The orders on the scroll were brief and clear: a convoy carrying vital supplies would soon arrive at the rendezvous point to the southeast.
With Sunagakure forces active in the area, headquarters had ordered the Hatake Squad to carry out this escort mission alongside the Jiraiya Squad, which had just rotated from the Land of Rain to the Sunagakure front and was currently resting, to ensure nothing went wrong.
At the mention of the "Jiraiya Squad," Shinji Uchiha felt a slight stir of interest.
The arrival of that boisterous man, one of the legendary Sannin and a student of the Third Hokage, meant that Minato Namikaze and his teammates had arrived as well.
That undoubtedly made the mission more secure, and it gave him something to look forward to in their collaboration.
Early the next morning, the two squads met at the edge of camp.
Jiraiya was casually briefing his three young teammates on the essentials of operating in the desert. When he saw Hatake Sakumo approaching, his face broke into a brilliant grin. He strode over and clapped Sakumo hard on the shoulder. "Hahaha! Sakumo! I never thought we'd be teaming up for this mission!"
"The mission requires it." Sakumo nodded slightly, his steady gaze sweeping over the teammates behind Jiraiya.
Minato Namikaze was as sunny and cheerful as ever, his blond hair especially dazzling in the morning light. He bowed respectfully to Sakumo.
Akimichi Yoshimaru was a chubby boy busily munching on snacks. At the sight of Sakumo, he hastily put away his snack bag, looking somewhat shy.
The other teammate was a girl with neat, short black hair and lively eyes. She introduced herself without prompting. "Hello, Sakumo-senpai. My name is Uchiha Aoba." (I don't know who she was, only that she was a girl, so I