Minato Namikaze's reputation as the Yellow Flash had yet to fully spread.
It was only after the Third Shinobi World War that his fame soared to its peak, and he became the Fourth Hokage.
But he was from Konoha, and his strength was formidable. Having already been tempered by countless missions, any faction that had crossed paths with him should at least know that Konoha had someone like him.
"I'm Minato Namikaze of Konoha. Nice to meet you."
Seeing the expressions on Yue and the others' faces, Minato remembered that he should introduce himself and said with a smile.
Then, after Captain Takahashi spoke with him, they learned that Kusagakure had requested Konoha's aid, and Konoha had sent Minato Namikaze.
What was interesting was... Minato Namikaze had come alone.
"Just you?" Takahashi looked deeply suspicious.
"Hahaha... It really is just me." Minato scratched his head awkwardly and laughed brightly.
"What use is one person...?"
The other captain sighed.
While everyone else grumbled, Yue kept staring at Minato Namikaze's face.
From the time they had sent word to the village requesting reinforcements until now, even the troops from the village headquarters had not arrived. Yet Minato Namikaze from Konoha had gotten here first. What kind of speed was that? Moreover, Yue had not expected the village to seek Konoha's help, nor had he expected Konoha to actually come... After all, although the Third Shinobi World War had yet to fully erupt, Konoha's smaller battlefields had never ceased, and its fighting strength was especially stretched thin.
They still had the leisure to meddle in Kusagakure's affairs?
Still, it fit Yue's impression of Konoha. Its image as the shinobi world's police force had become even more vivid.
The Land of Grass was, after all, a neighboring country to the Land of Fire, so Konoha had to look after it to some extent. Besides, a battle of this scale was somewhat troublesome for Kusagakure's shinobi. But for someone of Minato Namikaze's caliber from Konoha, it should have been a minor problem that could be solved casually, as well as a decent training opportunity to rack up mission completions.
Kusagakure's higher-ups were probably also hoping to freeload by having Konoha send someone... It would spare their own people from suffering excessive casualties.
But the problem was that Minato's appearance had thrown Yue's plan into uncertainty.
It would not be easy to use the situation to make Fuma Ryoma into the hero who ended this war.
The plan has been disrupted... With Minato here, the battle will definitely end very quickly. The others may not even get many chances to intervene. But this is also a turning point. Since this involves two villages, if I can use Minato Namikaze's words, given Kusagakure's usual conduct... Yue's mind began to work rapidly. One had to know how to adapt to circumstances.
Though seeing Minato had briefly stirred his emotions in this environment, he quickly regained his composure.
"He alone is enough."
Yue suddenly spoke up.
His abrupt words made Takahashi and the others look over.
"Yue, do you know him?"
"No, but I think that since Konoha accepted the village's request and sent only one person, they must have enough confidence that he can handle this alone. His strength must be considerable. Besides, this is Konoha. If the mission fails, I'm sure their village would not be able to save face either..."
Yue spoke calmly.
"Hehe."
Being praised like that made Minato seem a little embarrassed.
In truth, he had long sensed that, among these people, the speaking youth had been watching him.
Minato was also somewhat surprised that there was such a young shinobi at a border outpost in Kusagakure... Generally speaking, someone this age would still be led by a supervising teacher and would not carry out missions alone. Furthermore, he vaguely sensed something strange in the youth's glances toward him, though it was well concealed.
Moreover, although there were two captains among the group, including Takahashi, the one who gave him the strongest sense of danger was this youth named Yue.
This... was merely Minato's intuition.
It was very strange.
"Although we have one more helper, we should still discuss the battle plan going forward," Yue continued.
The situation had suddenly changed, so the lines he had previously instructed his father to use were no longer useful.
Therefore, to ensure that he could still "benefit," Yue had to step forward.
"I spent some time in the Land of Rain and am fairly familiar with some of the circumstances there. It should be useful." Yue brought out his "advantage." With Fuma Ryoma present, the other three had lost their own opinions as well. With only a few words, Yue unexpectedly created a situation where they immediately looked to him for direction.
"This youth..."
Minato stood to the side with a smile on his face throughout, saying nothing.
But he saw everything very clearly.
Through clever wording and a precise grasp of the others' present situation and thoughts, Yue had effortlessly become the center of attention. He had replaced Takahashi and the other captain as the temporary "leader."
