C-Rank Mission

In the afternoon forest, on the official road leading from Konoha to the Land of Fire's daimyo estate, four Konoha ninja—one adult and three children—escorted a plainly decorated carriage forward at a slow pace.

Animal noises occasionally drifted from the woods, while the cicadas in the trees never stopped chirping.

The scene was peaceful. Aside from being a little hot, there was nothing unpleasant about it.

Along the way, Minato occasionally shared some of his experience with his three students.

This included how to observe their surroundings, determine whether enemies had set an ambush, track targets, and evade tracking.

The Ninja Academy taught such knowledge, but only in broad, general terms. Too many situations required tactical adjustments based on local conditions.

And this was precisely the survival knowledge new ninja lacked most. Minato shared it selflessly, and Kakashi listened more attentively than his two teammates, as though he wanted to carve every word into his mind.

They had already been on the road for nearly four hours.

The temperature had reached the hottest point of the day. Minato called out, and the team halted.

Oda, the merchant who had commissioned this mission, took a large bag of water and some rations from the carriage and offered them to Kakashi and the others.

Minato politely declined.

"Mr. Oda, our village has rules. During missions outside the village, we may not accept any gifts from clients. That includes food. Thank you for your kindness, but we appreciate the thought."

After saying that, he motioned for Kakashi to take their own rations and follow him a short distance away.

"Kakashi, why did you agree to take this mission just now? Ninja must obey the village's arrangements, but if you have objections to a mission's contents, you may raise them. Whether that means changing team members or rearranging the route and travel schedule."

Minato rarely looked so serious. This concerned the lives of the three students in his team, and no amount of caution was excessive.

"Teacher, you must have seen it too. Elder Mito likely arranged this mission for our class on purpose. My thinking is that there's no time like the present. Even if we turned this mission down, something bound to happen would still come looking for us in the future."

Kakashi stared directly at Minato as he spoke. Time was pressing, and he intended to get straight to the point rather than beat around the bush.

Minato had not expected Kakashi to lay everything out so plainly. He froze for a moment, then fell into thought.

"I don't know what happened here, and I don't want to know. But Team 7 are my students. I will do everything in my power to protect your safety, so long as you do not do anything that harms the village's interests."

Since Kakashi had chosen to trust Minato and speak openly, Minato responded just as forthrightly. He stated his bottom line directly.

"Then I'm relieved, Teacher Minato. On this trip, you only need to take care of Inuzuka and Aburame. As for any trouble coming for me, I should... still be capable of dealing with it." Kakashi unconsciously touched the short blade on his back, speaking with confidence.

Any operation targeting Team 7—or, more bluntly, targeting Kakashi—would first need someone to tie Minato down or lure him away, preventing him from coming to Kakashi's aid.

Then they would strike like thunder, either killing or capturing Kakashi.

Killing him was unlikely. Capturing him and using him to force Hatake Sakumo's hand was far more likely.

At this stage, Kakashi was even more outstanding than in the original story, and his status was higher as well. He was not only Hatake Sakumo's child, but also Orochimaru's direct disciple. It was only natural that Konoha's higher-ups would not want to watch him grow stronger.

But inside the village, they had too many concerns. The only chance to act was when his team left Konoha.

Now, the only thing left was to see whom the village would send to carry out the mission. If they were ninja from the village, then with Minato's strength, there were very few who could even hold him off, much less defeat him.

And those who could be secretly dispatched by the higher-ups to carry out such a mission were even rarer. So the attackers would most likely be ninja from another village or bounty ninja.

Until noon the following day, the team encountered no trouble at all.

After observing him during this time, Minato and Kakashi had basically confirmed that Oda was merely an ordinary, genuine client.

But the trouble they had anticipated still had not arrived. Like the Sword of Damocles hanging above their heads, it forced them to remain on high alert at all times, not daring to relax.

Aburame Haru and Inuzuka Kawa lacked that awareness. Once the initial novelty and nervous vigilance had passed, they had begun to loosen up somewhat.

Just as Minato motioned for the team and Oda to rest and eat, a piercing bird cry rang out above the dense forest.

They instinctively looked up.

Through gaps in the trees, Minato and the others saw a large bird of prey rapidly approaching from high above. In just a few breaths, it went from the farthest edge of their vision to clear enough for them to see a figure standing on the back of the hawk-like, vulture-like raptor, though its features remained indistinct. Its speed was obvious.

"So that's how it is!"

Minato exchanged a glance with Kakashi. Both of them understood.

It seemed their opponent planned to use aerial mobility to keep Minato occupied.

But now that Minato knew the enemy's true target was Hatake Kakashi, he would not easily fall into their trap.

"The enemy is here. Against aerial attacks, remember to find cover." Minato remained completely calm, even having the leisure to instruct his students.

He waited patiently in place for the other side to launch their attack.

At that moment, Minato desperately wished he had completely mastered his new technique—the Flying Thunder God Technique, developed by the Second Hokage, Tobirama Senju.

Unfortunately, he had only just begun learning it and could not use it proficiently. Ninjutsu involving space and time was immensely powerful, but especially difficult to master and dangerous to practice.

The approaching enemy did not attack recklessly. After circling above them several times and finding no obvious opening, they could only fire several kunai carrying explosive tags down from above.

Minato precisely knocked aside attacks of that level while they were still in the air.

Fireworks instantly blossomed overhead.

The attack continued for a while. Perhaps the enemy had run out of ninja tools, or perhaps they had realized their attacks were ineffective, but the frequency gradually decreased.

Seeing that this attack had not caused their opponents even the slightest harm, the enemy did not panic and continued watching them patiently from above.

Knowing full well the strength of the enemy team's Jonin leader, the attacker did not dare approach at all, maintaining a great straight-line distance from Kakashi and the others.

Minato made several probing attacks with ninjutsu, but they came to nothing because the distance was too great. The enemy seemed to have no better means of attack either, and the two sides fell into a stalemate.

"Teacher, this seems like they're trying to delay us while setting traps ahead."

"Yes, I know. So I'm thinking about how to detour into the Land of Wind."

The destination of this mission was the daimyo's capital in the Land of Wind. They were still within the Land of Fire. Because they had to consider their employer, they had traveled along the main road until now. If they were to switch to smaller paths ahead, they would have to abandon the carriage and continue on foot.

As an ordinary merchant, Oda's physical condition certainly would not support the journey ahead. But having Inuzuka carry him would also be unsafe. Minato was therefore in quite a difficult position.

"It's fine. I know the Summoning Technique. I can summon a snake."

At that, Kakashi turned to Oda.

"Mr. Oda, I'll summon a snake shortly and have it serve as your means of transport. You won't be too frightened to ride it, will you?"

"Ah... well... that should be fine." Oda had already been thrown into a panic by the sudden attack. He had no choice but to encourage himself to overcome his fear of reptiles.

"Then it's settled. Teacher, we'll change course and go through the dense forest. That will limit the field of vision of anyone above, whether they're scouting us or attacking us."

"Good idea, Kakashi! Then we'll go that way."

Minato had originally wanted to directly summon a toad with better jumping ability and end this quickly. But considering the many uncertain dangers waiting ahead, he conservatively chose Kakashi's plan instead.

He was the team's main combat strength, and he needed to preserve his condition as much as possible. This was not selfishness—it was the best choice when facing danger!