You Can Lose, But Not Your Spirit.

"Hmm… I can't help it. I have to report the mission's content and details to the village, word for word," Minato Namikaze replied, not surprised by Yue's request. He rubbed his chin and politely declined with an apologetic smile.

"Besides, I'm not very good at lying."

Yue wanted him to transfer the credit for confronting the enemy head-on to his father, Fuma Ryoma.

In other words, it would be reported that Minato and Ryoma had jointly repelled or killed the enemy.

Yue wanted to remove himself from the situation.

After all, in the eyes of the three from Takahashi, they were the ones on the front lines. As for who contributed more or less, that was unclear.

"I'm not asking you to lie, just to be vague about my involvement, or simply record only what's related to you and don't involve me or my father. As for the Grass Village, we'll figure something out ourselves," Yue said calmly.

"This is a village-level commission… we'll need to communicate with each other afterward," Minato reminded him.

"That's why I'm hoping you can help."

Yue replied.

"For Konoha, even though it involves the village, this kind of mission isn't difficult for you, nor is it important… I'm not asking you to tamper with the mission record, just to omit some unnecessary parts, to downplay the severity. That should be acceptable, right?"

Yue reiterated his wishes.

Seeing Minato still considering, he frowned, "You're not that rigid, are you?"

"…"

Upon hearing this, Minato seemed to recall something and suddenly smiled, "Alright, I'll reluctantly agree… but I've helped you out, so you'll have to help me out later, how about it?"

"I help you?"

Yue was taken aback.

"That's right."

Minato nodded.

Yue smelled a hint of 'conspiracy'.

"What kind of help?" he asked directly.

"I won't tell you now, you'll know later,"

Minato said mysteriously.

"…"

He suddenly had a feeling that dealing with people like Minato Namikaze, or other intelligent characters, was troublesome… mainly, it was hard to gain any advantage.

After a moment, the two hid in the trees, quietly waiting for the enemy to arrive.

Under the night sky in the mountains, apart from the chirping of insects and birds, it was exceptionally quiet.

"It's nice… When I was ten, I was still in the Ninja Academy," Minato, with a somewhat familiar personality, felt no tension before the big battle. He chatted casually with Yue. After all, the opponents were just local forces from the Land of Rain, not ninja from the villages. Although they had gathered some rogue ninja and armed forces, their overall danger in war couldn't compare to the regular army of the villages.

In fact, there was quite a difference between the two.

Their combat quality was different, which related to various aspects like battle command, execution teams, and even individual soldiers.

Minato became a Genin at eleven, but this didn't diminish his 'genius' aura.

Some people are like that, whether early or a bit later, they will always show signs of 'leading the pack'. True geniuses, once they emerge, are unstoppable, unlike some who only show a 'brief flash of brilliance' at a certain stage and then blend into the crowd.

"Why are you on the front lines? Where is your teacher?"

Minato continued to ask.

"…"

This time, Yue did not answer him.

Clearly, Yue felt he was being a bit too talkative.

He drew his long sword and began to infuse it with chakra, preparing for the battle.

Minato didn't mind Yue's attitude. Seeing the boy's actions, he raised an eyebrow, "Your sword isn't a specially made chakra blade or weapon. Even if you reinforce it with chakra, the effect won't be significant, and it's mostly a waste… However, I guess you are using this method to train your chakra control, right?"

"It is indeed a good method, but it requires a relatively high amount of chakra. Most people can't just waste chakra so casually… Did you come up with this method yourself?"

"No."

Yue uttered two words, treasuring each one.

This method was taught to him by Nagato.

Even if it wasn't a chakra weapon, once Yue could gather chakra on the blade without it dispersing, he would have completed Nagato's lesson.

It was very difficult for ordinary weapons or ninja tools to absorb chakra, and even if wrapped in chakra, the power was not obvious. Besides chakra control, it also required extremely strong chakra sensing ability… These were all areas Yue was training in.

To put it bluntly, it was somewhat similar to how puppeteers released chakra threads.

Although there were some variations, the principle was similar.

"Your teacher must be a very formidable person."

Minato praised him from the bottom of his heart.

The Yahiko trio, including those core members of Akatsuki, were all considered Yue's teachers.

