would draw the enemy away, while Jin and Kato Dan would leave the Sand Village first. Everyone would regroup outside the village.

Once they reached an agreement, Minato smashed through the window and leaped out. The Konoha forehead protector on his head made the Sand ninja recognize him instantly.

"Over here! There's a Konoha ninja!"

"Hurry, hurry, hurry! Catch him!"

"..."

Seeing that many of the Sand ninja below had been lured away, Jin also said, "Brother Kato, let's leave quickly too."

"Good!"

"Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!"

Jin spat out a massive fireball. Kato Dan coordinated with Jin's ninjutsu. "Secret Technique: Spirit Transformation Technique!"

Kato Dan's soul left his physical body and darted at high speed through the Sand ninja. Wherever he passed, heads fell to the ground.

"Go!" Kato Dan returned to his body and shouted. Jin followed behind him.

The two of them ran along the surrounding houses toward the outside of the village.

Meanwhile.

After learning that Konoha ninja had infiltrated the Sand Village, Chiyo was furious. The Third Kazekage had gone to the front line, while Chiyo was guarding the Sand Village.

"Catch them! Dig three feet into the ground if you have to, but find those Konoha ninja!" Chiyo roared, thinking of how her son and daughter-in-law had died at the hands of White Fang of the Leaf...

Chiyo waited in the Kazekage's office from afternoon until evening, yet she never heard any good news about the Konoha rats being caught.

"Bang!"

Chiyo shoved the door open and said furiously, "A bunch of trash! Where are the Konoha ninja? I'll catch them myself!"

The Anbu on guard said somewhat tremblingly, "According to the news sent back... they... they..."

"What happened to them?" Chiyo glared at the Anbu. The Anbu said with fear and trembling, "They... ran out of the village..."

"Bastards!"