This should not have happened. Among the five of them, anyone becoming the one in charge would have made sense, except Yue, this Genin, becoming the "leader." That was the most discordant possibility. Yet Minato Namikaze understood it well, because this youth was intelligent enough... Whether in Konoha or other shinobi villages, some gifted people showed their talents early in every respect and accomplished things others could not.
"You two, Captain Takahashi, will lie in wait here... in the rear. That way, you can intercept and kill any stragglers trying to escape."
"You, go contact the troops coming from the village and tell them to hurry."
"The three of us will be enough for the frontal battlefield."
Using the faint light of a torch, Yue drew a crude battle map on the ground with a branch. One advantage they had was their familiarity with the terrain around the border.
"..."
But the three from Kusagakure fell silent.
According to Yue's plan, only he, his father, and Minato Namikaze from Konoha would fight the forces from the Land of Rain head-on. The remaining Chunin would go find the reinforcements, while Takahashi and the other captain would circle behind the enemy to stop and kill anyone attempting to flee back to the Land of Rain.
The most dangerous and arduous task had instead been handed to Yue and Ryoma, while the other three would have it easy.
The plan Yue proposed was very rough, because logically speaking, even if they carried it out this way, the most dangerous task should have been undertaken by Takahashi and the two captains. On the surface, they were the strongest, and they were also the captains of two outposts... There was no reason to have Yue and Ryoma face the enemy head-on.
But sending all three of them away also meant they would not have to risk their lives... For the three who had already lost their initiative, that was simply wonderful.
After all, there was nothing better than stalling until they could safely return to the village.
"I believe that with Brother Minato here, there won't be any problem."
Yue said something pointedly.
This made Takahashi and the others feel that Yue's plan... was meant to dump the responsibility on Minato Namikaze.
Minato would charge at the very front alone, while the father and son might not necessarily fight to the death.
Quite devious.
"I also think this plan is very good."
Minato stroked his chin, looked at the vague and somewhat perfunctory battle map on the ground, and smiled lightly.
His thoughts differed from Takahashi and the others', because... he had seen Yue's true intention.
That was absolute confidence in his own strength!
This mission belonged to Kusagakure. He was only here to help, so no matter what decisions were made, all he had to do was cooperate.
"Let's do it this way."
Fuma Ryoma had no idea what his son was plotting, but he trusted Yue unconditionally.
"Alright."
Seeing that they had all said so, Takahashi and the others could not suppress the delight in their eyes and nodded.
Immediately, the three sprang into action and departed one after another.
In the nighttime mountain forest, only Yue, Ryoma, and Minato remained.
"Father, you should leave first."
Yue extinguished the torch and spoke to Fuma Ryoma.
The coming battle would be extremely difficult. There were too many enemies, and Yue could no longer protect Ryoma's safety as he had before... It would divide his attention, so the best course was to have Fuma Ryoma hide first.
"I..."
Ryoma was clearly worried about him too.
"I'll be fine. Don't worry."
Yue reassured him.
"Alright."
Ryoma nodded, then turned and left as well.
Minato Namikaze revealed a faint smile. His coming here this time had merely been incidental. He happened to have free time and was resting in the village, yet he had not expected to witness such an interesting scene.
The Chunin father had left because he likely had great confidence in his son.
In other words, although the others did not seem to know this youth's true strength, at least... Yue's father knew.
"So the only people truly facing the forces of the Land of Rain are you and me, correct?"
Minato Namikaze said with a smile.
"Yes."
Yue replied.
"Your village probably does not know about your situation, does it?"
Minato asked again.
Yue glanced at him. "Don't casually pry into other people's privacy."
"...Sorry."
The moment Minato appeared, Yue realized that he could no longer "hide." His plan still had to move forward.
Minato had surpassed Orochimaru to become the Fourth Hokage and earned the Yellow Flash's resounding fame throughout the shinobi world. Yue did not believe that Minato was merely a good-natured man without any depth... Minato had a good personality, but that did not mean he was naive.
When he killed people... he had nothing to do with kindness.
Minato's mind was exceptionally meticulous, and his intellect was unquestionably far superior to that of most people in this world.
Yue's methods could fool Takahashi and the others without much trouble, but deceiving Minato would not be so easy.
So he simply could not be bothered to "pretend" anymore.
"There's something I'd like to ask you to help with. Is that alright?"
Yue suddenly looked Minato Namikaze directly in the eyes.
"Tell me about it."
Minato said gently.
In his eyes, no matter how strange Yue was, he was still only a little brother.
At worst, he was a little brother who was somewhat calculating and cold.
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