Yahiko and the other two were also Jiraiya's disciples, and Minato was Jiraiya's student… Looking at it this way, Yue and Minato were even a little bit 'related'.

"They're here."

One second, Minato Namikaze's face was smiling, and the next, his eyes flashed, and he contained his emotions.

Yue's ears twitched, and he gazed into the night sky ahead. He didn't sense anything unusual, nor did he hear any movement.

But he trusted Minato's judgment.

The enemy's assault came so quickly?!

It was clear they were well-prepared… these two waves of attacks were tightly coordinated.

Yue and Minato held their breath, completely merging with the darkness and the shade of the trees.

Under their watchful eyes, a moment later, figures began to land in the clearing not far away.

"No trace found in this area, could they have already run off?"

"Keep searching… maybe they're hiding."

"Yes."

The squad that appeared before Yue and Minato was likely just a part of the enemy's main force. This was because Yue could already hear the sounds of movement from all directions, indicating that more people were currently scouring this area.

Minato Namikaze mouthed silently to Yue. Judging by his lips, he clearly wanted Yue to charge ahead, with Yue just needing to follow up and assist.

However, the moment the enemy squad scattered before them, Yue had already shot out, disappearing without a trace.

Minato chuckled in amusement. He had intended to protect Yue and prevent the boy from getting hurt… After all, judging by the enemy's numbers, while it would be difficult, he could easily finish them off with his abilities. However, Yue seemed to have misunderstood him… thinking he was looking down on him.

Minato shook his head and immediately flashed away.

Yue hadn't misunderstood Minato; he knew the latter's intentions.

Yue simply wanted to see, through this battle, how big the gap was between himself and a true genius… Yes, he felt a surge of competitiveness.

In the air, an enemy soldier was leaping between branches. Suddenly, a black streak, invisible to the naked eye, flashed past him like lightning, vanishing in an instant.

After the dark shadow zipped away, the soldier simultaneously fell to the ground, his life reaped without making a sound.

Since the enemy numbers were considerable and their movements were relatively concentrated, the best approach was assassination. If he were to use any ninjutsu or create a significant disturbance now, he would quickly be surrounded. Yue pressed himself tightly against the back of a tree trunk, listening intently to the slightest sounds around him, his eyes closed.

When he heard another sound piercing the air, he immediately opened his eyes.

Locating the sound, he relied on his excellent movement technique and explosive power to glide past silently.

Where the blade pointed, blood splattered.

After eliminating his target, he didn't pause at all, vanishing back into the darkness like a phantom.

"Third one."

He counted internally.

But at this moment, the forest suddenly erupted into chaos.

Sounds of fighting came from all directions, as if all the enemies rushing through this forest had suddenly been ambushed.

Yue's heart leaped. He knew it couldn't be the Grass Village reinforcements arriving.

Then there was only one explanation.

It was Minato Namikaze.

These sounds of fighting vanished in an instant… and the sound sources came from different locations, giving Yue the illusion that many helpers had arrived simultaneously. But in reality, there was only one helper from beginning to end, moving at a speed he couldn't comprehend to 'cover' the entire area in an extremely short time, and instantly eliminating targeted units in the blink of an eye.

Yue emerged from the shadows, his eyes low and steady, but with an unconcealed tremor.

He saw…

He vaguely saw, in the dim light, that 'dazzling' golden-yellow hair.

The S-rank Space-Time Ninjutsu, Flying Thunder God Technique.

Minato had long ago placed hidden jutsu formulas as coordinates all around the area.

He was fully prepared.

This was the combat readiness and caliber of Konoha's top ninjas.

On the trees, on the ground… enemy figures one after another fell, some even in the process of falling after being ambushed by Minato just a second ago, while that wisp of 'yellow flash' had already appeared beside the next victim.

No one was his match.

All instant kills.

There was no need for time-consuming assassinations like Yue's; it was pure power overwhelming…

Fast… too fast!

Any technique was a joke in the face of absolute power.

Yue unconsciously tightened his grip on his sword hilt, his eyes bursting with 'light'.

Even though he knew the 'answer' beforehand, he couldn't let Minato Namikaze defeat all the opponents by himself.

He could lose… but he wouldn't admit defeat.