A Chunin Already?

The three of them stood back-to-back. Jin stared at the Sand Ninja before him, killed by indiscriminate attacks from their own village, and felt his scalp go numb.

"They won't even spare their own people?" Kato Dan frowned tightly. The three of them were surrounded on all sides by the Anbu who had rushed over. Minato had already made his calculations. Without changing expression, he said, "Jin, how much chakra do you have left?"

"If it's a B-rank ninjutsu, I should be able to use it two more times," Jin replied. After getting the answer he wanted, Minato immediately formed hand seals.

When the Sand Anbu saw someone forming seals, they immediately launched an attack.

"Ninjutsu—Summoning Technique!"

"Bang!"

A huge toad descended from the sky, sending the remaining Anbu flying into the air.

"Minato? What's the matter?" the toad said with a huge pipe in its mouth. Minato quickly said, "Senior Bunta, combine your toad oil with Jin's Fire Release to make a Toad Oil Flame Bullet!"

"Jin? Which brat is that?" Gamabunta wondered. He could only feel three people on his back. "Minato, I'm telling you in advance, without a long period of coordination, you won't get the same effect as Jiraiya and my Toad Oil Bullet."

"There's no time, Senior Bunta!" Minato urged, keeping an eye on the Anbu preparing to attack again. "Jin, use your strongest Fire Release!"

"Got it!" Jin nodded. Since they couldn't force their way out anyway, they could only try anything in a desperate situation.

Bunta had no choice but to go along with Minato. He shouted, "Hey, you brat called Jin, get ready!"

Jin formed hand seals with both hands, raised his chakra to the limit, and held it in his throat. The moment he saw Gamabunta spit out toad oil, Jin also released his ninjutsu.

"Fire Release, Toad Oil Flame Bullet!"

The Great Fireball followed Bunta's oil and attacked the Sand Anbu. Several of the Sand Anbu hurriedly used Wind Release to fan the flames away, only to discover that the more they fanned it, the bigger it got?? That sight made the Sand Anbu freeze in place, waiting for death...

Minato and Kato Dan exchanged a look, both revealing expressions of disbelief... originally, they had only wanted to try anything in a desperate situation. They hadn't expected it to actually work!

"Huff, huff..." Jin only felt his legs go weak and powerless. His whole head swam, and his throat was so dry it felt like it was about to spit fire...

"Senior Bunta, please go back on your own! We're escaping first!" Minato picked Jin up in one motion, brought Kato Dan with him, and sprinted toward the Hidden Leaf's secret passage.

Bunta looked in the direction Minato had left and could not help muttering to himself, "Is this what humans often call burning the bridge after crossing it?" Then he also released the summoning and left.

The surviving Anbu looked at the corpses strewn all over the ground before them and left without the slightest attachment. After all, their mission was only to capture the three Hidden Leaf intruders. Since the mission had failed, leaving was only natural.

As for their comrades? Was rescuing comrades and collecting their bodies part of a ninja's duties?

"Holy shit!" Jin's eyes snapped open, and he sat up from the bed. He had just dreamed that he was being hunted by countless Sand Ninja and had almost kicked the bucket...

"You're awake?" A gentle male voice came over. Jin turned his head and saw it was Kato Dan.

"Brother Kato, where are we?" Jin looked curiously around the unfamiliar place. The only thing he was sure of was that he was safe now...

"The main camp. This is my place." Kato Dan brought over a bowl of hot porridge and handed it to Jin. "You used up too much chakra, so you slept for a few days."

Jin took the porridge and racked his brain, trying to remember how he had gotten back... but found that no matter what, he just couldn't remember. He only vaguely remembered Minato carrying him, and then... then his memory cut out.

Looking at the little guy in front of him, Kato Dan could not help laughing. "All right. We took the hidden passage, so we got back very quickly."

"No matter what, being able to come back alive is already good enough." Jin let out a breath of stale air. He felt more relaxed than ever... the battlefield was still too terrifying. He had better hurry back to the Hidden Leaf.

Meanwhile, not far away at the Hidden Leaf Command Headquarters, four men and one woman were focused intently on discussing something.

"Tsunade, this time my apprentice rescued your lover. Shouldn't you be thanking me?" Jiraiya sidled up to Tsunade with a sleazy grin as he spoke.

Tsunade crossed her arms in front of her chest and said disdainfully, "That was your apprentice. What does it have to do with you?"

"What kind of talk is that?! Doesn't my apprentice represent me?" Jiraiya retorted, only to be punched on the head by Tsunade.

"Tsunade! You! You're repaying kindness with enmity!" Jiraiya ran over to Orochimaru with a mournful face. "Orochimaru, look! Tsunade is bullying me again!"

"Bear it yourself," Orochimaru said coldly.

Jiraiya: "..."

Sakumo and Yoshi Nara smiled as they watched the young people in front of them, sighing that sure enough, one had to stay with young people. Only then did they feel a few years younger themselves.

"By the way, Senior Sakumo, your son should be about school age now, right?" Yoshi Nara asked casually.

Sakumo nodded, and the image of his son appeared in his mind. "Yes. I really hope the war can end sooner. It's been so long since I've seen my son."

As they were speaking, the curtain of the command headquarters was lifted, and everyone looked toward the entrance.

Kato Dan walked in with the weak Uchiha Jin. "You're Uchiha Jin, right? I thank you on Dan's behalf." The woman walking toward him smiled and rubbed Jin's head. "As expected of an Uchiha, you really are handsome."

"This is Lady Tsunade, one of the Three Ninja," Minato Namikaze introduced from the side. Jin looked at that vast expanse of white before him, and his face could not help turning red... so this was the great Tsunade... "Hello, Lady Tsunade."

"That one is Lord Orochimaru, one of the Three Ninja." Minato Namikaze then introduced the person beside Jiraiya. Jin looked over naturally, and the instant his gaze met Orochimaru's, he felt his scalp go numb... those cold eyes, without the slightest trace of emotion.

As expected of Uncle Snake, this aura really was... best not to have anything to do with him... But he still greeted him stiffly. "Hello, Lord Orochimaru."

Orochimaru nodded slightly. Looking at the Uchiha Clan's exclusive fan symbol on Jin's back, a trace of appreciation and desire flashed through his eyes, but it was quickly concealed again.

"Kid, you did pretty well this time! Didn't expect you'd be able to use Toad Oil Flame Bullet with Bunta!" Jiraiya praised. Jin had just been about to say it was nothing, but the next sentence made the smile that had originally appeared on his face collapse...

"Although the first thing you summoned with the Summoning Technique was a tadpole."

"Pffft hahahahaha..."

Jin turned his head away with his face flushed. Too mortifying! Too embarrassing!

"Good kid! You really did well this time!" Sakumo also walked over at that moment and rubbed Jin's head. Jin could not help grumbling: No, seriously, why does everyone like rubbing my head? Is my head that nice to touch?

Though that was the truth... after all, Jin's hair was not like the hedgehog hair of other members of the Uchiha Clan, but an extremely smooth hairstyle.

"Your abilities are already fully up to the chunin standard." Just as Sakumo said that, Minato handed the chunin flak jacket he had been hiding behind his back to Jin. "Congratulations, Jin. You became a chunin so quickly."

"???" Jin looked at everyone with a face full of question marks. He had only become a genin a month or two ago, right?