Tsukimi's Three Tomoe

Several days earlier, Minato had received word from the village ordering all Jonin out on assignments to return.

At the time, Minato was leading Kakashi, Obito, and Rin on a mission in a small country.

But the mission was almost finished, so he chose to wait until it was over before returning with his three subordinates.

Precisely because he had insisted on finishing the mission before returning, he took a shortcut through the valley where the Kumogakure spies were meeting to save time.

When Minato heard explosions and sounds of fighting, he reasoned that, this close to the village, it had to be the village's ninja fighting an enemy.

So he immediately rushed to the scene.

Minato had yet to make a name for himself in the shinobi world, so although the spies recognized him as a Konoha Jonin when they saw his face, they felt no fear.

Looking at the Jonin before him, Kakui felt a little uneasy, but that was all.

They could kill even a madman like Yūto, so surely they could exchange a few moves with a Konoha Jonin.

"You can't take all of us on alone, Minato Namikaze!"

Lightning poured into his ninja blade, and Kakui brought it slashing straight down, wreathed in blinding electricity, only to strike empty air just as it touched the tips of Minato's hair.

"What?!"

Kakui's pupils contracted sharply as a violent surge of chakra suddenly came from behind his neck.

He turned his head stiffly, only to find that Minato had somehow flashed behind him, driving the azure Rasengan in his palm into his back!

"Rasengan!"

The dull crack of shattering bones erupted alongside the explosive roar of chakra. Kakui was flung ten meters like a rag doll and slammed into the rock face.

The two remaining spies had only just thrown their kunai at Minato when their vision suddenly blurred.

Golden light streaked past, and Minato appeared behind one of them before he knew it, a Rasengan once again tearing through a chest.

The last man felt a chill at his throat. The bloodstained kunai had already been turned back in his own hand and driven into his throat.

As the dust cleared, Minato flicked the blood from the kunai, and three corpses crashed to the ground.

Trembling, Tsukimi held Yūto's blood-soaked body, her tears falling like beads from a broken string onto the bloodstained front of his clothes.

Her Two-Tomoe Sharingan spun wildly, the crimson in her eyes growing ever deeper, and amid excruciating pain, a third tomoe abruptly formed!

"No... don't die... you idiot!"

In the distance, Oroi was shocked to see Minato kill his three subordinates so easily, and his arms loosened slightly.

Shisui seized the opportunity, glaring fiercely with his Three-Tomoe Sharingan. "Genjutsu: Sharingan!"

Oroi's arms instantly fell open. Shisui leaped out from beneath him, turned, and sent a kunai through his heart.

Oroi collapsed, coughing up bloody foam, his final gaze still fixed on Minato.

Even as he died, he could not understand how that blond young man had wiped out all his subordinates in a single breath. When war came, this man would surely be a formidable enemy of his village.

Unfortunately, he would never have another chance to send intelligence on Minato back to his village.

After killing Oroi, Shisui rushed to Yūto's side and bent down to examine his injuries.

When his fingertips felt Yūto's faint pulse, Shisui's tense expression eased slightly. "He can still be saved!"

Before he had finished speaking, three figures suddenly appeared in the valley.

They were Kakashi, Obito, and Rin.

When Obito saw who was lying on the ground, he could not help exclaiming:

"It's Yūto-senpai! How did he get hurt so badly?!"

At the Ninja Academy, Yūto had been a year above Kakashi, Obito, and Rin, making him their senior.

However, neither Rin nor Kakashi knew Yūto. Before his transmigration, Yūto had been relatively weak among the Uchiha and somewhat socially anxious, so he had never made a name for himself at the Ninja Academy.

Obito, on the other hand, knew Yūto because they were both dead last in their classes, and they had exchanged greetings a few times at the Ninja Academy.

Rin had already dropped to her knees beside Yūto, a luminous green glow rising from her hands. "It's a penetrating wound... internal bleeding. We have to stop the bleeding first!"

Seeing Rin use medical ninjutsu, Tsukimi realized she was a medical ninja and immediately grabbed her arm, pleading:

"Please save Yūto! He ended up like this because he was protecting me."

Rin nodded and reassured her:

"I'll do my best to stop the bleeding, but my medical abilities are limited. With injuries this severe, he needs to get to Konoha Hospital as soon as possible."

With that, Rin turned her gaze toward Minato beside her.

As a fellow Konoha Jonin, Shisui naturally knew that Minato could use the Flying Thunder God Technique to return to the village in an instant. He immediately said to him:

"Jonin Minato, please help take Yūto to Konoha Hospital..."

Shisui's voice was a little hoarse. He was filled with regret. He had only just told Nonō that he would protect Yūto, yet in the blink of an eye, Yūto was on the verge of death.

Minato gave Shisui a gentle smile and reassured him:

"Rin, stabilize his injuries first. In five minutes, I'll use Flying Thunder God to take him back to Konoha Hospital."

Obito, who had yet to turn dark, acted like an idiot. Crouching beside Yūto, he suddenly pointed at the twisted curve of Yūto's mouth and shouted:

"Hey! This guy's smiling?! He's almost dead, and he's still smiling?!"

The moment he finished speaking, Tsukimi shot him a fierce glare with her Three Tomoe. Yūto was already in this state, yet Obito was still making thoughtless remarks.

If the situation had been different, she would have loved to punch him hard in the face a couple of times!

Even Kakashi, who had remained silent all this time, was utterly speechless. He pressed a hand to his forehead in exasperation. Obito, that dead last, was an absolute idiot!

Rin's chakra reached deep into the wound, but her brow only furrowed further. "Something's wrong... his muscles are so relaxed, as if he's expecting something..."

A few minutes later, under Rin's treatment, the bleeding from Yūto's wounds had noticeably decreased.

But whenever she eased her chakra output even slightly, blood immediately welled out of the wounds. She shook her head at Minato and said with a troubled expression:

"Minato-sensei, it's no use. I can't stop the bleeding at all!"

Minato made an immediate decision, placing his hands on Rin and Yūto at the same time. "Don't worry. I'm here..."

Before he had finished speaking, golden light flashed where they stood, and all three vanished, transported into Konoha by the Flying Thunder God Technique.

Back in the valley, Obito was still very curious about how Yūto had been injured so badly, but he no longer dared to get on Tsukimi's bad side.

The oppressive atmosphere surrounding Tsukimi made Obito very uncomfortable.

He sidled up to Shisui and asked quietly:

"Shisui, what happened to Yūto-senpai?"

Shisui sighed without answering.

Tsukimi had also heard Obito's question. Her eyes rimmed red, she said:

"Yūto was protecting me, and that's why..."

"I should have been the one to fall."

Obito was utterly shocked.

Although he had long heard that Yūto often protected his comrades on missions, he had never imagined that Yūto would go this far, even disregarding his own life!

Yūto's actions reminded Obito of someone: Kakashi's father, the Konoha White Fang.

Back then, White Fang had abandoned a mission to protect his comrades and ultimately killed himself amid the village's rumors and gossip.

Obito turned to look at Kakashi beside him.

After hearing why Yūto had been injured, Kakashi looked visibly uncomfortable.

Kakashi's fists clenched unconsciously, and beneath his mask, his lips pressed into a straight line.