Rushing to the Front Lines

"Stalling for time? Hanzo the Salamander was indeed strong, but did he have the strength to fight a war of annihilation?"

Tsunade stared at the sand table before her, thinking with some confusion.

Jiraiya stood beside her, while Orochimaru stood across from her.

"Who knew? We lacked intelligence."

"However, Xuanhui's concerns were not without reason. The Hidden Rain Village had failed to break through for a long time, yet they kept leading raids against us.

Their goal was definitely to stall for time. We either took the initiative and attacked, or prepared our defenses!"

Orochimaru's gaze turned exceptionally cold as his rational mind swiftly settled on a plan.

"So, we needed someone to gather intelligence..."

Jiraiya pursed his dry lips. Just as he was about to raise his hand, Orochimaru interrupted him.

"I had someone in mind..."

"Xuanhui, you had to be careful out there all by yourself!

Just be an ordinary ninja. Don't take on any high-difficulty missions, understand?"

"Mom... Teacher Sarutobi is still right beside us..."

As the Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi could only awkwardly turn his head away. Even after hearing such overflowing maternal love, he was too embarrassed to say anything.

"Brother Xuanhui, you had to come back!"

Minato and Fugaku had come along as well.

"Sure. When I came back, it would be time for you to fulfill your promise!"

Minato's smile froze instantly, while Fugaku burst into laughter beside him, completely unconcerned.

"Big brother, becoming a jonin isn't that easy. You should focus on staying alive and getting back quickly!"

"You little brat, I got it."

After giving his tearful mother one last hug, Xuanhui turned around and walked away with heavy steps, leaving behind only a resolute silhouette.

"Sigh! It was a good thing for children to grow up. Nara Yamanaka, go home and get some rest."

Hiruzen Sarutobi offered Nara Yamanaka a word of comfort, then vanished with a Body Flicker Technique.

Minato and Fugaku exchanged glances. Seeing that she remained silent, they offered a few comforting words before running off to school as well.

Only then did Nara Yamanaka wipe away her tears and turn around, pulling her gaze away from the direction her son had left.

Xuanhui no longer needed to think about so much while on the road. He held a map in his hand, marked with several red circles.

"I didn't need to hurry on foot anyway. At night, I could slip into the library, find Orochimaru, and warp straight to the battlefield.

During the day, let's do something useful!"

He had obtained this map from the mission office yesterday afternoon. It marked several bandit hideouts outside the Hidden Leaf Village.

"Let me see... The closest one is..."

Xuanhui gave it a quick look, confirmed the direction, and plunged deep into the forest.

"You! Who are you?"

"A ninja! Brothers, run!"

"Boss! Please, spare our lives! We'll do anything!"

"Damn ninja! Even as a ghost, I won't let you off!"

"Fire! Fire!"

A burst of chaotic, panicked noise came from an inconspicuous cave.

After a while, black smoke slowly drifted out from the cave entrance. Xuanhui dusted himself off, sat against the mountainside with a sack slung over his shoulder, and opened it.

He took out the bills inside, moistened his thumb with saliva, and began counting rapidly.

"Over a million ryo. That was one-thirtieth of an Asuma...

This really was fast money! No wonder these people liked being bandits..."

After counting the cash, he shifted his gaze to the dazzling rare treasures.

"Would any pawnshops take these? If not, I'd find some merchants and sell them...

I'd deal with the nearby groups first, then visit the other ninja villages. Maybe someone there would buy them!"

That day, the bandits in the northwestern corner of the Land of Fire would never forget the masked child ninja who had single-handedly robbed them all.

Only when Xuanhui was too exhausted to continue did he take out his map and look for the nearest ninja village.

"If heading farther northwest led to the Land of Rain...

Then heading west led to the Land of Rivers!"

He looked up at the sun in the sky and made a rough estimate.

"There should still be time."

Wiping the sweat from his forehead, Xuanhui plunged into the forest once more and headed toward the Land of Rivers.

"Once things settled down, I had to get Orochimaru to develop technology and build some means of transportation..."

By the time he reached the Land of Rivers, the sun had already set.

It was too late for Xuanhui to enter the country, so he could only find a nearby small town.

Sure enough, there was no such thing as a pawnshop in a town like this.

It made sense. How could such a remote little place have so much gold, silver, and jewelry circulating through it?

There was, however, a hot spring that looked fairly clean.

The only trouble came when he tried to check in. They mistook him for a child and refused to let him enter no matter what he said.

With no other choice, he casually let his kunai and shuriken scatter across the floor.

At the same time, he casually let his forehead protector fall out as well.

The middle-aged woman at the hot spring's front desk broke into a cold sweat the moment she saw the weapons gleaming with a chilling light.

"No problem! You may enter!

Hahaha! My eyes were getting bad in my old age! I actually mistook such a handsome young man for a child!"

Xuanhui swiftly gathered his things, took his number tag, and entered the hot spring.

"Awesome! This feels so good!"

The cold shower from earlier had washed away the filth and grime from his body.

The warm water tightly enveloped his bare skin, washing away every bit of exhaustion from his body.

"Hey, did you hear?"

Conversation drifted over from nearby. Xuanhui turned his head and saw two middle-aged men.

Both had dark skin, rough knuckles, and scars on their faces.

"Konoha and the Hidden Rain Village have started fighting too. Now it's a chaotic battle between three countries!"

"Tch! If you asked me, it would be better if the Hidden Stone Village and Hidden Cloud Village joined in too!

The best outcome would be for everyone to start fighting, so our country could take advantage of the situation and swallow up all Five Great Nations."

So they were just two ordinary ninjas who liked to brag.

"Exactly! The Hidden Mist Village seemed pretty chaotic now too. Their new Mizukage's policies have put them through quite a lot of suffering!"

What was going on over at the Hidden Mist Village? Who was ruling now?

Yagura Karatachi was the Fourth Mizukage and was active during the Third Shinobi World War. So the current one was the Third Mizukage?

Damn, what was that guy's name again? Why couldn't I remember it?

Still, there was no need to worry about the Hidden Mist Village for now. They didn't participate in the Second Shinobi World War. Like the Hidden Sand Village, which withdrew midway through the First Shinobi World War, they were conserving their strength.

The important figures hadn't appeared yet either. It would be enough to visit before the Third Shinobi World War.

The two kept bragging about other things for a while, ranging from the sun and moon to trivial nonsense, but they said nothing useful.

Xuanhui soaked for over half an hour. Unable to stand the two any longer, he dried himself off, got dressed, and left.