Lady Mito, please take Kushina with you

Tsunade hurried off in a frenzy.

Hiruzen Sarutobi was weighed down with worries.

Orochimaru, Jiraiya, and Tsunade, along with Hatake Sakumo, were among the strongest people in Konoha at present.

He had to remain in the village, while Danzo could not readily leave his intelligence duties, but more than half of the village's top fighters were being deployed.

Their existing mission assignments would have to be put on hold as well.

There were countless matters to sort out, but none of them was what truly worried him.

After much deliberation, Hiruzen Sarutobi took a deep breath and ventured, "Lady Mito, please take Kushina with you."

He knew perfectly well that Mito Uzumaki was no weaker than he was.

If Uzushio Village was in danger, whether out of personal ties, duty, or sheer strength, he had no way of stopping Mito Uzumaki.

But... the Uzumaki princess whom even Madara Uchiha had acknowledged had grown old.

As Hokage, he would never willingly risk Konoha losing the Nine-Tails!

Not even if the chance was minuscule.

Mito Uzumaki looked at the deferential Hokage and sighed softly.

"All right. I promise."

Hiruzen Sarutobi let out a long breath of relief.

This way, even if the worst happened, Konoha could at least keep the Nine-Tails...

He said nothing more, bowed respectfully, and took his leave.

After Hiruzen Sarutobi left.

Mito Uzumaki gazed at the empty courtyard, inexplicably reminded of her days in Uzushio Village decades ago.

She turned to Moonlight Ruyun, who had been standing quietly beside her all this time.

"Go check on Kushina."

"Yes," he answered, then hesitated for two seconds. "Lady Mito, may I go too?"

Mito Uzumaki paused, a gentle smile appearing on her face.

She gently stroked his hair.

"We're family. Just call me Grandma Mito. Are you worried about Kushina?"

He nodded.

Was he worried? Yes, but only a little.

Even Hiruzen Sarutobi might not understand as well as he did just how absurdly powerful Mito Uzumaki was.

With no perfect jinchuriki around, Mito, who could command the Nine-Tails at will, was practically invincible.

Under those circumstances, as long as Kushina stayed with Mito.

There might be a little danger, but any real danger was unlikely.

What kind of equipment materials might Uzushio Village have?

He was very curious. Uzushio Village had served only as background in the original story, and by the time it appeared, it had already been destroyed.

No one had seen what Uzushio Village looked like when it single-handedly kept Kirigakure beyond the Land of Fire's coastline.

Might there be equipment materials he could get his hands on?

Of course, that said, if Tsunade, Jiraiya, and Orochimaru were leading the team, he would not go.

The future Sannin were still far from their peak.

But if it was Mito Uzumaki, he had absolute faith in her. He could go!

Mito Uzumaki's smile deepened.

Taking two children along was no different from taking one.

Hiruzen Sarutobi had underestimated her strength, and she had no intention of explaining herself. She was merely putting the Hokage's mind at ease.

And now, seeing Ruyun willing to brave danger to accompany Kushina pleased her greatly.

"Are you afraid? If I'm not mistaken, that place will become a battlefield."

Moonlight Ruyun smiled. Afraid?

Unless Madara Uchiha was the one trying to wipe out Uzushio Village, he had absolutely nothing to fear.

"Grandma Mito, I should go check on Kushina."

Mito Uzumaki nodded happily.

At Konoha's entrance.

"Sis, I want to go too."

Tsunade looked utterly baffled. "Go? What do you mean, go? Do you even know what we're going to do? You threw up after killing a bandit. Be good and stay home."

Jiraiya burst out laughing, while Orochimaru's expression darkened.

Naturally, they had heard about Nawaki's performance on his first mission. It had been rather...

All they could say was that he had plenty of room for improvement.

"But Ruyun and Kushina are going, and so is Minato! Why is Uncle Jiraiya taking him too?"

Jiraiya shrugged and glanced at Minato, who was still somewhat dazed, with no idea why he had suddenly been dragged out of bed.

"Don't look at me. I asked Lady Mito before bringing Minato."

Tsunade said bluntly, "They're all at chunin level. At least they won't be complete dead weight. What about you?"

Although she could not understand why Mito Uzumaki would allow Ruyun, Kushina, and Minato to come along.

There was absolutely no way she would let Nawaki go.

She had to shatter his illusions completely.

This was not playing pretend at the Ninja Academy, nor was it fighting a few bandits.

This was a truly brutal battlefield!

In the worst case, they might even face the Kage of Kumogakure and Kirigakure.

And Nawaki was far too weak. On a battlefield, life and death were decided in an instant.

Without even the ability to protect himself, he could die before they had time to rescue him.

Orochimaru looked at the now-silent Nawaki and rested his large hand on the boy's head.

His voice was raspy. "Tsunade is doing this for your own good. Be good and wait for us to return."

Nawaki could only nod helplessly.

He looked enviously at Ruyun, Kushina, and Minato.

He had never imagined that people who had called him their senior just a little while ago could become so strong in such a short time.

Meanwhile.

Kushina's eyes were still a little red, and she clung tightly to Ruyun's hand.

Minato rubbed his eyes. "What mission are we going on?"

Jiraiya had suddenly burst through his window, hauled him out of bed, and left him with just one instruction: wait for me at the village entrance.

His head was still in a fog.

"We're going to rescue Uzushio Village."

"Uzushio Village?" Minato recalled the name from his textbooks. "What rank is the mission?"

Ruyun thought for a moment, then said, "Not sure. It might only be a C-rank mission, or it could be an S-rank mission. Maybe even higher."

Minato was wide awake now, his eyes filled with shock.

"An S-rank mission? Us?"

"Relax. It's not just us. Look, more people are here."

Minato looked in the direction he indicated.

A squad of masked ANBU dropped silently from the rooftops.

Their leader was a tall man with short white hair and a short blade strapped to his back.

That should be Hatake Sakumo...

Ruyun glanced at him silently. With such obvious features, wearing a mask hardly seemed to make any difference.

More people arrived, one after another.

There were far more than the few Hiruzen Sarutobi had initially mentioned.

Ruyun's gaze settled on a man with long, pale blue hair and a gentle air.

With those features, could he be Dan Katō?

He remembered this man fairly well.

The reason was simple: in the original story, he was Tsunade's future lover, and they had bonded over the proposal to add medical ninja to teams.

Only to meet the same fate as Nawaki.

Time slipped by silently.

Soon, half an hour had passed.

More than twenty jonin had gathered at Konoha's entrance.

No one spoke anymore. It was so quiet they could hear the heartbeats of those around them.

Moonlight Ruyun held his breath, watching the figure at the very front.

Dressed in old-fashioned attire, her hair arranged in two buns with two sealing talismans hanging from them, Mito Uzumaki stood with her hands behind her back.

She surveyed the crowd, letting her gaze linger a moment longer on Ruyun and Kushina, then nodded gently.

When she opened her eyes again, they held nothing but fierce fighting spirit.

She swept her hand forward, breaking the oppressive silence.

"Our destination is Uzushio Village. Move out!"

"Yes!"

In the blink of an eye, more than twenty figures vanished into the dense forest.